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- Jan 30, 2012
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That's exactly what my Avic did with worms. It's really nothing uncommon, there are some picky eaters
that is hilarious!My P.cambridgei hates crickets. She'll bite them and throw them away straight after. (Here's a video of her doing so))
Some T's just prefer some prey items over others.
Oh I know she's not starving in the sense of the word lol I just can't with hold a good that she likes,when she IS hungry because it doesn't match the diet id like her to have.Rose hairs are known to be one of the pickier eaters. My porteri won't touch worms of any kind. Its not afraid, just not interested in eating it. They are also one of the ts that fast the most frequently and for insane lengths of time...like a year plus is almost common.
While its not unusual for a porteri to not eat mealies, I've never seen a chromatus refuse mealies (or any prey really)....unless its pre-molt (and even then not always). I'd bet yours is just full, it will probably demolish a mealie a week after its next molt.
You have to get this "starve" thing out of your mind, especially if you plan to keep that porteri. Fact is that they have about the lowest food requirements of any t in the hobby...like ridiculously low. Most in captivity are grossly over fed, which only serves to encourage these annoying fasting bouts.
When mine refuses, I simply stop feeding until I see her in a hunting posture...this could be months....especially in winter, when many of them just stop eating till spring.
My advice is to really slow down your feedings once she molts (or starts eating again). I feed mine 2-4 large crickets per month and have for a couple years now. She still stays plump, but fasts a whole lot less. For the first 13+ years I had her I fed like most do, that is, way too much and way too often. She regularly fasted for 6 months to a year and almost never ate during winter.
Look at it this way, an adult female may only molt every 2-5 years (mine's always been on a 4-5 year cycle), so basically you have 2-5 years to fatten the t up...there's no hurry.....these aren't mammals, they don't need food that often and it would be tough to starve one to death, you'd almost have to try.
Your chromatus is the polar opposite...very fast growers, rare fasters, and when young and a much higher need for food (as adults this isn't quite as stark, as they can easily become spectacularly obese)....I'd feed a chromatus sling about twice a week, although once a week would be plenty to be honest. I feed my adults once a week to once every 2 weeks depending on the size of the previous meal and where the t is in its molt cycle.
Wax worms are very fatty and are a bigger meal than they may appear...my porteri is the only t I own that refuses them.
It doesn't matter what you are feeding really, it only matters if the t is picky and shows a preference for a certain prey item.
Oh I don't think it's starving in the true sense of the word lol my porteri hasn't eaten in 6wks that I know of(and she molted right before I got her,so odds are she's at least 8+ weeks of no eating now).My MM P.cambridgei also doesn't like superworms. He will pounce on it, but as soon as the worm starts wriggling fast, he'll let go and rear up in threatposture and backs away. I must say they wriggle quite violently when picked up, even without theeir heads.
He takes locusts well when he is hungry, which is once a month or so
The not-starving-thing takes some getting used to, since most people are accustomed to mammal pets, who require food for their speedy metabolism. Tarantula have veeeeery slow metabolism overall, some even as slings. (Looking at you E.sp.Red!)
My porteri hasn't eaten since I got her 6wks ago. But she molted 3 days before I got her. So she's probably on 8wks or so of no eating. So that's not her issue hahaha she's just on a fast. So I just continue to offer food once a week until she eventually takes it.I think how hungry the T is affects how 'picky an eater' it is. I often over feed my Ts and that makes them less likely to quickly pounce on new food items the next week.
I started out with feeding slings dubia roaches the same size I would offer if I were feeding crickets. Dubias are denser in food stuff per size IMO. People were feeding crickets every week and getting a good jump from their T and that seemed the norm. I was feeding dubias the same cricket size to my Ts and they were slow to take them the next week. If I waited two weeks I got a good feeding responses. Then I down sized the dubias I was feeding to a size or two down and get good responses every week.
I think we expect them to eat on a schedule just like a dog or cat or some other pet and that's not how it works. They eat a lot when food is plenty till they have enough stored up. Then they will bypass food till they need to eat again. With us offering food a lot more regularly than they would have it in the wild they hit more periods where they are just not in need of food. Then we attribute it to them being picky.
I have noted that some of my slings who have only ate roaches without legs act a little freaked out/cautious when pouncing on ones with the kicking legs. So some of the odd behavior could be how the food is acting.