# What do you feed?



## Lucille (Oct 4, 2009)

I've spent quite a bit of time researching threads  about feeders: crickets and roaches; and am considering buying a roach colony.  There are many experienced keepers here, what do y'all feed?


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## Ictinike (Oct 4, 2009)

Crickets for now since I only have 4 T's and 3 are slings so a full blown roach colony seems  overkill for me at this time.

I do have plans, of course, of more T's so once it's justified I'm ready to head to roaches.  Already tired of dirty, stinky, dead crickets that cost way too much


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## Hobo (Oct 4, 2009)

I feed a rotation of crickets, superworms/mealworms, and silkworms.

Silkworms by far seem to be the best for my 2 adults. They don't stink, they are apparently very nutritious, they don't really climb, move fast and don't burrow - just haplessly try to crawl wherever you put them on the substrate, they can survive about a week without eating and my Ts don't hesitate to take em.

The only downsides that I can see is that they are relatively expensive (at least where I am), hard to find, and apparently very difficult to breed. I would feed them silkworms all the time, but I like to change the food around sometimes.


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## Warren Bautista (Oct 4, 2009)

Discoids and lateralis for mine.


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## BrynWilliams (Oct 4, 2009)

i initially fed crickets but keeping them was an arse pain. So i bought 50 dubia adults and now I have around 500


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## Jack III (Oct 4, 2009)

IMHO A varied diet is the way to go.  Like HOBO stated, feed multiple feeder species, especially if you are looking for optimal health / breeding situations.  This goes for most all things living.


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## WARPIG (Oct 4, 2009)

Crickets, meal worms, and mega worms.

PIG-


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## rvtjonny (Oct 4, 2009)

*dubia*


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## maitre (Oct 4, 2009)

I used to use crickets but the smell was absolutely terrible!!!

Now I use:
B. Dubias - These guys are decent as feeders. I hate when they just sit there or burrow down. I like their adult size for feeding larger animals
B. Lateralis - Pretty awesome feeder but the adult size is a little small to feed to larger animals
superworms on occasion with all my animals - I hear the fat content is high.
superworm beetles if available (I don't breed but sometimes they just metamorphise on their own)
Silkworms on occasion - I want to but haven't successfully metamorphised them into moths. I will try again next Spring/Summer when the mulberry leaves are back on the bushes.

Actually, I'm starting to get some deaths in one of my Dubia tubs and I don't know why but it smells funky so I need to clear out the dead every few days. Pretty annoying... My original colony is fine so I don't know why this new colony has individuals dying off.


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## jmiller (Oct 4, 2009)

Roaches for sure but you need more that one species if you have different size T's.  One roach does not fit all.  B. lateralis for the small, dubia for medium and discoids for the large.


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## Bothrops (Oct 4, 2009)

crickets/mealworms/superworms here


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## Exo (Oct 4, 2009)

Crickets, mealworms, and mealworm beetles.


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## Krazy Kat (Oct 4, 2009)

Dubias for me but would like to try other feeders to mix things up..


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## leoman777 (Oct 4, 2009)

i feed crickets, mealworms, mealworms beetles, superworms


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## Miami Cracker (Oct 4, 2009)

i feed with hornworms mostly but i do use small crix for my slings


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## spiderfield (Oct 4, 2009)

_B. dubia_ and crickets for my guys.


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## Teal (Oct 4, 2009)

*Mine have a staple of dubias, with crickets and mealworms thrown in. *


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## Agent Jones (Oct 4, 2009)

dubia and crickets for the big'uns, 10 day and pinhead crickets for the slings, of course.


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## Ariel (Oct 4, 2009)

crickets mostly, I feed mealworms occasionally.


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## Mack&Cass (Oct 4, 2009)

Ours get mostly crickets but we mix it up with occasional wax/butter/meal/jumbo mealworms for variety as well as excess males from our growing dubia colony


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## EightLeggedFrea (Oct 4, 2009)

I mostly feed mine Dubias, occasionally B. lateralis. My G. rosea and B. smithi also each got a superworm last week. I haven't used crickets in AGES since I got my roach colonies breeding.


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## ZergFront (Oct 4, 2009)

Crickets as a staple with the occasional mealworm or waxworm. Haven't tried soldiergrubs with tarantulas yet, but my water dragon didn't like them. Wonder if anyone has fed the large flies to their arachnids. I'd like to try others but..

 1.) Until I have my own place, NO roaches!! 

