hand feeding

[TheWidowsPeak]

ok I have read several post on here talking about hand feeding avics. or at least tweezer feeding and I can't get my T to take the food. how do you "train" a T to eat from tweezers?

 

[RugbyDave]

personally, i don't think you can ever "train" a T to eat in the sense of training a dog.

i almost wrote 'god' by accident. that would'nt have made sense, eh?

anyways.
i hand feed/tweezer feed when neccesary, not for fun or anything. I've found that some Ts that wont eat in the cage or food ICU take readily to hand/tweezer feeding.

it has its risks though.
just put the food right near the T, and wiggle it a little (sometimes you don't even need to wiggle it) and voilá, you've just hand-fed a T.

Now, some people will tell you there's no reason to do that. They obviously think they know everything about Ts, though

just a method that works for me and I suppose some other people.

I usually try the FOOD ICU first, which clears up, seriously, 80% of my not-eating issues.

the other 20% or so, i hand feed untill they start eating in the cage. Everyone's got their own ways, i suppose.

it works.
just be careful.
seriously.

check around, i remember a post of some girl who got tagged by an avic after hand-feeding hers.

at the end of the day, your T's going to either take it or not. So if you're having food issues, try a food ICU.

good luck
peace
dave

 

[MrT]

Dave,
Can you tell me in great detail about the food ICU.
I don't understand it.:? J/K..;P


I have a couple Avics. that wiil take feed off tweezers, and a couple that run from it. But the one's that do, really hit it hard.
Kinda fun.:}

Ernie

 

[TheWidowsPeak]

well my avic has no problem finding crickets its just these wax worms don't move a lot and I wanted to give it a try

 

[Mendi]

I feed my Avics with the tweezer method, but I didn't train them, they trained me. I don't have much love for crickets and feed them mostly all prekilled, so I was placing a nice fat one that I was holding loosely by a back leg down to where Taps would find it... and if he didn't see it and grab it from my tweezers. I offered him another this time holding the crix by the anteana, he grabbed that one even faster. He took 4 crickets that evening. So, I tried it with my female, and sure enough, just the hanging and slight swaying of the cricket in the tweezers sets her into full attack mode. She will normally take 4 crickets in each feeding this way. It's pretty cool seeing your A.avic with their fangs full of 3 or 4 crickets

Now that I've gotten used to them pouncing on dinner like that, I offer them all their food this way. Sometimes it still makes me a little nervous at how fast they can pounce like this. They've even taken beefheart offered this way.

I don't think that you should use your fingers to offer them food in this way, as I've heard a few clanging type noises as their fangs go through the food and are stopped on the metal tweezers. Your fingers might end up looking like a pin cushion

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Hi all,

Just wanted to throw in my two cents here.

I often hand feed my avics and my pterrors (Usambaras). Some of the more hostile individuals of the latter group I won't, but most of those who are 3" or smaller readily take food from my fingers. I've noticed the sense organs on their feet readily tell them within moments if what they are grabbing is food or not. I've often had eager Usambaras come up out of their containers thinking they are being fed, pounce on my fingers, grabbing them with their feet, a moments pause, and then they retreat, waiting eagerly for their food to be offered. I've done this countless times and haven't been bitten. While I don't recommend or suggest it, I've learned through doing this that more than likely those that have been bitten while doing this may have perhaps jerked their hands back or fingers back, or perhaps moved inadvertently throwing off the spiders aim. At any rate, it's a relationship I enjoy with the little buggers, and they readily and greedily (not to mention hungrily) steal the crickets right out of my fingers. As I mentioned their feet oftentimes land on my fingers first, a moments pause, and then they're on to pulling the cricket from my fingers!

Keep in mind this is with Pterinochilus murinus (Usambara variant) that are 3" or less. I haven't risked it with any larger individuals of this species, as most of the larger specimens I've had would rather bite me than look at me! lol!

Most arboreals also will readily take food from ones fingers, though I don't recommend it with any tarantula! There's always the slight risk of a bite, in my opinion, more from the movements of the human, than by the intentions of the spider (excepting of course the really crotchety t's! lol!)

Best wishes,

Paul

 

[Code Monkey]

I do it a fair amount with my Avics and Nhandu. The Brachys and Grammys tend to be a lot more skittish about food coming right to them like that.

I grasp the back legs of the cricket or the very rear of a roach/worm with hemostat type forceps and dangle it in front of the Ts. The N. coloratovillosus will sometimes even leap off of the ground and grab the food, very cool.

