How often should I feed my spiderling?

[TGod]

1 or 2 times a week is fine

 

[cold blood]

It increases the likelihood of the tarantula sustaining drag injuries which can in turn lead to abdominal ruptures.

Do you by chance have evidence to support that drag marks lead to random ruptures, or are actually causing internal harm? Im not being a smart guy here, its something id like to see....to date though, i havent. Those drag marks we have all seen to look sad though, but they are also most often associated with improper substrate.

Ive never heard of this happening simply becase of an area rubbed clean of hairs.....ruptures come from falls, which are avoidable with proper housing IMO.

Now dont take what i write the wrong way (as i believe some are), im not advocating obesity in ts....it should be avoided and is very difficult to reverse without an egg sac....but to say the reasons are specifically health related arent really true IMO, they ARE risk related though.


If im 400 lb, its a health risk to me just to exert myself, all my internal organs would be stressed, i would likely have high blood pressure, diabetes and bloodflow issues and likely a significantly shortened lifespan...these would all present a serious health rish. We dont see such things from arachnids.

So im not saying there are not risks involved with t obesity, im saying the risks are not specifically related to the overall health of the t.....the t wont get diabetes, it wont have heart issues, it wont sprain ankles or fall down etc. The risks, which are there, are outside of general health. example: For years we heard it could impact molting, yet in all my years ive never even seen anectodal evidence this might be true.

Take a healthy person, get em drunk and give em a car....they crash and get hurt....did that one night of booze instantly make them unhealthy, or was a poor decision to blame for those new injuries?

Most injuries to fat ts are likewise, more directly related to a bad decision than anything (bad housing, handling, etc).

But im in agreement obesity in ts should be avoided, my reasons just arent related to health issues, theyre related to higher risk issues.

took over an obese Lasiodorides polycuspulatus once. It had a black blister where the abdomen touched the ground. It took more than one moult to completely heal. G. iheringi in general tend to have a smaller abdomen, but I fed her quite a lot. Her abdomen got bigger and bigger. One day, I noticed that she had a bald spot on the same place where my L. polycuspulatus had this black wound. Luckily

but you cannot verify how the blister originally occurred or even that it was directly related to obesity. Ive seen those cyst like spots on ts that were not obese. Your ts injury could have easily been heat mat related or related to a fall with the previous owner.

 

[sasker]

but you cannot verify how the blister originally occurred or even that it was directly related to obesity.

No, I can't. What is correlation, and what is causation in my experience with tarantulas having drag marks and unexplainable wounds? I have no idea. But these are my tarantulas, not a science project. I could increase the frequency and amount of feeding to see if I can get my G. iheringi to develop a black scab as well, but I prefer not to. I am not that eager to be right.

If you say it is totally healthy for a tarantula to be obese, you can feel free to do so. You have much more experience than me, so you are probably right. But even if it is just a matter of risk, I prefer to avoid it because I want to keep my tarantulas alive. I would still recommend not to overfeed their tarantulas to anyone who asks. On the off chance that one of my tarantulas has a problem moulting its sucking stomach, they may still be able to moult without eating. I keep my tarantulas well-fed. Just not obese.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Do you by chance have evidence to support that drag marks lead to random ruptures

Taken from a FB group, the OP's LP attempted to moult with a drag injury and ended up with a rupture.

Drag injury prior to moulting.


Aftermath.


Pretty sure that such an extreme outcome isn't a regular occurrence but I'd rather not risk it when it's easily avoidable.

Those drag marks we have all seen to look sad though, but they are also most often associated with improper substrate.

Something coarse is going to do it faster but it doesn't really matter what sub you use (the above example occurred over coco-fibre), if a tarantula is dragging its abdomen over a surface for long enough then eventually it's going to start to wear away the exoskeleton itself.

 

[cold blood]

. But even if it is just a matter of risk, I prefer to avoid it because I want to keep my tarantulas alive. I would still recommend not to overfeed their tarantulas to anyone who asks

Which is pretty much exactly what I said about obesity. Like I said, I am not in ANY way condoning obesity, I simply disagreed on the base reasoning for why, I wasnt countering that narrative in the least.

Taken from a FB group, the OP's LP attempted to moult with a drag injury and ended up with a rupture.

Thank you! I suspected it may be possible, but that's literally the first time seeing it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[sasker]

Taken from a FB group, the OP's LP attempted to moult with a drag injury and ended up with a rupture.

That's exactly what the black scab on my L. polycuspulatus looked like. Luckily, she did not die during the moulting process.


