Tarantula Diet

[PhilMcWonder]

Lets talk food!
I know there are a number of things you can give your Tarantula as prey out there.
Crickets, Super Worms, Wax Worms, Roaches, the list goes on...
But I want to know what sort of nutrition the tarantula is getting out of the prey it eats?
More importantly is there prey that tarantulas favor? I know every tarantula has it's own personality, so is it safe to assume that a tarantula can have a favorite food?

also...
I know lizards love hornworms, but are they a good treat for tarantulas too? I hear they are very juicy or something.

 

[cold blood]

Tarantulas are opportunistic, so prey type often doesnt matter...but some can be picky....some wont eat worms for example...but this is an individual thing you would need to figure out...but the vast majority arent too picky.


Any feeder is fine, there is zero evidence that ts need variety...many feed only meal or super worms, others just roaches, some just crickets...they all live and grow without any issues.

That said, most do vary diets at least a little...cause it cant hurt and its nice to see ts feeding on differrent items....but its never shown to be critical.

 

[Arachnophoric]

Lets talk food!
I know there are a number of things you can give your Tarantula as prey out there.
Crickets, Super Worms, Wax Worms, Roaches, the list goes on...
But I want to know what sort of nutrition the tarantula is getting out of the prey it eats?
More importantly is there prey that tarantulas favor? I know every tarantula has it's own personality, so is it safe to assume that a tarantula can have a favorite food?

also...
I know lizards love hornworms, but are they a good treat for tarantulas too? I hear they are very juicy or something.

All I know in regards to nutritional values of T feeders is that fruit flies have little to none. I definitely have Ts that have a preference for certain types of feeders, but admittedly I haven't offered much outside of crickets and super/mealworms. I'm dying to try out dubia roaches, since I'm really not a huge fan of crickets.

Hornworms are great for large Ts. A little expensive for me here though, so I try to give them out maybe as a holiday treat. I'd like to try and pupate one into a moth and offer it to my regalis, as I hear arboreals go batty for flying prey.

Eat Your Greens!

• Arachnophoric
• Sep 5, 2018
• 3
• indian ornamental tarantula poecilotheria poecilotheria regalis regalis

Velka and her first hornworm. Felt a little bad about feeding a couple of these guys off tbh...

From Below

• Arachnophoric
• Sep 5, 2018
• 4
• citharischius crawshayi feeding king baboon tarantula muticus pelinobius pelinobius muticus phoneyusa bettoni phoneyusa gregori phoneyusa rufa

A rare picture of my female P. muticus, Fina. I'm pretty sure this girl is the heaviest T in my...

 

[PhilMcWonder]

I understand that Hornworms aren't meant as a main food source for pets. They are a treat... hence why they cost so much.

 

[boina]

It's not what you feed your tarantula but what you feed your feeders. The nutritional value of any feeder can vary wildly depending on their own diet - which is why I like to breed my feeders myself, so I'll know they got a complete set of nutrients.

 

[PhilMcWonder]

Tarantulas are opportunistic, so prey type often doesnt mattet...but some can be picky....some wont eat worms for example...but this is an individual thing you would need to figure out...but the vast majority arent too picky.


Any feeder is fine, there is zero evidence that ts need variety...many feed only meal or super worms, others just roaches, some just crickets...they all live and grow without any issues.

That said, most do vary diets at least a little...cause it cant hurt and its nice to see ts feeding on differrent items....but its never shown to be critical.

I was told that too many Crickets can cause a buildup of toxins or something. I'm not sure if I believe it though... sounds kinda odd...

It's not what you feed your tarantula but what you feed your feeders. The nutritional value of any feeder can vary wildly depending on their own diet - which is why I like to breed my feeders myself, so I'll know they got a complete set of nutrients.

what do you use? For both feeders and the things you feed the feeders?

 

[boina]

what do you use? For both feeders and the things you feed the feeders?

Mainly roaches, lateralis and dubia. They get a base of oat meal, cat kibble and fish flakes supplemented with fresh fruit and veggies. I also use mealworms on occasion - I've had a colony going for years. They basically get the same, but oat meal takes up about 70-80% of their diet. Don't forget the proteins, though. 10 to 20% of high protein food is a good idea for everyone.

