# Earthworms?



## Andross (Mar 24, 2004)

This might be a stupid question, But can you feed your T's earthworms? Just wondering.


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## Chris V (Mar 24, 2004)

Dunno... The real question is would they eat it. Theres a member here thats fed her G Aureostriata gold fish.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Arachnopuppy (Mar 24, 2004)

Go ahead and try.  *Giggles to myself*  Tarantulas won't eat worms.  They may strike it and spit it out right away.  But it doesn't hurt for you to try to feed an earth worm to your tarantula.  Just don't expect a 'thank you' note from your tarantula.


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## Arachnopuppy (Mar 24, 2004)

Chris V said:
			
		

> Dunno... The real question is would they eat it. Theres a member here thats fed her G Aureostriata gold fish.


The bottom line is that fish are different than annelids (leeches, worms, etc...).


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## Lasiodora (Mar 24, 2004)

"Go ahead and try. *Giggles to myself* Tarantulas won't eat worms"
I disagree with the above statement.

I've fed a couple of species of t's earthworms. They ate it with gusto. Some of my t's refused it. Theraphosa apophysis,T.blondi, P.cancerides, and N.coloratovillosus are a couple of species that took them. Give it a try, your spider might like it and it would provide some variety.
Mike


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## Arachnopuppy (Mar 24, 2004)

Lasiodora said:
			
		

> I've fed a couple of species of t's earthworms. They ate it with gusto. Some of my t's refused it. Theraphosa apophysis,T.blondi, P.cancerides, and N.coloratovillosus are a couple of species that took them. Give it a try, your spider might like it and it would provide some variety.
> Mike


That is amazing!  None of my tarantulas ever accepted a worm before.  Too slimy I guess.


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## NorthwestInverts (Mar 24, 2004)

Yes, absolutely some will eat them. 

Take Care!

Reactions: Like 1


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## JohnxII (Mar 24, 2004)

How about mealworms/superworms/pupae, waxworms and silkworms? Anyone tried any of those?


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## Immortal_sin (Mar 24, 2004)

some of my Ts absolutely LOVE waxworms and superworms. However, I had not found one T yet that likes the beetles....

Reactions: Like 1


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## Lasiodora (Mar 24, 2004)

John,
Most T's will take all of the insects mentioned, especially super mealworms. Immortal beat me to it.
Mike


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## reverendsterlin (Mar 25, 2004)

my big rosie likes giant red wigglers


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## Gretchen W. (Mar 25, 2004)

*Waxworms*

My A.Seemani has not eaten a thing since I got him 2 months ago. 2 days ago I dropped a couple waxworms in and he went right after them. Ate 3 and I think he's looking for more...lol :} 
My Rose hair has been eating crickets but also ate the waxworms. 
I prefer them as well(not to eat..lol) but easier to store and they don't stink like the crickets ;P

Reactions: Sad 1


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## Phillip (Mar 25, 2004)

I got my adult blondi a long while back along with a couple of Xenesthis and all of the came from Sam Marshall's collection. He had been feeding them plenty of earth worms and they did just fine on them.

Phil


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## Sheri (Mar 25, 2004)

Chris V said:
			
		

> Dunno... The real question is would they eat it. Theres a member here thats fed her G Aureostriata gold fish.


My white knee has gold fish as well (not feeders!) and loved it. None of my eithers would touch them though...


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## extrovertinvert (Mar 25, 2004)

my T. blondi will not eat earthworms but my G. rosea loves them.  now on the other hand my t. blondi loves goldfish but my G. rosea won't touch them.  I have found that goldfish make pretty good feeders as long as the T. will eat them.  I don't feed earthworms anymore because they tend to crawl away and die then they rot at light speed so they are more trouble to me.  personally I don't like useing crickets I just don't think they are worth the ten cents a piece I have to pay for them.  goldfish are bigger and cheaper for me to use.


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## OldHag (Mar 25, 2004)

JohnxII said:
			
		

> How about mealworms/superworms/pupae, waxworms and silkworms? Anyone tried any of those?



Hey John, I feed my slings mealworm pupae all the time!! Especially the shyer ones that arent into killing a small cricket by themselves. I make sure to only feed them the freshly pupaeted ones so they dont turn into a beetle on them!
My A. braunshauseni LOVES mealworms so does my A. hentzi. The rest will eat them but not with as much gusto as they do crickets.


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## Chris V (Mar 25, 2004)

Yeah, Id like to get away from crickets myself. Not necessarily the price but the constant chirping is DRIVING ME INSANE...   
I think I might go back to meal worms. My wife is a teacher and the science experiement was to grow meal worms from larva. So my T's had meal worms for a couple of weeks and then grain beetles after they matured.


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## Andross (Mar 25, 2004)

Well I put a big fat earthworm in my T. blondi's enclosure and it snapped it up and fed on it for hours. Thanks for all the replies.


