T. stirmi eats prey whole?

[darkness975]

chew big holes in helpless molting tarantulas.

Never had it happen to me but I have seen plenty of videos and it is horrifying.

@BC1579 Some of mine also seem to hide their boluses or not produce large ones. I am not concerned about it. The bigger issue for me is the feces that they smear all over the sides (for aesthetic purposes. It does not present a health risk at all).

 

[BC1579]

Never had it happen to me but I have seen plenty of videos and it is horrifying.

@BC1579 Some of mine also seem to hide their boluses or not produce large ones. I am not concerned about it. The bigger issue for me is the feces that they smear all over the sides (for aesthetic purposes. It does not present a health risk at all).

My avics do a “spray and pray.” Pretty nasty. I noticed the stirmi’s first visible “leavings” today.

 

[darkness975]

I noticed the stirmi’s first visible “leavings” today.

Wait until it grows even larger.

Fun times.

 

[LoneWanderer9700]

There are some considerations about nutritional value of woms. Basically, worms store a lot of the food they eat as fat - energy reserve for pupation. When the whole body get's remodeled, that's a process that needs a lot of extra energy. Fat in general is a good source of energy but does not contain a lot of other nutrients. Crickets and roaches don't have a complete metamorphosis, so they don't store that much fat.

On the other hand, if you feed your worms/roaches/crickets basically the same diet rich in veggies and oatmeal they have the same intake of vitamins and those vitamins will probably stay at least in part inside the insect to be taken up by the tarantula when eating the worm/insect.

What I really think is bad is storing mealworms in the refrigerator and feeding them off to the tarantula without feeding the worms first. Those worms have been surviving on their reserves for weeks. Yes, they have a reduced metabolism in the cold, but reduced doesn't mean zero. That way the worms will have used up any extra vitamins or essential amino acids they had stored and the tarantula gets nothing.

Personally, because of these considerations I prefer to feed roaches as a staple with a few mealworms thrown in now and then. There isn't any conclusive evidence, however, that mealworms/superworms won't work just as good. Just feed them some veggies and grains/oatmeal before giving them to your tarantula.

I know this very old but i recently got my first 2 t's and have been feeding them mealworms stored in fridge. I didnt know it was bad. I usually wait 20-30 min before feeding to let worms warm up. Should i be waiting longer? I only keep them in the fridge because i dont want to end up with beetles lol. I bought them from petco and theyre kept in a deli cup with bran i think.

 

[Tarantuland]

When you feed your stirmi crickets and roaches, which should be it's primary food (not mealworms and superworms), you'll find boluses, particularly in the water

Why not primarily mealworms and super worms?

 

[Andrea82]

I know this very old but i recently got my first 2 t's and have been feeding them mealworms stored in fridge. I didnt know it was bad. I usually wait 20-30 min before feeding to let worms warm up. Should i be waiting longer? I only keep them in the fridge because i dont want to end up with beetles lol. I bought them from petco and theyre kept in a deli cup with bran i think.

You can take them out for a few hours beforehand or a day before. Get them those bran flakes and some slices of fruit for nutrition and they're good to go.

 

[LoneWanderer9700]

You can take them out for a few hours beforehand or a day before. Get them those bran flakes and some slices of fruit for nutrition and they're good to go.

Thank you drea, will do

 

[cold blood]

I didnt know it was bad

Its not

Why not primarily mealworms and super worms?

There's not anything wrong with worms as a primary food source.

 

[Tarantuland]

[QUOTE="cold blood, post: 3156429, member: 82951"

There's not anything wrong with worms as a primary food source.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks, I didn’t think there was. I was just wondering the reason this person said that since they’re a mod