Just How Fat Can A Spider Get?

[JacenBeers]

My little A Avicularia has eaten a pinkie and like7 crickets this week and she just now grabbed a large anole. SHe is super fat. Can they explode?

 

[Mister Internet]

IIRC, tarantulas aren't so mindless in their eating that they put themselves in danger physically. There are some creatures that will literally eat until they explode, but I don't think you can overfeed T's... if they're hungry, they eat. If not, they won't. And they sometimes go months without eating with absolutely no ill effects.

Of course, I may be totally wrong, but to the best of my knowledge, T's will only eat what they can handle...

 

[Code Monkey]

They won't eat to the point of explosion, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't exercise a little parental control. A particularly rotund specimen is more prone to abdominal ruptures from falls and formation of abdominal calluses (which often result in eventual spontaneous rupture). Since they evolved in a situation of not knowing when the next meal was coming, they will happily eat to their physical threshhold on a continual basis, so any control has to come from you. I don't follow any particular regimen with feeding, I just feed often enough to keep everyone in proportion but not HUGE.

 

[Kenny]

Feeding

Hi all..

Code,,agree...

I feed so they like kinda "tarantula-ish"..,,

Right now my feed schedule is like every other day

Kenny

 

[Arachnopuppy]

I try to stay with nature more in terms of timing of feeds. In other words, I feed my T's whenever I feel like it, with limits ofcourse. I sometimes let them go over a week without food and sometimes I feed them 4 times a day.

 

[Paul Day]

I agree with codemonkey. We have to note that spiders hardly ever get as big in the wild as they do in captivity. A spider with a destended abdomen puts it'self at a risk for poping like a overfilled balloon if it were to fall on something. But this rarely becomes a concern in normal feeding regimnes.

Pauly

 

[Wade]

Certain species are more prone to these problems than others. Typically, the slow metabalisims of genra such as Brachypelma cause them to be more likely to develop huge abdomens.

Here's a pic of my biggest B. albopilosum (courtesy of Art Evans). She ballooned up even bigger than this, but after dropping an eggsac (a year and a half after breeding!) she returned to normal perportions.

Wade

 

[Devildoll]

a year and a half~!!!!!!
what a b@1tch making you wait that long for your babies! hehehehe
I agree w/ como on this.... they might not explode, but it's not necicarily healthy either.

It has been shown in a number of studies i've read about that arachnids on lower calorie diets have longer life spans.

My B. albopilosum sling has one fat @22 too!