Grabbing or biting their prey

[Sam_Peanuts]

I read a lot of people in here that are saying they don't tong feed their tarantulas because they fear they will break a fang on the(usually metal) tongs.

That's not something I usually do myself, except for some slings and the very occasional adult that hasn't eaten in a while so I've never had a tarantula break a fang, but I've read in happened to some on a few occasions.

What I'm interested in knowing is if people who pay close attention when the tarantula attacks their prey have noticed a tarantula attacking fangs first instead of it grabbing the prey with their legs and then bringing it to their fangs(or bringing the fangs to it after it's grabbed) for the bite.

It can be something extremely hard to see due to how fast they are when attacking, but the few times I've paid close enough attention or looked at a slowed down video I took, they were always grabbing them with their feet first.

I've even seen an OBT sling in a video I took that wasn't even touching(or was barely touching, I'll try to make a gif and post it here later) a cricket after pulling it into her hide so it pretty much flew to her.

 

[Poec54]

They scoop up prey with their front legs and palps, and a split second later sink their fangs into it; many will start tearing it up immediately with their fangs using multiple insertions. That and laying silk to tangle them in help keep prey from reviving and/or escaping. Silk also serves to keep the food mass off the ground, and away from crawling/foraging insects.

 

[Chris11]

The only reason i dont tong feed... i just drop in a cricket and sometimes it happenes fast, sometimes a couple minutes. For fossorial species i tong drop the prey into the burrow... my friend has a gbb that maliciously attacks any prey on sight, but if you tong feed it, it gently grabs the prey from the tongs. Its pretty hilarious

 

[Sam_Peanuts]

Scooping first is what they seem to do most of the time, but I was wondering if that were always the case. If so, the chances of them hurting their fangs when eating should be really low since that would mean they always bring the food to their mouth themselves so they know what they're biting into.

Here's the newly created gif I mentioned I'd try to make in the first post(the real speed is about 2/3rd of a second):


That's not quite scooping(but close enough to fit the category) since she actually pulls the cricket with only one leg first and then either scoop it again or bite into it, it's hard to tell since it's mostly hidden in the dark hole.

 

[soundsmith]

Cool gif!

I only ever initially tong fed Dubia to mine and that was before I learned to crush the heads so I can just drop 'em and move on. I don't see, or have, a reason to tong feed.

They can, and will eventually, miss the prey item and grab the tongs with their legs/palps, and then try to bite them. They can't overpower the tongs (you) either, so they can end up pulling themselves up onto them, then they are hanging from them (personal experience). Or they can end up with one fang in the prey and one fang hitting metal. So on and so on. If you are tong feeding it's simple, you are increasing the possibility that they bite into metal from 0 to 100%.

 

[Ellenantula]

The Ts I have witnessed grabbed first and bit second. Unlike my house spider which bites, flees, waits for venom to kick in and then wraps in silk. I suppose are Ts are stronger than house spiders and can hold-their-own in a strength match. Or not.

 

[Chris11]

Wow, cool gif!!! Snagged it with the ole tarsal claw!!!!

 

[awiec]

Most of mine grab with their legs and pedipalps (my Thrix very gingerly rolls the crickets to her fangs) BUT I've seen one or two of my aboreals leap and hit fang first into the cricket. While fang chipping could be an issue, I don't tong feed just because most of my tarantulas are very quick and high strung and I really don't want them running up the tongs to get a piece of me.