Change of Species

[Richard Shah]

I've seen some pet shops keeping numerous adults in boxes no bigger than a Ferrero Rocher box. All stacked up inside a tank. The spider may not have expressive faces, but they did look sad to me.

Yeah that's prettty messed up. I'll consider getting myself a ferrero Rocher's box of chocs tomoz - but I do already have a box so it's being considered in my mind. I do already have a box that is 10x10 cm - but ferrero rocher's boxes are quite nice.

[Colin D Wilson]

BTW can adult Smithis eat hamsters as opposed to mice?

Well a bit of a strange question........
Adult spiders may take a defrost pinkie / fuzzy mouse once in a while.
Not a food item to be regular in my opinion, insects such as crickets, roaches and locusts (gut loaded) will suffice.

[Peter Lacey]

I've seen some pet shops keeping numerous adults in boxes no bigger than a Ferrero Rocher box. All stacked up inside a tank. The spider may not have expressive faces, but they did look sad to me.

That's probably because there were no more chocolates left!!!

Quite a good idea though, never thought of them as enclosures, ooh and valentines day just around the corner!

[Louise~Nichols]

That's probably because there were no more chocolates left!!!

LMAO!! I'd look sad too without chocolate!!
Thank heavens I'm sending spid-parcels out tomorrow...that'd be soooo funny posting spids out to arrive on Thursday!!

[Richard Shah]

Well a bit of a strange question........
Adult spiders may take a defrost pinkie / fuzzy mouse once in a while.
Not a food item to be regular in my opinion, insects such as crickets, roaches and locusts (gut loaded) will suffice.

defrost? But a lot of people feed mice live to their tarantulas? Of course I wouldn't do it regularly, just once every other month. I know pinky and fuzzy mice are k to feed smithis with, but I ws just wondering about small hamsters - as they are all rodents.
Thanks,
Rich

That's probably because there were no more chocolates left!!!

Quite a good idea though, never thought of them as enclosures, ooh and valentines day just around the corner!

Lol!

LMAO!! I'd look sad too without chocolate!!
Thank heavens I'm sending spid-parcels out tomorrow...that'd be soooo funny posting spids out to arrive on Thursday!!

Lol!

[jason holland]

unfortunately, here in the uk we cant feed Live mice to anything (its illegal), which i think is silly really. i have seen a video of a T eating a hamster, but cant in the uk

[Richard Shah]

unfortunately, here in the uk we cant feed Live mice to anything (its illegal), which i think is silly really. i have seen a video of a T eating a hamster, but cant in the uk

Seriously? Arrgh what a load of rubbish! Well that's too bad - crickets it is then for the Smithi's life. I ws looking forward to feeding it live mice!
Thank you for the info,
Rich
BTW I saw a video of a T. eating a mouse, never thought it was illegal. The US and the UK both have laws restricting live mice being fed to other creatures, according to a quick search on Goog.. A T. eating a hamster is interesting though....

[Colin D Wilson]

Back to topic chaps please.

There's a few threads on here that already discuss (quite in depth) opinions, guidelines and regulations for live feeding.
if you type "live food" in the forum search facility you can find quite a few to browse

Ta muchly

Colin

[Richard Shah]

Back to topic chaps please.

There's a few threads on here that already discuss (quite in depth) opinions, guidelines and regulations for live feeding.
if you type "live food" in the forum search facility you can find quite a few to browse

Ta muchly

Colin

Will do Colin, thanks!

[Clinton Hogben]

BTW can adult Smithis eat hamsters as opposed to mice?

Yo Rich Behave yourself
you cant go feeding hamsters to your "T"
My Lasiodora parahybana Brazilian (Salmon pink birdeater) would struggle with a hamster (not that i would risk it) and she is 7-8 inches across now and will probably grow in excess of 10 inches over the next few years
It takes a pretty darn big spider to tackle an active mouse even

just think of the public outcry. I can imagine the newspaper headlines Schoolboy feeds cute pet hamster to very large hairy killer Spider,
grannies all over london would never leave home for fear of this monster lurking in dark corners,the infrastructure of our capital would crumble etc etc te-he

And as jason mentioned in an earlier post its illegal in the UK if you want to feed your "T" a pinkie mouse they come dead as a doornail and frozen so you just defrost one and leave it for your spider to find and munch on

I dont think your B smithi is going to grow quite that big
if she does you would have a serious beast on your hands

On a more serious note I hope you enjoy your smithi when he / she arrives Im sure you will cope perfectly well with no problems, its good to see someone do so much research before going into something, us oldies are very quick to have a pop at the "youth of today" but you are a credit

Keep on researching you will never get bored with spiders once you have the first one they are all so different in looks and personalities

All the best

Clint

[Andrew Ferguson]

just think of the public outcry. I can imagine the newspaper headlines Schoolboy feeds cute pet hamster to very large hairy killer Spider,

I think we should leave that to Freddie Starr.

Seriously, I would stick to crickets, meal worms and the occasional cube of raw steak. Rodents have large sharp teeth, including hamsters.
You also need to be aware that not everyone who views these boards are happy about having large, hairy and potentially dangerous tropical spiders in captivity in peoples homes. In fact there are a lot pf people that don't like seeing animals in anything but their natural environment. Actions such as feeding live rodents will only help fuel their cause. And some of them are very radical. What I may have done in the past, when I was a child, cannot be excused, but I've grown up a lot since then. Feeding live rodents is probably more for your benefit, entertainment wise, than it is for your tarantula, who will be more than happy with crickets. If you do feed your tarantula live rodents, be prepared to loose your spider. Don't publicise it, don't Youtube it. I'm sure dog owners don't feed them live rabbits or the like.

My smithi juvenile will be arriving shortly from the tarantula shop on Thursday. I'll be sure to post a comment or two on Thursday evening or Friday. So if you want to wait till then, you can, but the feedback from the forum seems to say you should have no worries or issues.

Kindest regards

Andrew

[Clinton Hogben]

I think we should leave that to Freddie Starr.

Hi Andrew I was thinking along those lines but it may be a little before rich's time

Clint

[Peter Lacey]

Live rodents quite simply is not a good idea, there are far more humane ways of feeding your Ts. Currently there is a body against exotic pet keeping and this kind of feeding can only attract negative attention as well as fuel the argument.
As Colin suggests let get back to topic.
Richard, have you looked at other alternatives worth considering. You might want to do a search on Yell.com for exotic pet shops in your area.

[Colin D Wilson]

As Colin suggests let get back to topic..

Thanks Peter, appreciated

Richard, have you looked at other alternatives worth considering. You might want to do a search on Yell.com for exotic pet shops in your area.

Good idea, although where abouts are you Richard?, i'm sure there will be someone on here that will poiint you in the right direction from their own good experiences. (if you've mentioned where you are already, ignore me ...i'm an idiot )

[Peter Lacey]

Colindale, tee-hee how could you forget Colin!