 2.) Butterworms - they're hit with low-level radiation before importation to sterilize them as a preventative to Trevo moth infestation. Plus, they only eat Trevo bush so you have to refridgerate anyway to keep their metabolism low so they last until feeding. I might get some but there will be no way of breeding them..

 3.) Hornworms and Silkworms - Hormworms to my knowledge only eat tomato or tobacco plants (plants that would die in winter here) and silkworms feed exclusively on mulberry, something I just don't know where to find. Might buy some plants and then start a breeding colony sometime.

 BTW, what are megaworms; are those another word for superworms? :?


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## Moose9 (Oct 4, 2009)

Mine get a variety of of 3 kinds of roaches and superworms. B. lateralis for slings and juveniles, B. dubia, B. discoidalis and superworms for sub-adults and adults.


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## pearldrummer (Oct 4, 2009)

I feed mainly B. dubia but occasionally I purchase some crickets.


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## KoffinKat138 (Oct 4, 2009)

I mainly use Large Crickets for adults,and pin head Crickets for slings,but im trying to get my slings to try wax worms,because they are a little bit more Gut loaded.


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## Hobo (Oct 5, 2009)

ZergFront said:


> silkworms feed exclusively on mulberry, something I just don't know where to find. Might buy some plants and then start a breeding colony sometime.
> 
> BTW, what are megaworms; are those another word for superworms? :?


do a search online for "silkworm chow"
A very good alternative to using actual mulberry plants. You can even get it in powdered form, but you do have to cook it up first.

And yeah, megaworms are superworms, at least around here.


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## andy375hh (Oct 5, 2009)

Latts and Dubias for me


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## Daehon (Oct 5, 2009)

I feed nothing but crickets.


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## Helix (Oct 5, 2009)

Dubias are my primary feeders plus lateralis for my smallest slings..
I also feed superworms sometimes and crickets very rarely


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## Widowman10 (Oct 6, 2009)

WC prey  during the summer. big grasshoppers are great. 

but that's more of a different food source than a staple. mostly they get crix from the LPS. 

i like to mix up the diet, get some different bugs in there. hoppers, crix, and sometimes a roach or two. nothing like a well balanced diet, right?!  







and yes, i've been feeding WC prey for _years_ now, and have never had any problems at all. but then again, i live out in the middle of nowhere in CO


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## crawltech (Oct 6, 2009)

crickets mostly....workin on a colony of hissers....also do the wild caught...grasshoppers,and huge moths for the arboreals....they love em!


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## killy (Oct 6, 2009)

Thanks for asking.  I feed my Ts pet-store crickets and mealworms.  I'm starting my own mealworm colony to reduce having to make pet-store-cricket runs so often (I do not want to get into the cricket breeding/keeping routine) - I have not graduated to roaches yet, and at this point in time I have no plans to do so.


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## JC (Oct 6, 2009)

1) B.lateralis
2) T.molitor

All day baby...


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## DansDragons (Oct 6, 2009)

i use B. dubia and Hissers.


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## Envyizm (Oct 6, 2009)

I use hissers,dubias,crickets,mealworms,superworms,darkling beetles,occasional pinkie or rat pup and D hydei "For early instar scorps and huntsmen"


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## zonbonzovi (Oct 6, 2009)

Dubia for the terrestrial T's, 'pedes, 'roons & sometimes for arboreals.  Would like to try someting else for arboreals: lateralis, ???  I use hisser nymphs on occassion, field mice(for bigguns') & moths from my yard during the summer(pesticide free zone in my heavily wooded 3 house neighborhood).  Tried crickets(stinky/noisy), mealworms(no one would eat them, adults better for cleanup IMO) & small children(pesky detectives!).


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## zes (Oct 6, 2009)

mostly B. lateralis
I get them crickets and mealworms as a variation every now and then
In a couple more molts I might have to upgrade to something bigger than B.lats xD


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## FireGuyX (Oct 6, 2009)

B. lateralis and crickets.  Dubias are just too big and I don't have any big T's at the moment.


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## JimM (Oct 6, 2009)

cricks, meal worms, termites.


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## JC (Oct 6, 2009)

JimM said:


> cricks, meal worms, termites.


termites ?


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## JimM (Oct 6, 2009)

arachneman said:


> termites ?


Yeppers....we have nice big fat ones up here.