Edit:

Which is pretty much exactly what I said about obesity.

I think everyone is pretty much in agreement in this thread. We are just all arguing over semantics

 

[viper69]

@viper69 @Smotzer @sasker are among the frequent people who are quick to say to feed off abdomen size when a new keeper asks for feeding schedules. Compare sling abdomen sizes of for example A. chalcodes, G. rosea, B. hamorii, N. chromatus, G. pulchra, N. incei, arboreal species, Selenocosmiinae and Ornithoctoninae species, and let alone G. pulchripes. To many new and novice keepers, it's not obvious to see when it is the sling will no longer take food or in this case to hold off feeding bc of abdomen size. Also take into account that not all slings of "beginner" species will have identical abdominal sizes when in premolt. I've had countless sling specimens of the same species who are as plump as plump can be and still accept food while there are also those that are considerably skinnier and molt without eating anymore.

I'm not discounting the advice of feeding off abdomen sizes bc I think it holds weight for adult tarantulas especially for obligate burrowers. But the OP obviously has a sling as per picture. For slings, I feed as much as they can take so they molt to a size where they have a waxy cuticle that helps them from dessicating as originally advised by @boina. A new keeper let alone a first-time keeper would have no clue as to what size the sling's abdomen should be. Also, wouldn't it be beneficial to feed the sling as much as it can eat until it develops the waxy cuticle? An argument can be made that bc of this at this point in time regarding the OP's specimen being a sling, the advice of "feeding off abdomen size" is irrelevant and can cause confusion. Additionally, premolt can be gauged of a G. pulchripes specimen, a sling or adult, by the color of the abdomen closer towards the pedicel as observed by @cold blood from the several G. pulchripes slings he's raised.

You’re wrong on expecting any of us to provide specific info for all the species peeps ask about. I’ll let you whip out the calipers and provide metric measurements on abdomen size on a species wide level hahahahaha

I personally feed slings quite often for the reason you mentioned- their job is to grow. I’ve written THAT more times than I can count here.

But I’ll tell you, I don’t do the above iwith all specimens- they aren’t running around all fat in the wild

I provide the general answer I always do because it’s true for every species.

However if you think or are suggesting that one provide specific, species measurements of the abdomen that's not feasible.

It is for some of the reasons you mentioned that I SPECIFICALLY provide general rule of thumb on this. One word - variability.

As for accepting food- that is why I often write “based on behavior and...” more times than I can count.

Also, this general rule I provide is not something anyone can know from day 1- that is true and OBVIOUS.

However this is why I tell people to PAY GOD DAMN ATTENTION to their animals! HAH

JUST LIKE I LEARNED hopefully they will too IF they pay attention to various details that you and I and many others mention.

Some will and some don’t pay attention- not my fault not in my control etc

 

[ccTroi]

I was not aware of that ..

I agree with pretty much everything. But please note that OP's question was not "when should I stop feeding?" or "why did my tarantula stop eating?". OP asked how much/often he should feed, and I think everyone who chimed in gave very clear answers. The overall answer was not 'just look at the abdomen', because that would indeed be a very insufficient answer. If OP, or any other beginner who is reading this thread for that matter, sticks to the feeding regimes recommended (from every day, twice a week, once a week, it does not really matter and depends on the preference of the keeper) it will all be fine.



I am totally with you on that. That's why I said in my post (#3):





Again, only if 'watch abdomen size' was the only tip/advice given. It was not. And it is not irrelevant, IMO. I had my H. chilensis moulting last week. After the moult, it had a rather small abdomen, so I decided to feed her every day for a few days. I don't think it is necessary to keep this feeding schedule up for very long, because this species grows super slowly and knows how to fast, even as tiny slings.



OP did not ask about premoult, just how often he should feed his sling now it is in his care. Although you are completely right, I don't really see how this is relevant at this point. Still good to include it, though. For other beginners stumbling on this thread when doing research

All-in-all, I think everyone is in agreement about how often to feed a sling at this point

I think we pretty much agree completely . I like the going back and forth aspect as I think this is not only valuable for future members and beginners stumbling on this thread when doing research but valuable for ourselves to reason our thinking.

 

[viper69]

I think we pretty much agree completely . I like the going back and forth aspect as I think this is not only valuable for future members and beginners stumbling on this thread when doing research but valuable for ourselves to reason our thinking.

you replied to @sasker and I as an exercise for discussion to make sure the both of us had reasonable ideas behind our initial posts??