Stupid Mealworms...

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

I got my Mexican Red-Knee sub-adult today who has a legspan over three inches. But the problem is, whenever I try to feed her Mealworms, they always bury into the substrate (it's a mixture of natural desert sand and moss.) Maybe I should've got her crickets instead. What do you suggest I should do?

Thanks in advance!

~Chris

[Stefan]

Mealworms shouldn't be a problem as a spider can hunt them out... normally at night when the spider is more active. There is however a good side to feeding them crickets...... the spider knows they are there almost stright away.

...in short dont be too worried about them digging. Be aware that the worms will turn into bugs that the spider will not eat.

[Neil Richardson]

Either put the mealworms in a shallow dish and usher the spider over to the dish to feed on them, or you can pinch in the head of the mealworm, which i believe will stop them from being able to dig, but wont kill them straight away.

I'd heard that the beetles that they turned into were edible, but a little tough for spiders.

[Howard Farley (Huk7)]

Hi Chris,

Going by your previous posts I get the impression that you are new to this game, so here are a few pointers from my own experience:

Mealworms: These can be fed as an occasional food item, but I certainley would advise that they are not the main food source as they are not really that nutritionally beneficial. You really are best using crickets as the main food source, feed them up, 24hrs beforehand with a good mix of fruit (for moisture) and I also find they devour good quality Goldfish food flakes. This process is called 'gut-loading' and basically works on the principle that 'you are what you eat'. This should provide the spider with a good quality food source of fairly high nutritional value.
However in the wild, tarantulas can be very opportunistic by nature, so a variety of foods doesn't do any harm, I would personally recommend waxworms (fed very sparingly as they have a high fat content), Mealworms, Locusts (not too big as they can do a lot of damage with their large back legs) and if she takes them, small defrosted mice (although not all spiders will do this).
As for the mealworms burrowing, this is a natural instinct and has been posted previously, but the spider may well (and have indeed been observed to), hunt them out at night. Also you need to allow your spider time to settle in, don't expect her to feed straight away, they will when they are ready and can indeed fast for quite lengthy periods with no ill effects.
The mealworms burrowing also brought me onto another subject, that of substrate.

You state in your post that you are using desert sand with moss, personally I would not use this at all as it would be very difficult to maintain a reasonable humidity. Even though red knees are primarily a scrubland dwelling species they are prone to poor humidity and can dry out very quickly. Now I am not saying that they have to be kept in a swamp!! But I would personally recommend a peat moss/vermiculite mixture, then a light spray about once a week using a brand new and well cleaned spray bottle (about £1 from B+Q), with an open water dish (not too big though). This has worked very well for me and still does. Also provide a shelter buried about half into the substrate made out of cork bark or the good old flowerpot cut in half lengthways.

Hopefully she is doing well and I warn you it doesn't stop here!!!! You will become hooked!!

Hopefully the information above is of use and if you would like any more information regarding the tank set up and substrate, then please feel free to e-mail me.

Howard

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I'll try pinching their heads

Yeah, I'll buy her some crickets next week. I didn't like them because they look pretty hard to catch.

As for the substrate, it's done a good job in keeping humid levels sufficient thus far, even if it's not the most sensible choice. Yeah, the sand is pretty arid, but the moss is always constantly damp and collects a lot of water, and I would say that the subtrate was 75% moss. My electronic hygro-thermometer placed on top the terrarium picks up a lot of the humidity inside the terrarium and shows that it's 60%+ and inside the terrarium it's about 3-5% higher, and when I sprayed it with a few squirts it went all the way up to above 80%. So, yeah, it seems pretty humid in there. Probably only need to spray it a little every one or two days. I'll probably add some potting soil. She already has a water dish.

The tarantula herself has done a great job at being nocturnal. She went on little exploration expeditions last night. She climbed real high and was reluctant to come onto the ground at first, but now she's on the ground huddled against the heat mat. It was pretty cold this morning in my room. My thermometer said it was about 21 degrees celsius in my room, so I left the heat mat on.