Superworm Experiment is a Bust

[Vanessa]

I decided to get superworms instead of crickets this week and I regret it. I should have just grabbed a few, especially since my previous experiences were not great, but I got 50 because that is how many crickets I get and I didn't want to have to go again this week for more.
Out of the 10 tarantulas who are large enough to have them offered to them - I had only two take them. Unfortunately, I have another two who might have taken them, but they have moulted recently and aren't getting food yet. It has been almost two weeks since they were fed last because I wanted them to be hungry enough to take them.
And not only did they not want them - they were terrified of them. I received the same reactions to them that I always have.
My last resort is Marcus the scorpion because he actually didn't seem to mind them at all the one time I fed one to him.
I was really hoping to get a better reaction because I hate having the crickets around. It has been nice and quiet the last couple of weeks. I am going to try again next weekend, but I am not going to get my hopes up. I don't know how long I'm going to be able to keep these superworms alive.
Even Ophelia, who is the largest tarantula I have right now, was having none of it and she has never turned down a meal yet.

 

[Shawnee]

How are you feeding them? I have over 70 tarantulas and have never had a spider that wouldn't eat a superworm. Even my wolf spiders eat them

 

[Vanessa]

What do you mean by how? I put them within a couple of inches of them, far closer than I do with crickets, but not close enough to be literally tong feeding them. They will approach them and immediately back off. I put them right in front of them and close enough that the movement would be sensed by the spider. Two of them took them, so I don't think that I am doing anything horribly wrong in that department. The rest gave me the reaction above or took right off to the other end of the enclosure.

 

[EulersK]

Tarantulas definitely get used to the food you offer them. I had a handful of crickets after running my cricket test on some soil, and several of my adult T's refused them only to happily take a roach immediately after.

 

[Shawnee]

What do you mean by how? I put them within a couple of inches of them, far closer than I do with crickets, but not close enough to be literally tong feeding them. They will approach them and immediately back off. I put them right in front of them and close enough that the movement would be sensed by the spider. Two of them took them, so I don't think that I am doing anything horribly wrong in that department. The rest gave me the reaction above or took right off to the other end of the enclosure.

Some people squish the heads so the worms don't move as much, and I have had T's refuse a superworm if it doesn't move enough. Some people don't squish the head at all and it moves to fast and scares the more skittish tarantulas. It's about knowing your individual specimen's preference which you'll get with repeated feeding attempts

 

[ratluvr76]

How are you feeding them? I have over 70 tarantulas and have never had a spider that wouldn't eat a superworm. Even my wolf spiders eat them

I've made this same attempt with my spiders. Of the ones that were offered superworms, (it's been a while and I've had additions since then) NONE of them accepted them.

What do you mean by how? I put them within a couple of inches of them, far closer than I do with crickets, but not close enough to be literally tong feeding them. They will approach them and immediately back off. I put them right in front of them and close enough that the movement would be sensed by the spider. Two of them took them, so I don't think that I am doing anything horribly wrong in that department. The rest gave me the reaction above or took right off to the other end of the enclosure.

nah, you're doing it right. It's kind of hard to mess up putting a superworm on the substrate... not rocket science there. I had this same experience. My T's do not like superworms and only the smallest of my spiders even accept mealworms.

 

[Abyss]

Wow this is an interesting read. I cut em up for slings who readily scavange and give em whole to those large enough an have never had a T refuse unless in pre-moult.
I loathe crickets. I dont fully know why an im sure theres no valid reason to NOT feed them to T's lol but i have always fed superworms almost exclusivly

 

[Vanessa]

Some people squish the heads so the worms don't move as much, and I have had T's refuse a superworm if it doesn't move enough. Some people don't squish the head at all and it moves to fast and scares the more skittish tarantulas. It's about knowing your individual specimen's preference which you'll get with repeated feeding attempts

I do crush the heads, but only with the tongs, so they are still moving quite a bit. They are in the enclosure a couple of seconds after the head is crushed so they are moving around but not running. I guess you could say that they are still writhing around, but not running or trying to burrow.
I've had spiders in the past who needed something moving quite a bit to trigger their prey response, plus all my group are used to fast moving crickets, so I don't let them hang around so they stop moving. It is a couple of seconds, tops.

 

[Vanessa]

Wow this is an interesting read. I cut em up for slings who readily scavange and give em whole to those large enough an have never had a T refuse unless in pre-moult.
I loathe crickets. I dont fully know why an im sure theres no valid reason to NOT feed them to T's lol but i have always fed superworms almost exclusivly

I loathe crickets too and would love to be able to feed my gang exclusively on the superworms. They are so much easier from every aspect. But I have had mediocre, at best, results with them in previous years and it looks like I am having the same issue now. That is why I purposely made sure that everyone who was going to get them went a couple of weeks without being fed. I wanted to ensure that they were hungry.
I watched a few videos of people feeding superworms and they had tremendous success. It made me think that maybe I was just unlucky with my past spiders and that I should really give it another go. No luck.
I'm not going to give up just yet. I mean... I have 48 of them left so I am hoping that I can still get them to eat some of them.

