Food list for tarantulas?

[x-fan]

Hi there. I was told that there was some kind of a table or a list with all the "stuff" that can be used as food. With the description of the food item and how suitable is it for feeding you tarantula with?
Anyone that can help me find something like that?
10x in advance and have a nice hairy day all )

 

[ballpython2]

Hi there. I was told that there was some kind of a table or a list with all the "stuff" that can be used as food. With the description of the food item and how suitable is it for feeding you tarantula with?
Anyone that can help me find something like that?
10x in advance and have a nice hairy day all )

I cant but i can tell you crickets, meal worms, wax worms roaches, moths, earth worms. basically any insects you can find however if you get them outside be cautious of pesticides within their body cause if they have them in their body it will your Ts if it gets in their system.

 

[x-fan]

10x ballpython2 I know that, but wich one of it is more nutrient? Wich you can feed every day, and wich you cant, and why ... I know it's not a good idea to use roaches as primary food as the roaches can accumulate toxins in their bodies, that can do some real damage to T's ... What about the larvae of Zophobas morio or Tenebrio molitor? IS it good idea to use them a lot, are they better than crickes, why i they are and why if they are not .. stuff like that )

 

[thedude]

uhh.. dude just use crickets every week and large meal-worms every other week and if it's big enough throw a pinkie,hopper mosue or frog or anole in there for a varied diet... can be live or dead as long as the T is bigger than it.

the more you feed the T the quicker it grows, the quicker it grows the shortler life span of the T.

Ts arnt made to be eating constantly... they can and most will most certantly eat when ever they can but like i said it "ages" them faster, they do this caus in the wild they eat when ever they can caus some can be in places where they do not see food for long periods of time so thus they gorge them selves thinking they wont see another meal for a month but low and behold another one comes by in a day, then another, than another and so on and eventually they have to get out of there old skin caus there so big and when ever a T molts think of it super ageing the T another 8 months... thats why you only feed it 2-3 cricks every week or 2

 

[Talkenlate04]

I know on one of the roach dealers sites they did a break down of nutrient levels and roaches are really quite good for your Ts. I don't remember what roaches they analyzed though. I am sure someone will know where I read that.

I feed only roaches "dubia" and I will never go back to feeding anything else. Crickets unless you stay on top of feeding them and gut loading them are kind of worthless. It does not take them long to process everything in their gut, so if you feed a cricket that has not eaten to well then your just feeding a shell that has some water in it. Their nutritional level is pretty low to my understanding.

pinkie,hopper mosue or frog or anole in there for a varied diet

I have been breeding a long while now and I have never had the need to do this anymore. I did before thinking it was making a huge difference, I did feed WC frogs and such but after having a T die from something I think was related to the frogs I stopped feeding prey items like that and have seen no change in the health of my Ts. They all do very well on their diet of roaches.

 

[GailC]

I feed all my T's roaches too, I different kinds but the lateralis seem to be a favorite. Wild roaches might have toxins but home raised ones don't. I give crickets or silkworms occasionally just cause I have them around.

Crickets are fine to feed every week, just make sure they are gutloaded and have plenty of water.

I'd never feed frogs, most have toxins in them, reptiles can be loaded with parasites not to mention that too much calcium might be bad for T's. I have fed pinkies a couple times but its rare and I always use frozen thawed.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Wait you won't feed frogs because of the maybe "calcium" issue but you will feed mice? I am lost.

 

[-Sarah-]

I've used crickets ever since I started keeping tarantulas, and I totally agree with Ryan - crickets can be pretty worthless. Not only are their lifespans short, but their nutritional value is something to be desired. What really takes the cake is how much people are charging for crickets nowadays. The prices are rediculous for something that's not that great of a food source and can die at the drop of a hat. I've kept them well-fed and in perfectly ideal conditions only to have half of the population die off in less than a week :evil: Also, mealworms and superworms have even less nutrition than a cricket, and their fat content is really high, so feed them to your tarantulas sparingly. Think of them as a treat Every once in a while I'll feed them to my tarantulas as a treat.

I'm going to order 100 B. dubia roaches here shortly, so I can't wait to start breeding them and using them as feeders. I've heard nothing but good things about them, so I'm going to give them a shot!

