First time EVER seeing a T eat!

leb0401

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 15, 2007
Messages
9
I fed my new rosie (my first T ever) today! Wow... what a show! :D I think i'm officially hooked on my new hobby. Wasn't sure it would eat since i just brought her home yesterday, but it gobbled up six crickets. I should feed it again in a week right? It's still a juvie, about 2" long. Don't yet know if its a male or female, so i'm waiting on a name for it. Anyone that has any advice let me know, i'm all ears since i'm still so green. And oh yeah, what does tarantula poop look like? Do I have to clean it up when i find some, like snake poop?:?
 

Truff135

Arachnoprince
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Oct 22, 2007
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Wow, SIX crickets? Sounds like a bit much to me. I probably would hold off feeding for a couple weeks. I think generally speaking, offer about 2 crickets once per week (if you want to split it to one cricket twice a week that's fine too). Tarantula poop, from what I've seen, is a small white splat that you usually don't have to clean up right away. It dries out pretty quickly and you can just wipe it up or pull out that little spot of substrate. It's not like snake poo in that it starts to reek. Basically it just turns dry. One of my a.seemani's poo'd on one of the walls of her tank and I didn't see it (it was a very small spot) for about a week. It was odorless and I just wiped it off with a damp paper towel.
 

leb0401

Arachnopeon
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Dec 15, 2007
Messages
9
thanks for the advice... and oops... didn't know i was overfeeding the little guy! that damn pet store keeps leading me astray!
 

kitty_b

Arachnoprince
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Mar 28, 2006
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those little guys will eat until they're stuffed. no worries, a couple binges won't do any real damage. :)

but yes, most of us keep it down to 1-2 crickets per week. i tend to feed all my larger babies 1 cricket every 1-2 weeks (with the exception of breeding individuals), but i tend to slip in a few extra if they're notably ravenous. ;)
 

spartybassoon

Arachnobaron
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Aug 28, 2007
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It's okay to feed them that much when they're young, even Stan Schultz advises 3-6 pinheads a week for slings. However, when they get bigger, like 3-4 in., slow it down until you are feeding it a cricket once a week or two. It might be true that overfeeding will cause it to live shorter, but since no one has any proof to back that up, we don't really know. We don't even have solid info on lifespans for many T's so keep that in consideration. You don't often hear abou T's dying from being overfed. just playing devil's advocate here :D . I powerfeed my slings until they are at least an 1.5 in so that they aren't so fragile. Then, I cut back to a much more moderate feeding schedule, like a roach a week.
 

Truff135

Arachnoprince
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Oct 22, 2007
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Yeah I didn't mean to sound like he was doing it completely wrong...I have just heard so much about overfeeding but I haven't ever had a tarantula that small either. Sorry!!! I guess the best thing to do is just use your better judgement. I go by abdomen size. If the abdomen is looking small, I feed. If they start looking a little plump, I cut back. Seems to work for me so far... :)
 

desertdweller

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Aug 23, 2007
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Yeah I didn't mean to sound like he was doing it completely wrong...I have just heard so much about overfeeding but I haven't ever had a tarantula that small either. Sorry!!! I guess the best thing to do is just use your better judgement. I go by abdomen size. If the abdomen is looking small, I feed. If they start looking a little plump, I cut back. Seems to work for me so far... :)
Yeah, good input Truff. I go by the same things.

Keeping T's is certainly not an exact science and I sometimes I err on the not feed to much idea. Most T's can go months without eating in the wild. My (psycho) G rosea would eat herself into a butterball if I let her but she IS so fun to watch. She doesn't care who sees her, she's intent on chowing ASAP. Good Luck and enjoy!!!
 

Drachenjager

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
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Jan 23, 2006
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3,509
I fed my new rosie (my first T ever) today! Wow... what a show! :D I think i'm officially hooked on my new hobby. Wasn't sure it would eat since i just brought her home yesterday, but it gobbled up six crickets. I should feed it again in a week right? It's still a juvie, about 2" long. Don't yet know if its a male or female, so i'm waiting on a name for it. Anyone that has any advice let me know, i'm all ears since i'm still so green. And oh yeah, what does tarantula poop look like? Do I have to clean it up when i find some, like snake poop?:?
i think you just fed it a months worth lol
 

leb0401

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 15, 2007
Messages
9
yeah... i now realize that i did! from now on i'm not listening to anything the pet store guys say. apparently they had been feeding it six crickets on a regular basis before i took it home, so i think i'm gonna have to let it chill for a while and not feed it. which sucks because my boyfriend really wanted to see it eat and was at work during the last feeding... so he'll have to wait another month or so. oh well.....:(

-Laura
 

problemchildx

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
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Sep 24, 2007
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Yeah.. Unless I am powerfeeding, I feed all my spiders (adults, juvies, and slings) 1-2 appropriately sized crickets a week.
Good thing you found this site! :) Oh and welcome
 

Truff135

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
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I think Pepper is a great name! And yeah, if there's one thing I've learned since getting into this hobby, it's NEVER to listen to pet store people!!! There may be some that know their stuff but I imagine they're few and far between so you should definitely come here with any question. :D
 
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