Avic Avic switching diet from crickets to dubia roaches

[Gleek]

Hi all,
this is my first post here. Any who Ive got an adult Avic Avic (thought to be female) shes been a hearty eater ever since I rescued her. That is a hearty eater of crickets. Well i, about a week ago, aquired a small starter colony of dubia roaches. ive had two(roaches) in the T's enclosure with her since saturday. i wouldnt be worried but this will be her second week of not eating. I dont think she recognizes the roaches as food. Any suggestions to get her eating?

thanks,
Gleek

 

[xhexdx]

Dubia aren't the best food item for arboreals because they tend to hang around the bottom of the tank and burrow. Additionally, they like to play dead, which can make them difficult food items in general.

Two weeks isn't exactly a long time to go without food, so I wouldn't worry too much. You could try tong-feeding her the dubia, or possibly locating a species of roach that climbs and/or flies.

 

[Gleek]

HI,
I was under the impression they werent good climbers either but mine scale the cork bark backing of the vivarium.
She will strike at them in tongs but then she just hightails it away. How long would you say is too long for her not to be eating?

 

[cnapple]

You don't really have to worry until you notice her abdomen looking shrunken or shriveled. In my lab, we're currently doing feeding trials with slings from 2nd instar on and some of those are on a feeding schedule of 20-50% body mass meals every 4 weeks. An adult tarantulas metabolism is actually slower than it is as a sling, so your avic would be fine going even longer than that. In my experience, if she gets hungry enough, she will likely figure out the dubia anyway.

 

[Gleek]

sweet thanks! i might sounds silly to you guys freaking about her but shes kinda my baby thanks you lot so much!

 

[xhexdx]

HI,
I was under the impression they werent good climbers either but mine scale the cork bark backing of the vivarium.
She will strike at them in tongs but then she just hightails it away. How long would you say is too long for her not to be eating?

They can't climb smooth surfaces. Cork bark backing isn't smooth.

Tong feeding is almost an art form. Keep trying, she'll eventually give in.

 

[webbedone]

They can't climb smooth surfaces. Cork bark backing isn't smooth.

Tong feeding is almost an art form. Keep trying, she'll eventually give in.

Thats totally true, mastering tong feeding takes some time but eventually you'll be able to tong feed almost everything, i bet if i'd have to i could tong feed my 6 yearold. Some Ts are more stubborn to diet switches esp from something to Dubia. Just keep offering dubias and eventually your T will breakdown and eat it.

 

[Ben Oliver]

diet change

from what i know about avics that they will eat when they are ready to and no sooner. if you want to use dubias you are going to have to use tongs and try to get the dubia to move around, after you get the avic to eat the dubia you shouldn't have many problems to feed it something else. you also may want to try different sizes of roach. it seems that my avic avic likes to have larger bugs instead of smaller bugs. and if that fails try to find a large moth you will see how fast the avic avic is. it seems that flying bugs set the avic avic into feeding mode.

 

[Amoeba]

The girl who sold me my Avic told me that it (he) wouldn't do well with supers but after a molt and some fang hardening time a nice wiggly super in the tongs was all the vibrations he needed. you can tong feed or if it makes a web throw the food item in then web.

 

[webbedone]

If you pinch the butt end of a dubia roach with tongs and kinda let it twich infront of an avic with it barely touching the surface of the web or the enclosure wall the avic should be on it like white on rice.

 

[Austin]

I cannot feed my A.Avic with tongs, will not take anything I put infront of em. I have to just through it in the enclosure and shut the door. Before I had put in a backdrop, the roachs and crickets I would put in the enclosure would hang out on the substrate below. Well my A.Avic figured out that food was at the bottum of the cage soo he/she would crawl down the side and wait for the poor little roach or cricket to walk right under. It was a pretty nifty plan since most of the time the feeders just run the sides of the enclosure non stop. Anyway, my A.Avic made the change from crickets to roachs no prob, it just had to be done on h/her schedual. If you don't think your A.Avic will travel to the bottum of the enclosure to search out food then you could create something that the feeders could climb to get to your T's level of the enclosure. Like a backdrop, or some bark layed up the side of the enclosure. I have both and the roachs love thinking they are getting away by climbing till they run into my T.

Anyway good luck with your A.Avic. If you fail at tongs like me the world doesn't end lol
I just happen to have a pic of my A.Avic checkin out the bottum of the enclosure as I threw a roach in. Do not mind the poopy walls

 

[Gleek]

thanks you guys this is really helpful. I guess the reason i was worried is cuz she would eat her crickets like clock work. She spends probably 60% of her time on the ground and like 40% on the wall and branches. ima go ahead and try with the tongs again ive been swhitching roaches(in her enclosure) out for differant sizes but also so they've eatin up good and well for when she does decide to chow down! thanks you all ill let you know how it goes

 

[Gleek]

SHE ATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeay

 

[0siris]

it took me nearly a month to switch my slings over to dubia from crickets.

I tong feed my T's just to get them used to it. For bigger T's I suggest using a piece of plexiglass to make sure the T doesn't decide to run up the tongs or anything. Generally speaking if your T is hungry, it will pounce on the food item as soon as it hits the substrate.

Obviously I don't recommend tong feeding Pokies or OBT's, but you should be able to get away with it with an A.avic no problem.

 

[JayMadison]

I would drop the roaches near her tunnel web, I did that for a while with mine and now he is all over the roaches.

---------- Post added 09-04-2011 at 08:37 PM ----------

They can't climb smooth surfaces. Cork bark backing isn't smooth.

Tong feeding is almost an art form. Keep trying, she'll eventually give in.

What do you feed your arborials? I tend to do dubias and lateralis, some crickets, but they seem more intersted in the roaches.

 

[MissVenom]

My AVIC Problem

I too, recently acquired a B. dubia colony but my adult female Avic. won't accept a dubia from the tongs. She usually turns her nose up to the tongs anyhow but occationally will take a cricket. The only problem is that I can throw a cricket in there and it will move and eventually (after a few hours or overnight) there is no sign of the cricket so I know she ate it. But if I throw a dubia in there it will burrow in the substrate so how is she to find it. I don't know what to do because I really want to switch over to dubias because they are more meat and crickets are disgusting. Also, after a couple days I end up having to take the food out that she didn't eat (as recommended) and accidentally destroying her web. She just cowers when I try to tong feed her - like she's scared of it. Any advice would really help!!!

Thank you
Melie

 

[0siris]

I too, recently acquired a B. dubia colony but my adult female Avic. won't accept a dubia from the tongs. She usually turns her nose up to the tongs anyhow but occationally will take a cricket. The only problem is that I can throw a cricket in there and it will move and eventually (after a few hours or overnight) there is no sign of the cricket so I know she ate it. But if I throw a dubia in there it will burrow in the substrate so how is she to find it. I don't know what to do because I really want to switch over to dubias because they are more meat and crickets are disgusting. Also, after a couple days I end up having to take the food out that she didn't eat (as recommended) and accidentally destroying her web. She just cowers when I try to tong feed her - like she's scared of it. Any advice would really help!!!

Thank you
Melie

Switching over to B.dubia from a staple cricket diet will likely take time. The key is persistence. If the T won't take the roach, then simply try again in a week. Eventually it will get hungry enough and eat. Have patience. You would be surprised how long a spider can go without food. As long as the abdomen is not too small, you should be fine.