about meal worms and tarantulas

vohnholley · Oct 9, 2009

I know this is a unusal question to be asking but i was wondering, does any one feed their adult tarantulas a diet made primarily up of mralworms? I say this is a unusual question because i produce millions of my own mealworms but i have always used them for my geckos ,fish ,outside birds ,and my bearded dragons. I have traded with peole who use them for their sling but does anyone use them as a staple for their adults? i would really like to know.

Bruce

Teal · Oct 9, 2009

I don't use them as a staple, though it's what my P. chordatus has had the past two times... she really enjoys them. I got them for my geckos, who completely ignored them.. so I tried them out on the Ts, with good results.

Abby · Oct 9, 2009

I don't use them as a staple in my T's diet, but I do give her mealworms one feeding time, and crickets the next feeding time. I read in a post that after dubia roaches the mealworms have more protein than crickets, and I want to vary my T's diet. I'll look for the thread

ghordy · Oct 9, 2009

What's the best way for this? Crush their heads, tong feed, place them on a dish? I've always used crickets but lately I'm thinking of mealworms for a little variety, plus they last a long time in the fridge.

vohnholley · Oct 9, 2009

cool because as i said before i have millions of mealies. I cant use roaches.

Abby · Oct 9, 2009

I found the thread

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=91107

and the direct link from the thread to the Feeder Analysis is:
http://doubleds.org/contactus.html

I have the summary here:

"After years of wondering which feeder is more superior? Is it Roaches or
Crickets, or maybe even Meal worms?
Well Double D's in conjunction with Blaberus.com have finally gotten you the
facts you need to answer that question once and for all.
So here it is
This information was compiled by a well known food analysis company in New
Jersey. They were asked to conduct a proximate analysis on 5 of the most
common feeder insects on the market,
1. B. Laterallis
2. B. Dubia
3. Crickets
4. Meal worms
5. Portentosa.

Sample: Moisture| Protein| Fat| Fiber| Ash|
B. Laterallis: 63.63%| 36.5%| 5.31%| 2.19%| 1.95%;
B. Dubia: 61.18%| 35.6%| 6.75%| 3.25%| 2.01%;
Meal worms: 58.74%| 21.0%| 15.52%| 2.01%| 1.18%;
Crickets: 71.96%| 18.5%| 6.26%| 2.09%| 1.29%;
G. Portentosa: 64.09%| 26.7%| 5.05%| 5.62%. 1.37%"

My T has a dish where I throw the mealworms so they don't burrow.

Abby · Oct 9, 2009

Here is a picture of my Shelob and her dish.

Lucille · Oct 9, 2009

Shelob1 said:
I found the thread

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=91107

and the direct link from the thread to the Feeder Analysis is:
http://doubleds.org/contactus.html

I have the summary here:

"After years of wondering which feeder is more superior? Is it Roaches or
Crickets, or maybe even Meal worms?
Well Double D's in conjunction with Blaberus.com have finally gotten you the
facts you need to answer that question once and for all.
So here it is
This information was compiled by a well known food analysis company in New
Jersey. They were asked to conduct a proximate analysis on 5 of the most
common feeder insects on the market,
1. B. Laterallis
2. B. Dubia
3. Crickets
4. Meal worms
5. Portentosa.

Sample: Moisture| Protein| Fat| Fiber| Ash|
B. Laterallis: 63.63%| 36.5%| 5.31%| 2.19%| 1.95%;
B. Dubia: 61.18%| 35.6%| 6.75%| 3.25%| 2.01%;
Meal worms: 58.74%| 21.0%| 15.52%| 2.01%| 1.18%;
Crickets: 71.96%| 18.5%| 6.26%| 2.09%| 1.29%;
G. Portentosa: 64.09%| 26.7%| 5.05%| 5.62%. 1.37%"

Interesting chart. What seems to be missing, and relevant, are the actual nutritional requirements of Ts. Is more protein always better? I don't know, is it?

Teal · Oct 9, 2009

ghordy said:
What's the best way for this? Crush their heads, tong feed, place them on a dish? I've always used crickets but lately I'm thinking of mealworms for a little variety, plus they last a long time in the fridge.

I just drop it either infront of them, or a few inches away (depending on which T it is). It takes the mealworm a second or two before they start burrowing, and my Ts are on em before that!

The feeding dish idea is pretty cool, Shelob1!

ghordy · Oct 9, 2009

What would be the standard size to get, and how many to give for a single feeding?

Sorry for all the dumb questions.

Ariel · Oct 9, 2009

I don't feed them as a staple. Usually I offer them every couple of feedings. I have some that really like them, others that don't. I mainly keep them for when I can't go and buy crickets.

vohnholley · Oct 10, 2009

Ok i am sorry for not answering people who had questions. well, i have on a feeding tangent tonight. I fed frozen cix last night but i ecided to try the big ts tonight. Well, My larg Ts except for Avic avic hasnt even attempted to touch their mealies. the avic however ran up( scared the crap out of me) and latched on to the mealworm. talk about sweet! I have bowls9 well bottle tops with them in there. No go as of yet. one of my sub adult smithis is getting down.

Well some one asked how to feed your Ts using mealworms( now remember i have only used them for slings and juvis so far). Well i squish the head and i pile them up in the middle of the enclosure. Trust me they will find the food!! My pulchra found its mealie in the corner of the deli cup . I am kinda scared to leave them in the enclosure alive because i have seen my mealworms devour a baby gecko if it wasnt ready to eat. i have seen one eat the pupas if i dont check them every dayso that why i crush the heads my ts dont seem to mind either.

I agree wit lucille, that article didnt give a definitive answer on feeding. they just touched on the technical aspect. honestly inthe wild a tarantulawill eat anything it can ambush or over power. seriously, look at the bird eaters! unfortunately i might have to stick with the crix for the larger Ts

JimM · Oct 10, 2009

I dumped a 100 count into a container of oatmeal do that I'd always have them on hand. I rotate them in every other week or so.

vohnholley · Oct 10, 2009

Yep, i use chicken mesh cabbage, other veggies, and bran. Staple diet for mealies.

some one asked how many to feed at a time. well as i said i breed mealies by the millions so i feed my slings 1 every other day if they dont eat it by the second day i remove the uneaten mealie. then i feed that to my fish.
Juvies i feed 3 every other day until they go into pre molt.

Stopdroproll · Oct 10, 2009

Lucille said:
Interesting chart. What seems to be missing, and relevant, are the actual nutritional requirements of Ts. Is more protein always better? I don't know, is it?

I figure their varied diet in the wild still contains a lot of protein. Doesn't mean they need a lot of protein, just a thought.

ghordy · Oct 10, 2009

Very good, informative thread on mealworms. Thank you.

8by8 · Oct 10, 2009

I feed my aphono sp new river more meal worms than anthing. Its hard to get crix that are small enough for him, and since I had a colony of worms and beatles it was more logical. Some times when hes done he looks like he wants to pop. I find that you dont have to feed as often either. I used to feed 2-3 pinheads through out a week, and 1-2 meal worms per month which is substantial.

Hobo · Oct 10, 2009

VERY important to crush the head well if you are doing so with mealworms.
If you don't, they retain enough motor skills to burrow, and will most certainly die buried within the substrate.

crawltech · Oct 10, 2009

i use em every once and a while......all my spids seem to like em,from slings,to adults.

pouchedrat · Oct 10, 2009

my GBB and my avics love f/t mealworms far more than the crickets, and they tend to get mealworms more often than not. Almost all of my T's grab onto the mealies from tweezers immediately.

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