Gypsy moth toxic to Ts?

[pa3k_87]

We've got a small population explosion this summer of gypsy moths here in Scarborough, Ontario, perhaps due to the mild winter we got this year. So I've started gathering moth pupae around our oak tree and decided to feed the emerging moths to some of my Ts.

Does anyone know about Gypsy moths being toxic to Ts? I'm not feeding them the caterpillars because I'm kinda afraid the hairs will be irritating to them so I'm just feeding them the adult moths. I kinda skimmed through google and I can't seem to find a lot of info except that they are pest species here in North America.

My juvenile arboreals seem to enjoy chasing and catching them. I guess their bumbling and fluttering about around the cage really brings out the hunting behavior in Ts. I've never seen my A avicularia that fast when it was chasing after the moth. They're kinda used to food being dropped in front of them and all they gotta do is pounce on it. I'll have to try this with my terrestrials and see how they react, just as soon as I got more moths emerging.
View attachment 105944
View attachment 105945

 

[Theist 17]

I'd maybe shy away from that. We don't know if the moths were exposed to pesticides or not. Even if they're not toxic to tarantulas (which we don't know for sure) it's dangerous and, quite frankly, irresponsible husbandry to do this.

I hope this all works out in your favor, but I definitely wouldn't try this.

 

[grayzone]

while i HAVE fed moths to ts before (even recently) it CAN be sketchy.
I will admit its cool to watch arboreal ts hunt down the fluttering moths, but like theist said pestides (amongst other things) are a concern.
Luckily I have never encountered a problem. I hope the same for you.

As a side question to this topic,
if you feed your ts a moth or two a year, just as a snack, would that hurt them if the moths DID happen to be exposed to something? Id imagine if a moth was affected by pesticides bad enough it wouldnt make its way to MY house far away from anything growing

 

[macj1983]

while i HAVE fed moths to ts before (even recently) it CAN be sketchy.
I will admit its cool to watch arboreal ts hunt down the fluttering moths, but like theist said pestides (amongst other things) are a concern.
Luckily I have never encountered a problem. I hope the same for you.

As a side question to this topic,
if you feed your ts a moth or two a year, just as a snack, would that hurt them if the moths DID happen to be exposed to something? Id imagine if a moth was affected by pesticides bad enough it wouldnt make its way to MY house far away from anything growing

I agree with the pesticide part these are not gonna take a full toxic pesticide and fly to your house also being that u got them at the stage you did I would believe they wouldn't survive to adult hood.
Let's us know what u find out I'm will to bet all is fine with feeding them to your T's IMO

 

[pa3k_87]

Thanks to all the replies! I was kinda concerned before about the pesticide issue but I figured my backyard's pretty much pesticide-free. Plus I'm just gathering the pupae that's in our yard. I'm not catching the moths flying around because they could have come from somewhere that has been sprayed.

Was just thinking, what if the moth's toxicity will depend on what they've been eating as caterpillars? Mine came from an oak tree. I wonder what possible toxins they could have accumulated while eating oak? It's kinda like monarch caterpillars being poisonous because they eat milkweed. Anyone have any ideas if oak leaves have toxins these gypsy moth caterpillars could have absorbed?

Thanks!