# Can A Tarantula Stay Alive Without Fangs?



## omegian (Jul 11, 2008)

hey guys im from the fat frogs forums but i found this website and i wondered if my newly bought tarantula survive without its fangs because the shop keeper cut its fangs off i dont know why..
if not ill just feed it off 
thanks issac


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## gumby (Jul 11, 2008)

in my opinion no he will not end up surviving i have had a few ts molt without fangs(mostly t. blonde) and they only survive 3-6 months like that because they can only drink. i even tried mushing up crickets for them but it was a drawn out futile attempt to save them each time


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## Xoote (Jul 11, 2008)

i dont think they will survive for the same reason as above


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## Zoltan (Jul 11, 2008)

Someone should cut that shop owner's teeth and tongue.  :evil:

It probably won't survive, because if it has no fangs, it can't inject the enzimes into the food item that are necessary for the digestion of the food.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## robc (Jul 11, 2008)

I can think of some other things to cut off

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Scorpendra (Jul 11, 2008)

how fat is she? if she big enough, you could get lucky and have her last long enough to molt and regrow her fangs.

imagine being sold a frog with no bottom jaw.


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## Lennie Collins (Jul 11, 2008)

*The tarantula expert here in Austin, Texas,  David, told me that he hand fed a Psalmopoeus Cambridgei until it got it fangs back and it bite him because the fangs had harden. He told me it took a lot of work to care for it while it had no fangs.*


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## hardlucktattoo (Jul 11, 2008)

omegian said:


> hey guys im from the fat frogs forums but i found this website and i wondered if my newly bought tarantula survive without its fangs because the shop keeper cut its fangs off i dont know why..
> if not ill just feed it off
> thanks issac


Some petshops will do that cause they are stupid they do it so you dont have to worry about it biting you they use it as a selling point but ultimately they are killing them you cay try to tong feed it i have heard of them survivng to the next molt but you will have to tong feed it dead crickets or roaches if you want you can try power feeding it to speed up the molt but i dont like powerfeeding so i have never tried it also if you keep it at a higher temp it will also help but its your call if you wanna try it ofr not personally if you are gonna feed it off i would at least give it a shot


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## runnergirl (Jul 11, 2008)

Are you sure the shopkeeper did or did he just lie to you?  I ask because it's a possibility.  You might take a good close-up photo and post it here.  Curious minds want to know!

Good luck with your T.

Sherry


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## gumby (Jul 11, 2008)

there is a very slim chance you could pull off a save in the best case i would hope the t. was 2" or less and that it had been over fed last time it ate. the smaller your t. depending on sp. the quickr it will molt and the better your chances are of regrowth that is just my opinion


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## MVDaniel (Jul 11, 2008)

I don't know.........I can't imagine anyone intentionally cutting the fangs off of a T. I think it's more likely he said that rather than admit to selling an animal in less than perfect condition. If he really did what he said he did, then he should be beaten, jailed, and then shot. That has got to be horribly against the law.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Necrobyheart (Jul 11, 2008)

If a T in fact does not have their fangs, won't they still have the venom, without anything to inject it, therefore when your feeding it off, it will cause bad effects?

coming here, talking about the pet shop owner, defanging it is alright, but to talk about feeding them off, just does not sound good to bring up here, in my opinion.


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## hardlucktattoo (Jul 11, 2008)

BTW what type of T is it? can you snap a few pics of it you dont have to worry sbout getting bit so it should be an easy task


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## von_z (Jul 11, 2008)

The digestive enzymes come from the mouth, not the fangs.  The fangs just inject venom.  As far as feeding it off, T's are venomous, not poisonous, so injesting the venom should not be harmful.


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## omegian (Jul 11, 2008)

im a lucky man then its only 3inches around
ill post a pic but how do i do that? do i copy paste or do i photobucket it?
shopkeeper said it was from thailand


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## omegian (Jul 11, 2008)

it would be cruel in the states but not in HONG KONG thus i live there


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## Scorpendra (Jul 11, 2008)

how does your location change anything?