-Sarah

 

[x-fan]

10x to all of you for your input.
I think i found something but now .. can someone tell me what's the role of phosphore,protein, fat and fiber in tarantulas diet? Wich is better to be high and wich is not?

 

[kingfarvito]

I've used crickets ever since I started keeping tarantulas, and I totally agree with Ryan - crickets can be pretty worthless. Not only are their lifespans short, but their nutritional value is something to be desired. What really takes the cake is how much people are charging for crickets nowadays. The prices are rediculous for something that's not that great of a food source and can die at the drop of a hat. I've kept them well-fed and in perfectly ideal conditions only to have half of the population die off in less than a week :evil: Also, mealworms and superworms have even less nutrition than a cricket, and their fat content is really high, so feed them to your tarantulas sparingly. Think of them as a treat Every once in a while I'll feed them to my tarantulas as a treat.

I'm going to order 100 B. dubia roaches here shortly, so I can't wait to start breeding them and using them as feeders. I've heard nothing but good things about them, so I'm going to give them a shot!

-Sarah

what are you paying for crix and where are you getting them?

 

[whitehaze2008]

where do you people get silk worms?

 

[dianedfisher]

http://www.grubco.com has nutrition information for many different feeders. Di

 

[x-fan]

hehehe, let's see will they delete that link as they did with the one in my post ) i was looking at a table with nutrition data at this site too But i was wondering what's the use of fat and phosphorus when it comes to feeding T's?

 

[Travis K]

Blaptica Dubia

I started feeding all my critters B. Dubia Roaches about 3&1/2 months ago and noticed a couple of things.

First the roaches are way bigger than Crickets, so my T's and Leopard geckos ate less frequently. I had to then adjust the feeding schedule. I have been using only adult male Dubias to increase my colonies population.

Second the geckos gained a lot of mass, and look great. I cant really tell a difference in appearance in the T's but they have molted. I think the Dubia are a much better source of nutrition for my T's and geckos.

The Blaptica Dubias cost me a bit of money to get them going but now i have a never ending food source. at virtually no cost to me. I was spending almost $10 a month on crickets before and now the Dubias have paid for themselves. What's even better is they can't fly or climb glass! Oh yeah and have you ever smelled a bag of crickets? YUK, they smell like so kind of nasty!?!

I will probably have a enough for a starter colony of B Dubias this winter so keep an eye out or send me a PM.

Later,
Travy Trav

 

[AneesasMuse]

I know on one of the roach dealers sites they did a break down of nutrient levels and roaches are really quite good for your Ts. I don't remember what roaches they analyzed though. I am sure someone will know where I read that.

I've read a breakdown of various roaches and other feeders on DoubleDD's site. He didn't cover ALL, but quite a few. It's useful, anyhow.

I think with nutrient values and a T's nutrition intake, about the best you can do is offer healthy, gutloaded bugs and a variety. That's just me, though. I haven't seen enough concrete evidence from clinical experiments performed over many, many years to convince me otherwise. And that doesn't mean it isn't out there... I just haven't seen it.. so I do my best!

 

[Thoth]

hehehe, let's see will they delete that link as they did with the one in my post ) i was looking at a table with nutrition data at this site too But i was wondering what's the use of fat and phosphorus when it comes to feeding T's?

The fat and phosphorus content is only relevant for feeding herps.

 

[-Sarah-]

what are you paying for crix and where are you getting them?

Well, I can get them anywhere from .10 to .12 cents a piece, depending on which pet store I go to. I had good luck with my first purchase from Worm Man (http://www.wormman.com), although they're a tad expensive. The crickets seemed to fare better than the pet store crickets. So, after I finished off that first box of crickets, I went ahead and ordered another box of crickets, roughly identical in size to the first box. What a mistake that was they didn't fare well this time around at all! Within a week more than half of the box died off. It was very, very strange. That has never happened before.


-Sarah

 

[fartkowski]

I have used crickets for all my T's since the begining.
I have never had a problem with them. I'm lucky that the pet store I go to Usually gives me alot more then I order. If I order 30 I will probably get like 50 in the bag. They also have many different sizes to choose from.
I haven't really had too much of a problem with them dying off. I do have to clean them alot tho.
Also I find the sound they make kinda soothing.