eating how often??

[Simon Batten]

a couple of questions, all my questions seem to be to do with my Avic avic, humidity or eating so today I have another one about eating sorry if its getting tedious but its about how often to feed my spiderlings I have a:

Brachypelma smithi about 1 cm big at the moment I have been feeding her once a week is this ok

a T.Blondi arrived today but I noticed that on aracnoboards someone said he feeds his 6 times a week she is about 7cm at the moment.

and a Brachypelma Vagan I been feeding her once a week she is about 3 cm

[Martin Airs (Camberwell)]

Hi Simon,

personaly I dont really have a set schedule for feeding, after a molt when they are thinest I usualy feed em up quite quickly untill they are looking just right and then I stop feeding them, then if they start to look thinner again I'll feed em again.

basicaly I like em to look in proportion, so I just feed em untill they look right, I dont let mine get really FAT.

I think 6 times a week is fine if its only for 1 week, but 6 times a week for 4-5 weeks inbetween molts I think is a bit excesive. once a week is fine I think or untill it looks plump and healthy whichever really. T's can go a looooooong time without food as long as they have fresh water at all times, so basicaly feed as much as you like, but stop before it looks too fat.

Martin

[Simon Batten]

thanks Martin my B.smithi hasnt shed since I got her and thats got to be 3 months I recon how often do they tend to shed when there young??

[Stephen Bryceland]

alright simon. i have a b smithi spiderling and it does tend to shed quite slowly.i ve had it about 7 months now and only had 2 molts . they are slow growing as i also have an adult female too, which she would be touching 8 years now. also i have other species that are supposed to be slow growing such as white knees, chaco golden knee that seem to be molting quite often. so i would reckon it depends on the T itself. hope this helps... steve.

[Martin Airs (Camberwell)]

my firend has a B.smithi which is male btw, and that used to molt every month when young, but now its bigger its taking alot longer like 3-4 months.

I have a theory that male T's molt much quicker than females, with male T's its almost like its a frantic race to get big and mature, but females tend to molt slower and take their time over things. these are just my observations and someone else might say completely different, but when you look back over a long peroid of time it just seems like this is whats going on.

[Ray Hale]

Hi
male tarantulas mature quicker than females. This avoids sibling mating in the wild. Damn clever Mother Nature.....Hope it helps

Ray Hale
BTS