Tarantulas eating woodlice?

[Neil Richardson]

I know some of us (me included) use woodlice as guardians in our cages, to eat microscopic bits of left over food and so on.
From what i've read (Schultz) the spiders dont seem at all fussed by the woodlice and are supposed to leave them alone.

I've long suspected my P. Fasciata of eating woodlice, and today i caught her doing it. Neither of my other (terrestrial) species show any interest in killing woodlice, so perhaps it's natually an aboreal thing to do? Or do i have a crazy pokie?

Anyone else have any experience in this matter?

[Azez]

wow i never seen woodlice before or im just missing the polish common name on them heeh
could You specify what are they (scientific name ) and maybe a pic (would be great )

thanks in advance
A.

[Neil Richardson]

Large pic, so i'm gonna link it.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/neil.richardson40/spiders/Woodlice.jpg

Called Pillbugs or Sowbugs in the US, dont have a clue about the polish name for them i'm afraid.[/url]

[Chris Sainsbury]

I have been keeping woodlice in with my tarantulas for a while now and yes some of my tarantulas do eat them from time to time. I have haven't noticed any bad effects or anything on the tarantulas that have eaten them, and have only noticed that their tanks have become cleaner and mite problems are down to almost non existance!

[Ray Hale]

Knowing you Tesco its probably the only things the poor blighters have to eat. See you next week when I am sure you will take your revenge...

[Neil Richardson]

Tescos, how many lice in each tank? Right now all are in my pokie tank, as the other two spiders are looking premoult and i didnt want them to be disturbed.

[Chris Sainsbury]

How can you say such a thing Ray? They all get a good helping of bread and cheese almost every night!
BTW hows the cold sweat before the show coming on?

I as a norm put in around 10 or so (to be honest I don't really count them). They do breed in the tanks so if it looks like there are too many then I remove some if I feel its needed. So far as yet I'm yet to see any problems occur during the time when the spider moults and on a whole the woodlice seem to keep away from actulay climbing on the spider etc.

[Azez]

thank you
going to praha (Czech republic)
this sunday maybe i will get some of these since couldnt find any sellers in Poland
i will keep on searching tho
wish me luck

A.

[Chris Sainsbury]

Hi Azez
For most of my spiders I just use the ones I find under stones in my garden, but I think there is a place where you can buy tropical ones online. I got some of the tropical ones from Martin Huber (that I thought I had killed but I have found some still living) that are smaller than the European kinds.
Either way I find both have worked and still do work in with my tarantulas.

[Neil Richardson]

There were a dozen in the pokey tank, but i dont know how many it has eaten, and it is a pain to find them all. Means stripping the tank down, as most of them are hiding where i can't find them.

[Azez]

wow Tescos just gave me an idea
ofcourse we (europe or even poland ) got similar to those on pic
(almost same!) but im afraid of using them coz im not sure if they wont atak the tarantula (since im not 100% if they r same)
and other problem is about their diet hehe
what those woodlice would eat at tarantula tank ?
should i feed them with something or they will be good on they own ?
and im afraid that if one could die (as some said they r HARD to track down) it could lead to catastrophe not even in tank but something bad could happen to spider

i will do my best to find those at my place and take some pic's
(its raining for 2 days and its quite cold outside so plz be patient :P )


kind regards
A.

[Neil Richardson]

The woodlice eat all the leftover bits of food in the tank, they also eat mites and generally keep the tank clean.

They do prefer the dark and damp, so are great for my pokie tank.

[Catherine Procter]

For a long time I've wanted to put some woodlice in my tanks. For those have you that have them, did you just collect them from the garden? Any problems with them possibly having pesticides in them? I don't want to lose a spider if it eats a poisoned woodlouse for the sake of keeping the tank clean. Has any one had this problem of should I just give it a go?

[Oderus]

Knowing you Tesco its probably the only things the poor blighters have to eat.

Hummp sounds like your confusing Chris with someone else Ray iv had a juv Holothele.sp that filled itself up on wild woodlice a few times when i tryed to keep it in "mini woodland" tank with them as cleaners and is an adult female a year on, if also used them in sticky tanks to eat dropped leaves and frass again no problems that i could see, all that said the small captive bred one's maybe better if your really worried or it's something very valuable.