Moth for dinner?

worm's girl

Arachnoknight
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Jul 13, 2007
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Hey we caught a giant moth flying around our porch...we wanted to know if it was dangerous at all, otherwise we'll just feed it to our skeleton. the moth is everybit of 4" wingspan, here's a pic:

we don't know what kind of moth it is so if you know please let us know
 
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Syngyne

Arachnoknight
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Feb 16, 2007
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It might be dangerous in that it might have been exposed to a pesticide of some sort. You generally don't want to feed your pets bugs you've caught from outside your house.
 

Shadow Tongue

Arachnopeon
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Jul 4, 2007
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Many people will mention the possibility of pesticides attached to the moth, but most people I've encountered that feed moths to their Ts have done so for years without any visible repercussions. Chances are, it will be fine and make for an interesting show.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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The only reason I would not feed that moth to a T would be the colors on that darn thing. Looks like a stay away don't eat me color and maybe with good reason it could be naturally poisonous.
 

Ted

Arachnoprince
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i would love to have it.
its an imperial moth.
perfectly safe..but shame to waste.
would look nice next to my only other one!
you would have to be able to collect it without damaging it, and freeze it.
they are quite powerful.

hint hint!
 

lucanidae

Arachnoprince
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It would be fine to feed to your T, not chemically defended at all. Although normally I'd agree that it is a shame to waste a good specimen, I don't really care about leps at all...so feed away!

In terms of pesticides, if they moth was carrying enough to harm a T (which is highly doubtful) the moth itself would be dead.
 

Ted

Arachnoprince
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as i said, i will be super happy to take it off your hands!:)
 

Diggy415

Arachnoknight
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and the bidding begins to save the moth from death row...does it get eaten or frozen, the story at 11...back to you.
 

Merfolk

Arachnoprince
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But wild moth build a resistance to the pesticide, and it could occur that a level that leaves a moth unharmed makes your T sick.

There is no instant death (except for a guy here who collected them nearby an industrial farming ground) but there might be an accumulation over time, that's why I do feed moths, but really not often. Someday I'll raise them!
 

JMoran1097

Arachnoangel
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The only reason I would not feed that moth to a T would be the colors on that darn thing. Looks like a stay away don't eat me color and maybe with good reason it could be naturally poisonous.
exactly. that would be my primary reason.

secondary reason, potential exposure to pesticides
 

Mina

Arachnoking
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I wouldn't. Its just safer. Give your T some crickets and give the moth to the person who wants it.
 

worm's girl

Arachnoknight
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well the deed is done

so not long after i posted the thread, our power went out (around midnight here on the east coast) and didnt come back on til like 5am. so we put the skeleton in a bigger tank figuring putting it in the kk she was in would make it too easy or with those big wings flapping around might hurt one of them. since we put them in a new tank we left them alone over night thinking that she wouldnt even eat until she got to know the place but sure enough by 6am the skeleton had 2 giant wings sitin under her! but we seem to get quite a few of those big ole moths around here, so i'll be sure to let you all know if we grab another one. (we've only been living here about a week and have seen a few)

sorry for the blurriness....*warning to moth lovers*
 
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worm's girl

Arachnoknight
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oh and also theres super thick bush behind our house of our wonderfully planned community and we live in an area where they cant crop dust or anything like that, i think that the woods are pretty untouched as far as pesticides and chemicals because god knows the tree huggers around here (no offense to you tree huggers your all really nice) wouldnt allow it.
 

R.HENNING

Arachnosquire
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May 11, 2007
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I SAY FEED IT TO YOUR SPIDER!!!

It is a Imperial moth, i have been feeding them and other large moths to my
spiders every year for over 30yrs. ;)


(BURP)
 
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worm's girl

Arachnoknight
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so..how often do you feed one to your t's? and then how long after they have one do you go back to crickets? and should i even worry about the dust of the moths wings all over the t's tank?
 

driver

Arachnoknight
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Jun 22, 2007
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i get big brown moths flying around my porch every night, and they seem to be all my pokie wants to eat. he downs a couple nice fat brown moths a week. I can't seem to interest him in crickets or worms, but the second a moth goes in the tank he's tracking it down instantly. I haven't seen a moth last more then 5-10 minutes in the tank yet. He just seems to be a picky eater :) I got some roaches on the way though that I hope he's interested in. Could this preference have anything to do with him being am arboreal species? In the wild I'm sure pokies would have more moths fluttering around up in the trees than worms and crickets...
 

worm's girl

Arachnoknight
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Jul 13, 2007
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thats pretty interesting....our skeleton is terrestrial but our singapore blue is arboreal, shes just a juvie still and hasn't made the climb upwards shes still burrowing, but that would be cool to see her grab a moth once she gets a little bigger and starts lurking in the trees...gives us something to look forward to!
 
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