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## JimM (Oct 7, 2009)

FYI
I'm going to try this with out local dampwood species.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=14641&highlight=termite+culture


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## DooM_ShrooM (Nov 19, 2009)

i feed them crickets, meal worms and grasshoppers that i caught outside...no worries though our place is on a mountain or some place high so there  are no such thing as pesticides in here cause my mom hates them even though she likes plant so they eat it happily!!:clap:


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## ZergFront (Nov 25, 2009)

I feed WC termites to my jumping spiders since leafhoppers are out of season. I can't cultivate termites for the same reason as the roaches but even if I could.... I can't find ONE queen for the life of me!  :wall: 

 My avic sling I had once found a queen ant in the enclosure. Wasn't a good thing for the ant...


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## Smitty78 (Nov 26, 2009)

Dubia/Discoids/Lobsters


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## redrumpslump (Nov 26, 2009)

Ictinike said:


> Crickets for now since I only have 4 T's and 3 are slings so a full blown roach colony seems  overkill for me at this time.
> 
> I do have plans, of course, of more T's so once it's justified I'm ready to head to roaches.  Already tired of dirty, stinky, dead crickets that cost way too much


Thats exactly how it is for me. i got 4 slings right now and im on the waiting list for a gbb sling in february. and im looking for a mature female pokie right now. But eventually i wanna have enought t's for a dubia colony i hate crickets


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## BorisTheSpider (Nov 26, 2009)

After really reducing my collection to just a few things I mostly go with crickets . I hate them but they are cheap and easy for my needs .


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## Shell (Nov 26, 2009)

I feed a mix of crickets/mealworms/superworms also. I would love to siwtch to roaches though, Im already sick of the stink from the crickets  lol


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## Anthony Straus (Nov 26, 2009)

I feed:
Mealworms(for little t's), 
Superworms (for bigger T's), 
Dubia(for medium T's), 
Lateralis(for smaller T's), 
Craniifer(For BIG t's).


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## Wadew (Nov 26, 2009)

Crickets seem to be the staple diet with my spiders, but in between them I will offer termites,maggots,Grubs,grasshoppers,moths,and not so often roaches.

                 Wade


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## equuskat (Nov 26, 2009)

dubia, crickets, meal worms, lateralis, hissers...the occasional pinkie when someone needs a big meal.


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## -Sarah- (Nov 26, 2009)

B. dubia, definitely! All of our T's take to them like candy. No issues so far 

Crickets die easily in a higher temp environment, and don't last long. Not to mention they smell. Horrible. And for the price they want for crickets, it's absolutely ridiculous what pet stores want for them. You can't feed a huge colony on crickets alone - they're mostly digestive tract so all you're feeding is water and poop. Appetizing!! :drool: haha


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## Wadew (Nov 27, 2009)

-Sarah- said:


> B. dubia, definitely! All of our T's take to them like candy. No issues so far
> 
> Crickets die easily in a higher temp environment, and don't last long. Not to mention they smell. Horrible. And for the price they want for crickets, it's absolutely ridiculous what pet stores want for them. You can't feed a huge colony on crickets alone - they're mostly digestive tract so all you're feeding is water and poop. Appetizing!! :drool: haha


In case you did not know you should be sure the cricket is gutloaded with quality nutrition before being offered! haha......:}

                        Wade


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## Chaika (Nov 27, 2009)

I've got 10 T's, 1 adult, 6 juvies and 3 slings and I feed dubia from my own medium sized colony as a staple and supplement with black/brown crickets, lateralis and locusts for variety 

The dubia are really easy to keep and clean and smell free . And to be honest, they're cute little buggers, worth keeping in their own right. Started off with them and now got some Blaberus giganteus as well, just for pets though


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## hellraizor (Nov 27, 2009)

Everything I have gets dubias, with the exception of my pokies. They are so spoiled they won't even touch the roaches. So they get crickets.


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## Travis K (Nov 27, 2009)

I dont waist my time or money with crickets.  I have had up to 4 species of roach but currently only keep 2 speceis(dubias and hissers).  I like using young hissers for my arboreal T's, and they are just fun to have.


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## bksbuddha (Nov 27, 2009)

Crickets...works well for the ones that get too big for the Horned Lizards to eat.


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## Obelisk (Nov 27, 2009)

I feed crickets and superworms. Roaches are illegal here in FL. But, as it is, my crickets are reproducing faster than I can feed out to my 5 T's and 1 scorpion. Then when I add superworms into that for variety, I definitely have quite a few feeders which reach the end of their lifespan before I can feed them off. 

I suppose I should get more inverts because of this.


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## The Spider Faery (Nov 29, 2009)

Crickets are a staple, but for my two that are big enough, I add in silkworms.  The feeding response is great to silkworms and they are much easier to deal with, super slow, don't stink, and depending on the size, can fatten my t's up to the same size as at least 2 crickets would.


