Feeding my Lasiodora Parahybana

[maryorourke]

Getting a Lasiodora Parahybana in a few days! He’s expected to be an adult or sub-adult. What should I feed him and how often? Can I treat him to a live mouse every once in a while?

 

[yetkin]

Prekilled maybe but not alive you can feed it with worms, roaches, cricets..etc how ofen you feed it depends on abdomen size dont owerfeed

 

[viper69]

Getting a Lasiodora Parahybana in a few days! He’s expected to be an adult or sub-adult. What should I feed him and how often? Can I treat him to a live mouse every once in a while?

Crickets ever heard of those? - seems like you don't much at all about these animals
No need to feed mice. Live mice can hurt a python or boa easily, could kill a T as well.
Feed based on abdomen size, that's what I always do.

Suggest you research on AB and learn as much as possible. How could you not know what to feed an animal you are getting soon--- RESEARCH!

 

[sasker]

What should I feed him and how often? Can I treat him to a live mouse every once in a while?

Every once in a while we get these people who enjoy those animal fights (tarantula vs scorpion, monster bug wars, that kind of nonsense). If that's you, this is not the right platform for you, because you will not get much sympathy from the other members for that.

I assume you seriously want the best for your tarantula, and I will answer accordingly.

No, live mice are a terrible food source. As explained by @viper69 their sharp claws and sharp teeth can easily damage and kill your tarantula. There is absolutely no benefit. You cause the mouse to suffer unnecessarily, too. It would take your tarantula hours and hours to eat the mouse, which decomposing corps will stink up your place. There is nothing wrong with feeding your tarantula with the plethora of safe insect options. Crickets, mealworms/super worms, roaches, locusts, etc. Would a tarantula kill and eat a mouse in the wild? Yes, but the majority of its diet consists of invertebrates. Do tarantulas sometimes get killed by what they try to eat? Yes, but luckily you have the choice to feed yours less dangerous prey items.

Please be a responsible keeper, not one of those idiots who gets off on seeing his pet locked in a fight fight to the death.

 

[Hardus nameous]

Read through these threads, they should answer basic questions.

Tarantula Information for Beginners (and More)

Below are some helpful resources. (Rather than having half a dozen or more pinned threads, which clutter the top of the board, we are pinning this index.) While the focus is on beginners, there are other threads on health and more advanced species that may be useful to more experienced keepers...

arachnoboards.com

 

[viper69]

which decomposing corps will stink up your place.

quite true, and can attract insects that can be a pain to get rid of too.

 

[8 legged]

Getting a Lasiodora Parahybana in a few days! He’s expected to be an adult or sub-adult. What should I feed him and how often? Can I treat him to a live mouse every once in a while?

Without wanting to assume anything - as already happened - it is a fact that a rodent does not provide the adequate nutrients for a tarantula. Make do with it and it is good.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

What should I feed him and how often?

Crickets/morio worms/red runners/dubia, at subadult/adult size it's only going to need to eat 1 morio or dubia or 2-3 crickets or red runners once every 2-3 weeks at most.

Can I treat him to a live mouse every once in a while?

Just don't. There are a plethora of reasons as to why using live rodents as feeders is a bad idea and the vast majority have been covered already.

 

[Tarantuland]

Getting a Lasiodora Parahybana in a few days! He’s expected to be an adult or sub-adult. What should I feed him and how often? Can I treat him to a live mouse every once in a while?

You’re in the best place to get accurate information, but some of these are questions that should have been asked before you purchased the pet.

Nevertheless, you should feed once a week. Crickets, dubia roaches, red runner roaches, mealworms, super worms, hornworms (my personal fave), all work totally fine. If you’re in Europe then locusts work too.

Just because people feed live mice or lizards on YouTube or they might eat them in the wild doesn’t mean it’s safe or a good idea. Nature isn’t pretty and sometimes the spider dies or is injured from such things. You could feed frozen thawed mice but there’s really no advantage and it’s gonna be nasty to clean up after

 

[arachnophobis]

Mice have much more complex nervous systems than insects do. That would be a long and painful death and as everyone else has said could hurt or kill your T. To add to what @Tarantuland said, those Youtubers are wanting exposure, they do not care about the safety and health of their T. With any of the prey items listed above your LP will have a great feeding response, seriously.

 

[maryorourke]

Crickets ever heard of those? - seems like you don't much at all about these animals
No need to feed mice. Live mice can hurt a python or boa easily, could kill a T as well.
Feed based on abdomen size, that's what I always do.

