tbrandt
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2014
- Messages
- 79
Blaptica Dubia.
I know that many are well aware of this, but for new folks and anyone doubting the danger that those cute little chirpers can pose to a freshly molted arthropod should take heed to keep close track of them when feeding them to any pet that may soon molt. Its no joke as many of you know, but I have a new respect having witnessed it with my own eyes.
Mostly, I feed my T's small Blaptica Dubia roaches. In this case, I had placed a small Dubia (1/4" long) in the enclosure last week. Perhaps the only downside to Dubia roaches as a food for my tarantulas (Idiothele Mira in this case) is that they are incredibly good at ceasing all movement when they sense imminent danger. This seems to render them nearly invisible to the tarantula, to the point that the spider often loses interest and forgets they are there. They seem to be able to hold still FOREVER - longer than the attention span of the hungry T and certainly longer than the attention span of the human keeper watching for a tarantula take down.
Anyway, I didn't see this one get eaten last week, but later couldn't find it, so I assumed it had been gobbled. This week, I tossed a small cricket (1/3" long) in the enclosure and almost immediately notice that the small Dubia had reappeared, partially buried (presumably self-buried) under substrate in one of the corners. More interesting - it had molted out of its exoskeleton and was bright white. I thought little of it at the time - double meal for my T - cricket now and Dubia later. Nothing to worry about.
A couple of hours later, I came back to glance at my T enclosures and found that the I.Mira had not yet found the cricket. However, the cricket had certainly found the freshly molted Dubia and apparently thought that it looked as good as vanilla ice cream, because, starting with IT'S FACE, it had consumed well over half of the Dubia, one little bite at a time! All that was left was the back end of a Dubia and a very fat cricket.
I have heard of gut loading, but this is ridiculous. On second thought - this has given me an idea.
Has anyone heard of Turducken (Chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey)? How about Crickubias - Dubia stuffed inside a cricket? I may need to start a new business selling premium gut loaded food for tarantulas - only the best for my spiders...
Anyway, I just thought i would share for anyone out there who might be carelessly losing track of crickets they are feeding to their T's. Those little chirpers can really FIND AND EAT anything that is defenseless and soft, and if you have a T that goes into molt while they are around then it could end in injury or tragedy.
In my case, my tarantula will just be getting an exceptionally rich meal.
I know that many are well aware of this, but for new folks and anyone doubting the danger that those cute little chirpers can pose to a freshly molted arthropod should take heed to keep close track of them when feeding them to any pet that may soon molt. Its no joke as many of you know, but I have a new respect having witnessed it with my own eyes.
Mostly, I feed my T's small Blaptica Dubia roaches. In this case, I had placed a small Dubia (1/4" long) in the enclosure last week. Perhaps the only downside to Dubia roaches as a food for my tarantulas (Idiothele Mira in this case) is that they are incredibly good at ceasing all movement when they sense imminent danger. This seems to render them nearly invisible to the tarantula, to the point that the spider often loses interest and forgets they are there. They seem to be able to hold still FOREVER - longer than the attention span of the hungry T and certainly longer than the attention span of the human keeper watching for a tarantula take down.
Anyway, I didn't see this one get eaten last week, but later couldn't find it, so I assumed it had been gobbled. This week, I tossed a small cricket (1/3" long) in the enclosure and almost immediately notice that the small Dubia had reappeared, partially buried (presumably self-buried) under substrate in one of the corners. More interesting - it had molted out of its exoskeleton and was bright white. I thought little of it at the time - double meal for my T - cricket now and Dubia later. Nothing to worry about.
A couple of hours later, I came back to glance at my T enclosures and found that the I.Mira had not yet found the cricket. However, the cricket had certainly found the freshly molted Dubia and apparently thought that it looked as good as vanilla ice cream, because, starting with IT'S FACE, it had consumed well over half of the Dubia, one little bite at a time! All that was left was the back end of a Dubia and a very fat cricket.
I have heard of gut loading, but this is ridiculous. On second thought - this has given me an idea.
Has anyone heard of Turducken (Chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey)? How about Crickubias - Dubia stuffed inside a cricket? I may need to start a new business selling premium gut loaded food for tarantulas - only the best for my spiders...
Anyway, I just thought i would share for anyone out there who might be carelessly losing track of crickets they are feeding to their T's. Those little chirpers can really FIND AND EAT anything that is defenseless and soft, and if you have a T that goes into molt while they are around then it could end in injury or tragedy.
In my case, my tarantula will just be getting an exceptionally rich meal.
