Feeding Slings

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Wade
Yes, the crickets are dead. Tarantulas, as already pointed out, will take dead prey. As with most feeding techniques, pre-killing the cricks has it's pros and cons.

Pros:

Dead crickets cannot harm a molting tarantula
Frozen crickets do not need to be fed and watered
Frozen crickets remain usable for a long time
Frozen crickets don't chirp (if you don't like chirping)

Cons:

Some tarantulas may not be interested in non-moving prey
Uneaten dead crickets rot very quicky, which can draw mites and flies if ot removed
Frozen cricket don't chirp (if you like chirping)

Wade

Weighing in these pros and cons it would seem freezing crickets might be the way to go. Fuzzy isn't too particular about it. She nabs anything I drop in front of her. I may however have problems with my arboreal Pandora who likes to swoop down from above and nab her prey that way.

 

[Wade]

I don't do this, by the way, unless I'm dicing them up for small slings.

I have a fairly large collection, over 100 adult T's as well as few dozen slings and assorted scorpions, amblypigids, roaches beetles etc. and the added chore of removing all the uneaten dead crickets the next day would be too much of a pain. The rotting crickets becoming an attractant to mites and flies is a pretty big "con" in my opinion.

I just threw it out there because it might be a useful bit of info for someone who is sick of dealing with live crickets.

Wade

 

[Nixy]

I freeze crickets for our slings just to make them easier to chop.
Dicing up a bug is Never a pleasant task.
But Honestly I don't find it any less appealing then opening a cat of catfood which to me smells Foul, Looks foul and I honestly don't know how the cats can Eat the stuff....

But then they lick themselves all over so...
I guess they don't mind the catfoot after some of their more intimate cleaning....

But it's like any pet.
You know what your getting, know what you gotta do, and you do it.

It becomes a less difficult task after the first few times and after about the 5th time you can chop up crickets and worms without hardly blinking.

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Nixy
I freeze crickets for our slings just to make them easier to chop.
Dicing up a bug is Never a pleasant task.
But Honestly I don't find it any less appealing then opening a cat of catfood which to me smells Foul, Looks foul and I honestly don't know how the cats can Eat the stuff....

But then they lick themselves all over so...
I guess they don't mind the catfoot after some of their more intimate cleaning....

But it's like any pet.
You know what your getting, know what you gotta do, and you do it.

It becomes a less difficult task after the first few times and after about the 5th time you can chop up crickets and worms without hardly blinking.

In all honestly I just keep hearing the theme from "Psycho" in my head whenever I think of chopping up crickets.

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Wade
I don't do this, by the way, unless I'm dicing them up for small slings.

I have a fairly large collection, over 100 adult T's as well as few dozen slings and assorted scorpions, amblypigids, roaches beetles etc. and the added chore of removing all the uneaten dead crickets the next day would be too much of a pain. The rotting crickets becoming an attractant to mites and flies is a pretty big "con" in my opinion.

I just threw it out there because it might be a useful bit of info for someone who is sick of dealing with live crickets.

Wade

Wow. To me that's alot of invertebrates. I only really plan on having maybe 25 Tarantulas at the most. Possibly with 3 Scorpion breeds.

 

[Wade]

You'll know you've truly arived when you find yourself doing to frozen fuzzy mice.

Wade

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Wade
You'll know you've truly arived when you find yourself doing to frozen fuzzy mice.

Wade

I don't think I could ever chop up frozen mice. I was the observer when we disected frogs in my High School Biology class. I had a psycho as my lab partner. He enjoyed ever minute of slicing that frog open.

 

[Nixy]

Pinkycicles?

(Has all kinds of warped twisted mental pictures to go with that)

I bet good humar never thought of That flavor...

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Nixy
Pinkycicles?

(Has all kinds of warped twisted mental pictures to go with that)

I bet good humar never thought of That flavor...

I'm cringing just thinking about that.

 

[Buspirone]

Fluker Farms sells frozen pinkies and up....If you have problems with getting crickets then maybe try a cricket contract with one of the online dealers...they will send you live crickets at predetermined intervals. Sounds alot easier than a 50 mile drive everyweek for crickets.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Frozen beefheart is sold in cubes in the frozen fish food section at Petsmart, and probably at Petco too. It is convienient, as it is already frozen. You can cut yourself off a small portion of each cube. And No Bloody Mess!

Jon

 

[Mojo Jojo]

But seriously, your really should be fine with small crickets for all but the tiniest of s'lings. Here is my A. versicolor, eating a regular "small" cricket that I got from Petsmart. The spider has about a 1/2 inch legspan. And the cricket was about the size of the body of the spider. I just squished the head (s'lings are susceptibe to being injured or killed by the bite of a cricket) and took off the jumping legs (to make smaller and thus less intimidating). As you can see, the spider is chowing down! There is another cricket outside the vial, so you can get size comparison.

Jon

 

[Valael]

I vote 100% for a cricket leg diet if you have other tarantulas/animals you need to feed.



If you buy a dozen crickets, you have 24 legs. More than enough for a couple slings. And you still have plenty of cricket left over for a bigger spider.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Originally posted by Valael
I vote 100% for a cricket leg diet if you have other tarantulas/animals you need to feed.



If you buy a dozen crickets, you have 24 legs. More than enough for a couple slings. And you still have plenty of cricket left over for a bigger spider.

I read somewhere on this forum that cricket legs aren't very nutritious.

Jon

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by Big Dragonfly
Frozen beefheart is sold in cubes in the frozen fish food section at Petsmart, and probably at Petco too. It is convienient, as it is already frozen. You can cut yourself off a small portion of each cube. And No Bloody Mess!

Jon

I had been told also that I can make something I have dubbed "Tarantula Baby Babyfood" where you take beefheart and mash it up as best you can with a thawed, chopped up cricket. That sounds utterly yummy to me. :}