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## omegian (Jul 11, 2008)

people here dont see animals as something to treat well
here in China we eat ANYTHING i mean anything man you should read some news of the past theere are some people in china killing dogs that are big to eat for supper.
so how do i post the pic?
do i measure the tarantula from its body to legs or only the body?


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## von_z (Jul 11, 2008)

You should just be able to go to thread tools and insert a photo from your desktop.  That's what I do.  Measure the T's legspan front to back, not body length.


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## Merfolk (Jul 11, 2008)

I have a young smithi that molted without fangs, and what I did was giving it soft worms and cut them open so it could suck the fluid out of it. It did and molted again, with fangs this time!!!


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## hardlucktattoo (Jul 11, 2008)

as far as posting a pic goes just copy and paste the img code  from photobucket


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## omegian (Jul 12, 2008)

okay how should i handle it?
its in a web which is closed 
do i destroy it?


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## hardlucktattoo (Jul 12, 2008)

omegian said:


> okay how should i handle it?
> its in a web which is closed
> do i destroy it?


dont stress it too much wait for it to come out then just pick it up it wont bite you


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## omegian (Jul 12, 2008)

ok here is a pic of its mouth





the rest of them are just random that i took of it

























can you find what species please?
its almost reaching 3inches


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## omegian (Jul 12, 2008)

sorry they are blurry i took it with my iphone


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## kc7wdg (Jul 12, 2008)

That little guy looks terrible wouldn't surprise me if it didnt live much longer.


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## Zoltan (Jul 12, 2008)

On the first picture it seems to me that it has fangs. Can you take a better picture of the mouth area?


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## omegian (Jul 12, 2008)

how does it look terrible?
its perfectly fine to my opinion but i dont keep spiders only scorps....
hey the fleshy bit of the fangs are there but the "teeth" were cut straight off


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## sublimeskunk37 (Jul 12, 2008)

Don't listen to that person. The tarantula does not look terrible. If possible, try getting a good shot of where the fangs were because it does look like it still has  its fangs.


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## Mushroom Spore (Jul 12, 2008)

kc7wdg said:


> That little guy looks terrible wouldn't surprise me if it didnt live much longer.


What the heck are you basing this on? The T looks fat and surprisingly un-shabby, if anything. The only thing wrong with it is the broken fangs, and as people have said you can usually save a T with broken fangs if you do a little extra work.


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## omegian (Jul 12, 2008)

nice i dont really want it out its been stressed A LOT my friend almost boke its leg off!   im so mad
but do you have any idea what species it is?
like i explained the 'teeth' the needle thing that injects the venom in the prey has been cut off but everything else is there perfectly


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## insekta (Jul 13, 2008)

It's things like this that make me detest humans.m  

I would, personally, try everything everyone above has noted. I wouldn't feed it off unless you're sure it's not going to make it. Even then it's cruel, but so is life. I guess some good should come of its demise.


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## omegian (Jul 13, 2008)

yeah im trying to feed it freshly molted crix that has been cut open for it but to no avail..
can you tell if its a burrowing species or a climbing one?
here are some more crappy pics......ive noticed that its gone duller! 






























thanks PLEASE TELL ME THE SPECIES I NEED TO KNOW THE CORRECT TEMPS AND CRAP!!!!! THANKS AGAIN~!!!!:}


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## kc7wdg (Jul 13, 2008)

Mushroom Spore said:


> What the heck are you basing this on? The T looks fat and surprisingly un-shabby, if anything. The only thing wrong with it is the broken fangs, and as people have said you can usually save a T with broken fangs if you do a little extra work.


Just doesn't look good to me is all. But I could be wrong and I am not saying I am right. It was my opinion.


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## omegian (Jul 13, 2008)

ive done some searching and it looks like a Chilobrachys Burmensis 
can anyone confirm or give me another species which it looks like or is..
and please send me the caresheet for it! thanks


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## sublimeskunk37 (Jul 13, 2008)

kc7wdg said:


> Just doesn't look good to me is all. But I could be wrong and I am not saying I am right. It was my opinion.


