feeding mice to T's

[paul fleming]

Does anybody have any evidence that feeding lots of mice to T's is a bad thing.
I know it is and it is something I don't do but would like to see the evidence,if there is any
paul

[wayne balcombe]

interesting topic. i've never seen any hard evidence to say its a bad thing though in my opinion the following reasons may be why hobbiests choose not to feed mice to thier spiders too often.

1. a live mouse if put into a vivarium may injur of kill the spider.

2. some mice that are available may be carrying diseases that could harm any animal that eats it.

3. remains of mice fed to spiders may rot if left and attract many parasites that could harm the spider.

there are probably more reasons but from my own experience the odd pinkie mouse if wiggled in front of hungry spider as a meal is usually ok though i've never seen any published data to say otherwise.

hope this has helped in some small way.

wayne.

[Iain Condy]

I had no problems when feeding pinky mice to my L.para. just wiggle the defrosted pinkie with some tweezers in front of the T and if it's hungry it will take the bait. I clean the remains out before it can rot.
Please remember that it is illegal to use live mammals as food so the mouse must be dead before feeding to the T.

[paul fleming]

interesting topic. i've never seen any hard evidence to say its a bad thing though in my opinion the following reasons may be why hobbiests choose not to feed mice to thier spiders too often.

1. a live mouse if put into a vivarium may injur of kill the spider.

2. some mice that are available may be carrying diseases that could harm any animal that eats it.

3. remains of mice fed to spiders may rot if left and attract many parasites that could harm the spider.

there are probably more reasons but from my own experience the odd pinkie mouse if wiggled in front of hungry spider as a meal is usually ok though i've never seen any published data to say otherwise.

hope this has helped in some small way.

wayne.

Although the above points may be valid.....this was not what I was thinking.
I never said anything about feeding live....which in my eyes borders on criminal behaviour
I am more concerned with the calcium implications......that is all that concerns me and I think this is the reason why it is not such good idea feeding mice or even pinkies on a regular basis
paul

[Iain Condy]

Your concerns are valid but if you think about it the T's natural diet would be a variety of prey from insects to lizards and birds and small mammals. a variety of foods may help to stop any deficiencies later on. This is just my opinion however. I must add that it is UK law that prohibits feeding live mammals, I don't think that this is the case int other countries.

[wayne balcombe]

i second Iains last post. small mammals would be part of a treraphosids natural diet along with insects, small reptiles and amphibians. i'm not too familier with the specifics of a spiders metabolism but i would imagine that a varied diet for your spiders (including the odd defrosted pinkie or fuzzy) will have no adverse effects. i would however be interested if anyone can provide some information in the affects of variouse minerals on a spiders metabolism.

it is against UK law to feed any live mammal to another, though i know many people disregard this and do it anyway for sport........... i am totally against this particular practise and completely discourage it.

wayne

[paul fleming]

why then , when I was feeding my king a pinkie did peeps here slag me off for doing this....they quoted the calcium thing......I can always go back and dig the post up if you don't believe me.
I just want to see facts......had enough of peeps saying.....don't do this or you should do this without facts to back up the statements.....is this too much to ask?
If it is opinion,it should say so and not what you heard down the pub off your mates......see where I am coming from?
These are live (my pets ) animals we are talking about here and their care should not be left to conjecture.
This is just my opinion by the way....I want to provide good care for my animals but I need facts.....and so far I have seen none !

[wayne balcombe]

i understand the point you are trying to make and as i've expressed above i am giving you my "opinion" and 14 years worth of experience keeping and breeding spiders.

ok then the facts............

1. in the wild the natural diet of these spiders include small mammals like mice. (fact)

2. almost every care sheet published for the larger species of spiders include defrosted pinkie mice as an acceptable meal on an occasional basis. (fact)

as i stated above i dont know enough about the metabolism of spiders to tell you the effect of feeding large amounts of mice to them. there may well be an issue with calcium but i've never heard of it and if there is i would also like more info about it.

[paul fleming]

Agree entirely mate and that is why I want to know
paul

[Iain Condy]

I too would like to know about the calcium issue! I have not noticed any probs with my T's although I only feed them a pinkie about twice a year. I know that in the wild T's are oportunist feeders and will eat anyting that comes into range and is not too large for them. I don't know why there should be a problem unless the T's are fed exclusively on calcium rich food then I guess that it would obviously cause an imbalance in their nutritional intake, as it would in any creature. In humans if all you ate was red meat and alcohol you would end up with ketosis, and deficiencies in many vitamins and minerals. My point is that i think a varied diet should not harm your T. By the way diet info (for humans) is from the wife who is a nutritionist, and yes she tried to nutralise me once LOL.

[Mrs Linda Street]

We've found Dubia Roaches to be a good food source, especially for the bigger T's, and if you have your own colony, then at least you know how they've been fed, before you feed them to your prize T's

[paul fleming]

We've found Dubia Roaches to be a good food source, especially for the bigger T's, and if you have your own colony, then at least you know how they've been fed, before you feed them to your prize T's

Appreciate that but,my thread and my question in my first post is not about roaches or other invertebrates.
Need to have an answer to the mousey Q.

[Mrs Linda Street]

I dont' think there's a definitive answer to the mousey Q, it's more a case of feeding a balanced diet, one thing for certain, mice tend to blow up the abdos especially on Blondi's, and I only ever feed them mice now and again, say before breeding and sometimes after a moult

[paul fleming]

I can see that but when I said I fed a pinkie to my king and then I fed it another a few weeks later,I was slated for it.
I was given the calcium 3rd degree.
If it is a problem giving them mice,we must know and the information,with evidence should be freely available......that is all I want.
Paul

[Mrs Linda Street]

I would only say, that if that's a King Baboon - C. Crawshayii, you mention, I've got a 5 year old female, she got hooked on mice by a previous owner and she would not eat anything else, and will go anything from 3-5 months and was refusing all things offered, but she will now reluctantly take a few crickets, and I would agree that mice are a fatty poor diet anyway