Feeding Psalmopoeus

[si_sleaf]

I am wondering how you other guys feed your Psalmopoeus T's? Come to think of it, all arboreals. I have done a search and found some stuff which has helped, but not really answered my questions.

What is the best thing to feed arboreal tarantulas? The crickets I put in there don't seem to get eaten at all. I have sat and watched for over an hour and they just don't seem to climb the bark for my P.cambridgei to find them. She has made a bit of a tube and the crickets never seem to go in there where she hangs out. I tried putting them straight into the tube (not easy with a side entrance!) but they just come out and crawl around on the substrate. I have seen some in there that are dead, but I don't know if they are just dying or if she is killing them and leaving them. Either way, they are dead outside of the tube.

Is there anything that I put in there for her to eat that will crawl around more and go into the tube web? She is quite a big girl so I think she could eat pretty much anything I throw at her. She's only eaten one locust since I got her and she is looking a bit thin now and would like to see her fill her face with something.

Can anybody recommend a nice "climby" food for her?

Sorry about the long post, hope you can help

 

[TheDon]

Well with my Psalmopoeus Irminia which is about 3" doesnt let anything stay in the tank for very long at all, but usually the crickets venture into her nice tube web in the corner of the tank. But before that she would venture around and scoop them off the ground. Now on the other hand I have a Cambridgei that was 6" until she molted today that was a lazy beast and only ate one cricket since i have had her which is about a month. Just keep trying to coax the crickets into her web. Eventually she should see them if not she may just not be hungry. I gave up on trying to feed her and only fed her about once a week which she didnt touch, it could be ready to molt but who knows, tarantulas will eat when they want to and if they get hungry they will venture out for the food instead of just waiting for it. My Pinktoe is the exact same way he is always on the wall and very very rarely comes to the ground but when he does i toss in a cricket knock it his way and he almost always scoops it up and other times i have fed him with tongs which works sometimes. Anyways dont worry about it because it is very hard for them to starve.

Peace

TheDon

Oh and how big is he/she? you could maybe try silkworms which are like a caterpillar and can climb up walls i believe. A couple of my T's really loved them =)

 

[si_sleaf]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. My P.cambridgei is about 4.5-5" long. I have only had her for about a month. She is the most beautiful thing. I keep her in a sweet jar but I find they are very tricky to take photographs through. I think I may try to get some kind of a glass container for her. I think she's worth it

This is a picture I took just after I got her:

How do you find P.irminia? They are lovely looking T's and close to the top of my list to buy. Are there many differences from P.cambridgei or are they essentially the same to look after? Do you have any pictures?

 

[Palespider]

Like TheDon said, she probably just isn't hungry. Psalmopoeus are much like Poecilotheria in that they will hunt for food when they are hungry. Your cambridgei looks to be fairly fat. I would just give it a week or two and try again.
And mine will almost never eat when they know I'm around. Try dimming the lights and being as quiet as you can. You may just get to witness her stalking her prey.

And I consider putting food down their tube web a form of powerfeeding

Jim B.

 

[WYSIWYG]

Originally posted by si_sleaf
Wow, thanks for the quick reply. My P.cambridgei is about 4.5-5" long. I have only had her for about a month. She is the most beautiful thing. I keep her in a sweet jar but I find they are very tricky to take photographs through. I think I may try to get some kind of a glass container for her. I think she's worth it

This is a picture I took just after I got her:

How do you find P.irminia? They are lovely looking T's and close to the top of my list to buy. Are there many differences from P.cambridgei or are they essentially the same to look after? Do you have any pictures?

I don't know how large your jar is, but I suspect your critter is ready for a 5 to 10 gallon container. Arboreals tend to need more room than a terrestrial spider of the same size.

You can try feeding her a pinky, or probably a fuzzy would be better for a critter of her size. I've seen P. irminia willing to take them so I imagine she would too. Sometimes, it seems the spiders get finicky and they want to try something a little different from time to time.

Wysi

 

[WYSIWYG]

Originally posted by Palespider
Like TheDon said, she probably just isn't hungry. Psalmopoeus are much like Poecilotheria in that they will hunt for food when they are hungry. Your cambridgei looks to be fairly fat. I would just give it a week or two and try again.
And mine will almost never eat when they know I'm around. Try dimming the lights and being as quiet as you can. You may just get to witness her stalking her prey.

And I consider putting food down their tube web a form of powerfeeding

Jim B.

I think it's pretty risky too. Most of the time, the arboreals will molt inside those tubes. It would suck to lose one because some cricket you tossed inside the tube started munching on the
helpless spider.

Wysi

 

[SpiderTwin]

Nice looking P. cambridgei,

Just give it some time, like others have said, it possibly just isn't hungry. I have many arboreals and have never had a problem getting them to eat. I just throw the crickets in and they will find them.

Generally if you toss in a cricket and they haven't eaten it in a day or so, take it out and try again in a few days.

I'd say your T needs a new home too

 

[Dafne]

Originally posted by WYSIWYG
I think it's pretty risky too. Most of the time, the arboreals will molt inside those tubes. It would suck to lose one because some cricket you tossed inside the tube started munching on the
helpless spider.

Wysi

I think WYSI is right It is quite risky to put the cricket into the tube of the T, unless you are sure the T is not a long time after the last molt and is ready for eating and another molt is not on the way... But sometimes it is hard to guess. That's why I put the crickets, most of the time, on the substrate. If the T is hungry, it will go out of the tube and catch the cricket for sure...