Does power feeding your Tarantula reduce its maximum size?

[Matthew Patrick]

I have heard a lot of sayings that power feeding can actually reduce your tarantulas maximum size. Is it true or is it just a hoax?

 

[Andrew Clayton]

I cant say for certain but power feeding it will only make it fast for ages between moults so yeah I guess in theory if its fasting so much before a moult it's going to have lost some size during that long fasting period. That's just my theory though not got a clue if that's actually what happens

 

[Matthew Patrick]

I cant say for certain but power feeding it will only make it fast for ages between moults so yeah I guess in theory if its fasting so much before a moult it's going to have lost some size during that long fasting period. That's just my theory though not got a clue if that's actually what happens

Approximately how many centimeters/inches will it be reduced?

 

[Andrew Clayton]

Approximately how many centimeters/inches will it be reduced?

There is no way of telling. Its pretty pointless too because you're T isn't going to get to that size any faster with power feeding as I said, all it's going to do is make you're T fast for a longer period of time. Also if that is in fact true that power feeding would reduce the size of a fully grown T it is going to depend on what species it is as I suppose a fast growing T will maybe only loose a few mm Where a slow growing T that fasts for a longer period of time may loose more and could be cm less in size

 

[Matthew Patrick]

There is no way of telling. Its pretty pointless too because you're T isn't going to get to that size any faster with power feeding as I said, all it's going to do is make you're T fast for a longer period of time. Also if that is in fact true that power feeding would reduce the size of a fully grown T it is going to depend on what species it is as I suppose a fast growing T will maybe only loose a few mm Where a slow growing T that fasts for a longer period of time may loose more and could be cm less in size

Thank you much for the information and for your time telling me this information! Gladly appreciate it

 

[Demonclaws]

Nonsense. Power feeding does nothing compared to "regular" feeding (assuming they get same amount of food). The size of arthropods, like all animals, depends on the nutrients, ie. the less you feed, the smaller they get.

Stop using reptile hobby terminology like power feeding or stress... They don't apply to inverts.

 

[Matthew Patrick]

Nonsense. Power feeding does nothing compared to "regular" feeding (assuming they get same amount of food). The size of arthropods, like all animals, depends on the nutrients, ie. the less you feed, the smaller they get.

Stop using reptile hobby terminology like power feeding or stress... They don't apply to inverts.

Thanks for the information!
My friend actually tried to "experiment" the theory of power feeding tarantulas is bad for their health. A little over a 3 years ago, my friend bought two 3" Grammostola Pulchripes Males. One G. Pulchripes (Troy) would be power fed and the other one (Christopher) will be regularly be fed. He feeds Troy a adult superworm per week and increases the temprature in the T's enclosure because power feeding will also need to stimulate the T’s metabolism, by increasing the temprature. Christopher will recieve a adult superworm every 2 weeks with standard room temprature. This proccess goes on about a year or so (dont know the exact date). The G. Pulchripes which my friend have been power feeding (Troy), has became a mature male around 4 months earlier than the regular fed one. But Troy only grew 4.5 inches while Christopher grew around 5.5-6 inches mature male. Troy passed almost a year after maturity while Christopherppassed almost 2 years after maturity. In his opinion, he truly believes that power feeding is bad for your T's. I just want to conclude that this is his opinion and he doesn't want offend anyone by his opinion. He told me last month that just to make sure it wasn't a coincidence he is testing this theory again and bought two 3" Brachypelma Hamorii Males. And yes, the two mature males Grammostola Pulchripes were mated with mature females and both eggsacks were succesful. Again this is his opinion and doesn't want to offend anyone. Have a good day.

 

[Urzeitmensch]

Thanks for the information!
My friend actually tried to "experiment" the theory of power feeding tarantulas is bad for their health. A little over a 3 years ago, my friend bought two 3" Grammostola Pulchripes Males. One G. Pulchripes (Troy) would be power fed and the other one (Christopher) will be regularly be fed. He feeds Troy a adult superworm per week and increases the temprature in the T's enclosure because power feeding will also need to stimulate the T’s metabolism, by increasing the temprature. Christopher will recieve a adult superworm every 2 weeks with standard room temprature. This proccess goes on about a year or so (dont know the exact date). The G. Pulchripes which my friend have been power feeding (Troy), has became a mature male around 4 months earlier than the regular fed one. But Troy only grew 4.5 inches while Christopher grew around 5.5-6 inches mature male. Troy passed almost a year after maturity while Christopherppassed almost 2 years after maturity. In his opinion, he truly believes that power feeding is bad for your T's. I just want to conclude that this is his opinion and he doesn't want offend anyone by his opinion. He told me last month that just to make sure it wasn't a coincidence he is testing this theory again and bought two 3" Brachypelma Hamorii Males. And yes, the two mature males Grammostola Pulchripes were mated with mature females and both eggsacks were succesful. Again this is his opinion and doesn't want to offend anyone. Have a good day.

Hm, that's a pretty small test sample. Spiders from the same eggsac can grow differently in speed and size afaik, even under identical conditions. I found Tom Morans thoughts on power feeding interesting
:

https://tomsbigspiders.com/2015/08/21/power-feeding-tarantulas/

 

[Andrew Clayton]

Nonsense. Power feeding does nothing compared to "regular" feeding (assuming they get same amount of food). The size of arthropods, like all animals, depends on the nutrients, ie. the less you feed, the smaller they get.

Stop using reptile hobby terminology like power feeding or stress... They don't apply to inverts.

