Tarantula Update Feb 2010 - Lampropelma violacoepes

Sometime in September 2009 I made an order for 4 Singapore Blue slings (Lampropelma violacoepes) from Andrew... this was the first postage order I ever made so you can imagine my excitement... I even tracked down the postman and intercepted him en route before he called it a day to go home; meaning I almost had to receive them the next day.... I must say for my first parcel, great packing job to Andrew.






Now before anybody wonders if I know what year this is... I just had too many things going on... Namely constructing new enclosures for my growing invert collection and I must say Tarantulas are a lot of work to re-house especially when they grow really fast on you... And I must say that these slings that sing the blues are the fastest growing I’ve ever had. So here’s the whole 9 yards on raising these beautiful Asian arboreals whose fast growth rate is only matched by their moving speed.

These small-tall delis, comes with a secure lock flap and are really ideal for raising bark scorplings and arboreal or semi-arboreal t-slings.

After two molts, I realised that they would need a lot more leg space on the next change so I moved them to something a little bigger.


*Three cos I gave one away to a friend in a trade. When I first put them in these, I was wondering if it was too big for them. Nonetheless they occupied the starter burrows I made and tunnelled all the way to the bottom. The biggest one, eventually tunnelled up right against the side. Lucky considering I thought I will never see them at all in these.

Feeding in the small delis was kinda tough cos they would retreat into their burrow once you touched the cup and they won’t be there to snatch the mealworm immediately. Thus, I stuffed the mealies through the side vent holes near the spider... This proved effective but the prey item had to be small enough to wiggle through the hole. With the jars however I tried something different thinking I might have to give the occasional cricket.

A DIY feeding aperture which I didn’t use often cos they apparently do better with the mealworm through ventilation hole! Nonetheless, I can save this idea for future projects

Two more molts and their size was starting to worry me AGAIN!!!.... Bear in mind I had to do these in the midst or other invert upgrades during my 2 and a half month re-housing stretch. Ventilation too was starting to become a bit of a concern... So put them in these tall square tubs fitted with large vent holes and mesh on 1 or 2 sides...

These didn’t last long at all. After just another 2 molts, I was awestruck when I saw this:

Now feeding on Superworms and they can take 2 or 3 in the span of a day. By now they learned to hang out by the hole when they get a bit hungry. I also managed to get some shots of the last one molting inside its burrow: -




The more space I give, the faster and larger they seem to grow. So not wanting to do myself in with too many re-houses, I decided to go all the way, whatever gender they maybe: This was the first re-house I did for my largest


For the second rehouse I managed to capture some sort of a sequence done for the setup. This one is in a tall ExxoTerra:








I recorded footage for the transfer and uploaded it on the tube:

direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntd8FSCPrlI
Hope y'all like that one! The lid on the top fell as I was closing the doors; hitting me in the face on the way down lol, but I was still to stunned by the sudden sprint to notice until the replay.

Phew! 2 down 1 to go... some pics of Lv no.2 in its enclosure

Apparently it found the backstage pass!


Bear in mind I’m relatively new to tarantulas (the brighter side) so any comments and advice are most appreciated. These projects have been sufficiently inspired by the works of many well and true aficionados. Credit to Taliban27, CedrikG and Flogger at VL for posting their absolutely mind blowing tarantula habitats, Kar, Stew and Andrew at MTS for very essential DIY and setup ideas, as well as Dennis, Rafiqos and Lisa (LadyRiotControl) for nothing short of invaluable advice. Cheers guys + gal

For Lv no. 3 and my upgrade-due Avic, I plan to build some custom DIY from spare aquariums turned upright. Coming soon to a forum near you! For now, back to the workshop.

nice so nice!!!

Very nice! These are such a beautiful species. Love the way the video captured the speed lol. The only thing I have that's that fast is my H. lividum which scares the out of me every time I need to rehouse Everything else is well behaved

Wow had no idea slings grew that fast! At least it seemd fast to me 0.o
Really like the set up very cool lookin!

damn those are fast!
beautiful T's and setups btw!
I just crossed over from scorps to T's. almost considered looking into them until i saw how fast it moved.

nice!! i have a sing blue sling!! but i saw a yellow colored molds in the vial just like yours but much smaller and shorter .. i dont want to remove because my sling already build a web and the sling looks fine but i'm too worried about the molds..

you can pick off the molds outside the web..... don't worry so much about them running out when you do this as they already made home. Any commotion outside and they will just stay inside the burrow unless you pry the webbing...

But still always take precautions... place the sling tub in a larger container so when they make a run for it, they are still contained....

hey thanks!! i already got rid of those molds.. and very exicted coz my sing blue is in a pre molt..

no probs, just remember, don't meddle with the home too much, cos they will go about re-decorating everything anyway.... and try to re-house them to larger containers as they grow....

wow she's huge!!! hey how long does it take to reach that kind of size?!! sling to adult.. ofcourse we are talking about lampropelma's.. and how about the feeding? how often?

I feed them whenever I see they are perched at the burrow entranced... kinda means they're looking for a meal to pass by....