Tarantulas Eating Raw Meat?

[Isaax Critterz]

I've been looking though this site looking for interesting feeders for T's when I noticed photos of people feeding their tarantulas beef...Is this safe?

 

[Smotzer]

Safe I'd have to assume so, but necessary? Absolutely not! And when you dredge in the depths of AB's multi-decade history you can find lots of things we wouldn't still do today that we might have done back then!

 

[Frogdaddy]

Absurd. No tarantula eats raw beef in the wild. They do not have Omaha Steaks on speed dial. They don't eat steak tartare nor caviar. Feed them feeder insects that are fed on a quality diet.

 

[viper69]

This is not necessary. They are ambush predators feed them as such or give your T away.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Absurd. No tarantula eats raw beef in the wild. They do not have Omaha Steaks on speed dial. They don't eat steak tartare nor caviar. Feed them feeder insects that are fed on a quality diet.

Of course tarantulas don't eat raw beef in the wild, but they are also not eating the grey crickets, banded crickets, hornworms, mealworms, superworms, dubia roaches, Turkistan roaches, etc. that we feed them in captivity either. Tarantulas are highly opportunistic when it comes to food being both scavengers and ambush predators. There is plenty of documentation published in scholarly publications of tarantulas in different life stages eating everything from road kill, to birds, bats, frogs, lizards, snakes, and so on.

There is no reason to believe that raw beef would be detrimental to the health of a captive tarantula, however, they might find it too tough to digest. Using ground beef rolled up into a ball might be worth experimenting with as an alternative food source, but that would make a terrible bacteria ridden mess in the cage if the tarantula doesn't eat it all. Though for a beginner, I would recommend sticking with the traditional feeder insects known to work well.

 

[Matt Man]

my thought is "what about a hunk of meat sitting in the enclosure is going to draw a strike from the T?" roll meat balls at it so it thinks they are alive?

 

[Jaycooks1]

Doesn't very sporting to watch them pounce on raw meat LOL

 

[Introvertebrate]

Of course tarantulas don't eat raw beef in the wild, but they are also not eating the grey crickets, banded crickets, hornworms, mealworms, superworms, dubia roaches, Turkistan roaches, etc. that we feed them in captivity either. Tarantulas are highly opportunistic when it comes to food being both scavengers and ambush predators. There is plenty of documentation published in scholarly publications of tarantulas in different life stages eating everything from road kill, to birds, bats, frogs, lizards, snakes, and so on.

There is no reason to believe that raw beef would be detrimental to the health of a captive tarantula, however, they might find it too tough to digest. Using ground beef rolled up into a ball might be worth experimenting with as an alternative food source, but that would make a terrible bacteria ridden mess in the cage if the tarantula doesn't eat it all. Though for a beginner, I would recommend sticking with the traditional feeder insects known to work well.

You could probably fake them out by moving the ground beef a little. My genic sometimes strikes inanimate objects by mistake.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

You could probably fake them out by moving the ground beef a little. My genic sometimes strikes inanimate objects by mistake.

If raw meat of any kind, or in any form, is a viable food source then a tarantula should be able to find it and consume it without keeper intervention. Just like how they can find and consume dead insects or frozen/ thawed pinkie mice without assistance.

 

[Frogdaddy]

I've been looking though this site looking for interesting feeders for T's when I noticed photos of people feeding their tarantulas beef...Is this safe?

Of course tarantulas don't eat raw beef in the wild, but they are also not eating the grey crickets, banded crickets, hornworms, mealworms, superworms, dubia roaches, Turkistan roaches, etc. that we feed them in captivity either. Tarantulas are highly opportunistic when it comes to food being both scavengers and ambush predators. There is plenty of documentation published in scholarly publications of tarantulas in different life stages eating everything from road kill, to birds, bats, frogs, lizards, snakes, and so on.

There is no reason to believe that raw beef would be detrimental to the health of a captive tarantula, however, they might find it too tough to digest. Using ground beef rolled up into a ball might be worth experimenting with as an alternative food source, but that would make a terrible bacteria ridden mess in the cage if the tarantula doesn't eat it all. Though for a beginner, I would recommend sticking with the traditional feeder insects known to work well.

There are a myriad of reasons we don't feed our captive tarantulas the exact same diet they get in the wild, at least when it comes to insect prey.
1. Illegal
2. Hard to keep/breed in captivity
3. Specialized diet
4. Too expensive to aquire/keep
5. Exact species unknown

So we have the basic staple of insects as mentioned above. All are perfectly suitable feeders and tarantulas have been successfully kept on one type or many different types with no issues.

I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibilities that a roaming T may happen to come across some road killed animal or a dead cow in a pasture. After all life on other planets is a probability, so many other things may be possibilities. I do question wether T's prefer Kobe or Wagyu?