What I said was theoretical I never said anything was fact so to call it nonsense you must have proof that this is in fact not true, A T that is fed a lot and frequently will fast for a longer period between moults so care to clarify for arguments sake why this theory is definetly not the case

 

[Matthew Patrick]

What I said was theoretical I never said anything was fact so to call it nonsense you must have proof that this is in fact not true, A T that is fed a lot and frequently will fast for a longer period between moults so care to clarify for arguments sake why this theory is definetly not the case

I was just sharing a thought nothing to argue about

 

[Predacons5]

Your friend needs to control for one variable at a time, not several at a time.

When he changes 2 variables at a time, he’s unable to determine which variable was the one that produced the predicted effect.

When he’s changing both the feeding method and the temperature, the case study was already flawed to begin with.

How do you determine which variable was the thing that stunted the growth rate?

Are you able to say that the “power feeding” was the variable that affected the outcome, or are you able to say that the change in temperature was the one that affected the outcome?

He should’ve kept the temperatures for both tarantulas the same, not make 1 different from the other.

This case study’s results are inconclusive. The results neither support nor refutes the hypothesis of power feeding causing stunted growth in tarantulas.

 

[khil]

Nonsense. Power feeding does nothing compared to "regular" feeding (assuming they get same amount of food). The size of arthropods, like all animals, depends on the nutrients, ie. the less you feed, the smaller they get.

Stop using reptile hobby terminology like power feeding or stress... They don't apply to inverts.

I agree with this; their metabolisms are much different than mammals as well.

 

[Andrew Clayton]

I was just sharing a thought nothing to argue about

Lol I'm not talking of an actual argument bud. More of a debate to see where our thoughts on the matter differ for talking sake

I agree with this; their metabolisms are much different than mammals as well.

You say you agree, but with mammals the less you feed the smaller they will be, that is fact. Making Metabolism the same situation for inverts and mammals as that's what is being Debated. I do not agree with this fact, they are different metabolism wise, so who can say for fact that a long fasting period before a molt dose not reduce the overall size of a T, that is fed less but over a longer period so it is still increasing in size up until the molt

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

What about “runts” of the litter like dogs? What if your friend happened to get one healthier, stronger male and one that might not have survived in the wild bc it was a runt?

Just a thought

 

[Matthew Patrick]

You are not understanding the concept of this my friend I do not wish to argue but a friendly debate on where you stand on this situation I find it interesting to see other people's views as we are all still learning even the people that have been in the hobby since it began

I understand the concept now, sorry for being a little bit rusty this is my first post and I created this account yesterday. So im new here hehe

What about “runts” of the litter like dogs? What if your friend happened to get one healthier, stronger male and one that might not have survived in the wild bc it was a runt?

Just a thought

I had that thought too but, in our facebook groups many people post similar topics about their T being tiny at maturity due to the reason they were power feeding their T's. In fact if only a person shared me this thought I would probably not really say that thought is true, but when multiple people say the same thought. Thats when I start re-thinking my decision.

 

[krequiem]

I had that thought too but, in our facebook groups many people post similar topics about their T being tiny at maturity due to the reason they were power feeding their T's. In fact if only a person shared me this thought I would probably not really say that thought is true, but when multiple people say the same thought. Thats when I start re-thinking my decision.

While many things in the tarantula hobby have been established through trial and error and the sharing of anecdotes, I'm not sure I'd trust anecdotes on power feeding and size unless they contained a great deal more information like the temperatures people were keeping their Ts at, their definition of power feeding, etc... If one person views power feeding as once a day and another views it as twice a week, but neither gives their definition, then the anecdotes are meaningless.

Basically, I'm not sure there's a lot that can be confirmed one way or the other unless someone did some meticulous experimentation with a batch of slings in which they attempted to control for all variables aside from how often the T was fed. Heck - the food items would all need to weigh more or less the same to ensure that the amount of food they were getting per feeding wasn't different.

 

[Andrea82]

No.

 

[Andrew Clayton]

I had that thought too but, in our facebook groups many people post similar topics about their T being tiny at maturity due to the reason they were power feeding their T's. In fact if only a person shared me this thought I would probably not really say that thought is true, but when multiple people say the same thought. Thats when I start re-thinking my decision.

I think when people say that it's tiny at maturity there probably just not used to the actual sizes of tarantulas as most don't grow to the huge size many inexperienced keepers expect. Most my friends thought there going to be this huge brown spider that eats birds when in actual fact this couldn't be further from the truth yes there is huge brown spiders and supposedly there are spiders that eat birds according to that explorers Photo in South America Hundreds of years ago But there is such a huge variation

 

[Vanessa]

These pseudo, scientist wannabe, experiments prove absolutely nothing for a myriad of reasons. And, while anecdotal information being shared by hobbyists should not be dismissed as baseless and irrelevant, calling it anything but anecdotal is ridiculous.
We should be concentrating on ways to improve their lives and not conducting pseudo experiments on them that could prove to be a detriment to their well being.

 

[Andrew Clayton]

These pseudo, scientist wannabe, experiments prove absolutely nothing for a myriad of reasons. And, while anecdotal information being shared by hobbyists should not be dismissed as baseless and irrelevant, calling it anything but anecdotal is ridiculous.
We should be concentrating on ways to improve their lives and not conducting pseudo experiments on them that could prove to be a detriment to them.

I totally agree and would not partake in any such thing I know how to take care of my Ts and I will continue this, this conversation is just merely speculation and your thoughts on why