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## ZergFront (Nov 29, 2009)

Shell said:


> I feed a mix of crickets/mealworms/superworms also. I would love to siwtch to roaches though, Im already sick of the stink from the crickets  lol


;P  I'm not. Jerusalem crickets, European earwigs and stinkbugs (have had all as pets a few times) smell even worse in my P.O.

 Might buy bigger stuff as my tarantulas grow - grasshoppers, locusts, silkworms, live superworms and hornworms.

 BTW : What's the generation rate of Craniifer and can they climb well?


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## 8by8 (Mar 11, 2010)

All my T's and reptiles get a varied diet. I currently feed 
1. dubia
2. crickets
3. mealworms
4. superworms
5. wax worms 
6. silkworms
7. goliath hornworms
9. butterworms (reptiles only- full of calcium)
10. rodents 
11. comet gold fish (1.1.0 green water dragons)

I also use the moths of some of the above caterpillars for my aboreals. Looking for CB grasshoppers if any has a clue?


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## sharpfang (Mar 11, 2010)

*Dubia & Crickets Mostly*

The more Varied the diet, the Better....

Also: Silkworms {when available}, deathhead roaches, turkish roaches, and
Waxworms, as well as Mealworms {on Occasion}. Supplemented w/ Grass-hoppers and Moths  

For Breeding & after Molts: Sometimes Pinkies.

- Jason


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## Draychen (Mar 11, 2010)

*Tried Roaches..*

I've tried many times to feed my Ts roaches.. always to little success. My Ts will literally run away from the roaches unless they're absolutely starving. The negative to that is that the B. Dubia will burrow fairly quickly after they're introduced - And if your Ts is frightened but starving, they'll stalk it until the roach burrows then they seem to look at me sadly. So I'll dig the roach out and try crickets.. they'll ABSOLUTELY ANNHILATE the crickets. But tong fed or not, they avoid the roaches like the plague. Two of my Ts have no problems with the roaches.. but that was 2 out of 32 my roomate and I owned. I know the roaches are more healthy for them, they're easier to keep, keep longer, and are virtually scentless/noiseless.. But no matter how badly I want to feed my Ts roaches, if it isn't what they want who am I to argue?


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## vohnholley (Mar 11, 2010)

I feed my 86 tarantulas twice a week no matter what size it is. Early in the week or sundays, i feed crickets. then in the middle of the week i feed mealworms.  I have realized that feeding my Ts like this are causing them to get really huge. I will feed like this until they go into premolt. i havent tried any other feeders yet though


-Bruce


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## Hamburglar (Mar 11, 2010)

I haven't looked this up in awhile, but don't silkworms have a higher calcium content?  I thought that is why they were a good feeder for reptiles.  Not that I would really know anything about that though.  I'm am not saying you shouldn't use them.  I am just curious about what the content is.


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## Megan (Mar 11, 2010)

I only have one tarantula so I use crickets.. but BLARGH.  They're the worst part about keeping a tarantula.  My tarantula is so clean and unstinky but my crickets are nasty buggers.  What a pain.

Do you guys get mealworms at your LPS?  Would somewhere like Petsmart carry them?


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## Edd Eskimo (Mar 11, 2010)

The diet I usually have for my T's are B.Dubia roaches and crickets as a diet. But currently I am using Wax's to get them into premolt..


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## Jilly1337 (Mar 11, 2010)

I have a fruitfly colony and feed those to the little ones.  I'm so glad I started keeping them.  It has made feeding the little guys soooo much easier and is nearly self-perpetuating.  The rest get crickets and occasional mealworms or a TON of fruitflies if I am in a pinch, lol.


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## Bosing (Mar 11, 2010)

I feed both Lateralis and Dubia but heavier on the Lateralis diet.


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## Scoolman (Mar 11, 2010)

I feed crickets and juvenile G portensa


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## 8by8 (Mar 12, 2010)

Hamburglar said:


> I haven't looked this up in awhile, but don't silkworms have a higher calcium content?  I thought that is why they were a good feeder for reptiles.  Not that I would really know anything about that though.  I'm am not saying you shouldn't use them.  I am just curious about what the content is.


Yeah, silkworms are higher in calcium, and perfect for reptiles. But my T's may get these once every two months, but never had a bad molt due to this. Even my slings get them. T's can eat these as long as you have other things to feed next time.


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## J.huff23 (Mar 12, 2010)

Crickets and mealworms.


