I can't belive... and I'm afraid...

[wariat]

Hey

I can't belive in appetite of my P.regalis. He/She is amazing. It eat today: 6 insects who eat flour (sorry, I don't know and I couldn't find English name of this one, please help me), 2 flies and 2 crickets I was really suprised but it was so much. Now I'm afraid about its health because I've found on one of polish spiders-board info that Poecilotheria who eat too much risks higher probability of infertility in adult and shorter life

I'd like to know Your opinion in this case.
Have You ever had any experiences like that?
Do you think I should restrict amount of food for its ?

Thank you for replies
regards

 

[Code Monkey]

Are the 'insects who eat flour' what we call mealworms? Grows into a dark beetle about 2 cm in size. You can see a picture below.

As for the information, anything which speeds up the metabolism of a T is going to shorten its life, whether that is feeding them as much as they can eat or keeping them at elevated temperatures. However, my opinion is that the feeding issue is insignificant - a spider that might have lived 12 years on a restricted diet might only live 10 years if freely fed all they want, that's not a big deal to stress yourself over. Temperature is the major element that can affect a T's life span, that's why I don't bother with heating and raise everybody at room temperature. It saves me a lot of hassle, and they'll live longer and need to eat less to stay fat.

I've never heard anything about feeding heavy causing infertility and I have little doubt that the information is completely false. First, I doubt that anyone has any way of telling if a T is infertile or not. Second, particularly with the females, success is higher with well fed, large specimens who can produce large numbers of large eggs.

 

[wariat]

Thanks very much, now I fell better

I see on the pics the same insects who were eaten by T. They had to be mealworms, but mine were about 4cm.

The temperature in my "spider-house" is 80F (26,5C) and I suspect it's right (not to high).

have a nice day, and thank You again for help and make me calm

regards

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by wariat
Thanks very much, now I fell better

I see on the pics the same insects who were eaten by T. They had to be mealworms, but mine were about 4cm.

The temperature in my "spider-house" is 80F (26,5C) and I suspect it's right (not to high).

have a nice day, and thank You again for help and make me calm

regards

I know that they sell mealworms in various sizes if that helps any. I know it's not much of an insight but it's the best I can think of to say right now.