Nutrition?

[kirsty smith]

I was given locusts to feed Lois,but is there really any difference nutrition wise between locusts,crickets,roaches ect??
Ive read that waxworms are fattening if fed too often?

[James Box]

as far as i know, locusts who have been fed well should be a good food source for your T.
i think it's the same for most of the usual food types. some swear by roaches, though, but i've not tried them yet. if you "gut load" or buy "gut-loaded" prey items, then you should be fine, i think.
anyone can feel free to correct me, as i'm not going on proper scientific analysis!!
waxworms and maggots are DEFINITELY fattening lol! you should see my poor fire-belly toad! time for a few hours on the treadmill for him!
i found my spiders also "ballooned" a bit after eating maggots and waxworms. it's not bad once in a while, but i'd personally not do it too often, given the choice.

[matthew hammersley]

hey girl well crickets are like the best food for t's but there is no harm givin em different types of meals just to change the diet but crickets are fine they will be healthy and fit and grow just fine by crickets, but i try other insects to just keep her not bored on the same thing!

[Colin D Wilson]

In their natural habitat Tarantulas are opportunistic hunters and take prey (live and dead) from a very wide selection.
Simulating this in captivity should be easy with the wide scope of food items at our disposal.

[Phil Rea]

hey girl well crickets are like the best food for t's but there is no harm givin em different types of meals just to change the diet but crickets are fine they will be healthy and fit and grow just fine by crickets, but i try other insects to just keep her not bored on the same thing!

Why are crickets the best food for tarantulas?

As Colin has pointed out, in the wild they will eat almost anything they can overpower

[Peter Lacey]

I came across an article which identified the various pros and cons of live food for Ts although I can't remember where (if I find it I'll post it). It suggested cockroaches as being excellent food items as well as earthworms.
You can read a good discussion about earthworms here: http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=3131

"Earthworms are rich in nutrients with high protein. According to measurements, the crude protein in dry earthworms reaches about 70%, while in wet earthworms about 10-20%.
The amino acids of earthworm protein are complete, especially the contents of Glutamic acid, Leucine and Lysine, among which Arginine is higher than fish meal, and Tryptophan is 4 times higher than in blood powder, and 7 times higher than in cow liver.
Earthworms are rich in Vitamin A and Vitamin B. There is 0.25 mg of Vitamin B1 and 2.3 mg of Vitamin B2 in each 100 g of earthworms. Vitamin D accounts for 0.04%-0.073% of earthworms’ wet weight."

Other suggested food items were various kinds of worms eg. mealworms, morioworms and waxworms although these have a high fat content. Many of these worms turn into beetles which also make good food. Moths, crickets, locusts, grasshoppers etc are all valuable, however collecting from your garden can produce problems if they've come into contact with pesticides.

[James Box]

earthworms are THAT nutritious? why don't we just eat them ourselves?

[Robert Farmer]

earthworms are THAT nutritious? why don't we just eat them ourselves?

I know, as an avid gym goer trying to bulk up I'm noticing that worms are basically BCAA's living underneath us lol, might blend some into my post work out shake!

[Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield]

earthworms are THAT nutritious? why don't we just eat them ourselves?

But surely we do? Worm casings (as well as dead worms) are a major source of nutrients in our soil ready for uptake by crop veg - so in other words eat your greens for the goodness of worms!

[Robert Farmer]

But surely we do? Worm casings (as well as dead worms) are a major source of nutrients in our soil ready for uptake by crop veg - so in other words eat your greens for the goodness of worms!

In the same respect tho if you eat chicken are you eating the corn it was fed on, and therefore the worms via the nutrients ingested by aforementioned crop?

So basically if you take everything we eat far enough back it's all worms???

Kerazzzy...

What about egg?!?!?!?! Argh my head...

[Ray Gabriel]

Maggots are very nutritious, i have reared many a male Poecilotheria on nothing more than maggots, and they are safe to use as they wont nibble a freshley moulted Spid.

Carrion in the form of defrosted small mice (and rats) are often taken by spiders.

When buying locusts, dont go for the winged ones, once you take the wings and the hind legs away there is virtually the same amount of food in the next size down hopper, and they are cheaper.

Crickets, always feed winged crickets first, they are the ones which will die naturally sooner, so cuts down on wastage and you get a quieter nights sleep.

Ray

[James Box]

Ray, i thought maggots were too fattening, or else i'd be using them more. maybe i should use them more often if what you say is true. i have loads to go through...disgusting things!
cheers for the info!

[Peter Roach]

I feed crickets, locusts, maggots and giant mealworms....... just waiting for my roaches to reach a certain level before i out the crickets.

This may be of some help.

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/Misc/insectnutrition.html

[Nicola Dolby]

Maggots are really great for spiderlings. I've brought all my babies up on them up to 4cm, then its crickets (except for the Haplopelmas, who love locusts!)

[nicola faux]

i feed mine on a varied diet, crickets, waxworms, locusts, roaches and even silk worms whatever i have in at time for lizards basically and because i feed the reps aswell as T's with them they are always well gutloaded, i find dandelions a great choice in summer(free too) then various veg in winter....