 

[Gaherp]

You can stick to one type of a prey item without any problems persisting. I have T's that have fed only on dubia from doing to adult and others that have gone the same route with mealworms or supers. I think there is something to the way you feed your feeders. Given i have not broken down any insect to get lab work to show nutritional content. That being said I do believe an insect fed a varied diet and is properly hydrated equals a better quality food for your T. Which is why from my flies to my roaches I try to stick to higher nutritional content items. Flies obviously through the media an yeast i use. The other insects are fed veggies, fruits, and other select items.

Now for fruit flies this comes up a lot about them being poor in nutrition. I have to disagree with this. The quality of media used on today's market is light years ahead of your ol'potato flake mixes made at home. The proportion of the prey plays a larger issues with these very small prey items. Nutrition is not the issue it is the amount you feed your small T's. I breed and raise TONS of slings from dwarfs to normal sized slings on fruit flies be it hydei or melanogastor. I have not witnessed slower or less growth using flies over pinhead crickets or other small prey items. If anything the higher volume of smaller prey items seems to help with digestion and growth over a larger cricket or other prey item.

A test that would be of better use for this it to collect up enough flies of both hydei and melanogastor equaled to the same as a small cricket. I would like to see the nutritional content from flies raised on several medias to see what actually passes from maggot to fly in the development process. Those numbers with the right volume to dictate a meal size would be the numbers I would go by. A lot of these tests do not dive deep into these waters leaving a large gap of information that would be useful. If this is intentional to steer people from flies to purchase feeders the one paying the bill produces for these tests or if they just did not do enough research on when to test these insects and use varied conditions. I would be willing to bet a fresh hatched fly has a higher nutritional content over one that has spent the last few weeks breeding.

 

[Arachnophoric]

You can stick to one type of a prey item without any problems persisting. I have T's that have fed only on dubia from doing to adult and others that have gone the same route with mealworms or supers. I think there is something to the way you feed your feeders. Given i have not broken down any insect to get lab work to show nutritional content. That being said I do believe an insect fed a varied diet and is properly hydrated equals a better quality food for your T. Which is why from my flies to my roaches I try to stick to higher nutritional content items. Flies obviously through the media an yeast i use. The other insects are fed veggies, fruits, and other select items.

Now for fruit flies this comes up a lot about them being poor in nutrition. I have to disagree with this. The quality of media used on today's market is light years ahead of your ol'potato flake mixes made at home. The proportion of the prey plays a larger issues with these very small prey items. Nutrition is not the issue it is the amount you feed your small T's. I breed and raise TONS of slings from dwarfs to normal sized slings on fruit flies be it hydei or melanogastor. I have not witnessed slower or less growth using flies over pinhead crickets or other small prey items. If anything the higher volume of smaller prey items seems to help with digestion and growth over a larger cricket or other prey item.

A test that would be of better use for this it to collect up enough flies of both hydei and melanogastor equaled to the same as a small cricket. I would like to see the nutritional content from flies raised on several medias to see what actually passes from maggot to fly in the development process. Those numbers with the right volume to dictate a meal size would be the numbers I would go by. A lot of these tests do not dive deep into these waters leaving a large gap of information that would be useful. If this is intentional to steer people from flies to purchase feeders the one paying the bill produces for these tests or if they just did not do enough research on when to test these insects and use varied conditions. I would be willing to bet a fresh hatched fly has a higher nutritional content over one that has spent the last few weeks breeding.

Of course now that I'm looking for the post I cannot find it, but I read commentary that detailed that Ts fed solely on fruit flies tended to have more molting issues and curling legs (resulting from molt problems, not as in a death curl). It didn't specify species of fly though. I'd be pretty interested in the findings from an in-depth study on the nutritional values, but even if they were found to be okay I'd rather not use them personally. They seem more of a hassle when I've had no problems getting absolutely microscopic slings to eat diced up mealworms.

 

[Gaherp]

They are convenient for me since I produce so many dwarf slings each year. I guess I could sit back cutting up hundreds of mealies, but I rather just culture and sprinkle flies in. I have never witnessed any of these issues you read about and I am pretty sure I should have come across some in the amount of time I've been doing this. Also you have to take in account flies are used for the first few molts and then they move up to either dubia, mealworms, or other larger items to feed on.

 

[Arachnophoric]

They are convenient for me since I produce so many dwarf slings each year. I guess I could sit back cutting up hundreds of mealies, but I rather just culture and sprinkle flies in. I have never witnessed any of these issues you read about and I am pretty sure I should have come across some in the amount of time I've been doing this. Also you have to take in account flies are used for the first few molts and then they move up to either dubia, mealworms, or other larger items to feed on.

