Dietary help

[Kirk McNulty]

Hi all, does anyone feed their larger T's anything other than small insects? I decided to give my T Apophysis a small fluffy mouse as a one off boost of nutrients and a variant in her diet. I wasn't sure it would take something that wasn't live so I made some (awesome) mouse movements on the substrate with a chopstick. This entised her out a little, I dropped the mouse in and she ran away! I used the chopstick to nudge the mouse a few times and she was on it in a flash! It's been 24 hours and she's still devouring it now. Does it make a difference? Do people do it every once in a while? If so what are the benefits?

[michaelmckinney]

Hey Kirk,

The odd rodent for larger species (apophysis, blondi and parahybana) is o.k but just the odd one mind cos as far as I have heard it shortens their lifespan.

Plus if the mouse had of been left there with your Apophysis, it would've got eaten regardless of wether it was moving or not. Tarantulas have special hairs on their toes (tarsus), these hairs are chemosensitive, meaning they can taste chemicals of edible substances with their toes.

Michael..

[Mark Pennell]

Kirk
Michael covers pretty much what I was going to say, but I'll add one more tip for you... make sure you remove all remains of the mouse when the spider has finished with it..

Or it will stink the place out, and really help those little mites to flourish to epic proportions.

Cheers
Mark

[Colin D Wilson]

One more little add-on.
If you are intending on feeding a broad spectrum of food items, then a healthy little colony of woodlice (whether they be the "cleaner" or our own indigenous species) in the tank will be invaluable in clearing the remains you have missed.

[Kirk McNulty]

Thanks for the replies.

just the odd one mind cos as far as I have heard it shortens their lifespan.

Very interesting I had no idea, I only gave her the mouse as a change from her usual diet. I hadn't really thought about if I would feed her more after the next moult.

make sure you remove all remains of the mouse when the spider has finished with it..

Or it will stink the place out, and really help those little mites to flourish to epic proportions.

Yes I will be having fun trying to get the remains out as well as my hand later on today.

If you are intending on feeding a broad spectrum of food items, then a healthy little colony of woodlice (whether they be the "cleaner" or our own indigenous species) in the tank will be invaluable in clearing the remains you have missed.

I haven't really thought of using woodlice before but if it is as simple as collecting some from the garden and leaving them to do their business around the tank I will do. Don't they bother the T's?

[Colin D Wilson]

I haven't really thought of using woodlice before but if it is as simple as collecting some from the garden and leaving them to do their business around the tank I will do. Don't they bother the T's?

Woodlice are very good cleaners, i have them in nearly all my enclosures and only seem to suffer with mould and mites in the sling pots that don't have them in, they will clear all debris from the tank over a couple of nights and i'm almost 100% that they eat any mite eggs that are present.
If you have an area that is chemicle and pesticide free then collect some of them and pop them in a tub with some bits of veg and a few tropical fish flakes for food, leave them for a week/10 days (they are crustaceans so can store toxins in their bodies for a short time) then pop a few into all your tanks. (i find in a 12 x 12 about 15 - 20 do an excellent job (1 woodie to 9 sq inch is about right)
The tarantulas don't seem to mind them either, Ive had a large sling attack and eat one a couple of times but no harm was done.

[Kirk McNulty]

Cheers for the advice Colin, I will have a nose around my garden for some.

[James Box]

anyone know of the truth about feeding mice to T's and longevity?
i'm not doing that, in fact haven't fed mice to T's at all, but i'm curious.

[Kirk McNulty]

anyone know of the truth about feeding mice to T's and longevity?
i'm not doing that, in fact haven't fed mice to T's at all, but i'm curious.

I've only had this T for one moult and it's the first time I've fed one a mouse. I record dates of moults and sizes of my T's and as I do not plan on feeding her any more mice, I can compare the time between this next moult and the ones to follow. Does the time between moults shorten if fed on mice? Or is it just that they don't moult as many times as they could have if they were fed on the normal varied diet? I thought giving her the mouse as a one off would do her some good.

[Peter Lacey]

Why would the feeding of mice have a life shortening effect? If we accept that the venom of a T wouldn't subdue a large animal and it would be superfluous for insects then it would seem to me the purpose of the venom would be to subdue small lizards, amphibians and rodents. As rodents are the most likely to enter a tarantula's burrow (if they haven't already been deterred by urticating hairs) it would suggest to me this could be an ideal source of food. I'd be interested on hearing the reasons behind this or is it a little out of context eg solely feeding mice would be detrimental?
I've certainly read that providing a more nutrious and varied diet to a female you intend to feed prior to mating can have a beneficial effect and rodents were part of that diet.
There was a thread in this forum earlier in the year that identified the various nutrients of a variety of insects and another thread about the benefit of earthworms.
I fed my 8" female L. klugi for the first time in a few weeks with a pinkie, however she showed little interest despite my prodding, moving etc. She knew it was there, put her legs on it but so far shown no interest in eating it, so tonight it gets removed, with large tongs, a suit of armour and a chainsaw! Last time I fed her a mouse (about 6 mnts ago there was no such delay).

[Kirk McNulty]

I think thats the key, a varied diet is obviously beneficial whereas being fed the same thing all the time must lack certain valuable nuetrients.

[michaelmckinney]

A varied diet no doubt is beneficial, in my experience, giving your feeder insects a varied diet is always a good way to keep your tarantulas healthy.

The odd change to locusts for a month or two is usually what I do, and they eat so much the food never goes of in their tank LOL!!

Michael..

[james spiers]

Just wondering what size locusts you feed your T's?
Ive Been feeding my 2-3yr old B. Smithi adult locusts since I got her about 3 months ago. Put a fuzzy in there but she wasn't interested so took it out. Lately she hasn't seemed interested in food and hasn't been too active either. The store I bought her from said she hadn't long moulted so cant see any reason why? she was a bit of a gannet when I first got her!

[michaelmckinney]

Hey James,

If she was eating alot of locusts, then yeah she could be going to moult. When they said she wasn't long moulted, sometimes pet shops tell you anything to make a sale, so their word might not be the gospel know what I mean. Sometimes when a tarantula has a healthy home and diet they just grow faster.

P.S Adult locusts nearly forgot there while I was ranting LOL!!!

Michael..

[james spiers]

Nice one, Thanks. She has a bit of a bald patch on her abdomen at the moment. She's a bit of a hair kicker tho so not sure wether that will have anything to do with it? She has seemed a bit more active again lately, so put a couple of smallish crickets in there to see if she's interested. Just getting a little worried as it seems like her abdomen was shrinking a little. It doesn't seem quite as plump as usual. have to wait and see what happens I suppose.