How do T's Eat????

[VinceC]

How do tarantulas eat??

I mean obviously they have fangs, do they drain the liquid through the fangs? what about the meaty parts of there food? they cant suck it all with there fangs?

I was wondering this because my T desnt miss a spot of her food and i don't understand how she eats everything with just fangs? :wall:

 

[Roski]

They have mouths (no one ever mentions that). It leads to the esophagus and into the sucking stomach.

You can also google spider anatomy to get a better idea

 

[Scorpendra]

along with venom, tarantulas secrete digestive enzymes that break down the tissue of their prey as they 'chew' it with their chelicerae. their mouth, a small opening between the chelicerae, sucks in the fluid. the process leaves behind substances like bones and chitin that cannot be broken down into small enough pieces.

Rob K

 

[jbm150]

How do tarantulas eat??

I mean obviously they have fangs, do they drain the liquid through the fangs? what about the meaty parts of there food? they cant suck it all with there fangs?

I was wondering this because my T desnt miss a spot of her food and i don't understand how she eats everything with just fangs? :wall:

Pretty much whats been said. They don't suck with their fangs. The fangs just deliver venom into the prey. They also help break up the body, allowing the venom and digestive enzymes to turn it into soup. Then the resulting liquid is sucked up through the mouth. Apparently the mouth has a very fine filtering system that can exclude particles down to several microns! Anything that isn't liquid is excluded and turned into a bolus.