That makes absolute sense, and I'd agree that if those claims were true you'd likely have seen some sort of problem by this point. I'm going to keep hunting for that post to try and review it more thoroughly(I'd just happened upon it in passing and didn't give it a very in-depth look). Thank you for the information.

 

[8LeggedLair]

Lets talk food!
I know there are a number of things you can give your Tarantula as prey out there.
Crickets, Super Worms, Wax Worms, Roaches, the list goes on...
But I want to know what sort of nutrition the tarantula is getting out of the prey it eats?
More importantly is there prey that tarantulas favor? I know every tarantula has it's own personality, so is it safe to assume that a tarantula can have a favorite food?

also...
I know lizards love hornworms, but are they a good treat for tarantulas too? I hear they are very juicy or something.

It all comes down to what the keeper feeds them, they are opportunistic predators, most doesn’t care. some can be more scavengers than hunters, and the other way around. I’m currently feeding my T’s crickets, they love’em and from what I have witnessed they all love to hunt. I feed my crickets apples, and sometimes cereal (Golden Grahams) for them to get fattened up and I like to think the T’s like the taste I hate crickets though as do most keepers, mainly cause they chirp and stink, for me it’s a win win, the T’s are happy And I see a cricket get eaten. Only good cricket is a dead cricket... However they are easily accessible for purchase, I have grasshoppers/Heuschrecker adults that I could get. I just little worried about feeding them to my T’s, powerful back legs and powerful mandibles. But I am not sure if the T gets nutrition like what we need. I am sure they get protein and other nutrients but not like vitamin A,C etc.
Like Arachnophoric said little fruit flies and pin head flies doesn’t really have any nutritional value, if your T is that small then cut up a meal worm/super worm or cricket etc.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Variety isn't a big deal like it might be with herps etc.

I use mealworms, morio worms & red runner roaches, I started a dubia colony but that's for my leopard gecko (I'll probably sell any excess as they get the worst feeding response out of any feeder I've tried for tarantulas)

The mealworms and morio worms are fed exclusively on wheat bran.
The red runners get a mix of chick feed and fish food, water crystals for hydration.
The dubia roaches get the same but I offer orange slices now and again.

f course now that I'm looking for the post I cannot find it, but I read commentary that detailed that Ts fed solely on fruit flies tended to have more molting issues and curling legs (resulting from molt problems, not as in a death curl).

I think it's for true spiders that they can cause a problem IIRC.

I also vaguely remember reading that they only have a poor nutritional value if kept in the standard culture/pack they come in. Again, they're probably as good as what you put in them (I wouldn't know as I've never used them).

 

[Venom1080]

crickets, mealworms, superworms. rarely moths. all i use. i feed lettuce, potatos, apple cores, cat food.

 

[buzz182]

90% mealworms, these are super easy to keep and breed. Morio worms for my bigger T and wax worms/moths as a treat if I see some when shopping. I'm not a fan of crickets and have never tried roaches purely for reasons of them creeping me out a little.

 

[Ellenantula]

Agreed with others -- I feed my B lats (and mealies) the healthiest most organic diet I can -- lots of fresh veg/fruit plus some catfood (and sometimes, even though it stinks, I offer them some fish flakes).
I figure my B lats eat a better more varied diet than they would probably get in the wild, so I figure that means my Ts get a healthier diet also.

 

[cold blood]

I was told that too many Crickets can cause a buildup of toxins or something. I'm not sure if I believe it though... sounds kinda odd...

This is a bald faced lie

 

[PhilMcWonder]

Update on Hornworms. Got more people saying they are juicy and one told me they are good for hydration but thats about it. Anyone agree with that?

Not really Nutritious...

 

[cold blood]

Unlike mammals, nutrition is over-rated with ts...just feed the ts, don't worry yourself about nutrients. People feed hornworms all the time without issue, same for any of the feeders we use.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Update on Hornworms. Got more people saying they are juicy and one told me they are good for hydration but thats about it. Anyone agree with that?

Not really Nutritious...

Theres nothing wrong with them, not sure why you would assume that they arent nutritious feeders. All feeder types offer a different nutritional value, yes what you feed them matters but crickets will never be the same calorically as a superworm, mealworm, roach or cricket...they are all very different organisms.

Its like comparing beef to chicken, chicken to fish or whatever you want to say. Logic always points to a varied diet being best, so feed your feeders well and try to change things up once in a while.