overfeeding??

[kosh]

im sure this question has been hashed out over and over again but, ..........can you overfeed a T??
i have a rosehair i bought at petco and this thing is an eating machine....it absolutely will not refuse any food i put in there for it.....
i was looking at it last night and noticed that it is so fat it looks like its book lungs are bulging out......
is this too fat?
will the T keep itself from overeating??

im sure everyone has an opinion on this but is there any FACT to be applied here......

 

[anthony2561]

well.......

How old is it??????? mybe petco was abusing it(I HATE THEM FOR IT!!!!)It may just be hungry.and u said that it was just a rose hair?????it maybe feeding 200(Joke)=D i think that u should try not to over feed it, if its a s'ling then it may need food, but if an adult it should have a regulare eating pattern.(One time a week or so for adults)

 

[MrT]

Kosh,
IMHO, I think T's know when they have had enough.
I'm pretty sure they wont eat themselfs to death.
They could pop if they fell though.
No facts here. But I thought I'd replie to your thread, and say hello. We haven't heard from you much lately.


Ernie

 

[invertepet]

There's two schools of thought on this. One is that a fat T is a healthy T. Another is that a T that's too fat may have a hard time molting and may have a shortened lifespan.

I myself think that fat T's are OK unless they're so chunkified that their mobility becomes visibly impaired. I don't know what exact biological ramifacations are going on internally when a spider is toting that much bulk around in back, but it can't be good and isn't how it usually is in the wild.

Usually, the bulk equates to a spider that isn't sick or dehydrated, so that's a plus. I think it boils down to what you've observed youself. Some species may be better off bulked up, while others (like perhaps some arboreals) may need to be at least somewhat 'svelte' to get around and be healthy.

It's an area we still don't know much about, unfortunately...

bill

 

[kosh]

the spider is approximately 4 1/2 inches...i got it from petco (not sure if they abused it or not it hadnt been in the store long when i got it) and it has been an eating machine ever since....it has been over a month (i think) since i got it....i think it is female (i hope) but im not 100% sure....its body it definitely waaaay more bulky than my mature male rosehair....my male's legspan is longer though.....i was kinda hoping if i fed it a little more than normal ...then it would trigger the spider to moult and i could sex it before my mature male dies...........but i wasnt expecting the thing to be such an eating machine....