Time to eat prey.

[lateapexpredator]

About 15 minutes ago I gave my 2 1/2" T. Stirmi a cricket. I dropped it before I wanted to so I shooed it over to Samsquanch and watched the live take down (my first, it was amazing). I came back and checked on her, and there's no cricket in site, corpse or otherwise.

I realize they don't eat the exoskeleton of the cricket, but could it have killed, eaten, and discarded it that quick? It took one before I could drop it off the tongs yesterday, and I haven't uncovered that bolus yet.

It seems like she held on to the mealworm I gave her the first night for quite a while (found those remains) and the cricket yesterday for a good bit as well, but I didn't expect her to discard this one so quickly. Should I be looking for another eaten cricket or one that is dead but intact?

 

[BC1579]

I had the same question, so I camped out on mine and filmed her.

Sorry for the vertical filming, but I was able to prop my phone up and get a good, low shot.

Apparently they mash it up, ingest the juice and discard the exoskeleton. It took mine (5" or so) about 30-45 minutes to finish this cricket. Keep an eye on her, and see if you can see her working the cricket with her fangs like mine did.

I've got two A. avics that feed completely differently. They capture, strike and kill the cricket. Then they hold it, do their digestive thing and wrap the bolus up for me to remove. The stirmi just makes her cricket into a paste. I've never found any real identifiable boli. If something looks unlike the substrate I pick it out, but it is unrecognizable (to me, anyway) if it's cricket remains.

 

[lateapexpredator]

I definitely watched her with both the meal worm and the cricket she took off the tweezers yesterday. It seems like it took her a few hours at the least. That's why I'm wondering why she discarded this one so quickly.

 

[BC1579]

I suppose she could have killed it and stashed it. I don't know if that's normal. It certainly isn't with my stirmi - she kills and eats immediately or doesn't kill at all.

Give her a watch. Mine would chew (I guess...masticate might be a better word) every 2 minutes or so and only for about 10-30 seconds at a time. She'd work the cricket mash around and let her sucking parts do their thing.

Here's the thread I made just a few weeks ago.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/t-stirmi-eats-prey-whole.299172/

Sounds like yours may be eating, you just may not be able to see it. Mine essentially had the whole cricket mashed up and I couldn't even see it until she started working her chelicerae.

 

[lateapexpredator]

That thread actually came up while I was making this one.

Also, update. One of my boys and I noticed that she was outside her hide again. I've begun to notice a trend that she stays about an inch out of her hide at night, probably looking for pray. We dropped a meal worm in there and she is currently chewing on it. Tried to get a picture, but she's got her back to us and loves to kick hairs at any nearby provocation, so we will leave her for tonight.

Perhaps it was too small for her? It wasn't a very big one, maybe a half inch long at most.

 

[BC1579]

I think the rule of thumb is for prey to be no longer than the abdomen...or maybe the abdomen/carapace combined. It's not a problem for me because I couldn't get crickets that big if I tried.

Are the mealies pre-killed?

 

[lateapexpredator]

No they are live. They are also fairly small, maybe even a bit too small for her. 3/4" to 1". I'll try to get a picture of her next time I feed her, probably Sunday since she's eaten 3 days in a row.

 

[BC1579]

You'll get a lot of push back here for dropping live worms. They can burrow and stay hidden for days, weeks even. Maybe a month or more I guess.

There are keepers here that have reported a rogue worm resurfacing when a T has just finished a molt. Their bodies are still squishy and their fangs are soft. They're mostly unable to defend themselves and can be eaten alive.

Sounds crazy, but it has happened. I've had them burrow and then have to snag the stirmi, remove it and sift through substrate to find the worm. I strongly, strongly recommend crushing their heads before dropping.

Fill a small pill container with substrate and drop a worm in each. They fly through inches of substrate in seconds. It's wild how fast they can get away and then become a potential time bomb for your T.

 

[lateapexpredator]

Yeah I read all about live prey before I got these guys. For crickets I'm OK with leaving them in for a while, but if she doesn't take the mealworm before it starts to burrow, out it comes. Out of the three feedings of mealworms, she has taken 2 within seconds, and the third got removed before it could get itself too deep.

For my N. Coloratovillosus, John Denver, I cut the meal worms in half and smash the head. I'm not about to take chances with either of them.

 

[Venom1080]

Watch those mealies. I do the same as you.

Sometimes, the boli is so small its not an issue. You'll find it in a few days when it starts to mold a bit.

Theraphosa like to dump things into their water dish. Absolutely vial things go on in there.

 

[lateapexpredator]

Yeah I think I've seen both you and @missmoxie (sp?) say the same thing, maybe some others. I've checked in her water dish but there isn't anything in it.

I've got a new enclosure coming soon for it, so I'll be ale to check thoroughly for anything next. I mostly just want to make sure she's eating correctly and not killing because she's going into pre-molt, but this recent mealworm feeding kinda goes against that. Granted, I guess some Ts will eat right up until molt, so who knows.