***this post is not here to contradict any advice given on the main pages on keeping spiders, it's pure opinion open for discussion***
Thought I'd add what I've seen when feeding our B.Smithi.
I've read so many posts now on many forums that advise to feed your spider two to three crickets every few days when they're adult.
I've also seen advice to not over feed your spider or it will moult too frequently and may die early.
What I want to know though is; is it possible to overfeed a spider? I have no idea about other species as I have one spider.
Here are my observations on our B.Smithi.
I started out by feeding her two to three crickets every few days as recommended, but this has hardly ever worked out with our spider. In the past, she hasnt always eaten these.
I havent taken them out though. I've left them instead. I don't like leaving the crickets to certain doom so if they're in there alive after a day, I put in a small amount of lettuce. They eat this.
The spider isn't always interested in the crickets. If she doesn't eat them right away, I've observed the following behaviour when the crickets come to investigate;
a) Avoids them
b) Slaps down and scares them off
c) Kills them
I've only observed the third option when we first put her in to her environment and she wasnt happy. I would assume she killed it to just be done with it and try to settle in without distraction.
After any of the first two options occur though, the crickets then never bother her again. They hang around the water dish and sit on the plants. They keep healthy, they chirp occasionally and the spider doesn't flick hairs or anything.
Eventually, she will get hungry. When she does, she catches one with no trouble and eats it.
This could be individual with our spider as she *never* catches anything that passes her burrow. She always goes out to catch her food. Recently, my girlfriend saw her climb a tank wall, reach out a leg to one of the plants that had a cricket on it, and then shake the plant continuously until the cricket fell off, at which point she ran down the wall to catch the fallen cricket (but failed that time heheh). I thought that was pretty remarkable to be honest.
Anyway, more recently she seems to have been much more hungry. I think it is because she has moulted fairly recently. We put in two crickets, and within a few hours she had eaten both. She usually takes longer to want to eat both, so we put in a third later that night.
She caught that too straight away.
Since then, she's been exhibiting all the behavour she does when she wants food. Spreading out all legs near where the crickets usually hang about feeling for movement. She's gone over to where they sometimes sit near the water, and she's gone to her feeding place. So, taking the hint we're going to put in another.
It's at this point that the guides start to advise against overfeeding. But the thing is, she seems to actively want the food, and when she doesnt want food...well we *know* when she doesnt want food because she's been so stubborn in the past (days, sometimes weeks worrying if she's ever going to eat again lol). So I'm thinking, I keep feeding her until she doesnt eat any more. I reckon it will be after this next feed.
When she hasnt been interested in food, I've seen her wait three weeks and not eat anything, with the crickets living normal crickety lives until she got hungry.
Anyway, what do people think? I realise it might well differ with species and personality types, but I'm now going to stop automatically doing the two to three crickets every few days regardless, and start on the 'wait til she's eaten what she has and wait for her usual hunting for food signs to show up'.
Wall of text ends here by the way
Thought I'd add what I've seen when feeding our B.Smithi.
I've read so many posts now on many forums that advise to feed your spider two to three crickets every few days when they're adult.
I've also seen advice to not over feed your spider or it will moult too frequently and may die early.
What I want to know though is; is it possible to overfeed a spider? I have no idea about other species as I have one spider.
Here are my observations on our B.Smithi.
I started out by feeding her two to three crickets every few days as recommended, but this has hardly ever worked out with our spider. In the past, she hasnt always eaten these.
I havent taken them out though. I've left them instead. I don't like leaving the crickets to certain doom so if they're in there alive after a day, I put in a small amount of lettuce. They eat this.
The spider isn't always interested in the crickets. If she doesn't eat them right away, I've observed the following behaviour when the crickets come to investigate;
a) Avoids them
b) Slaps down and scares them off
c) Kills them
I've only observed the third option when we first put her in to her environment and she wasnt happy. I would assume she killed it to just be done with it and try to settle in without distraction.
After any of the first two options occur though, the crickets then never bother her again. They hang around the water dish and sit on the plants. They keep healthy, they chirp occasionally and the spider doesn't flick hairs or anything.
Eventually, she will get hungry. When she does, she catches one with no trouble and eats it.
This could be individual with our spider as she *never* catches anything that passes her burrow. She always goes out to catch her food. Recently, my girlfriend saw her climb a tank wall, reach out a leg to one of the plants that had a cricket on it, and then shake the plant continuously until the cricket fell off, at which point she ran down the wall to catch the fallen cricket (but failed that time heheh). I thought that was pretty remarkable to be honest.
Anyway, more recently she seems to have been much more hungry. I think it is because she has moulted fairly recently. We put in two crickets, and within a few hours she had eaten both. She usually takes longer to want to eat both, so we put in a third later that night.
She caught that too straight away.
Since then, she's been exhibiting all the behavour she does when she wants food. Spreading out all legs near where the crickets usually hang about feeling for movement. She's gone over to where they sometimes sit near the water, and she's gone to her feeding place. So, taking the hint we're going to put in another.
It's at this point that the guides start to advise against overfeeding. But the thing is, she seems to actively want the food, and when she doesnt want food...well we *know* when she doesnt want food because she's been so stubborn in the past (days, sometimes weeks worrying if she's ever going to eat again lol). So I'm thinking, I keep feeding her until she doesnt eat any more. I reckon it will be after this next feed.
When she hasnt been interested in food, I've seen her wait three weeks and not eat anything, with the crickets living normal crickety lives until she got hungry.
Anyway, what do people think? I realise it might well differ with species and personality types, but I'm now going to stop automatically doing the two to three crickets every few days regardless, and start on the 'wait til she's eaten what she has and wait for her usual hunting for food signs to show up'.
Wall of text ends here by the way
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