 

[ratluvr76]

The good news is they will live a LONG time if you keep them in a bed of oats and stuff with a slice of potato or carrot for a water source.

I also hate crickets. That's why I have my dubia colony.

 

[cold blood]

How are you feeding them? I have over 70 tarantulas and have never had a spider that wouldn't eat a superworm. Even my wolf spiders eat them

I agree, theyre universally accepted in my house as well.

@VanessaS , keep in mind that one superworm is like 4-5 crickets.

 

[cold blood]

The good news is they will live a LONG time if you keep them in a bed of oats and stuff with a slice of potato or carrot for a water source.

I also hate crickets. That's why I have my dubia colony.

Right, so even if you only have a few that eat them, they will still be used eventually...I've had them last over 4 months.

 

[Vanessa]

I agree, theyre universally accepted in my house as well.

@VanessaS , keep in mind that one superworm is like 4-5 crickets.

I know that they are very dense. I mentioned that I had not fed anyone who was going to get them, for more than two weeks prior to today, to ensure that everyone was as hungry as they are going to get.
Did you look over my other responses? Do you have any additional advice that will ensure success, because I really can't see what I'm personally doing wrong for them not to accept them.
I agree that this is not rocket science - take them out, crush the head with the tongs, drop it quickly onto the substrate a couple of inches away from the tarantula while it is still writhing around and you're done.
I don't know what more I can do except to keep trying and hope for the best.

 

[Vanessa]

The good news is they will live a LONG time if you keep them in a bed of oats and stuff with a slice of potato or carrot for a water source.

I also hate crickets. That's why I have my dubia colony.

That is good news because it looks like I will have them a long time.
I have them in a small KK in about two inches of oats. They were fed potato and carrot last night. I will keep that up until I can get rid of most of them. Even if my scorp, along with a couple of the spiders, are eating them - I should be able to get rid of the bulk of them. The problem is that if some are still not eating them, I am going to have to get crickets too. It is going to be a feeder zoo in here... between the mealworms, superworms and crickets.
Some people have Dubia colonies, and someone even offered to set me up with one for free, but they are highly illegal in Canada. Not just a by-law issue like the spiders and scorpions are, but a really serious CFIA issue. You are up the creek if you are ever caught with them. I didn't want to chance that.

 

[cold blood]

Lol, how could you be doing anything wrong...I just find it funny how some have ts that are so picky with worm types. I use drilled ventilation, so often I just put worms though near the t and let the t take it...or at least hold it and force it to wriggle before I drop it, just to ensure the t knows its there before its dropped...ts get a better food response IMO doing this...just a quick random drop can spook them initially if it lands too close.

 

[Abyss]

Try popping the heads an leaving the worms in for a day or so an see if they'll wcavenge them. If they will, perhaps thats the first step

 

[Vanessa]

I know that they can get freaked out and I am amazed at their reaction because they are doing so from pure instinct. They know that they can be bitten without ever having been fed them... or not been fed them on a regular basis.
All my group are very calm NW tarantulas. I open the enclosure and place it on the substrate. Maybe 'drop' was the wrong word to use because I don't have to drop it in with my group like others with faster, more defensive, spiders might have to do.
Even my two GBB girls took off and that shocked me the most. Those two rush up to the side of the enclosure that I open because they are always hungry.

 

[cold blood]

I know that they can get freaked out and I am amazed at their reaction because they are doing so from pure instinct. They know that they can be bitten without ever having been fed them... or not been fed them on a regular basis.
All my group are very calm NW tarantulas. I open the enclosure and place it on the substrate. Maybe 'drop' was the wrong word to use because I don't have to drop it in with my group like others with faster, more defensive, spiders might have to do.
Even my two GBB girls took off and that shocked me the most. Those two rush up to the side of the enclosure that I open because they are always hungry.

There you go, try the drop method....you can get a reactionary strike, even with the slowest, fattest ts

Like a cat, I can set a ball of twine in the room and they might just look at it, but if I run it by them fast, they cant help but grab it.

 

[bryverine]

Even Ophelia, who is the largest tarantula I have right now, was having none of it and she has never turned down a meal yet.
View attachment 217808

That's what my 6"+ LP did at a waxworm
.. a 3/4" wax worm...

 

[Poec54]

I've made this same attempt with my spiders. Of the ones that were offered superworms, (it's been a while and I've had additions since then) NONE of them accepted them...My T's do not like superworms and only the smallest of my spiders even accept mealworms.

Some species will eat just about anything, anytime, like the big South Americans. But with my spiders, and I have almost 100 species, superworms are hit or miss. I have the best results with recently molted spiders; many will take them when they're starving, but as they put on weight, some refuse them.