Does your T every get picky about what they eat?

[Coolroach]

My A. geniculata's recently decided crickets are simply not up to her palate (little odd since she used to be a right old trash compactor, but I digress). She'll still eat mealworms and that one hornworm I got her as a treat, but i just dropped 2 in her enclosure (1 live, which was ignored, and 1 dying to see if she might like easier prey, but she just stepped on it) which I'm sure I'll have to remove in the morning. Hope the live one exits her burrow cause I don't want to disturb her hard work!

Have your Ts ever changed food preferences? Any suggestions on how to make her eat healthier when she snubs crickets?

 

[ladyratri]

Any suggestions on how to make her eat healthier when she snubs crickets?

Wait. She won't starve

Seriously though. If she's not eating, take the food out and just....try again next week. And make sure the prey is a reasonable size for the spider.

 

[Coolroach]

Wait. She won't starve

Seriously though. If she's not eating, take the food out and just....try again next week. And make sure the prey is a reasonable size for the spider.

Haha yeah I've been waiting, she's snubbed crickets for a few months now, I'm just coming to accept she might not want em for a bit. And luckily she's a big girl! (7 inch DSL last I measured) so those are puny compared to her. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[fq314]

Mine personally have always liked mealworms, but it’s not unheard of for t’s to get bored of their food. She could also just be not hungry.

 

[Coolroach]

Mine personally have always liked mealworms, but it’s not unheard of for t’s to get bored of their food. If that’s what she eats, then you should feed that to her. Mealworms aren’t necessarily unhealthy food.

Oh, they're ok? I always heard crickets were healthier (and dubia roaches, but I've got no chance of getting my mitts on those) but if mealworms are an acceptable main food diet then I 'spose i won't worry. Shame my local pet store only has a pack of 25 as the smallest- she would never be able to eat all that!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Oh, they're ok? I always heard crickets were healthier (and dubia roaches, but I've got no chance of getting my mitts on those) but if mealworms are an acceptable main food diet then I 'spose i won't worry. Shame my local pet store only has a pack of 25 as the smallest- she would never be able to eat all that!

Each food item has different nutritional values and then some if gut loaded.

My A. geniculata's recently decided crickets are simply not up to her palate (little odd since she used to be a right old trash compactor, but I digress). She'll still eat mealworms and that one hornworm I got her as a treat, but i just dropped 2 in her enclosure (1 live, which was ignored, and 1 dying to see if she might like easier prey, but she just stepped on it) which I'm sure I'll have to remove in the morning. Hope the live one exits her burrow cause I don't want to disturb her hard work!

Have your Ts ever changed food preferences? Any suggestions on how to make her eat healthier when she snubs crickets?

mine are mostly lasiodoras they wont refuse anything that touches the ground unless there going Into pre molt . I feed dubia and occasionally super worms . Crickets are too small for my Ts I dont even Bother except my one small sling 1.5” or so . But it eats small roaches . My pet shops around me don’t carry larger crickets so it’s a no go.

 

[darkness975]

My A. geniculata's recently decided crickets are simply not up to her palate (little odd since she used to be a right old trash compactor, but I digress). She'll still eat mealworms and that one hornworm I got her as a treat, but i just dropped 2 in her enclosure (1 live, which was ignored, and 1 dying to see if she might like easier prey, but she just stepped on it) which I'm sure I'll have to remove in the morning. Hope the live one exits her burrow cause I don't want to disturb her hard work!

Have your Ts ever changed food preferences? Any suggestions on how to make her eat healthier when she snubs crickets?

Yep. I am currently going through this with my GBB. It appears she molted given her abdomen size at present. The cricket I left in there overnight disappeared but I tried feeding her a superworm and she refused.

You don't have to be as OCD about "gut loading" as you do with reptiles. Just ensure the feeders are fed and hydrated.
My crickets get fish flakes and meal worms / super worms get organic oats. Both have access to water as well.

 

[viper69]

Yes

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Yes, I've dealt with some spiders that can be picky eaters. I have a few that will refuse to eat anything except crickets. Also sometimes if they're used to eating a certain prey item exclusively, they may not recognize other feeders as prey.

