Do tarantulas have a preference for food?

[Lander9021]

Do they have a preference between crickets. Mealworms and mice ect....or not.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Don't feed them mice .

 

[Chris LXXIX]

IMO? Go with crickets because you can't go wrong. I buy crickets from (friends) breeders at a very laughable price, every two months, go figure if i want to breed those smelly annoying nasty lovely singers... and, in minor quantity, B.dubia.

Something i noticed in 25 years of T's, is: i never saw an hungry Theraphosidae refuse a cricket, while i saw someone (P.metallica i'm watching you) being picky/choosy about those.

With that said, my burrowers, especially my 0.1 M.robustum, my baby 0.1 P.muticus etc love those 'Beatles'.

Anyway, i suggest B.dubia and crickets. Little mouse/mice/rats/whatever? Only a cruelty. We aren't in the "wild" but at our homes, and cons IMO are by far more than pro.

 

[KezyGLA]

Tarantulas don't generally have prefered foods. In the wild they will tackle any prey they see fit as food isn't readily available. Although saying that, I own a B. Auratum that will eat only brown crickets and not black ones. I guess it has adjusted to its regular feeding times and just like me, is a rather picky eater

 

[BorisTheSpider]

cons IMO are by far more than pro.

Absolutely , the mouse doesn't always lose the fight . One well placed bite and that's all it takes .

 

[louise f]

I would say my pokies are picky, they dont want to eat roaches. But crickets and meal worms yes.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I would say my pokies are picky, they dont want to eat roaches. But crickets and meal worms yes.

My friend Lady L, voice of truth <3

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Absolutely , the mouse doesn't always lose the fight . One well placed bite and that's all it takes .

+1 Boris. How many "injured by a cricket" threads we have read? While, on the other hand, while "wrestling" with T's, a mouse can scratch, bite, God only knows what, our T's. Now, aside for "ethics" or cruelty (i don't like those screams, not even a bit) isn't a STUPID thing to worry about: temperatures, humidity, mites or not mites etc when "we" offer such large "prey/intruders" to our -- not in the wild, again -- T's?
Just my two cents, of course

 

[Tanner Dzula]

Ive noticed for the most part crickets and mealworms are always well received. though our A. Genic seems to ignore the mealworms if they don't move/squirm much when we drop them in, if the worms will move, then he will devour them though.

So atlas crickets and mealworms seem to be great. And even Hornworms sometimes (though you need to be careful, and make sure they come from a reputable farmer, grown on eating chou and other non-toxic food alternatives, and make sure they are not wild caught)

 

[sezra]

my T's have been picky in the past, but they will eat most bugs you offer (within reason). I used to feed my T's nothing but crickets but they are smelly and die pretty quickly even if you look after them. I got so sick of fighting a loosing battle, trying to keep my feeder crickets hygenic and clean so i just swapped food in the end.

I now feed my T's meal worms which i have bred myself. they dont smell, they cost nothing (in fact, im so over run with them i feed the excess to my chickens) and best of all i know exactly what my T's are getting.

the meal worms are fed lettuce, celery, carrots, potato, cucumber, cabbage all of which is organic. again it costs nothing because its what i eat and they get the off cuts. all that goodness is then passed on to my T's

 

[Tanner Dzula]

my T's have been picky in the past, but they will eat most bugs you offer (within reason). I used to feed my T's nothing but crickets but they are smelly and die pretty quickly even if you look after them. I got so sick of fighting a loosing battle, trying to keep my feeder crickets hygenic and clean so i just swapped food in the end.

I now feed my T's meal worms which i have bred myself. they dont smell, they cost nothing (in fact, im so over run with them i feed the excess to my chickens) and best of all i know exactly what my T's are getting.

the meal worms are fed lettuce, celery, carrots, potato, cucumber, cabbage all of which is organic. again it costs nothing because its what i eat and they get the off cuts. all that goodness is then passed on to my T's

Hmmm, i will have to try this with my mealworms .nomally i get about ~35-50 at once for about 5 bucks at a local pet shop, and while that is super cheap. i would like to know i have ones i breed personally and that they are eating rather healthy food substances.

 

[cold blood]

Hmmm, i will have to try this with my mealworms .nomally i get about ~35-50 at once for about 5 bucks at a local pet shop, and while that is super cheap.

Wow, I get a 200 count for 3.99.

 

[sezra]

Hmmm, i will have to try this with my mealworms .nomally i get about ~35-50 at once for about 5 bucks at a local pet shop, and while that is super cheap. i would like to know i have ones i breed personally and that they are eating rather healthy food substances.

honestly, its so easy to breed your own. buy some meal worms and put them in an enclosure similar to a large exo terra breeding box (i like these as they have a removable divider. i keep the meal worm beetles in one side and the worms themselves in the other). give them a substrate of porridge oats (oatmeal) and feed them the off cuts of any fruit and veg you eat. IM not sure if they eat things like onions, but lettuce, cabbage, carrots, raw potato, and apple are all good.

the oatmeal not only provides an ideal substrate for the beetles to lay eggs but its also food for them and the young worms. they get water from the fruit and veg you give them.

move the pupa to a separate container until they emerge as beetles, then reintroduce them to main breeding box and repeat the cycle. there is literally nothing else to it

there are more efficient ways of doing it, and it'll take a few months until you see any adult worms but as i said, im over run with them now.

Wow, I get a 200 count for 3.99.

breed your own and you get 1000+ for 0.00

 

[cold blood]

@sezra , I am definitely going to try that this summer....I may message you when I do

 

[sezra]

@sezra , I am definitely going to try that this summer....I may message you when I do

haha, feel free to! i encourage everyone to breed their own worms! i know they are just bugs, but i dont agree with the way pet stores breed and sell crickets that are diseased and half dead when you get them. obviously some stores have better standards than others, but this way my feeder insects are looked after just as much as my T's.

its also an interesting side hobby!

when i first looked into it, it kind of put me off a little as all the guides had these fancy setups with multi layered containers with fine mesh bottoms that would allow the eggs to fall through.

i wanted something cheap and inexpensive, something i could make with what i had to hand. i dumped some oatmeal into an enclosure, added meal worms and fed them. a few months later and i had a healthy supply of worms. ive had this colony for about a year and i have so many my chickens eat most of them just to keep their numbers manageable.

 

[Trenor]

I feed mine Dubias and have never had trouble getting them to eat. I started raising them for my bearded dragon and used the small ones when I got my Ts. They are easy to raise though they can take a bit to get going.

 

[lunarae]

Well I used to feed my A. versicolor mealworms and mealworm beetles, but as soon as I really started breeding them myself she started refusing them. She never says no to a cricket when she's willing to eat. I'm hoping to switch her to Dubias though. Just gotta get the colony started. My G. porteri and LP don't seem picky but both of them seem to be in pre-molt atm.

 

[Tanner Dzula]

Wow, I get a 200 count for 3.99.

wow. i wish i could find them that cheap here. though i don't think id be needing 200 at once.

Only 3 t's atm, and that would be a lot of food for a long time haha.

 

[Trenor]

wow. i wish i could find them that cheap here. though i don't think id be needing 200 at once.

Only 3 t's atm, and that would be a lot of food for a long time haha.

Clearly you need more Ts then.

 

[cold blood]

Put them in the fridge, they'll last 6 months....or get more ts like trenor suggested