No dessert unless you eat your crickets!

[Lost_Tarantula]

Hmm. My Chilean Copper, in the near two weeks I've had him, doesn't seem to want to eat. My G. pulchra sling took some convincing, but I got him to eat. So...first question. Should these guys be fasting for no apparant reason...and am I over obsessing as usual?
My next question deals with live vs. dead prey. Do you find that your T's go for live more than dead? Sol (the Chilean Copper) is about the same size as the smallest crix I can get here (my micro crickets all died already). He wouldn't even eat the live microcrickets, so do you think I'll have luck with dead larger crickets? How do they even know it's food? Essentially, what's keeping them from tasting the dirt from time to time .

All help appriciated.

-LT

 

[Code Monkey]

Ts have chemoreceptors in their feet which let them know something is food just by touching it. This is why they rarely bite us even if they mistakenly lunge at your hand's vibration as you remove their waterbowl. Although you probably will have soiled your drawers anyhow, the T upon grasping your hand immediately realises, nope, doesn't taste like food and lets go.

As for fasting, I've got a G. pulchra sling that's now at about 3 months of no eating. Hasn't lost a milligram this whole time. If it's not losing weight, don't worry about it. It will eat if it needs to so long as you make food available from time to time. Also, never forget that a fasting tarantula (like my dang Pulchra sling) may be in pre-moult and isn't going to eat before it moults anyhow.

 

[Immortal_sin]

first of all...I am sorry, I don't know what a Chilean Copper is...I'm really bad with common names
However, to answer the question...it's possible you are obsessing...are you prone to it, like Rookie?! (we love ya, Rookie!)
do you only have a handful of tarantulas to 'obsess' over?!
If you have only had your T for 2 or so weeks....I wouldn't worry.
IME, my tarantulas are about 50/50 on live vs. dead prey. The slings will ALL take dead prey 100% of the time. For juvies and adults, it's trickier. Some will only take it if I wiggle it in front of them, simulating live prey. Some just don't care WHAT it is (A geniculata, B vagans) and will eat it no matter what.
Some will *only* eat live prey.
I sometimes wonder if it's possible to *train* your tarantulas to accept dead prey, sure would make things alot easier...especially with the Haplopelmas!

 

[Lost_Tarantula]

Code Monkey always has the answer!
Don't ever leave these boards -- I need you here.
Thanks for the info. I will have to look into this thing deeper. Piqued my interest is has. Thanks for the prompt reply.

-LT

 

[Lost_Tarantula]

Originally posted by Immortal_sin
it's possible you are obsessing...are you prone to it, like Rookie?! (we love ya, Rookie!)

Yeah I'm an obsesser. New to the hobby; these guys have to act perfectly normal or I get worried. It'll pass.....I hope.


-LT

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Originally posted by Lost_Tarantula
Hmm. My Chilean Copper, in the near two weeks I've had him, doesn't seem to want to eat. My G. pulchra sling took some convincing, but I got him to eat. So...first question. Should these guys be fasting for no apparant reason...and am I over obsessing as usual?
My next question deals with live vs. dead prey. Do you find that your T's go for live more than dead? Sol (the Chilean Copper) is about the same size as the smallest crix I can get here (my micro crickets all died already). He wouldn't even eat the live microcrickets, so do you think I'll have luck with dead larger crickets? How do they even know it's food? Essentially, what's keeping them from tasting the dirt from time to time .

All help appriciated.

-LT

I haven't ever really had too much of a problem getting my s'lings to eat crickets their own size. However, they occaisionally have been intimidated, in which case I took the legs and or head off of a small cricket. That has usually done the trick. Have you checked to see if there are any exotic pet stores in your area. They might have a better chance at getting 1 week crickets. I am pretty sure that the smallest Petco gets is 3 week old.

 

[Lost_Tarantula]

Well, as it so happens, I had better luck with dead prey than live. Go figure! :?

Shadow (G. pulchra sling) ate his dead one...his abdomen looks like it's fit to burst. Sol (P. scrofa) has eaten for the first time. I guess since he's so small he was intimidated by the cricket I put in there. Well....yay!

Thanks for the help guys (and gals).

 

[galeogirl]

If you have trouble finding microcrickets, you can always buy a chunk of beef heart from the grocery store and chop that into tiny pieces for small ts. It works really well, though it's kind of messy and time consuming.