Suggest you research on AB and learn as much as possible. How could you not know what to feed an animal you are getting soon--- RESEARCH!

wow. I wasn’t expecting such a rude response. I am new to this, and want what’s best for my tarantula. I figured this was a platform made for asking questions and getting answers to better care for my tarantula. But I guess it’s just a place for people to be nasty. Yes, I don’t know much about him. That’s EXACTLY why I’m asking questions. TO LEARN. You are very rude. I suggest you log off of this and stop answering questions if you’re going to be so mean about it. Have a great day ma’am.

 

[MrTwister]

You asked a question and got lots of helpful responses. Any reason your focusing on one response that hurt your feels?

 

[maryorourke]

I appreciate all those responses. I don’t appreciate people being rude for no reason. Why is it necessary? I’m hear to learn, not to be judged for wanting to learn.

 

[viper69]

wow. I wasn’t expecting such a rude response. I am new to this, and want what’s best for my tarantula. I figured this was a platform made for asking questions and getting answers to better care for my tarantula. But I guess it’s just a place for people to be nasty. Yes, I don’t know much about him. That’s EXACTLY why I’m asking questions. TO LEARN. You are very rude. I suggest you log off of this and stop answering questions if you’re going to be so mean about it. Have a great day ma’am.

Nothing wrong with being new!

However to not know what the animal eats that is coming into YOUR care so soon is not a smart approach to husbandry.

Two seconds of google “research”here on AB would have answered your question.

A question regarding which insect feeders are better due to their nutritional value would have been far more insightful on your part and demonstrated you put some thought into your question.

I found it quite odd you were asking what to feed a T, yet you hopped right into feeding it a mouse.....

 

[sasker]

He may come across as a bit rude, but @viper69 is not wrong.

I mean, I get it. You are 17-years old and at that age I also tended to rush into things head-first without much planning. This thread, and a previous one in which you asked if you can handle your spider because you want to show it to your classmates, sounds to me like you saw some clips on YouTube and Facebook with some awesome take-downs of mice by tarantulas and people having spiders in their hands/on their faces/on their shoulders. Correct me if I am wrong. At least you didn't go straight for an OBT, because 'that would be cool'. I got to give you that.

Here on AB, we have seen countless cases of people rushing into keeping tarantulas without doing any research first. You are asking questions, which is great. But much of the information you seek is readily available. Keeping tarantulas is not hard, but if you are a responsible person you should do your homework first.

 

[Craig73]

Insects are your best option. If you do choose to go with mice go the frozen route, but as mentioned it’s a nasty stench and clean up from what I’ve heard.

Treats are a reward system. A tarantula is not going to know or care; it’s incapable of comprehending being fed something special vs being fed in general. If you feel like you want to
switch things up I’ve done horn worms. I order online, they can be a bit on the pricy side so not something I personally would do often for that reason alone.

Will this be your first tarantula? And welcome to the board.

 

[viper69]

Insects are your best option. If you do choose to go with mice go the frozen route, but as mentioned it’s a nasty stench and clean up from what I’ve heard.

Treats are a reward system. A tarantula is not going to know or care; it’s incapable of comprehending being fed something special vs being fed in general. If you feel like you want to
switch things up I’ve done horn worms. I order online, they can be a bit on the pricy side so not something I personally would do often for that reason alone.

Will this be your first tarantula? And welcome to the board.

Thawed out mice smell so bad.

 

[Craig73]

Thawed out mice smell so bad.

Luckily I’ve never had a pet that required mice or the sort in their diet. Kale in the fridge that has gone bad is rank enough and about the most this chap can deal with; didn’t belong there in the first place but I don’t do the shopping.

So is it kosher for mice to go between the frozen hot dogs and hot pockets in the freezer?

 

[cold blood]

I appreciate all those responses. I don’t appreciate people being rude for no reason. Why is it necessary? I’m hear to learn, not to be judged for wanting to learn.

Then please ignore it or use the ignore user feature provided by the site. Nothing good comes out of people focusing on the one little bad perception....ever. Focus instead on the majority of helpful responses.

If you ever feel something is a violation of the terms here on AB, just report the post so it can be looked over by a moderator.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

I've had animals that eat thawed mice in the past. They utterly and completely reek. Do not recommend when there's other options.

People have already linked the beginners thread, so I would start there in your shoes. 90% of the time that I have a question, using the native search function here or googling something like "arachnoboards rehousing lasiodora" will answer my question even faster than I can expect responses.

Also Viper can be harsh, but their husbandry advice is always accurate and valuable. I would not take it personally, and instead would focus on the advice given. They're one of the people here who if they bite my head off I know 1. I probably deserved it and 2. I better go fix whatever it was that made them bite my head off. In this case, I would recommend you take these parts in particular to heart from viper.

Feed based on abdomen size, that's what I always do.

Suggest you research on AB and learn as much as possible. <...> RESEARCH!

Editing to add, also mice can harm your T and don't really provide any benefit as others have said. Pleasekeep that in mind as well.