I don't think my ts care if they get treats or not. The reason I don't feed mice because it makes me want to vomit when watching it. I don't think people feed large ts mice to be cruel, it's more like a large protein packed meal that would otherwise require a large amount of insect feeders. If I some how end up with a surplus of mice, ill look into getting a snake. Or if I wake up one morning and see "i want mice" scrawled in poo across the front of the glass, I will be amazed that my ts can write backwards. Until that happens, ill feed roaches and crickets.
Mice as food for Tarantulas advice please?
- Thread starter Imegnixs_Cinder
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There's one glaring similarity...both are sold AND bred, specifically as feeders. No matter how you feel about a t eating one, fact is, that they are going to get eaten by something eventually...heck if you own a cat it will dispatch its fair share of mice...and do it just for the entertainment...is it cruel to own a cat? Is it more "humane" for it to be squeezed to death by a python.....batted around by a kitty, swallowed by a large fish, etc. End result is the same in all situations...dead mousie.
They are referred to in the LPS as "feeders", and in the end, that is their primary destination, how they meet their end is just semantics IMO.
The only reason I don't feed them is because a) my larger species are still young and b) it takes a t quite a long time to consume them, which leads to an awful smell by the time they are finishing up...and they can get a little messy.
My sub adult - adult Aussie old worlds drop mice like a bad habit after they harden from a molt, I can't imagine them ever being overpowered. Btw you're ignorant and severely sheltered if you think Tarantulas don't eat whatever they get their hands on in the wild, I have found cane toad bones in larger Tarantula burrows down here, frogs, mice, rats you name it.
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At least something is able to eat those cane toads...impressive though, considering how large them toads get.
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Interesting that they can ingest them, what with those large glands full of toxins. I always thought they had no predators over there.
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Yeah they are really a problem for the dominant large lizards over there like goannas.
Regarding this Zombie Thread's topic, I wouldn't feed mice because I would rather not deal with the mess or risk of a bite. Heck it's bad enough crickets sometimes try to chew on my inverts before the venom overpowers them.
Yeah every time I see one I kill them, dumb pests killing all the native fauna, biggest mistake Aus ever made was letting these filthy animals in, I think it's because the venom breaks everything down including the poison. I only feed mice to post molt tarantulas to give them a big feed and get them on the right track, then a steady diet of meal worms and crickets for the rest of the molt.
xkris
Arachnosquire
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variety is the spice of life. i feed mice, several types of roaches, locusts, superworms, wax worms, meal worms, chickenbreast, beefsteak, duck, sometimes i get new born chickens....its all good.
The biggest T's are normally on a varied diet :wink:
gobey
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How bad of a mess is a mouse carcass to clean though in a tarantula enclosure? And that probably starts to stink real quick I'd wager right? It's not like a snake or other vertebrae that eats a mouse whole. A tarantula sucks a mouse dry for hours. Probably days. How long does a tarantula eat a mouse?
freedumbdclxvi
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I've never fed anything larger than a pinkie, but I can say pinkies don't smell. There's barely a bolus left over from them. Now, when you get larger mice with the hair and hardened bones and larger organs and whatnot, I imagine they can get pretty nasty pretty quick.
xkris
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hahaha HORRIBLE is about right. it can take 1-3 days. if you have a large hungry spider not much is going to be left over, but it is a big mess still. especially if its scattered&smeared around.
They have a ganglion, in their head. Their encephalisation quotient is so incredibly small I wouldn't consider it a "brain," per se.
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Just for you and the other 10,000 people with the same question: Mice, Calcium and Molting. Also, be forewarned that your tarantula will NOT choke on the bones! :roflmao:
After you've read that webpage, step up the webtree a few branches and start reading at Spiders, Calgary. Even if you aren't a novice (a.k.a., newbie), be sure to read
STAN'S NEWBIE INTRODUCTION. No! You start out with the RIGHT foot first.
STAN'S RANT. Read as many of the books mentioned here as you can find.
Hope this helps. Best of luck.
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We all need to learn to view the world from the perspective of a large, fuzzy spider!
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Here's the thing: yes, they were bred for food, that's their only purpose in life, but that still doesn't mean they don't deserve ethical consideration. You could say the same thing about animals on factory farms, or pit bulls bred for dog fights, or breeding dogs on puppy mills. All were born and bred to serve that purpose. Does that mean the way they're treated is OK? Nope. Dying in a gas chamber and being killed by a tarantula are light years apart in how humane a death they are. I have a snake. He's never getting anything other than pre-killed mice.
Having a cat isn't cruel, but I would never intentionally give my cat a live mouse to play with. Again, what happens in nature we can't do anything about. What happens in our homes we can. Actually, I'd keep my cat indoors if I had one, because they kill a CRAPTON of native birds, some of which are threatened, but I digress.
xkris
Arachnosquire
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oh gods, dont go there. nature is...what it is. yes its cruel. but it is what it is.
i have 2 cats, they get raw food, some of our leftovers and ultimate raw. mice, birds and other critters that they catch. there is nothing wrong about it. its their nature to be a predator.
dog gets raw, our leftovers and she also hunts every once and while. what she catches she eats, never taken away anything from her.
i have 2 cats, they get raw food, some of our leftovers and ultimate raw. mice, birds and other critters that they catch. there is nothing wrong about it. its their nature to be a predator.
dog gets raw, our leftovers and she also hunts every once and while. what she catches she eats, never taken away anything from her.
freedumbdclxvi
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Doesn't particularly matter what *you* would consider it. Open any book on the biology of insects, and you'll see, scientifically and biologically, they have a brain.