Feeding Question For Those With The Biggest Spiders In Their Forever Homes

[liquidfluidity]

So, I have 2 T. blondis that I have raised from slings over the past 3-4 years. Each is easily 8" dls. Each is very healthy. I recently moved to another state and of course, I kept these guys. They were my dream spiders growing up At one point, they were the only New Worlds I had as I have serious urticating hair reactions....

Anyway so we got settled in in the new home. I got Mr rack set up and did some rearranging and found that I had a lot of space to work with as my collection was well over 80 and I only brought 12. Thanks goes out to Amy Salinas of Fang Hub. She came and got the largest amount from me along with all of my excess homing materials and enclosures. This made things a lot easier, especially since I was moving in the middle of Iowa winter and travelling 1k miles to NC.

Back to the story. So I had 2 fully empty shelves to utilize. My end plan was final homes for the Blondis. I purchased 2x 36x18x12 Exos and went to town with cork bark, drift wood, plants, cleanup crew, lighting etc.

It took them a few months to come out of their hides and one of them I still haven't seen, but know she alive as there are silken trails all over.

With their size and health, I know that they can go an extended amount of time without eating and am unsorted about starvation. Neither has molted in over a year so I'm hoping that's coming soon too.

My question - those of you that have large spiders in larger enclosures, how often are you feeding and are you releasing your prey items near the den or just tossing them in and letting the spider hunt? Prolly late for asking that question after a year of just tossing them in, lol, but I would like to hear other people's views, opinions, schedules, etc. Positive criticism is all that will be tolerated in this post. Please...

Here's a pic of my most active girl. I even put it on my credit card, lol. This is kind of her hangout if she's not wandering n foraging.

 

[viper69]

The husbandry for all Ts is the same. Feed when hungry not plump.

I don’t cater to them in terms of feeding near hide etc unless they are particularly fussy, OR their webbing doesn’t extend far.

Sometimes I don’t see webbing, but I go in with forceps to gently lift sub to see if there’s a light layer or not. No vibration senses no eat!

 

[liquidfluidity]

Pretty much what I do. A spider as big as these surely needs some enrichment and needs to be able to hunt it's own food. I've prolly just seen too many feeding videos, lol

 

[BoyFromLA]

Feeding process, simple yet complicated

This post is dedicated to feeding process. A bit more detailed version of my previous post in Tarantula Chat, which is the below link: https://arachnoboards.com/threads/when-feeding%E2%80%A6.364054/ A feeding in general, is very simple process. This can be as simple as five steps. Locate the...

arachnoboards.com

I don’t why would it be any different for large tarantulas. It’d be all the same.

 

[liquidfluidity]

I just know some keepers feed always in the den areas and I could not understand that. I'd like to see the hunt too.

Like feeding my Nigriventer, I just drop them in and once she knows they are there, the hunt begins. I can hear the Jaws theme in the back ground

 

[A guy]

The problem I've seen with just tossing prey items inside the enclosure is sometimes, one can hide and get lost. Then comes the time when the tarantula needs to molt and that single prey item now has become the predator.

It's not uncommon for a single cricket, a single worm or a beetle to kill large tarantulas. If they went unnoticed.

 

[scottyk]

Agree with others and will add I really liked feeding my super sized T's fully mature Dubia when I kept them. The big ones are among the largest, plumpest insect feeders you can provide, and got a better prey response than smaller insects. I would pinch heads though so I could retrieve uneaten ones.

When my T. blondi hit a big male dubia, you could hear the "crunch" sound across the living room.

 

[Charliemum]

So, I have 2 T. blondis that I have raised from slings over the past 3-4 years. Each is easily 8" dls. Each is very healthy. I recently moved to another state and of course, I kept these guys. They were my dream spiders growing up At one point, they were the only New Worlds I had as I have serious urticating hair reactions....

Anyway so we got settled in in the new home. I got Mr rack set up and did some rearranging and found that I had a lot of space to work with as my collection was well over 80 and I only brought 12. Thanks goes out to Amy Salinas of Fang Hub. She came and got the largest amount from me along with all of my excess homing materials and enclosures. This made things a lot easier, especially since I was moving in the middle of Iowa winter and travelling 1k miles to NC.

