A. Seemani food - help please?

[Eleanore Clein]

My flatmate is moving out and I am forced to move back to my parents. He doesn't want his Stripey Knee (Chandler) when he moves so I said I would adopt her because I have basically looked after her for two years anyway and I love her. However my mum won't have locusts in the house. She said they are too like cockroaches. She doesn't object to Chandler but I need find a less offensive food for her. What else can she eat? How about those wax moth larvae - can she eat those? I really hope I can find a food my mum will allow in the house or I will have to give my baby up. Please help!

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Eleanore, you'll find crickets are the staple diet for the vast majority of T's, easy to obtain, she should do well enough on standard size, about £2.50 a tub.

[James Box]

you can try earthworms (from a bait shop, not the garden to avoid possible chemical contact), evidently, and there are the large mealworms (sometimes called superworms) as well, which i'm told are nutritious. the small ones aren't, so be careful.

also, bait shops sell maggots...which HAS to be worse than crickets or locusts! however, if you can keep them contained and perhaps in a small beer fridge hidden in your room lol you may get away with them. they are not massive prey so may not attract much interest if your spider is big, but they are nutritious! but i personally can't stand them lol, and the fact i've had a couple breakouts puts me off even more!

[matthew spooner]

as far as nutrition goes, locusts are rubbish as a main food source anyway so maybe changing food isnt a bad idea. crickets are ideal but your mum may be against those as much as locusts. like james says the meal worms aren't really good for a regular diet but i have heard the superworms are good.

[Clinton Hogben]

Depends on the size of your A seemani
lots of "T's" will accept dead food I have put a couple of links below showing my L para eating fresh raw steak and fresh raw chicken.
She goes through pick stages and refuses live food sometimes

http://75.125.176.170/~spontorg/maxine%20002.JPG

Maxine with quater checken breast

http://75.125.176.170/~spontorg/maxine%20003.JPG

Maxine with a large chunk of fresh aberdeen angus

Your spider may accept small defrosted pinkie mice its worth a go if live food is going to be a problem

Good luck with it

Clint

[James Box]

i've read that locusts are good for nutrition, but what Matthew says has cast that into doubt...but moot point here anyways!
the only thing i'd caution about feeding meat and mice to T's is it's a very high concentration of protein, and i've heard it can be a bit too much for a spider, if fed too regularly on them

[matthew spooner]

james is right. there is alot of protein in a mouse and as a long term food for Ts it isnt good.
james, locusts are mostly skelton and not alot of meat, there is alot more meat and goodness on a cricket

[James Box]

i agree, there is alot of exoskeleton, so i can see what you mean.
I was reading on this site about the alleged nutrition of locusts.

http://www.insectstore.com/keeping-breeding-buying-locusts-livefood.php

i wonder if it's a case of "quality" over "quantity?"
the main reason i tend to like locusts is their size, they tend to be attractive prey for my larger T's...though yes if you strip away the legs and wings (which the T's often do), the amount of meat isn't much more than a large cricket...
anyone else have any thoughts on this?
sorry, this is slightly thread stealing actually, as the whole point is that locusts can't be used lol!

(back onto the topic lol) personally i think earthworms and superworms are good alternatives. there is an old BTS article that mentions using worms with no obvious negative effects.
if you can manage any kind of prey variety, though, you're probably helping the T, as long as you focus on the proven more nutritional animals...

[Peter Lacey]

I suggest doing a search for earthworms in this forum as there was a good discussion on the value of these, the value of other insects and the cautions of collecting.
From memory -
Locusts are the lowest in value, but that's not to say they are worthless, however they do tend to hold disease in their gut so its a good idea to feed them for a week before feeding to your Ts. There's also the danger of the spines on the legs.
Crickets are better and tend to last longer than locusts, they'll readily lay eggs from which you can feed very small slings.
Roaches make excellent food and its not hard to maintain a colony with minimal maintenance, dubia can't fly or climb but are slow growing, lobster grow fast but they can climb and fly.
Fruitflies are great for slings but you need to consider alternatives as they're not recommended as a full diet.
Maggots are good for slings and small Ts as either maggots or flies.
Morioworms, mealworms, waxworms etc are good but fatty.
Earthworms are exceptionally good although there are dangers of pesticides from the surrounding areas. If you have a compost barrel you have a great source of clean worms.
rodents should not be part of a regular diet, too much calcium. I only consider these for adults after moult or as part of a breeding program.
I don't subscribe to raw meet in the enclosure.