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## LadySharon (Mar 12, 2010)

Edd Eskimo said:


> The diet I usually have for my T's are B.Dubia roaches and crickets as a diet. But currently I am using Wax's to get them into premolt..



Ok now that sounds interesting.  How does that work?  I have two T's I want to molt in the next few months.   both are supposadly female and I want to know for sure.

One is a red phase G. Rosea and I bought her to be a mate to my MM.  But he hasn't done anything and I want to make sure she is a she... and get a molt to stimulate him.   "She" is pretty fat (and bigger then he is) so I'm hoping when it warms up a bit she will molt (as I am in a one bedroom condo I keep my T's at room temp... lowest 68 in winter - when I first got T's the people here said that was ok... but of course they don't grow as fast)  

Anyway I wondered why waxworms?  What do they do to hurry a molt?

- Sharon


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## Edd Eskimo (Mar 12, 2010)

Well, wax worms have a higher fat content compared to other feeders like meal worms and crickets. And to get them into Pre-Molt faster is not quite difficult, all you really need is a higher temp. ( I keep mine around 80-85 ) and power feed your T's with any feeders really but I prefer Waxies for that reason but I add a roach or a Cricket every few days..


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## Motorkar (Mar 13, 2010)

My spiders eat blatta Lateralis, crickets and superworms.


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## Kumo Punch (Mar 14, 2010)

Dubia and Lats


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## RoachGirlRen (Mar 14, 2010)

I vary my feeding, but the diet is dominated by turks, dubias, and superworms. I do not feed crickets any more and probably won't again; I lost several slings recently after feeding crix from a pet store when they were doing fine for almost a year on roaches, so now I ONLY want food that I have gutloaded and reared.


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## Durandal (Mar 14, 2010)

Megan said:


> I only have one tarantula so I use crickets.. but BLARGH.  They're the worst part about keeping a tarantula.  My tarantula is so clean and unstinky but my crickets are nasty buggers.  What a pain.
> 
> Do you guys get mealworms at your LPS?  Would somewhere like Petsmart carry them?


PetSmart carries them in Canada but you have to ask for them at the cricket counter. They keep them in the back.


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## Megan (Mar 14, 2010)

Durandal said:


> PetSmart carries them in Canada but you have to ask for them at the cricket counter. They keep them in the back.


Thank you!  I will ask next time I have to stop in.   I'm thinking maybe they'd sell that type of thing at a bait shop, too.


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## Ictinike (Mar 14, 2010)

Wow.. how time has gone..

I was the first reply to this thread and wanted to update.

My Lat colony has taken off and now I have ample ages of them to feed off from nymphs to now full winged males and females.

I originally ordered 1,000 but think I got close to 2-2.5k and now it's anyone's guess.

I SO love not doing crickets anymore.  The runs to the pet stores, half dead/half eaten by the time you get home and the short lifespan (at least for me).

Roaches > Crickets any day IMHO.


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## BlackCat (May 5, 2010)

Looked through the thread and didn't see this mentioned anywhere. 

I've been feeding my T's mostly crickets, but once in a while I give them meal worms. I'm thinking about switching to mostly meal worms though. What kind of nutrition would meal worms provide in comparison to crickets? Better, worse, the same?

I will do roaches eventually, just not in the immediate future.


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## SmallX (May 25, 2010)

I used to feed my T cricket, which I buy from pet store. But somehow cannot bear their smell any more, plus they are too easy to die. Now I feed my T mealworms (sectioned before feeding) + grain beetles (for a really small sling).

Picture is my three sling share a small mealworm:


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## Witch Doctor (May 25, 2010)

*Lasiodora parahybana*

What would you guys suggest for adult L. parahybana B. dubia or hissing roaches?:?


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## PoPpiLLs (May 25, 2010)

Mostly Dubias and Lats and sometimes discoids i hav not bought crickets in 2 years or more.

Damion


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## Scorpendra (May 26, 2010)

Crickets are the staple. My hissers keep pumping out nymphs, so I put those to good use with my larger Ts...Should probably try breeding some softer roaches, but I was only able to get these ones under the radar since I could pass 'em off as beetles.


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## Rick McJimsey (May 26, 2010)

I feed Philoscia muscorum to my small spiderlings.


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## super-pede (May 26, 2010)

baby gators are the usual.sometimes the occasional roach.

*S-P*


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## MichiganReptiles (May 26, 2010)

I started with crickets because that is what I've fed my reptiles (along with meal worms, horn worms, silk worms) but I have 100 dubia being delivered today and will phase out the crickets.


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