Back to the story. So I had 2 fully empty shelves to utilize. My end plan was final homes for the Blondis. I purchased 2x 36x18x12 Exos and went to town with cork bark, drift wood, plants, cleanup crew, lighting etc.

It took them a few months to come out of their hides and one of them I still haven't seen, but know she alive as there are silken trails all over.

With their size and health, I know that they can go an extended amount of time without eating and am unsorted about starvation. Neither has molted in over a year so I'm hoping that's coming soon too.

My question - those of you that have large spiders in larger enclosures, how often are you feeding and are you releasing your prey items near the den or just tossing them in and letting the spider hunt? Prolly late for asking that question after a year of just tossing them in, lol, but I would like to hear other people's views, opinions, schedules, etc. Positive criticism is all that will be tolerated in this post. Please...

Here's a pic of my most active girl. I even put it on my credit card, lol. This is kind of her hangout if she's not wandering n foraging. View attachment 497651 View attachment 497652 View attachment 497653

My biggest girls atm sit around 7.5/8 inches (sericopelma and pampho) ALL take prekilled from wherever they are sitting at the time feed em weekly post moult but once they start chunking bk up I cut down to every 2 sometimes 3 weeks depending on abdomen size.
Theraphosa tend to hold weigh well or my girl does although she's still only 6 inches dls, I do know others that keep them that feed weekly regardless then others that cut down soon as the abdomen is carapace size. Really it just depends on you n how comfortable you are with how long between feeds you go .
Personally I do every week then once a good abdomen size is achieved I feed when I see the t out. Always keep the water dish full though its real important when feeds for big girls are spread out.

Hope I helped need any clarification or any more questions you know where we are.

Congratulations on the move btw

 

[HoneyOilers]

Depending on what I’m feeding, I change it up. Crickets, I just let them fly, they move around enough my LP will get them. Super worms, I crush heads and attempt to tong feed, if no reaction, I really kill it dead and drop it near the spider. Hornworms, I drop in and let them fly, no burrowing, no problem. Sometimes I tong feed those bad boys though, as it’s usually pretty fun, they hit them hard.

 

[kingshockey]

in cages that size i would just spoon feed em fully dead prekilled feeders dropped infront of their hides/burrow entrances. zero stress over any uneaten live feeders running around then.

 

[liquidfluidity]

Agree with others and will add I really liked feeding my super sized T's fully mature Dubia when I kept them. The big ones are among the largest, plumpest insect feeders you can provide, and got a better prey response than smaller insects. I would pinch heads though so I could retrieve uneaten ones.

When my T. blondi hit a big male dubia, you could hear the "crunch" sound across the living room.

Yes , I have a Dubia colony just for that purpose. I also have a hisser colony.

And yeah, the audible crunch of a big spider taking a Dubia down is k8nd of crazy.....like bones being broken, lol

 

[liquidfluidity]

The problem I've seen with just tossing prey items inside the enclosure is sometimes, one can hide and get lost. Then comes the time when the tarantula needs to molt and that single prey item now has become the predator.

It's not uncommon for a single cricket, a single worm or a beetle to kill large tarantulas. If they went unnoticed.

I do agree and try not to feed crickets except when necessary. One of my Blondis doesn't seem to care for roaches which is odd to me. You would also think that a spider of this size would have a "territory " at least with an 18" circumference to it's den....

 

[liquidfluidity]

My biggest girls atm sit around 7.5/8 inches (sericopelma and pampho) ALL take prekilled from wherever they are sitting at the time feed em weekly post moult but once they start chunking bk up I cut down to every 2 sometimes 3 weeks depending on abdomen size.
Theraphosa tend to hold weigh well or my girl does although she's still only 6 inches dls, I do know others that keep them that feed weekly regardless then others that cut down soon as the abdomen is carapace size. Really it just depends on you n how comfortable you are with how long between feeds you go .
Personally I do every week then once a good abdomen size is achieved I feed when I see the t out. Always keep the water dish full though its real important when feeds for big girls are spread out.

