Tarantula metabolism

[Fins]

Someone posted a thread on the longest anyone's T had gone without food. What I am curious about is how? I can see why, especially for desert species like G. rosea.

How does their metabolism work? Humans require a minimum amount of calories per day to just live. How do Ts go without food for so long and still survive?

Also is it all species or is it, as I would think, certain ones can fast longer than others?

 

[jayefbe]

Well for starters, they're ectotherms. Maintaining the necessary body heat is what the vast majority of our energy is used for. Yes, it is impressing that Ts can go so long without food, but they're not unique amongst ectotherms.

 

[ArachnidJackson]

I think this fact about t's are quite interesting as well. There is a F Brachypelma emilia in my care, she has not partaken in any offered food in over a year.
Probably pre-molt characteristics but still yet, rather radical!

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

How do Ts go without food for so long and still survive?

The majority of the space within the abdomen is taken up by a network of "guts" that do nothing but store digested food matter and the spider is metabolizing this. Remember, spider's digest their food outside of the body. When the liquid is sucked up through the mouth, it is passed and stored in the aforementioned organ. A tarantula's metabolism is extremely slow (generally speaking) and will take weeks to months to metabolize all stored food. Of course there are many environmental conditions that effect a tarantula's metabolic rate in both captivity and in the wild. If your tarantula is stressed and constantly wandering its cage or is setup with a constantly high temperature, that metabolic rate is going to be higher than normal thus need more food compared to one that is properly housed and sedentary.

Also is it all species or is it, as I would think, certain ones can fast longer than others?

Different species of tarantulas have different metabolic rates as a result of their environment.

 

[jbm150]

I'm sure webbing has a certain energetic cost; a T that has to create and maintain webbing probably has to eat more frequently than one that doesn't. Esp in an environment that leads to webs in frequent disrepair. Heavy-webbing species may come from environments with sufficient prey resources....

Or vice versa, the benefits of catching what little prey there is with webbing may be worth whatever web costs.... But then wouldn't desert species like Aphonopelma use them?

Hmm, probably somewhere in between, leaning towards the first

 

[CoSpiderGuy]

It trully is amazing, I got worried at about month 6 when my rosie hadn't eaten. But she finally ate and is as healthy and active as ever. (not very active lol)

 

[Fins]

This stuff is cool to me. Interesting about the webbing. My G rosea webbed her entire 10gal enclosure when I first got her. She was also eating at the time. Now in her 9th month of fasting has not put down any new webbing since I cleaned her cage.

I wonder if that could be related. It makes sense that it is an extra expenditure of energy.