 

[Ultimate Instar]

I started tweezer-feeding my arboreals because they wouldn't hunt crickets on the bottom of their cage. Initially, I would kill the cricket and put it in their web with tweezers. Then they started grabbing the crickets off the tweezers before I could place them. I have to admit that I was a little shocked the first time that happened.

Karen N.

 

[jesses]

Originally posted by johnnyjohnjon
ok I have read several post on here talking about hand feeding avics. or at least tweezer feeding and I can't get my T to take the food. how do you "train" a T to eat from tweezers?

All of my Tarantulas will eat from tweezers as long as they're hungry. Sometimes the vibration of openning their enclosure will scare them and they won't eat until they're left alone for a few minutes. Pretty much I just hold the cricket in front of them, or touch one of their legs with the cricket and they'll grab it away from me or sometimes leap into the air and grab it. They do seem to have a way of instantly knowing whether something is food just by it touching any of their legs in any spot, almost like their entire leg is nose/tongue.

I have a large G. Rosea who will only eat something that puts up a fight, so I feed her Anole Lizards. I'll grab the lizard by the tail and touch the Rosea's front leg which will give a threat posture, then I'll dangle it in front of her chilicerae until she slowly fangs it and takes it.

 

[jesses]

Originally posted by phoenixxavierre


Most arboreals also will readily take food from ones fingers, though I don't recommend it with any tarantula! There's always the slight risk of a bite, in my opinion, more from the movements of the human, than by the intentions of the spider (excepting of course the really crotchety t's! lol!)

I don't put any part of my body in a Tarantula's enclosure that I don't want bitten. If I were to feed one by hand, I'd expect to get bitten at least once in a while. Having cricket-smell on your hands may even confuse them into thinking your fingers are part of the cricket, since they can't really see what they're biting.

 

[RugbyDave]

i haven't been bitten yet, but thats not to say it can't happen, so standard discalimers apply here.

you'd be surprised at how articulate the movements are right before they snag the cricket.

i'm with paul all the way

peace
dave

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by jesses
I don't put any part of my body in a Tarantula's enclosure that I don't want bitten. If I were to feed one by hand, I'd expect to get bitten at least once in a while. Having cricket-smell on your hands may even confuse them into thinking your fingers are part of the cricket, since they can't really see what they're biting.

Of course there's always that risk.

Tarantulas, as Dave mentioned, are very articulate with their movements during feeding, and, of course, at most other times as well. I think a major reason for this is their increased sensitivity to everything around them. I believe that they can sense far more than we realize, and that the cricket and our fingers put off way different vibrations and heat from eachother which they readily sense. I also believe from observation of various tarantulas that they may have better eyesight than we have thought in the past. Truth is, we know very little about these amazing animals, and while there are some things we know, a lot of what we "know" is pure conjecture.

I hand feed roughly 50 Usambara Pterrors twice a month at least, not full grown (most are around the 2" mark) and have never been bitten. Of course now that I've posted this, I'll probably get nailed, lol! I've also hand fed a number of my larger tarantulas with no mishaps yet (knock on wood). I just keep a steady hand and make sure the cricket is held loosely but firmly in my fingers, and that at least 2/3 of the cricket is sticking out from between my digits. Again, I'm not encouraging it, as a faint heart may cause the tarantula to miss it's mark, embedding a fang in a finger. If and when I do get nailed doing this, and it won't be from me pulling away (thereby throwing off the tarantula's aim) I'll be sure to post it. I could be totally wrong about why a tarantula may miss it's mark when handfed, though, and I imagine there may be some individual tarantulas that do have poorer senses than others, so if that's the case I imagine I'll find out the hard way, lol!

Best wishes,

Paul

 

[sunnymarcie]

Use my hands....? NO WAY!
All of my T's are aggressive eaters I would never use my hand
to feed any of them

One of my T's eats from the tongs. My A. avic "Boots"
He has only made a web to molt so I did not have the option to
put his food in a web. He also would not come down to hunt,
so I tried the tongs.....it worked, so thats how he eats now.

For the other T's, I just put in a few crickets and they do the work.

 

[MizM]

Originally posted by jesses
I Having cricket-smell on your hands may even confuse them into thinking your fingers are part of the cricket, since they can't really see what they're biting.

Ts can't smell "cricket smell!" =D

I use RugbyDave's food icu for my a. avics! The only problem is when they web up the i.c.u. thinking it's a new burrow!!=D

 

[RugbyDave]

Originally posted by MizM

I use RugbyDave's food icu for my a. avics!

that's going to be in a well-respected book someday... and we can say "i remember when...."

peace
dave

 

[MizM]

Hmmmm......

THE TARANTULA FOOD I.C.U.
by Daveco

Has a ring to it doesn't it?

Dude, something adorable your way comes!!!