Quick question about pinkies...

[Lilija]

Can larger species eat pinkie rats? I can get them easier than mice, and it would make my life easier if they could.

 

[jamesc]

They can but it should not be their sole source of food. And they leave a nasty mess to clean up.

 

[Lilija]

Yeah, I wasn't thinking as a sole source of food, crickets for that. I was mainly just wondering if they can. I know they have more protein than mice, but not sure how else they differ nutritionally. Though, I suppose if tarantulas can eat birds, lizards, fish, etc, the difference between a mouse and a rat isn't all that great.

Thanks for confirming. Just kinda musing out loud, here.

 

[jamesc]

It is a pretty nasty, stinky mess to clean up when they are done.

 

[Lilija]

Worse than what a snake leaves behind, ya think? Just curious.

 

[jamesc]

Well I don't have a lot of experience with snakes, closest I have gotten was handling a friend's. Picture this. Injecting digestive fluids into the mouse then sucking out what liquifies. What is left is a half-digested mush of a mouse, nasty, stinking, rotting mess mixed with a little dirt.

 

[jamesc]

Most people I know feed them for the shock factor or to watch a battle, just not needed. It's much easier to feed roaches or crickets. Crickets are nasty and stinky. If you have enough creepies to feed, starting a roach colony is a great alternative if you want an convenient and free way to feed. They don't stink or make noise and are really easy to keep alive. Plus you get all sorts of sizes to choose from. Some species can't climb the sides either.

Oh, and what soaks into the substrate from the mice mush has to be removed which means scooping out some messy substrate.

 

[Lilija]

Mmm...ew. Gotcha. Crickets it is!

I've been feeding only crickets, but here's why I was curious. This is gonna sound grizzly, I know...

I have two rats, originally bought as food for my ball python, but they cuted their way into my heart, and now they're pets. Except they're a male and female... I worked out a deal with my critter food supplier, that I could trade the pinkies to him, for store credit, if the occasion should arise, but I figured, maybe I could feed them to the T's, too. I love the two rats, but I have no interest in any litters, nor can I afford fixing one of them, right now, so it was one of those in case of emergency things. I'll probably stick to trading them to my supply guy.

You had me at "mush".

I've been contemplating a roach colony, but the mister says hell no, he has hangups about roaches. So, for the time being, I'm content with buying crickets by the thousand.

 

[Taceas]

I dunno, I find a lot of the species of roaches commonly kept for tarantula food to be more endearing than crickets. The only bug that really creeps me out are Camel Crickets. Gah. Just can't stomach them and I can't kill them fast enough.

Roaches ARE a lot easier. Just get 10 B. dubia and see how your mate likes those. I just got some and I think they're kinda cute. A lot chubbier and less "squidgey" than the native roaches.

I also have B. lateralis. Although they look more like the domestic wild roaches here in the US, they are quite pretty I think, all flame orange and shiny.

 

[Alice]

as said above, pinkies are a nasty mess and the remains stink horribly if you fail to remove all of the gooze soaked into the substrate. plus, verst are not really a regular occuring prey in the wild, ts don't need them to be well fed.

i'd just save up the money to get your male rat fixed - such a thing costs only about 20 bucks or even less here. and if you regard them as pets and love them, do it for the females sake. constantly dropping litters will burn her out in less than 2 years. plus, she has to suffer all the advances from the male, who is made to be able to get a LOT of females pregnant.

 

[cacoseraph]

how much bigger than pinky mice are pink rats?

cuz... when i feed pink mice i have never had to clean up a mess for a tarantula. as long as the pinky is considerably smaller than the abdomen of the tarantula and the tarantula is fat already i think you should be alright. granted i think i have fed out a grand total of 4-5 pinky mice to my tarantulas... but still...

 

[ErikH]

how much bigger than pinky mice are pink rats?

Pinky rats are generally 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, wheras pinky mice are usually 1/2 to 1 inch long, so approximately twice the size.

 

[stealth15psi]

On those rare occasions that I feed one of my Ts a pinky, I only let it eat about half of it. Once the mouse starts looking a little shriveled, I chase the T off of it (which is not easy) and remove it before it becomes a mess. Nothing says you have to let them eat the whole thing.

I think anoles are less messy than mice, but are harder for the T to catch. I fed an anole to one of my spiders, and it eluded capture for 24 hours. It was funny to watch, the spider would stalk it and strike at it, but the anole was too fast. Since my daughters keep anoles as pets, I decided this little feeder earned the right to live so it joined their little colony and will now live out it's days getting fat and lazy.

 

[RottweilExpress]

Ok, Mr Contradictor enters the scene once again I'm feeding both spiders and centipedes with rat pinkies at times, and I've had very little or no problem at all. No stink, no mess, nothing. I even feed juvs pinkies that are a lot bigger then they are. Then they eat, and when they are full, I just remove the remains which (in my case) always is a solid part of the rat.

These are hairless, froxen (thawed) rat pinkies. However, I hear that a rat/mouse with HAIR is another story entirely.

Do your thing Lilija and try it out. It's as good as anything else. Cheap as hell to, at least here. I get a rat pinky at the same price as a store bought cricket.

 

[dangerprone69]

Never fed fuzzy or pinkie rats to a T, but I have fed pinkie mice to T's numerous times and have never had a problem with "residue". I've fed pinkie rat to my snakes before and I'm sure a good size blondi, para or any other tarantula wouldn't have any problems. I wouldn't do it on a regular basis though.

 

[metzgerzoo]

=stealth15psi;806993]On those rare occasions that I feed one of my Ts a pinky, I only let it eat about half of it. Once the mouse starts looking a little shriveled, I chase the T off of it (which is not easy) and remove it before it becomes a mess. Nothing says you have to let them eat the whole thing...............

If I tried that with my blondi, or pokies, I'd be the one who'd be a gooey mess!
Like Caco, I've never had any problems (or mess) with my larger tarantulas eating pinky *mice*. I've never fed rat pinks because I think they're just a bit much for a tarantula and a mouse pink will fill an adult blondi for several weeks...but then again, I let them eat all of it.
Why take candy from a baby?

 

[stealth15psi]

Why take candy from a baby?

That's about what it's like, lol. I dunno, I worry about the abdomen getting too big so I try to regulate how much it eats and try to give it a varied diet. The thing won't stop eating on it's own. I guess I might not wanna wrestle a fully grown monster for his meal. Mine will just set it down every now and then and wander around for a minute, pick it back up, and eat on it some more. I just scoop it up inbetween those times.