Are pinkies a safe food for my T?

DoucheBgalo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 7, 2010
Messages
21
I have a G. Pulchripes right now and I was considering it to eat a pinkie every once in a while. I want to know if it's safe for it to eat such a thing. I saw some videos on youtube of a T eating an adult mouse and I think a pinkie would be less of a hassle. Julia Roberts(my T's name) is about 4-4.5 inches right now. Are there any concerns on a pinkie having too much calcium or protein or whatever they have?
 

forrestpengra

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
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Oct 11, 2009
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732
You're going to get mixed answers, that it's not necessary, etc... I personally have no issue with it if you're trying to fatten the kids up.
 

Arachnos482

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
50
Pinkies aren't the ideal feeder for a tarantula, and the calcium they contain can cause molting problems for your t, rather stick to dubia roaches or crix, they're pretty cheap and less hassle in the end, and better for your t, youtube posts are usually okes doing things the think is cool to watch, but not really beneficial to the t's...
 

Vespula

Arachnodemon
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Jul 27, 2010
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706
Plus the T could hurt it's little fangs on the mouse. I wouldn't personally.
 

EDED

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Aug 12, 2004
Messages
549
its just too stinky to clean up after that,,,if you have a burrower and its half eaten you would have to dig it out or prey that the t will dump it outside, but thats 50/50 chance.

pinkies are soft enough for t's fangs, much softer than certain roaches or beetles in the wild.

once in awhile its ok but i dont like mammals being fed to a bug personally lol
 

Chris_Skeleton

Arachnoprince
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Jan 31, 2010
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There have been TONS of threads about this, many here recently. Just use the search to find them, but beware, all of them are BIG debates.
 

SK8TERBOI

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
Messages
42
From what I have been reading allot of people have mixed answers on whether feeding vertebrates to T's can have negative effects personally i have done it once to bulk my Bohmei up after a molt other than that a dubia roach is always good
 

scar is my t

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Mar 2, 2008
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334
I fed a pinkie to my one T and within two days it made me want to puke...
 

khil

Arachnobaron
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Oct 5, 2010
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315
Why? What happened? Did it like poop it out or something? Did you have to change the substrate or just scoop out the thing like kitty litter or whatever.
it is gruesome, gory, and just putrid when a t eats a mouse. {D
loljk :(

ok so you can feed it a mouse, no big deal. but:
-too much of it can cause molt problems
-its pretty nasty and a pain to clean up after.
 

AmbushArachnids

Arachnoculturist
Old Timer
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Jan 30, 2010
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629
I just want to commend you for doing your homework before going out and buying a pinkie for your T. IMO its not a pretty thing to watch. Not to mention totally unnecessary for your Ts health. :( Even when i feed my beardie the occational pinkie i feel a bit guilty.
 

Envyizm

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Oct 5, 2008
Messages
194
I personally wouldn't feed any mammals to your inverts unless you either know the breeder personally or breed them yourself. There is some commercial bedding that is supposed to kill off grain mites for aesthetic purposes for pet stores. if the chemicals in the bedding happen to have absorbed into the mouse mother or the pinkie itself it would mean big trouble for your t. Its suspected to be a cause of dks; Just the correlation alone is enough to keep me away from feeding mammals to my inverts.
 

Lorum

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
111
Its suspected to be a cause of dks; Just the correlation alone is enough to keep me away from feeding mammals to my inverts.
I don't know, but I will say something (not a scientific fact, just one experience). A friend of mine recently fed 4 of their T's with mice (I don't know what kind of mice, but I think they were adult specimens). He have many T's (maybe about 100+ live specimens).

2 of the 4 T's got dks after that (maybe one or two weeks after). He have never had cases like that before. Now, 1 of those T's (Aphonopelma seemani) died. The other one (as far as I remember it is a Brachypelma albiceps) can't hunt and she has only eaten one cricket in about one month, because she just can't catch food.

No other T seems to have troubles like that. Maybe some chemicals are involved... I just don't know, but I never feed my T's on mice.
 

DoucheBgalo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 7, 2010
Messages
21
Oh ok cool thanks. Yeah, I just wanted to know all the facts or the general consensus around here. I really wouldn't take the video comments on youtube too seriously otherwise almost everyone there is a scientist, a doctor, a pro athlete, and a lawyer. I wanted to know what you guys think, the ones who seems to have the most knowledge/experience on T's and whatnot. Yeah, I'm probably not gonna feed her any pinkies or any verts. Oh and what's a DK?
 

AbraCadaver

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Feb 6, 2009
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What I've come to think off, which may be totally wrong, is that T's ,unlike vertebrates, have nowhere to store the extra calcium, so a vertebrate wouln't be very benificial to them.

Anyways, I prefer roaches as they're not cute, in my opinion anyways..
 

Lorum

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
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111
Oh and what's a DK?
DKS = Diskinetic syndrome. No one knows exactly what it is (or if it is in fact, a group of different diseases with similar sympthoms) or what causes it. Maybe you can search in the forum, if you want more info. Hope it helped.
 

DoucheBgalo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 7, 2010
Messages
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DKS = Diskinetic syndrome. No one knows exactly what it is (or if it is in fact, a group of different diseases with similar sympthoms) or what causes it. Maybe you can search in the forum, if you want more info. Hope it helped.
Oh alright. Thanks man. Yeah, I don't know a lot of technical/scientific terms so this helps a lot.
 

Ictinike

Arachnobaron
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Aug 30, 2009
Messages
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DKS = Diskinetic syndrome. No one knows exactly what it is (or if it is in fact, a group of different diseases with similar sympthoms) or what causes it. Maybe you can search in the forum, if you want more info. Hope it helped.
And just to re-iterate with a bit of extra..

DKS is not a known, published, diagnosable syndrome or disease but a term that has originated with the hobby that was given this name/term to somewhat group a bunch of various possible factors and ultimate outcomes that inflict our pets.

It's just a term that helps us describe what we try to "pattern" match in our search for a reason as to it's effects.

In example someone's T may have been exposed to a variety of effects such as poison, chemical or biological agent but the "common" here is the T acts in very odd ways typically in sense of loosing it's ability to control movements such as say a seizure in humans. The effect could be one time chemical while the other could be parasites in an open water bowl and while no one knows I believe based on recent threads there seems to be a few "common" elements that may lead to this condition.

Many speak of DKS as some well documented, named condition whence; to my knowledge, it is not and many tend to "lump" a bunch of general conditions into this DKS name which adds to the mystery as well no real way to determine a "specific" cause and reaction.

Sorry.. If I'm wrong please say so but I see DKS being stated way too many times and while yes I know we've all seen what most of us call DKS but I think it's something we as keepers should relay to new users that it is not something defined and documented as say "feline leukemia" but more of a generalized term bred forth by the hobby.

[Edit] To clarify after reading what I posted.. DKS is a definable condition and has a name but not for T's and while I don't know the specific start of using this term in relative to Tarantulas it again is a name given to a condition we see with our pets so we can more easily speak of those conditions..
 
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Lorum

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
111
Sorry.. If I'm wrong please say so but I see DKS being stated way too many times and while yes I know we've all seen what most of us call DKS but I think it's something we as keepers should relay to new users that it is not something defined and documented as say "feline leukemia" but more of a generalized term bred forth by the hobby.
I agree. That is not said very often.

But I also expect new users to investigate and read old threads (that's why I said "you can search in the forum, if you want more info"). Yes, I know, in the time I have visited this and other forums (some years), not a lot of new users actually read important threads before posting... but it would be good. I think not always someone will post a reply like yours to clarify the situation. So, sometimes the search function is just the right choice.;P
 
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