Hope I helped need any clarification or any more questions you know where we are.

Congratulations on the move btw

Thanks! The move was a rough experience but the atmosphere here is quite different from Iowa. Love it so far


I feed about the same. Once they appear a bit on the chunky side, I cut way back. I really hope to see the second one soon with new clothes on. Having not seen her since about the time we got here makes me want to investigate, but as I stated, I have seen trailing webs so I'm guessing she's good...for now.

 

[Charliemum]

Thanks! The move was a rough experience but the atmosphere here is quite different from Iowa. Love it so far


I feed about the same. Once they appear a bit on the chunky side, I cut way back. I really hope to see the second one soon with new clothes on. Having not seen her since about the time we got here makes me want to investigate, but as I stated, I have seen trailing webs so I'm guessing she's good...for now.

Yes trip lines are always a good sign your t is a ok
Feeding schedule is good then
Can always get an endoscope would be able to see in np then without disturbing her too much
You'll just walk I one day n she will be out its always the way not see them for months then, boom, here I am feed me t's

 

[HoneyOilers]

Yes trip lines are always a good sign your t is a ok
Feeding schedule is good then
Can always get an endoscope would be able to see in np then without disturbing her too much
You'll just walk I one day n she will be out its always the way not see them for months then, boom, here I am feed me t's

So true my P. Victori had been in hiding for close to 3 weeks now. I just put my camera above her hide (which she doesn’t want to web) and make sure she’s alive in there. These are all pictures from different days to ensure she is indeed moving in there.

 

[liquidfluidity]

I've always thought about buying an endoscope for the tool collection but couldn't think up a reason to.....now that's changed!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

So, I have 2 T. blondis that I have raised from slings over the past 3-4 years. Each is easily 8" dls. Each is very healthy. I recently moved to another state and of course, I kept these guys. They were my dream spiders growing up At one point, they were the only New Worlds I had as I have serious urticating hair reactions....

Anyway so we got settled in in the new home. I got Mr rack set up and did some rearranging and found that I had a lot of space to work with as my collection was well over 80 and I only brought 12. Thanks goes out to Amy Salinas of Fang Hub. She came and got the largest amount from me along with all of my excess homing materials and enclosures. This made things a lot easier, especially since I was moving in the middle of Iowa winter and travelling 1k miles to NC.

Back to the story. So I had 2 fully empty shelves to utilize. My end plan was final homes for the Blondis. I purchased 2x 36x18x12 Exos and went to town with cork bark, drift wood, plants, cleanup crew, lighting etc.

It took them a few months to come out of their hides and one of them I still haven't seen, but know she alive as there are silken trails all over.

With their size and health, I know that they can go an extended amount of time without eating and am unsorted about starvation. Neither has molted in over a year so I'm hoping that's coming soon too.

My question - those of you that have large spiders in larger enclosures, how often are you feeding and are you releasing your prey items near the den or just tossing them in and letting the spider hunt? Prolly late for asking that question after a year of just tossing them in, lol, but I would like to hear other people's views, opinions, schedules, etc. Positive criticism is all that will be tolerated in this post. Please...

Here's a pic of my most active girl. I even put it on my credit card, lol. This is kind of her hangout if she's not wandering n foraging. View attachment 497651 View attachment 497652 View attachment 497653

I feed them the exact same as my smaller Ts just more food overall. My roach colony isn’t producing enough feeders I have to start buying super worms.

 

[Charliemum]

I've always thought about buying an endoscope for the tool collection but couldn't think up a reason to.....now that's changed!

they are a useful t tool for sure, especially for females that are sealed with a sac. Can see what they are doing without upsetting them . Seen them use them to check burrows in the wild n thought ooooo what a good idea, think everyone with t's needs one now .

 

[l4nsky]

Recently made the investment myself.

 

[Charliemum]

View attachment 497927
Recently made the investment myself.

See if you have one, I know its a great idea .