What do you feed YOUR spider?

klawfran3

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
645
Sorry to hijack the thread, but People say dubia don't smell, but I've noticed adult males musk when handled. It's not just me right? It's a really noxious smell too
 

Hobo

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Staff member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
2,208
Wow, good job feeding your spiders grain. They are carnivorous, and should be fed as such.

I have mine on a PMR diet. Mostly cricket, sometimes superworm/mealworm. That includes some raw meaty chitin to chew on.
The setae has never looked glossier, they are less active, and I've saved several dollars on materials for ICUs over the years.
Not to mention that their fangs are sparklingly clean.

Raw's the way to go.
 

dementedlullaby

Arachnobaron
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
300
Crickets (banded cricks seem to live way longer for me with a lower mortality rate), Superworms, Mealworms, Flightless Fruit Flies. I want to pick some phoenix worms up as well because they are supposed to be excellent for bearded dragons and leopard geckos. I've started to pick up a few horn worms from time to time for my leopard geckos and sugar gliders. I don't think my B. albiceps is big enough to handle a horn worm yet though. Still a juvie. For the slings I sometimes just kill a bigger worm/crick and use the pieces. I crush mealie heads so they don't burrow or bite.

I like to mix it up and give variety.
 

reunsch

Arachnosquire
Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Messages
79
Mainly crickets. Occasionally they get lobster roaches, mealworms and superworms.
 

timisimaginary

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
81
Crickets (banded cricks seem to live way longer for me with a lower mortality rate), Superworms, Mealworms, Flightless Fruit Flies. I want to pick some phoenix worms up as well because they are supposed to be excellent for bearded dragons and leopard geckos. I've started to pick up a few horn worms from time to time for my leopard geckos and sugar gliders. I don't think my B. albiceps is big enough to handle a horn worm yet though. Still a juvie. For the slings I sometimes just kill a bigger worm/crick and use the pieces. I crush mealie heads so they don't burrow or bite.

I like to mix it up and give variety.
i'd be careful with phoenix worms. they're very high in calcium and i've heard that excess calcium can create molting issues. i don't have any personal experience with them with T's (i do feed them to my lizards who benefit from the extra calcium) but i've thought about feeding them to T's in the past and decided against it for that reason.
 

Poec54

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
4,745
i'd be careful with phoenix worms. they're very high in calcium and i've heard that excess calcium can create molting issues.
There is no truth to that myth; please don't keep repeating it. In the wild many tarantulas eat a fair percentage of small vertebrates. Calcium is a non-issue with tarantulas.
 

BobGrill

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Messages
1,669
You'd be surprised how many people believe that. I could probably find so many results for people saying calcium can cause molting problems just by doing a quick Google search.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
 

timisimaginary

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
81
You'd be surprised how many people believe that. I could probably find so many results for people saying calcium can cause molting problems just by doing a quick Google search.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
yes this is how i heard it, since i have lizards whose crickets and roaches i have to dust with calcium i looked up whether that was a good idea for T's too and found this thread among others. so if this is just a myth, that is good to know, it'll make life a little easier not needing to worry about separating my dusted "lizard" crickets from my non-dusted "T" crickets.
 

Saark

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
103
I feed my big girl small neighborhood children :sarcasm:

Actually, just the normal fare, dubias, and crickets, both of which I gut load with various and sundry veggies, apple slices etc. I've fed a couple frozen/thawed rat pinkies to my T. stirmi when large dubias were hard to come by.
 

belewfripp

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
344
I feed my big girl small neighborhood children :sarcasm:
I wish I had one that big. I had a dream once I was riding to work on a giant B. smithi...

I feed mine crickets 95% of the time. Feed the crickets for a few days with Fluker's cricket food (the powder) and make sure they don't die quickly or do anything weird that might signal them as a bad batch. For larger Ts (H. gigas, goliaths, full-grown pamphos) I'll give them fuzzy mice sometimes. My goliaths had to be fed on mice near-exclusively as once they were full-grown crickets were no longer food, they were pests. It's funny to watch a tarantula treat a bug the same way most people do...

Funny story...my gf doesn't know much about spiders, and when she saw the jar of cricket food she thought it was made out of crickets (i.e. that this is what I would be feeding to the tarantulas)...
 

cold blood

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,223
I wish I had one that big. I had a dream once I was riding to work on a giant B. smithi....
Thank you, that made me laugh.

I had a vivid dream the other night where some guy was over and trying to catch my t's by grabbing them and chasing them all over the cages. Funny thing is, the enclosures were nothing I have, the t's were not a species I have, or even care for, and they were kept in pairs in improperly set up enclosures. Nothing about that dream made sense, I don't even know who this guy was, but I don't like him.

I wish I was riding a big pretty t instead....this stupid brain of mine!:)
 

Poec54

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
4,745
Crix are nasty
Yes, but they're also the backbone of the hobby. Some people can't legally have roaches, and some spiders won't eat them. If you have a good-sized collection it's just about impossible to raise enough, or afford to buy enough. I use 1,000 to 2,000 adult crickets a week; there's no way I could produce or afford an equivalent mass of roaches.
 

jusbaker

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
3
I feed crickets 100% of the time, no roaches up here in Canada. I was thinking about mixing it up with some super worms but haven't tried yet.
 
Top