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- Mar 7, 2012
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Tonight, I put a baby carrot in the enclosure of my Brachypelma emilia to lure out the dubia roach that was hiding. After Petra finished with the roach, I looked in the enclosure and noticed that she had the carrot in her mouth.
I was sure she'd drop the carrot once she figured out it was not a bug, but she had it in her mouth for over two hours, and when she was done, the carrot was at least 50% smaller.
She has a full water dish and had already eaten at least one roach, so I am not sure what about the carrot made her want to eat it. It may have smelled like roaches, because I removed it from the roaches' feeding dish. If she touched the carrot and caused it to roll, that may have triggered an initial prey response.
Has anyone else observed this? Any thoughts on what might have prompted my tarantula to feed on a carrot?
I know that experiments have demonstrated that spiders can taste sugar, and some spiders (mostly salticids) have been observed consuming nectar and other plant matter in the wild (in addition to their normal diet of insects).
Veggie Eater (♀ Brachypelma emilia 4.5″)
I put a baby carrot in Petra's enclosure to lure out the dubia roach that was hiding out of...
I was sure she'd drop the carrot once she figured out it was not a bug, but she had it in her mouth for over two hours, and when she was done, the carrot was at least 50% smaller.
She has a full water dish and had already eaten at least one roach, so I am not sure what about the carrot made her want to eat it. It may have smelled like roaches, because I removed it from the roaches' feeding dish. If she touched the carrot and caused it to roll, that may have triggered an initial prey response.
Has anyone else observed this? Any thoughts on what might have prompted my tarantula to feed on a carrot?
I know that experiments have demonstrated that spiders can taste sugar, and some spiders (mostly salticids) have been observed consuming nectar and other plant matter in the wild (in addition to their normal diet of insects).