feeding mice?

[jex07]

Just wondering if anyone has experience feeding pinky mice/rats to their T's. I would assume this isn't a regular meal type thing and should probably be thawed/pre-killed mice, and only once in a while. I'm relatively new to tarantula keeping and am just looking for more information on if this is good for them or has any kind of benefits for tarantulas.

 

[Wolfram1]

Most of us avoid them completly since its quite a messy affair and a bit too large a meal anyway, tends to get spiders obeese

on top of that it doesn't really give the spider any additional benefits it cant get from the regular feeders

 

[viper69]

Some large Ts do eat vertebrates. Not worth it.

 

[Woody72]

I saw a photo on Facebook the other day of the half digested remains of a pinky mouse someone had fed to a tarantula. Lets just says I'm glad I didn't have to clean it up .

 

[A guy]

Stay away, there are too many available feeders in the market. A rotting half eaten mouse will make your eyes and nose melt

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Just wondering if anyone has experience feeding pinky mice/rats to their T's. I would assume this isn't a regular meal type thing and should probably be thawed/pre-killed mice, and only once in a while. I'm relatively new to tarantula keeping and am just looking for more information on if this is good for them or has any kind of benefits for tarantulas.

Last time I tried it I had to dump the bolas and the water dish out, bad smell and gross looking. Other than being a large meal I don’t see any benefits over feeding roaches. The roaches are much easier to clean up. In the wild they eat mice occasionally, that’s why you see it suggested to feed them in many care sheets or just outdated information .

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

I always took the fact that tarantulas don't need rodent feeders as a huge advantage to keeping them. I can't really think of any reason for feeding them mice.

• If you are absolutely out of food, a tarantula big enough to eat a pinky mouse can probably just tough it out for a week or two
• If you want to vary its diet, there are tons of feeders avaliable. I live in the sticks, and I still have access to crickets and three types of worms from the local pet store
• If it's to replicate natural behavior... i have no idea in this department to be honest. As mentioned above, some tarantulas eat vertebrates, but we don't know what percentage of their diet consists of vertebrates. Maybe they only scavenge, do it opportunistically, or do it out of desperation. As far as I know, no species of tarantula feeds primarily on vertebrates.