Do you need to actively moderate a tarantulas nutrition?

[SultanBlyat]

So right now my tarantula is really fat, so I don't wont to feed her till she becomes a healthy size. What I'm concerned about is if tarantulas can develop deficiencies because of a lack of vitamins, proteins, etc. Do I need to worried about that?

 

[Colorado Ts]

I raise my own feeders, and what gets fed to the feeders is what eventually gets fed to the spiders. Take care of the feeders, feed them quality balanced nutritional food.

 

[Thekla]

How fat is fat?

I once put my B. hamorii on a diet, because she was just too fat for own good. I made her fast until she moulted. They won't slim down by themselves, at least not in a short run, only after they moult, they'll get back to a more healthy size.

Do you have pictures of the T and her enclosure?

 

[cold blood]

no

 

[SultanBlyat]

How fat is fat?

I once put my B. hamorii on a diet, because she was just too fat for own good. I made her fast until she moulted. They won't slim down by themselves, at least not in a short run, only after they moult, they'll get back to a more healthy size.

Do you have pictures of the T and her enclosure?

She's gotten fatter than in this pic

 

[Thekla]

Sorry, but this picture doesn't really help. From this angle her booty will always look huge. We need a current picture (not an old one ), preferably taken from straight above.

And could you post a picture of her whole enclosure as well?

 

[SultanBlyat]

Sorry, but this picture doesn't really help. From this angle her booty will always look huge. We need a current picture (not an old one ), preferably taken from straight above.

And could you post a picture of her whole enclosure as well?

Can't take a pic right now since I'm not at my tarantula. Thinking over it, she's too big, and I'll put her on a diet till she slims down.

 

[cold blood]

Can't take a pic right now since I'm not at my tarantula. Thinking over it, she's too big, and I'll put her on a diet till she slims down.

That wont be until after molting.

 

[viper69]

So right now my tarantula is really fat, so I don't wont to feed her till she becomes a healthy size. What I'm concerned about is if tarantulas can develop deficiencies because of a lack of vitamins, proteins, etc. Do I need to worried about that?

Need a pic== "really fat" is a useless subjective term when you are asking us if you should do something different etc

Any animal, including humans, can develop deficiencies re nutrition if not properly cared for.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Any animal, including humans, can develop deficiencies re nutrition if not properly cared for.

This is true and I ashamed to admit I think I did not properly care for a Theraphosa blondi many years ago that did develop a nutritional deficiency which it eventually died from. Many years ago I raised a T. blondi from a fuzzy blue-grey baby up to about a 6 inch leg span. I don't remember the size exactly, but it could comfortably fit inside a large Kritter Keeper. It stopped growing at about the 6 inch mark and never developed the thick legs and huge carapace the species is known for which is why I think it suffered from a nutritional deficiency. I remember one day I dropped about 6 adult crickets in its cage and it basically "flipped out." What happened was that it frantically chased down all of the crickets, killed them, ate on them for a while, then suddenly died the next day. It was perhaps the strangest thing I ever saw and is difficult to describe.

I also remember that I had it long enough to where it should have been a giant adult and found it odd it stopped growing at such a small size. Up to that experience, I never really considered that any tarantula would have nutritional requirements, but since seeing that with my T. blondi, I know that the South American giants really do need a ton of food. However, I don't think that is true for the majority of the tarantula species kept in captivity. My impression is that people have a hard time truly understanding how little food tarantulas need to be healthy and over feed. In my case raising one of the giant species, I did the opposite and underestimated how much food those species need.

 

[viper69]

This is true and I ashamed to admit I think I did not properly care for a Theraphosa blondi many years ago that did develop a nutritional deficiency which it eventually died from. Many years ago I raised a T. blondi from a fuzzy blue-grey baby up to about a 6 inch leg span. I don't remember the size exactly, but it could comfortably fit inside a large Kritter Keeper. It stopped growing at about the 6 inch mark and never developed the thick legs and huge carapace the species is known for which is why I think it suffered from a nutritional deficiency. I remember one day I dropped about 6 adult crickets in its cage and it basically "flipped out." What happened was that it frantically chased down all of the crickets, killed them, ate on them for a while, then suddenly died the next day. It was perhaps the strangest thing I ever saw and is difficult to describe.

I also remember that I had it long enough to where it should have been a giant adult and found it odd it stopped growing at such a small size. Up to that experience, I never really considered that any tarantula would have nutritional requirements, but since seeing that with my T. blondi, I know that the South American giants really do need a ton of food. However, I don't think that is true for the majority of the tarantula species kept in captivity. My impression is that people have a hard time truly understanding how little food tarantulas need to be healthy and over feed. In my case raising one of the giant species, I did the opposite and underestimated how much food those species need.

I’ve experienced the odd growth rate and death too. To this day still can’t figure it out.

I’m getting the locality again, and giving it another go.

I’m pretty sure one of the few T papers examining biochemically T hemolymph used that species you mention.

 

[SultanBlyat]

Need a pic== "really fat" is a useless subjective term when you are asking us if you should do something different etc

Any animal, including humans, can develop deficiencies re nutrition if not properly cared for.

"Useless subjective term" wot

Of course it can develop deficiencies. What I'm asking is if you need to moderate it, fx if I need to be concerned if it'll develop a vitamin c deficiency if I haven't fed it in two weeks. Do tarantulas need a lot of vitamins, proteins, etc, or can they live off the nutritions they get from a well fed mealworm for a certain amount of time?

 

[viper69]

"Useless subjective term" wot

Of course it can develop deficiencies. What I'm asking is if you need to moderate it, fx if I need to be concerned if it'll develop a vitamin c deficiency if I haven't fed it in two weeks. Do tarantulas need a lot of vitamins, proteins, etc, or can they live off the nutritions they get from a well fed mealworm for a certain amount of time?

Fact- no one has published a scientific paper on their nutritional needs as you are asking about, ie vitamins etc. Scientists don't study this.

Fact- there is a paper which looked at nutrition regarding caloric intake needed for growth.

People feed them all sorts of things, from insects to vertebrates, in short, no one knows what they need nutritionally to be healthy like they may be in the wild.

So far store bought prey items seem to be fine.