feeding mice to T's

[paul fleming]

I can see them being fatty although they are a very good source of protein (much better the insects) but the problem quoted was calcium.
Paul

[Peter Lacey]

Paul
I've possibly not seen the post you refer to but I have seen similar and I'd suggest the opinions were not a case of slating but giving you their advice. Advice provided from experienced keepers is all we have for many of the issues we come across. There is very few studies on tarantula in its natural habitat that suggest a good or bad diet, it (as far as I'm aware) just doesnt exist and therefore we have to use other peoples experience to guide us through. The only paper I've read on the feeding of rodents suggested the tarantula that were fed rodents did not live as long as those that were not fed rodents and it made a point of suggesting they were fed more than 3 or 4 a year.
Many people will suggest a certain food/conditions/inbreeding etc does no harm simply because the effects are not immediate. That's no basis for an informed opinion.

So, lets look at the issues of calcium. Within a rodent there are a number of components, and I'd guess most of the calcium is in the bones. The tarantula doesn't actually eat the bones, nor the skin in my experience. However it does eat much of the internal organs including the fat. Now, as we all know, tarantula are opportunistic feeders, if there's food available they'll eat it, but that doesn't mean they've explored what's good or bad for them. Under that guise the tarantula would know when to stop eating insects and yet its obvious that some will gorge themselves on large amounts of food.
My own thoughts are subject to thoughts on how often a rodent is likely to become prey in a natural habitat. Nearly all the tarantula I have build webs but most are not visible. Pick up some of the substrate in a mature enclosure and you'll find webbing covers it. Within this webbing we're told, and we can observe, urticating hairs. Its sugggested one of the reasons for this is defence and that defence must surely come from a likely predator sniffing for an easy meal. A sniff of urticating hairs near a burrow is likely to have a fast reaction and I'd be as bold to say few rodents would venture closer to a burrow after a nose full of these hairs. Therefore, IMO, rodents wouldnt make up much of a tarantula's diet, but if it did surely we'd see the evidence of this around their burrows. What's left of a mouse after feeding to a tarantula gives off a rather putrid smell that could only attract other scavengers that might also pose a danger to the tarantula.
As I've suggested, there are plenty of opinions and little evidence, but if the opinions are correct then regularly feeding rodents to your tarantula will shorten its life or possibly cause problems with moulting. If the opinions are incorrect but you decide not to feed your tarantula mice I believe there would be no impact on the tarantula's health from such a diet.
The only time I consider feeding mice to my large tarantula is after a moult or as part of a breeding programme.

These are my opinions, others may differ, but until someone decides to study, over a number of years, the effects on feeding rodents, opinions is all we have and you have to base your choice on whether to follow that advice or not.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Peter, I think you've covered that fairly comprehensively, and hope that Paul hasn't taken offense at what anyone else may have mentioned elsewhere, with I'm sure 'good intentions', at the end of the day all our T's are in captivity and we can only do the best we can to give them a varied diet.

[wayne balcombe]

hi peter,

very informative post that was mate, thanks for taking the time to write it up.

i agree totally and i also only feed mice to my larger spiders when in breeding program or after a molt.

its alway been dificult to find actual study results on alot of the questions we breeders and hobbiests have about our spiders and i for 1 am glad i have the colective experience of the B.T.S to turn to in times of curiosity or uncertainty.

thanks again.

wayne.

[paul fleming]

Thank you Peter for explaining that.
Without conclusive proof either way,I am pretty sure that is the best we are ever going to see.I am more than happy to accept that.I only wanted the best for my spiders and will never take things the wrong way as far as that is concerned.
I thank you again Peter for the time you put into that expalanation.....It has more than answered my question.
Paul