How often to feed Brachypelma hamorii

[RadicalRay07]

i have a brachypelma hamorii who is about a year old and is unsexed. I feed it 2-3 small crickets every 5-7 days depending on abdomen size. Am i over feeding, or under feeding my T, or is it just right? It is about 3-4.5 inches with legs all the way out. I used a pencil for size reference.

 

[DomGom TheFather]

You've had it for a year?
Seems to be a decent sized spider, already.
A small weekly meal should be fine. Looks good to me. If it gets thin or fat, you know what to do.

 

[Seemannnni]

about once a week or biweekly. seems fine with abdomen size. simply provide water otherwise, keep monitoring.

can we see a photo of the full enclosure?

 

[viper69]

As often as it’s hungry

 

[RadicalRay07]

As often as it’s hungry

well, they will usually always eat when they can, because they don’t know when their next meal will be

about once a week or biweekly. seems fine with abdomen size. simply provide water otherwise, keep monitoring.

can we see a photo of the full enclosure?

here is a photo of the full enclosure

 

[Benzen]

No way that Hamorii is just a year old. It looks almost adult sized with full coloration. I bet you could sex it with the next molt. Feeding once a week should be fine.

 

[DomGom TheFather]

No way that Hamorri is just a year old.

I'm assuming they meant that they've had it for a year.

 

[RadicalRay07]

I'm assuming they meant that they've had it for a year.

no when i bought it from the seller, he said it was born last summer

 

[DomGom TheFather]

no when i bought it from the seller, he said it was born last summer

It wasn't, though.

 

[RadicalRay07]

It wasn't, though.

why would the seller lie?

 

[DomGom TheFather]

why would the seller lie?

 

[Benzen]

why would the seller lie?

Maybe he wasn't intentionally lying to you to deceive you...i mean, just because he works in a pet store doesn't mean he knows anything about Ts...he probably didn't know how old that T really is and just said a random age to seem like an expert. I for one don't assume malintent, when ignorance and stupidity are often more plausible. The Brachypelma Genus is known for very slow growth rates. My B. Smithi is 2 years old, a juvenile still, only 1.5 inches DLS and it will take several more years until it will reach the size of your Hamorii. Your Hamorii wasn't born last year, i am 100% sure about it. I just hope for you it isn't a male, because in that case it won't live for long after the next molt, since it's almost adult (or maybe even adult already because 4.5 inches sometimes is adult sized). In that case i would never buy from that pet store again - and malintent could be the reason, so he can get rid of an old spider that is knocking on spider heaven's door.

 

[RadicalRay07]

Maybe he wasn't intentionally lying to you to deceive you...i mean, just because he works in a pet store doesn't mean he knows anything about Ts...he probably didn't know how old that T really is and just said a random age to seem like an expert. I for one don't assume malintent, when ignorance and stupidity are often more plausible. The Brachypelma Genus is known for very slow growth rates. My B. Smithi is 2 years old, a juvenile still, only 1.5 inches DLS and it will take several more years until it will reach the size of your Hamorii. Your Hamorii wasn't born last year, i am 100% sure about it. I just hope for you it isn't a male, because in that case it won't live for long after the next molt, since it's almost adult (or maybe even adult already because 4.5 inches sometimes is adult sized). In that case i would never buy from that pet store again - and malintent could be the reason, so he can get rid of an old spider that is knocking on spider heaven's door.

i bought it from a person not a store


a person with well over 100 tarantulas and has a good rep in the hobby

 

[Jonathan6303]

Small crickets once a week should be fine. If it gets fat cut back on food.
Nice enclosure.
You can sex it when you get a molt but it’s definitely not a year old.
It is showing some beautiful adult colors. Hopefully it’s a female.

 

[nicodimus22]

If you ask 100 keepers what the best feeding schedule is, you'll get 100 different answers. Having said that, here's mine (for juvenile and adult tarantulas only. Slings should be fat, as they put it all into their next molt.):

I don't really have a set feeding schedule any more, but I do have a set watering/maintenance schedule, during which I feed as needed. How do I know when I need to feed? I look at the abdomen size. If it's smaller than the cephalothorax, the T is probably very hungry (unless it's a mature male refusing to eat. That's an exception.) I like to keep their abdomen size roughly 1-1.5 times the cephalothorax size. If you feed and feed and feed, and the abdomen gets huge, like 2 times or more than the size of the cephalothorax, that T is at higher risk for a dragging or falling injury that could lead to a ruptured abdomen, and death.

Right or wrong, that's my current feeding system. I use it to avoid extremes on either end of the amount of food that they get, and hopefully keep them all safe.

 

[RadicalRay07]

Small crickets once a week should be fine. If it gets fat cut back on food.
Nice enclosure.
You can sex it when you get a molt but it’s definitely not a year old.
It is showing some beautiful adult colors. Hopefully it’s a female.

hoping it’s a female too

If you ask 100 keepers what the best feeding schedule is, you'll get 100 different answers. Having said that, here's mine (for juvenile and adult tarantulas only. Slings should be fat, as they put it all into their next molt.):

I don't really have a set feeding schedule any more, but I do have a set watering/maintenance schedule, during which I feed as needed. How do I know when I need to feed? I look at the abdomen size. If it's smaller than the cephalothorax, the T is probably very hungry (unless it's a mature male refusing to eat. That's an exception.) I like to keep their abdomen size roughly 1-1.5 times the cephalothorax size. If you feed and feed and feed, and the abdomen gets huge, like 2 times or more than the size of the cephalothorax, that T is at higher risk for a dragging or falling injury that could lead to a ruptured abdomen, and death.

Right or wrong, that's my current feeding system. I use it to avoid extremes on either end of the amount of food that they get, and hopefully keep them all safe.

Thank you so much for all the help!

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Slower growing species so I feed on the following schedule (I have a different schedule for faster growing species but that's not really relevant to this thread), I feed meals around the same size as the tarantula's abdomen.

Slings under 1" - Once every 7 days
Slings over 1" - Once every 10 days
Smaller juveniles - Once every 2 weeks
Larger juveniles - Once every 3 weeks
Subadults/adults - Once every 4-6 weeks

have a brachypelma hamorii who is about a year old and is unsexed.

Age isn't really useful information as 10 people could raise slings from the same sac for a year and they'd all be different sizes at the end of it, DLS (Diagonal Leg Span, measured from the tip of a front leg to the tip of the back leg on the opposite side) is much more useful. Also, if a pet shop told you the age then it's highly doubtful that the number they gave you was even close to accurate because the staff tend to know less about tarantulas than I do about crocheting.

I've raised every species from the genus and in my experience it usually takes them about a year or so to hit 2" (B. albiceps being the exception because their growth rates are more on par with Grammostola). My hamorii female's growth didn't really slow down (by "slow down" I mean her going more than a year between moults) until she hit 4.5" so faster growth =/= male, even if it is male they can live for anything up to four years after they have their ultimate moult.