But are there any benefits to feeding beef? Probably higher fat content than traditional feeder insects. Hormones? Antibiotics? MCD or MTD? Will our T's need medication to control their cholesterol later in life? Will they develop clogged arteries? So who here raises Angus for feeders? Must be one helluva feeder bin.

The OP asked if it was "safe" to feed T's beef? The only assurance I get from @AphonopelmaTX post is, feeding beef is not not safe.

The real question is should we? What benefits does it offer over traditional feeder insects? It would have to be something significant to overcome the additional cost, effort, mess that comes with feeding beef.when we already have perfectly fine feeder insects.
@AphonopelmaTX I assume you feed beef, but being in Texas it's in the form of smoked brisket. Mmmmm brisket.

 

[Introvertebrate]

......The real question is should we? What benefits does it offer over traditional feeder insects?.........

One less animal to raise. We all have busy schedules.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

The OP asked if it was "safe" to feed T's beef? The only assurance I get from @AphonopelmaTX post is, feeding beef is not not safe.

For the record, I gave no assurances that beef is or is not a safe food source. Whether anyone wants to try raw beef as a food source for their tarantulas, in order to make a definitive conclusion, is up to each individual. I'm not going to defend a position on this topic too hard though. There is only one way to know for sure.

@AphonopelmaTX I assume you feed beef, but being in Texas it's in the form of smoked brisket. Mmmmm brisket.

Hey, I'm a cosmopolitan Texan! Me and my tarantulas eat filet mignon at only the finest steak houses which have a dress code. By the way, it is very difficult to put little dresses on all my girl tarantulas and little jackets on my boys every time we all want a good steak.

But yes, smoked brisket does sound really good right about now.

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EDIT
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On another note, I wonder who first decided to try feeding tarantulas hornworms and what justification they had in thinking it was safe. To me, a bright green caterpillar with a horn on its head says "potentially dangerous" more than a nice piece of raw steak, but I might be missing something.

 

[Isaax Critterz]

btw if any of you are wondering, This not an every time I feed my T i will feed them beef thing, more like in moderation.

 

[F1tarantula]

They eat live food.. raw beef is not alive, so it could just be like a rock to them anyway. But maybe

And if you do feed them, don’t give them wagyu

 

[nicodimus22]

That would stink after a short period of time. For that reason alone, I wouldn't.

 

[Olan]

Back in the 90s I remember hearing about someone who fed beef chunks to their Theraphosa to try to break size records. Tied the chunks to string so they could move it around and induce a feeding response. Pretty sure it did not enhance growth as hoped…

 

[Introvertebrate]

Back in the 90s I remember hearing about someone who fed beef chunks to their Theraphosa to try to break size records. Tied the chunks to string so they could move it around and induce a feeding response. Pretty sure it did not enhance growth as hoped…

He would have had to up the heat too, to accelerate metabolism.

 

[TJ 68]

I Know For Sure Your T Won't get Clogged Arteries

 

[F1tarantula]

Make sure the raw meat is seasoned! Season it with cayenne pepper if you want your pulchra to be more spicy.

 

[TechnoGeek]

I've been looking though this site looking for interesting feeders for T's when I noticed photos of people feeding their tarantulas beef...Is this safe?

Is it safe? Yes. Is it necessary? No. Is it a good idea to feed them meat as a staple food? Probably not. But not because it might hurt them.

Large tarantulas eat vertebrates all the time, that they only do this rarely is a myth. A recent study confirmed that spiders in general (not just Ts) eat more vertebrates than we previously thought, to the point that some species evolved certain abilities to help them bring down vertebrates:

"The habitual vertebrate-eaters have evolved prey-capture adaptations such as (1) sufficient physical strength coupled with large body size, (2) the use of potent venoms, and (3) the use of highly efficient prey-catching webs."

Source:

https://bioone.org/journals/the-journal-of-arachnology/volume-50/issue-2/JoA-S-21-054/Spiders-feeding-on-vertebrates-is-more-common-and-widespread-than/10.1636/JoA-S-21-054.full

Having said that, I still don't think it's a good idea for 2 big reasons: enclosure hygiene, and convenience. You see, every time you feed them meat any leftovers will decompose and stink and be disgusting to remove. Plus it's less convenient to thaw and slice chicken or ground beef or whatever, than to just drop an insect or 2 in there.

I feed my large tarantulas meat once a month or so, sometimes twice a month, and I only give them a piece that I know they'll finish off. It's a good protein treat every now and then.

Another article describing spider predation on vertebrates:

Tropical Spiders Cause 'Surprising Amount of Death,' Hunting Opossums, Frogs and More

In the Amazon lowlands, spiders as big as dinner plates dine on opossums.

www.livescience.com

To sum it up, as another person said, there's no reason to believe that feeding a T ground beef or ground turkey is any more harmful than feeding dubias to a tarantula that doesn't live in the same natural habitat as dubias. I do it every 2 to 4 weeks as I said and the main reason why I think it might be a bad idea sometimes has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with the mess you'll have to deal with afterwards.