 

[Wolfram1]

yes, i have had them refuse certain feeders over others

 

[Pedipalpable]

Not a change of preference, but I have a 2” Theraphosa stirmi sling I acquired a little over 2 weeks ago that I have found thus far is unwilling to accept mealworm pupae. I find this odd because it has just as strong a feeding response as my Pamphobeteus slings and my small juvenile A. geniculata, who all readily accept them. It immediately pounces on the actual mealworms though. Guess it’s just a matter of individual preference.

 

[Tony92]

of all my T's I find my stirmi sling is least fond of mealworms, put a few small crickets in and it loves them

 

[ArynAlba]

I've found that my T's aren't generally picky, so I try to feed them a wide variety: crickets, mealworms/giant mealworms, superworms, silkworms, hornworms, BSFL, and so on--then again, I mostly keep Psalmopoeinae spp., which are famous for being good eaters, haha. The only thing that basically all of my T's (and my tokay gecko) utterly refused to eat across the board was butterworms, for some reason. The T's at least tried it, but I could tell by the boluses left behind that they didn't eat nearly as much of them as they normally do of their other prey, haha. I'll just stick with everything except butterworms from now on, I guess.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

My A. geniculata's recently decided crickets are simply not up to her palate (little odd since she used to be a right old trash compactor, but I digress). She'll still eat mealworms and that one hornworm I got her as a treat, but i just dropped 2 in her enclosure (1 live, which was ignored, and 1 dying to see if she might like easier prey, but she just stepped on it) which I'm sure I'll have to remove in the morning. Hope the live one exits her burrow cause I don't want to disturb her hard work!

Have your Ts ever changed food preferences? Any suggestions on how to make her eat healthier when she snubs crickets?

What size is your genic?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

My A. geniculata's recently decided crickets are simply not up to her palate (little odd since she used to be a right old trash compactor, but I digress). She'll still eat mealworms and that one hornworm I got her as a treat, but i just dropped 2 in her enclosure (1 live, which was ignored, and 1 dying to see if she might like easier prey, but she just stepped on it) which I'm sure I'll have to remove in the morning. Hope the live one exits her burrow cause I don't want to disturb her hard work!

Have your Ts ever changed food preferences? Any suggestions on how to make her eat healthier when she snubs crickets?

Mine a few quit eating super worms so I’ve transitioned to roaches. Mealworms I use for slings so I’m guessing your t is small.??

 

[kingshockey]

invite a guests over slit their wrist fill up a water dish of "guests" blood jokes aside she might have just decided to fast before going into pre molt

 

[gabrieldezzi]

My A. geniculata's recently decided crickets are simply not up to her palate (little odd since she used to be a right old trash compactor, but I digress). She'll still eat mealworms and that one hornworm I got her as a treat, but i just dropped 2 in her enclosure (1 live, which was ignored, and 1 dying to see if she might like easier prey, but she just stepped on it) which I'm sure I'll have to remove in the morning. Hope the live one exits her burrow cause I don't want to disturb her hard work!

Have your Ts ever changed food preferences? Any suggestions on how to make her eat healthier when she snubs crickets?

Honestly, I definitely think T’s have preferences. My juvenile female a. avicularia really only eats crickets. I’ve tried feeding her dubia roaches before, and if only if she’s very desperate she’ll eat them. I’ve even seen her pounce on said roach and just completely leave it alone and walk away.

Some other T’s I have, like my p. sp. platyomma sling literally eats everything I put in front of it; much less picky!

I usually prefer crickets because they don’t dig into the substrate like dubias or mealworms/superworms do, but every T has their own “cup of T” (if you will!) and I’ve just figured it out as I went.

 

[TechnoGeek]

It's possible for multiple reasons. Some Ts don't attack prey that doesn't move a lot, others hesitate to pounce long enough for worms to dig and hide in the substrate (making worms a no go unless you pre kill them), some Ts are too used to crickets to eat anything else..

But usually Ts aren't very picky about the kind of feeder insect, more about how big it is. Many Ts aren't very confident and only attack prey if it's considerably smaller than them.