Does power feeding your Tarantula reduce its maximum size?

[Andrea82]

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.

^^^^^^this^^^^^^
Thank you.

 

[Predacons5]

Just like not every human male will end up being 6’ tall as an adult, there will also be individual variations in size amongst T’s as well. The sizing that people read about are either max sizes for a group of the same species or an average size for that particular species. If people see the range of sizes for a particular gender of a certain species, then a clearer picture of how big these animals can get emerges.

People have to understand the concept of mean, median, and mode (the stuff we all wanted to avoid like the plague when we were in math and science classes).

The sizes mentioned in scientific journals have to be interpreted correctly as well. Not only do you have to consider mean, median, and mode, there must be an understanding that the measurements are not necessarily in regards to the species as a whole, but for the holotype of the species being described.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

There has been a proper study on this subject. I'm not sure if this study answers the question exactly, but no, power feeding does not result in smaller tarantulas. Power feeding doesn't result in bigger tarantulas either. When fed frequently, tarantulas just reach their adult size faster. Also, what the heck does "power feeding" and "fed frequently" mean anyhow? What is the baseline for how much food is "a lot" for a tarantula? I know I don't have those answers, but I guess it depends on how each person defines it.

Padilla, M., Colley, M. A., & Reading, R. P. (2018). Growth Rates of Laboratory Reared Honduran Curly Hair Tarantulas (Brachypelma albopilosum) in Response to Power Feeding. Arachnology, 17(7), 325-328.

 

[Phoenix G]

Power feeding is a term used in husbandry of reptiles, especially snakes. You can literally force feed a snake as they have a reflex to swallow, thus artificially making them bigger. The purpose is to try breeding them sooner, and THOSE snakes DO die sooner than their expected lifespan. They also do not produce as many viable young.

There is more information here:
https://tomsbigspiders.com/2015/08/21/power-feeding-tarantulas/

I noticed my wild caught T is a lot smaller than other peoples' captive bred T's, but she is successfully producing eggsacs. I thought she was much younger, she is not. Underfeeding them can result in them being smaller adults.

Edit: Additionally you can't "power feed" a tarantula. All of its meals are soup, they aren't delicious steaks they cannot resist. They simply eat more when they need to store nutrients and (I noticed desert species guarding eggs wont even drink fluids, but eat as much as you will let them before fasting, presumably storing hydration) need extra moisture. Tarantulas about to fast will often suddenly start taking more food than usual, then just as suddenly stop. There are periods they won't eat because they shouldn't be eating.

That said, many predators will have favored prey because killing them can become a skill and every attack leaves them vulnerable. (You see this in snakes and big cats.) If prey can hurt you, you only go after the safe ones unless starving. While tarantulas don't necessarily learn, it took a lot of coaxing for my wild caught to accept new foods. Maybe it didn't associate that vibration with food yet, but once it ate it, it never struggled again to take them.

 

[AzJohn]

People have been using the term "power feeding" to discuss tarantulas for decades. When dealing with tarantulas "power feeding" is feeding the tarantula every time it will eat with the expressed purpose of getting it to mature faster. People may do this with rare wild caught species. For instance, you get a wild caught tarantula that is gravid. She lays a good eggsack and you are now blessed with several babies, but no sexed males, maybe no chance of getting a sexed male. As soon as you can determine the sexes of the younger males from the females you "power feed" the females and slow the males feeding down a lot in order to get the females to mature around the same time as the males. Like others have said, it does nothing to determine the maximum size of the tarantula. It can decrease the life span of a tarantula. Power feeding males will get them to mature faster and die sooner. I've known people who have half starved a male in order to keep it alive as long as possible.

Females reach sexual maturity much smaller than their maximum size, the general consensus is around 2/3 of the maximum size. So a small female can produce a good eggsack.

 

[Predacons5]

There has been a proper study on this subject. I'm not sure if this study answers the question exactly, but no, power feeding does not result in smaller tarantulas. Power feeding doesn't result in bigger tarantulas either. When fed frequently, tarantulas just reach their adult size faster. Also, what the heck does "power feeding" and "fed frequently" mean anyhow? What is the baseline for how much food is "a lot" for a tarantula? I know I don't have those answers, but I guess it depends on how each person defines it.

Padilla, M., Colley, M. A., & Reading, R. P. (2018). Growth Rates of Laboratory Reared Honduran Curly Hair Tarantulas (Brachypelma albopilosum) in Response to Power Feeding. Arachnology, 17(7), 325-328.

