Superworms

JumpingSpiderLady

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
342
my husband feeds his T's superoworms. (We both hate touching the things.) They burrow so quickly though! How do you all keep them above ground long enough to become a meal?
 

Nephrite

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
151
my husband feeds his T's superoworms. (We both hate touching the things.) They burrow so quickly though! How do you all keep them above ground long enough to become a meal?
Simple. Just crush the head. It'll prevent it from burrowing, and it will still wriggle around to attract the T.
 

WeightedAbyss75

Arachnoangel
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
921
Simple. Just crush the head. It'll prevent it from burrowing, and it will still wriggle around to attract the T.
Yeah, it usually works. Never done it, but many people have success with that :D. If not, then there's always roaches!
 

ratluvr76

Arachnodemon
Active Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
759
I crush the head of all feeder insects. My number one nightmare is a feeder insect escaping notice and me thinking the T ate it only to find a molting spider half eaten by the hidden feeder insect.
 

Arcana

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 14, 2016
Messages
43
I also crush the heads of dubias before feeding my Ts. Ts always bolt inside their burrows when I open the lid and I'd hate to see feeder going there too, alive :S
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
I also crush the heads of dubias before feeding my Ts. Ts always bolt inside their burrows when I open the lid and I'd hate to see feeder going there too, alive :S
No worries on this front when using Dubias. They can't harm the T even if it has molted. It does help to keep them from burrowing though.

Super Worms, meal worms and crickets can bite and harm your freshly molted T though.
 

Poec54

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
4,745
When I use superworms, I never crush their heads. I only feed them to hungry spiders that will grab them immediately (dropping the superworm on the spider's front feet). If the spider hasn't done that within a couple seconds, I take the superworm out and give it to another spider.

Get a 6" forceps and use it for cage maintenance (picking up prey, water bowls, cage decorations, etc) and keep your fingers out of your spider cages. Even the calmest species can have sudden and violent feeding responses.
 

JumpingSpiderLady

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
342
The superworms aren't too good at moving out of substrate of some sort. I was thinking of putting them in a shallow dish for the T's. Well, I'd suggest it to my sweetie. They are his spiders.
 

ratluvr76

Arachnodemon
Active Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
759
No worries on this front when using Dubias. They can't harm the T even if it has molted. It does help to keep them from burrowing though.

Super Worms, meal worms and crickets can bite and harm your freshly molted T though.
Dubias absolutely CAN and HAVE harmed T's while molting... o_O
 

Arcana

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 14, 2016
Messages
43
No worries on this front when using Dubias. They can't harm the T even if it has molted. It does help to keep them from burrowing though.

Super Worms, meal worms and crickets can bite and harm your freshly molted T though.
Dubias absolutely CAN and HAVE harmed T's while molting... o_O
Well, I heard two sides about this when I first got my Ts. One says dubias are totally safe and one says they are not. That's why I play it safe and cut the heads off, just in case. :)
 

TownesVanZandt

Arachnoprince
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
1,041
Well, I heard two sides about this when I first got my Ts. One says dubias are totally safe and one says they are not. That's why I play it safe and cut the heads off, just in case. :)
Will they still move after that?
 

TownesVanZandt

Arachnoprince
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
1,041
Yes, a little. They flick their legs if I place them on their backs. Otherwise they would crawl around the enclosure for a while :D
Good to know. For me feeding Dubias haven´t been successful with all my T´s. Some just refuse to eat them, so I´m sticking with crickets.

By the way, I´m curious about your profile picture. It looks like Nøkken a water "spirit" in Norwegian folklore who lives in fresh waters and tries to tempt people into the water to drown them. Do you have the same figure in Finnish folklore?

Here´s a drawing of Nøkken by a famous 19th century Norwegian artist (Theodor Kittelsen) who drew motives from Norwegian folklore:

kittelsen nøkken.jpg
 

Arcana

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 14, 2016
Messages
43
Good to know. For me feeding Dubias haven´t been successful with all my T´s. Some just refuse to eat them, so I´m sticking with crickets.

By the way, I´m curious about your profile picture. It looks like Nøkken a water "spirit" in Norwegian folklore who lives in fresh waters and tries to tempt people into the water to drown them. Do you have the same figure in Finnish folklore?

Here´s a drawing of Nøkken by a famous 19th century Norwegian artist (Theodor Kittelsen) who drew motives from Norwegian folklore:

View attachment 217606
Nøkken must be Näkki in our folklore, so yes it is the same dude! A mean guardian of waters :) I'm a big fan of odd pictures. This profilepic is a modern version of Nøkken-Näkki though, I friend of mine sent me this pic via facebook so I just crabbed it. I have no idea where this pic is from :D
 

JumpingSpiderLady

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
342
Good to know. For me feeding Dubias haven´t been successful with all my T´s. Some just refuse to eat them, so I´m sticking with crickets.

By the way, I´m curious about your profile picture. It looks like Nøkken a water "spirit" in Norwegian folklore who lives in fresh waters and tries to tempt people into the water to drown them. Do you have the same figure in Finnish folklore?

Here´s a drawing of Nøkken by a famous 19th century Norwegian artist (Theodor Kittelsen) who drew motives from Norwegian folklore:

View attachment 217606
No. It's a chihuahua in sunglasses.
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
Dubias absolutely CAN and HAVE harmed T's while molting... o_O
Not from any information I have seen. They don't even eat each other when one of them dies in the bin. Though if you have information that suggest otherwise lay it on me. I'll be glad to look it over.
 
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ratluvr76

Arachnodemon
Active Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
759
Not from anything information I have seen. They don't even eat each other when one of them dies in the bin. Though if you have information that suggest otherwise lay it on me. I'll be glad to look it over.
I can't find the picture now, I saw it months ago as part of my research on feeder insects when I first started into the hobby. The picture I saw was of a dubia eating a molting tarantula. I've also seen my dubias in my colony canabalizing any roaches that happen to die off in my bins. Perhaps I'm not giving them enough protein in their diet? idk, in any case, I know they can do it. It's not common but it does happen.
 
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