How often shall i feed my GBB?

Vanessa

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Mealworms are just fine as a staple part of the diet...I don't get all the anti-mealworm bias on these boards.
I am not biased against them for nutritional reasons, but I don't really feed them too often. I have experienced less of a prey drive for them - resulting in less being eaten unless I was to tong feed them. I do feed them occasionally in case variety is beneficial, but I make sure that they have gone a longer period since their last feeding to ensure that they are hungry and eat them immediately.
If I had better responses for them, I would definitely feed them way more often than I do. They are far easier to keep and I hate crickets.
 

Ellenantula

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Mealworms are just fine as a staple part of the diet...I don't get all the anti-mealworm bias on these boards.
Nothing against mealworms here. But I feed mealworms occasionally due to the burrowing thing. I dislike tong-feeding, and really resent the time wasted be-heading them. So many easier things to feed.... if you don't mind a fatty feeder -- wax worms rule! :)
 

cold blood

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I am not biased against them for nutritional reasons, but I don't really feed them too often. I have experienced less of a prey drive for them - resulting in less being eaten unless I was to tong feed them. I do feed them occasionally in case variety is beneficial, but I make sure that they have gone a longer period since their last feeding to ensure that they are hungry and eat them immediately.
If I had better responses for them, I would definitely feed them way more often than I do. They are far easier to keep and I hate crickets.
My only t that won't eat them is my old porteri....everyone from little slings to the big ornate accepts them readily in my house. I basically raise terrestrial slings on mealworm pieces.

Oh and Vanessa, I wasn't referring to you as being biased against them;)
 

cold blood

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Nothing against mealworms here. But I feed mealworms occasionally due to the burrowing thing. I dislike tong-feeding, and really resent the time wasted be-heading them. So many easier things to feed.... if you don't mind a fatty feeder -- wax worms rule! :)
Waxworms are the fattiest of potential offerings...and ts absolutely love them!! I utilize them often....no one ever refuses waxies:)

I've never had to tong feed mealworms, just drop them in with a crushed head and the t walks over and picks them up.
 

Vanessa

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My only t that won't eat them is my old porteri....everyone from little slings to the big ornate accepts them readily in my house. I basically raise terrestrial slings on mealworm pieces.

Oh and Vanessa, I wasn't referring to you as being biased against them;)
I know you weren't referring to me specifically. I just wanted to offer another reason, other than siting nutritional misconceptions, for not feeding them as a staple diet. Unfortunately, I have encountered less interest in them overall than crickets.
Superworms are the same price as crickets at my pet shop and I would gladly get them all the time if my guys would eat them more enthusiastically. Not only are they far easier to keep - my experience has been that they need less of them and they don't die off as much as my crickets do.
Maybe I will get superworms this weekend instead and see how that goes with my current gang.

My spiderlings main diet (about 75%) consists of mealworms - part or whole depending on the spiderling size.
 

TownesVanZandt

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Mealworms are just fine as a staple part of the diet...I don't get all the anti-mealworm bias on these boards.
I might be biased when it comes to politics, football, religion, culture and history, but I wouldn´t say I´m biased against mealworms :p In fact, I´m more than happy to be wrong on this! My fridge is full of mealworms, I feed them to my slings since they need food more often than every second week and I´m too lazy to buy crickets more often than that. If you´re right on mealworms being good as staple food, I can carry on with this with a clear conscience :)
 

Trenor

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I might be biased when it comes to politics, football, religion, culture and history, but I wouldn´t say I´m biased against mealworms :p In fact, I´m more than happy to be wrong on this! My fridge is full of mealworms, I feed them to my slings since they need food more often than every second week and I´m too lazy to buy crickets more often than that. If you´re right on mealworms being good as staple food, I can carry on with this with a clear conscience :)
Yeah man, why are you trying to oppress the meal worm? :p
 

ratluvr76

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Waxworms are the fattiest of potential offerings...and ts absolutely love them!! I utilize them often....no one ever refuses waxies:)

I've never had to tong feed mealworms, just drop them in with a crushed head and the t walks over and picks them up.
@cold blood Do you feed the mealies to your bigger spiders too? I've noticed that my bigger sub-adults and adults completely ignore the mealworms. I'm wondering if super worms would work since they are considerably larger. hhmm..i'll have to try it.
 

cold blood

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@cold blood Do you feed the mealies to your bigger spiders too? I've noticed that my bigger sub-adults and adults completely ignore the mealworms. I'm wondering if super worms would work since they are considerably larger. hhmm..i'll have to try it.
Yes, my 6.5" vitatta especially loves them (along with waxies), the larger ornata eats them as well...I just give them 2-4 of them....Now with my arboreals, I generally feed through the vent holes, which means the t almost always rushed over to take it from the tweezers (there's plastic between the tweezers and the mealworm), but sometimes I just drop it close...the t generally pounces and catches it...just did this with an A. ulrichea and a T. okerti, neither of which are terribly small (not full grown though)....but for terrestrials, like chromatus or cancerides for example, I just drop and walk away...they either grab it or walk over at their leisure and pick it up...the rare occarrion they dont, I just pick them out in 24-48 hours and feed elsewhere...its truly amazing how long a mealworm can live with a crushed head.


Yeah though, superworms are a better option for larger ones, they're a more sizable meal, great for post molt.
 
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viper69

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It seems to me the amount they are fed rather then the fat percentage results in the T having more weight.
I have one piece of observational data for you. I ordered a bunch of N. incei from @cold blood . His mealworm-only fed N incei were molting faster than my pinhead-only fed N incei. All incei from the same sac. All pinheads were gutloaded w/Flukers (mind you that's geared for herps, but it's better than an empty cricket) 24 hr before feeding. Incei ate every day and packed on the weight like no other slings I've owned. Yet his were molting sooner.

I'll be getting one more incei from him, and I'll be able to compare the size of that one w/ its sacmate for further conformation.
 

viper69

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I think that someone should measure the protein and fats in the different feeders.
After that, tarantula poo can be analyzed for residuals. That would be super interesting. :astonished:



Certainly some of the fattest Ts I've seen. ;)



They remind be of camels. :embarrassed:
I'll have to go hunt a few of them down. Thanks.

There's a scientific paper out there where a DVM examined how much food a T would have to eat in order to gain mass. I would find that paper if you are interested. If you can't find it, let me know.
 
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