I can see if I can access the full article. I am currently in a university, so I may be able to gain access the full article for free.

The abstract for the article does address the original poster’s question directly.

“Tarantulas exhibited a logistic growth curve and we found significant differences in growth rate and instar size when comparing the two groups. Group B tarantulas were significantly larger at each instar than group A tarantulas. This finding indicates that power-fed tarantulas grow at a faster rate, which suggests increased fecundity for females, though obesity may result from such a diet and impact tarantula fecundity, sexual maturity, and/or lifespan.” (Padilla, Colley, Reading, 2018)

Reference:

Padilla, M., Colley, M. A., Reading, R. P. (2018). Growth Rates of Laboratory Reared Honduran Curly Hair Tarantulas (Brachypelma albopilosum) in Response to Power Feeding. Arachnology, 17(7). 325-327. https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2017.17.7.325

As I currently understand things, the above mentioned journal article refutes the claim that "power feeding" stunts the growth of tarantulas.

 

[viper69]

There has been a proper study on this subject. I'm not sure if this study answers the question exactly, but no, power feeding does not result in smaller tarantulas. Power feeding doesn't result in bigger tarantulas either. When fed frequently, tarantulas just reach their adult size faster. Also, what the heck does "power feeding" and "fed frequently" mean anyhow? What is the baseline for how much food is "a lot" for a tarantula? I know I don't have those answers, but I guess it depends on how each person defines it.

Padilla, M., Colley, M. A., & Reading, R. P. (2018). Growth Rates of Laboratory Reared Honduran Curly Hair Tarantulas (Brachypelma albopilosum) in Response to Power Feeding. Arachnology, 17(7), 325-328.

I was hoping someone would put that ref up sooner and not later.

Always amazed at the level of “scientific research” that is being conducted!

2 variables changed, a conclusion drawn, clearly that “scientist” needs to take a class in experimental design.

 

[MBArachnids]

I am probably the only person here that does not understand the term power feeding. What is power feeding, you mention 1 superworm a week as an example of powerfeeding yet, since i started this hobby a little over a decade ago I have fed my T's on no schedule, I merely test for a feeding response and feed. Not saying I am doing it the correct way but some of my T's like the Chilobrachys sp. 'Cambodian blue' have gone entire weeks eating daily with no real fasting period to speak about.

If someone more knowledgeable on the subject can maybe just give me a broad example of what is considered as powerfeeding I would be thankful

 

[Andrea82]

I am probably the only person here that does not understand the term power feeding. What is power feeding, you mention 1 superworm a week as an example of powerfeeding yet, since i started this hobby a little over a decade ago I have fed my T's on no schedule, I merely test for a feeding response and feed. Not saying I am doing it the correct way but some of my T's like the Chilobrachys sp. 'Cambodian blue' have gone entire weeks eating daily with no real fasting period to speak about.

If someone more knowledgeable on the subject can maybe just give me a broad example of what is considered as powerfeeding I would be thankful

I think it means to feed your animal until it stops eating, while at the same time keeping temperatures high to achieve maximum growth.

 

[MBArachnids]

I think it means to feed your animal until it stops eating, while at the same time keeping temperatures high to achieve maximum growth.

This makes more sense, due to some of my T's eating daily when given the opportunity versus some that WILL only eat once a week even if presented with food more often. Thank you

 

[cold blood]

Power feeding doesnt apply to tarantulas AT ALL. They do not have linear growth, instead every t requires x amount of time to be physically ready to molt....feed heavily and their nutritional needs for the cycle are met early, but it still needs that same amount of time to be physically ready, so it just fasts till then.

To maintain max growth you merely need to plump it before or in line with this molt cycle.

The only thing super heavy feeding schedules accomplish with ts is longer fasting periods.

You could feed every day, i could feed twice a month and we could maintain the exact growth rates as long as i met the nutritional needs, which is easily accomplished by simply offering slightly larger meals.

This term has been mis used and misunderstood in this hobby for decades, and its completely ridicolous and just needs to stop.

IMO if you use the term with regards to ts, you probably dont understand the way ts grow very well.

In terms of effecting max size...well what inhibits max size is lack of nutrition...essentally malnourishment.

Using males to prove a point on this is laughable....males naturally mature at all sizes....ive raised 100s of MMs....all fed the same, some are big, some mature small, most are average....even sac mates kept and fed the same.

 

[LV-426]

My experience is that I had a huge wild caught P. irminia female. Later I bought a captive bred female P. irminia sling that when mature never got to the size of the WC female. I think there are many factors that go into the size of a individual T such as environment, variety of food, possibly whether it’s WC or CB.