It doesn't "Look good to you"? Look I'm going to give you a piece of advice since I just woke up and this is the time when I'm most honest. You really have to watch what you say when it comes to the life of a tarantula on here. When you say things like "I wouldn't be surprised if it dies soon." with no proof, you possess the potential to make the person panic. If you look at this tarantula, it is in surprisingly great health considering it doesn't have fangs. The cephalothorax is still rump which leads me to believe there is a 90% chance this tarantula will live. So once again before you tell someone on this forum their tarantula is going to die, REALLY THINK about what you're saying before you type it.

Omegian, a 10X10X12 inch container with about 6 inches of coconut husks and peat moss for substrate (50/50 mix) would be ideal for this tarantula. 
Supply a water dish or mist the sides of the container occasionally.
Nice species , will take flight rather than fight but when cornered can become very defensive, a hands off species so don't try to handle it too much or you'll really stress it out.


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## omegian (Jul 13, 2008)

thanks for the advice! its in a 8x7x5 inch tank length then height then width
its quite small right now so ill keep it there untill it gets atleast over 4 inches
i dont have any soil right now so theres only an inch of soil there. but i do have some moss that i could fill the reast 5 inches? 
how big do they get and how should i feed it?
thanks


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## omegian (Jul 13, 2008)

what temps should it be kept in?


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## Paramite (Jul 13, 2008)

I know atleast few guys here in Finland who've managed to keep their Ts alive when they lost their fangs because of a molt.

The thing they did, is as simple as liquid food. Cricket milk shake!

Edit: Another one was a sub-adult P. cancerides, so he didn't exaclty molt very soon.


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## sublimeskunk37 (Jul 13, 2008)

omegian said:


> what temps should it be kept in?


70-80 degrees.


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## omegian (Jul 13, 2008)

oh okay thanks , hey Finnish dude I forgot your name sorry what do you mean by cricket milk shake? How do I do that and feed it to my tarantula?  
Thanks


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## Paramite (Jul 13, 2008)

The milk shake thing was a joke. Anyway, just smash up crickets and worms and it's probably also good idea to add some water to the mix. It might take a while to work but it will in the end, if you do it the right way. I'm not sure if it' s a  good idea to have a clean waterdish there with the liquid food or not. I'll try to ask.


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## omegian (Jul 13, 2008)

okay thanks give me the details when you get them thanks!


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## runnergirl (Jul 13, 2008)

omegian said:


> tarantula survive without its fangs because the shop keeper cut its fangs off


Given that I'm interested (but far from talented) in microsurgery, what I am dying to know is HOW this was accomplished.

I'm still in disbelief that someone purposefully removed them.  I'm picturing anesthesia (to allow for relaxation, and thus prevent removing the chelicera), some type of magnification for visualization, and still.......

I could believe he met an accident (such as a bad molt) and is missing them, but, otherwise,

this shopkeeper's in the wrong profession!

Sherry


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## crpy (Jul 13, 2008)

runnergirl said:


> Given that I'm interested (but far from talented) in microsurgery, what I am dying to know is HOW this was accomplished.
> 
> I'm still in disbelief that someone purposefully removed them.  I'm picturing anesthesia (to allow for relaxation, and thus prevent removing the chelicera), some type of magnification for visualization, and still.......
> 
> ...


Any set of nail clippers can do it well I'm sure. Anybody that does that does not care if they hurt the "T". I'm sure they just "pin" it and snip by prying the fangs out. If they make the "T" mad enough he/she will show the fangs


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## omegian (Jul 14, 2008)

it was not a bad molt 
i saw them cut it off..
they held the T with tweezers and then used a VERY sharp pair of scissors to cut them off..
but good news is that the tarantula is doing fine but im still trying to get him to eat...i mushed up 3 crix and put it on a small plate with some water and looks pretty good as T food so im just seeing if he/she will eat it
i will keep trying untill someone tells me another way
thanks


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## DreadLobster (Jul 14, 2008)

I have an L. Parahybana that lasted from probably late November of last year to April of this year with no fangs.