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## Ultimate Instar (Mar 26, 2004)

As far as I have seen, there's a lot of individual variation on what Ts prefer to eat.  I have a decent range of species, OW, NW, arboreals, terrestrials, etc.  One of my GBB will eat almost anything, the other GBB refuses everything except crickets.  As for the others, some will eat pinkies, some mealworms, and some crickets.  The only generalization I can give is that the larger specimens seem to have difficulty with crickets, probably because they're too small.  What I really wonder is, if a T has a bad experience with a particular prey item, can that T remember to avoid it in the future?  And for how long?

Karen N.


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## Scatr (Apr 14, 2017)

I have a more spacific question about feeding T's earthworms. If I were to pick up a fat earthworm off the street on a rainy night, could it possibly be contaminated with chemicals from cars? Or would they be safe to feed to my T?


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## Tim Benzedrine (Apr 14, 2017)

Scatr said:


> I have a more spacific question about feeding T's earthworms. If I were to pick up a fat earthworm off the street on a rainy night, could it possibly be contaminated with chemicals from cars? Or would they be safe to feed to my T?


Most definitely possible. I wouldn't try it.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Trenor (Apr 14, 2017)

Scatr said:


> I have a more spacific question about feeding T's earthworms. If I were to pick up a fat earthworm off the street on a rainy night, could it possibly be contaminated with chemicals from cars? Or would they be safe to feed to my T?


Unless you know the area you live in is very clean I would not collect local feeders for any of my animals. It's easy to pick up some worms from a bait shop if you really want to feed them. Unless the T needs a monster meal your just going to end up with a lot of leftovers (unless you cut them up).

Reactions: Agree 2


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## D Sherlod (Apr 14, 2017)

A lot of bait shop worms are collected on golf  courses. Unless your bait shop gets them from a breeding colony don't buy them. Golf courses use more pesticides and fertilizer chemicals than anywhere else.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## johnny quango (Apr 14, 2017)

I personally wouldn't feed anything wild caught to your tarantula, snake,toad etc it's simply not worth the risk


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## Magenta (Apr 14, 2017)

I wouldn't want to use anything that wasn't raised to be a feeder. Would there be any benefit to feeding earthworms?


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## cold blood (Apr 14, 2017)

Golf course collection?  Never heard that...baitshops generally buy from worm farmers....back in the day they were collected, but farming made that obsolete.https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/84/ac/07/84ac0702ad9fefedc5d5739d78abbd08.jpg

I've fed earthworms...they are a huge meal though.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Informative 1


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## patriotgator (Apr 14, 2017)

Why risk feeding something from outside that could have poison in it and kill your T when you could go to
a pet store and buy some crickets for a dollar?


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## 14pokies (Apr 14, 2017)

cold blood said:


> Golf course collection?  Never heard that...baitshops generally buy from worm farmers....back in the day they were collected, but farming made that obsolete.https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/84/ac/07/84ac0702ad9fefedc5d5739d78abbd08.jpg
> 
> I've fed earthworms...they are a huge meal though.


I don't know if you remember my post a few months back about asking whether store bought earthworms are safe feeders but this is what I was getting at.. Where the hell do they come from.Lol.. I didn't know if they were bred or if they were collected.. Eh now I know thanks..

Reactions: Like 1


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## D Sherlod (Apr 14, 2017)

I'm sure the majority are now received from worm farms but I know some rural areas still collect.


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## 14pokies (Apr 14, 2017)

D Sherlod said:


> I'm sure the majority are now received from worm farms but I know some rural areas still collect.


And the rabbit hole deepens ...


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## Trenor (Apr 14, 2017)

D Sherlod said:


> I'm sure the majority are now received from worm farms but I know some rural areas still collect.


Most everything I've seen for years in the bait shops are all commercial farming. I forget the company name but it's a blue cup down here. When I was younger my grandpa used to buy from a guy who collected them. It's easy to tell in most cases as the farm name is usually written on the side of the cup. 

I love fishing with night crawlers. I do hate trying to fish with crap red worms though.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## darkness975 (Apr 15, 2017)

Scatr said:


> If I were to pick up a fat earthworm off the street on a rainy night, could it possibly be contaminated with chemicals from cars?


Chemicals from cars/roads, pesticides, parasites, fertilizers, etc.  

Don't use any types of feeders from outside.


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## ViktorsDad7 (Aug 2, 2020)

JohnxII said:


> How about mealworms/superworms/pupae, waxworms and silkworms? Anyone tried any of those?


Hornworms, superworms for bigger species silk/wax worms are bit smaller and can be fed to smaller species. My adult female Heterometrus loves hornworms she practically snubs crickets now. My juvenile to sub adults like the goliath worms and silk worms as well the moisture content from goliath is great because it keeps them hydrated well. However some protein is good because if your pet is not pooping regularly then diet is not working.


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## DaveM (Aug 2, 2020)

@ViktorsDad7 This is an old thread you're resurrecting, but yes: mealworms, waxworms, and super [meal]worms are very popular feeders. Many Ts will eat earthworms if they are offered; whether that's a good idea or not probably depends on whether the worms have ingested anything that could be toxic/harmful.
Side point: _Heterometrus_ is a genus of scorpions, so you might want to be posting in the Scorpions section of these forums instead of the Tarantula Questions section.

Reactions: Like 1


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