 

[cold blood]

My experience is that I had a huge wild caught P. irminia female. Later I bought a captive bred female P. irminia sling that when mature never got to the size of the WC female. I think there are many factors that go into the size of a individual T such as environment, variety of food, possibly whether it’s WC or CB.

Just general size differences...in any sac, there will be smaller than average specimens and larger than average specimens. Not every specimen will attain maximum size for the species, regardless of one's husbandry.

I think there are many factors that go into the size of a individual T such as environment, variety of food, possibly whether it’s WC or CB

I cant disagree with this.

 

[Vanessa]

There is this myth that we can manipulate the metabolism of these animals to such an extent that their normal growth patterns change significantly and that is just not the case. Yes, you can manipulate them a bit, but nowhere near to the extent that people claim they can... or have.
I have heard some pretty outrageous claims of females reaching adulthood in less than two years when females of the species usually take upwards of five to six years to reach adulthood and attributing that growth to powerfeeding and elevated temperatures. Yes, you might be able to get those females to grow a bit faster than they would under more moderate conditions, but you're not going to be able to throw their basic biological functions to the wind with some extra meals and a temperature increase, so that they mature in a fraction of the time that they normally would. Their growth, their moulting cycle, still adheres to the biological limitations that they have and no amount of increasing food and temperatures is going to change that. Same with those people who think that they're going to make their tarantulas immortal by basically starving them.

 

[cold blood]

and elevated temperatures

This is the thing that will effect the speed of molt cycles more than anything....its the only thing that will decrease the amount of time a t needs to be physically prepared to molt....keeping cool and feeding less, its very easy to slow growth....but with lots of food and heat, the effects of speeding growth are not nearly as dramatic as they can be in slowing growth with the opposite.

 

[Arachnid Addicted]

Hi guys.
Imo, this question has doubtful answers. Lol.
I've already seen huge females that was power fed, and also, smaller ones. Of course I' talking when it comes to their adult sizes. I dont have a actual statistics, though, so I'm only talking from my own (and some friends) experiences.
What I believe is true, though, is that they will die sooner when powerfeed. I dont how much sooner, and I do believe when it comes to females, that can live longer, "naturally", like Brachypelma, it wont affect too much. But if you test, and powerfeed your males, you'll noticed they will obviously, mature faster.
Didnt help much in here, lol. But thats what I've seen so far.

 

[cold blood]

I will reiterate...ts cant be powerfed, the term is not applicable to ts...its only applicable to animals with linear growth, like reptiles.

You can feed heavily, but its very different than powerfeeding...and one does not need to feed a t heavily to maintain max growth rates.

 

[AzJohn]

LOL I can’t believe I ‘m doing this.

Power feeding is a term used in the tarantula hobby. So, it is applicable. Language is like that. Words mean different things depending on the context. Powerfeeding does have a slightly different mean across different hobbies. A google search will find people discussing power feeding fish. The earliest powerfeeding post on this forum that I could find was from 2011. Just because one hobby uses a term does not exclude other hobbies from using it. The important thing is that people in the hobby know what it means. Or if you are like me and keep inverts, snakes, and fish, what it means in each instance.

 

[cold blood]

Power feeding is a term used in the tarantula hobby.

But its used completely incorrectly in the t hobby, causing mass confusion.

. A google search will find people discussing power feeding fish

Fish have linear growth, so its totally applicable to fish.

The important thing is that people in the hobby know what it means. Or if you are like me and keep inverts, snakes, and fish, what it means

But people don't know what it means...if they did, they wouldn't use it....if you ask 10 people in the hobby about power feeding, you are likely to get 10 different answers.....illustrating not only the confusion it causes, but the total lack of understanding of what the term actually means....much less its application.

 

[Andrea82]

LOL I can’t believe I ‘m doing this.

Power feeding is a term used in the tarantula hobby. So, it is applicable. Language is like that. Words mean different things depending on the context. Powerfeeding does have a slightly different mean across different hobbies. A google search will find people discussing power feeding fish. The earliest powerfeeding post on this forum that I could find was from 2011. Just because one hobby uses a term does not exclude other hobbies from using it. The important thing is that people in the hobby know what it means. Or if you are like me and keep inverts, snakes, and fish, what it means in each instance.

Power feeding is a term blown over from the reptile hobby. People who are also in the reptile hobby trying to implement this while it does not work like that at all with Theraphosids. It has no value in either science or even anecdotal 'evidence'.