It can be done.

Mashing up crickets does work (at least it did for me). Just make sure to remove all the hard parts... legs, wings, eggs, ect... 

Keep the cage super dry except for a water dish so you don't get mites. If it doesn't find the mashed up crickets and eat them on its own, someone else on this site said she had fed a T. Blondi with a syringe. Luckily mine figured it out on its own. Tarantulas can go ridiculously long without eating too... so don't stress out if it doesn't get it right away. As long as its young enough that it will molt again soon you'll be fine.


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## Londoner (Jul 14, 2008)

omegian said:


> it was not a bad molt
> i saw them cut it off..
> they held the T with tweezers and then used a VERY sharp pair of scissors to cut them off..
> but good news is that the tarantula is doing fine but im still trying to get him to eat...i mushed up 3 crix and put it on a small plate with some water and looks pretty good as T food so im just seeing if he/she will eat it
> ...


You sir, are a much more tolerant person than myself. If I saw someone attempting this, they would need a skilled proctologist to get their tweezers and scissors back!  
Good luck with the feeding...Keeping my fingers crossed for ya mate.


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## omegian (Jul 14, 2008)

thanks guys  
how should i feed it with a syringe?
what signs would there be for a molt? thanks!
oh and its been really wet in there so its drying up and i wont mist anymore..
the waterdish is a bottle cap and hardly dries out which is good so ill keep it at that and change the mashed up crix everyday.


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## omegian (Jul 14, 2008)

Hey sorry i forgot to ask but dont the T's need humidity to molt faster?
or is that only for scorps?


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## dtknow (Jul 14, 2008)

My advice would be mushing up cricket juice and putting it on the mouth of the T.

If the T doesn't eat...it looks decently fat enough that you might want to just let it burrow away into some dirt...leave it alone and hope for the best.


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## omegian (Jul 14, 2008)

erm its not burrowing because it only has 1 inch of soil  
well ill get some more soil but i dont want to destroy its web thing...
heres a pic of the enclosure...


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## omegian (Jul 14, 2008)

i just tried to feed my T and it flipped out and fell in its back in a striking pose
is this normal or okay? oh wait its back up lol


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## Miss Bianca (Jul 15, 2008)

*labium..*


listen guy.. you can try mashing up crix, 
making a pulp, and apply the mixture to the T's mouth... 
I am guessing it may get 'sucked' in from there 
with pedipalp motions and/or the chelicerae... 
(I may be wrong).... that's what I'd do..


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## kc7wdg (Jul 15, 2008)

After having reviewed this thread and picture more thoroughly I wish to retract my statements and will cease posting here.


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## omegian (Jul 15, 2008)

how would i apply it there? its liquid? :? 
what do you mean by pulp?


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## Orgullo Lacno (Nov 9, 2017)

I have newly bought this golden knee chaco from pet-shop but the the other side of its fang was cut. Can it still survive?


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## Ungoliant (Nov 9, 2017)

Orgullo Lacno said:


> I have newly bought this golden knee chaco from pet-shop but the the other side of its fang was cut. Can it still survive?


It's best to start a new thread rather than reply to one from nine years ago. 

Tarantula fangs regenerate when they molt, so a missing or broken fang can be replaced. (The same is true of missing or damaged limbs.)

If it still has one good fang, it should be able to feed without extra help from you. (Remember to crush the heads of mealworms if you use them as prey.) If *both* fangs are broken, you may need to make a "bug soup" to get it through its next molt.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Orgullo Lacno (Nov 9, 2017)

Thanks


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## Ungoliant (Nov 9, 2017)

Also, to reduce the risk of broken fangs in the future, do not feed it immediately after molting. The new fangs are soft and white when the tarantula first molts and take time to harden. When the fangs turn black, they are fully hardened, and it is safe to feed.

This process takes longer in large adults, possibly weeks. In slings, it may just be a few days.

Reactions: Like 1


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