Tarantulas Only Touching Their Food?

[bryverine]

I've noticed for awhile now that both my B. smithi and H. maculata (not as often with him) will rush over to a roach and just put their feet on it for awhile. It'll move, they move with it and put their feet on it again. No attacking, no eating, they just follow it for awhile and sometimes they actually eat it.

They both ate over a week ago which isn't very long, but my smithi looks 'skinny' (she's quite healthy) and my maculata went over a month before I feed him last...
It's not a new food item for them, so could they just not be hungry and are curious what is making vibrations?

My other tarantulas all attack their food, but these two consistently play with it...

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Is the roach your referring to a dubia roach (Blaptica dubia) by any chance?

 

[tarantula49]

Your tarantulas could be in premolt, or just not hungry. They may just be intrigued by the food

 

[cold blood]

Or just not crazy about roaches

Try different feeders

 

[Poec54]

Some tarantulas will not eat roaches.

 

[bryverine]

Is the roach your referring to a dubia roach (Blaptica dubia) by any chance?

They are indeed dubia. I crush their heads usually so they squirm a lot too.

Some tarantulas will not eat roaches.

They've both been eating roaches since last year. They both seem to enjoy adult male dubia (maybe it was just coincidence and they were just really hungry every time I gave them one of those).

Or just not crazy about roaches

Try different feeders

I guess I could get some crickets for them, the last time I tried meal worms (a couple years ago) my smithi ate only one and refused to eat them again.

I'll give crickets a try... It's so much easier to use roaches out of my stock where I know what they are being fed and don't have to worry about LPS parasites.

 

[Poec54]

They've both been eating roaches since last year. They both seem to enjoy adult male dubia (maybe it was just coincidence and they were just really hungry every time I gave them one of those).

When they're hungry, especially post-molt, they'll take prey they otherwise wouldn't. Most of my Poecs will take superworms when they're starving, but many won't after they've put some weight on.

In my experience, every tarantula at every age takes crickets.

 

[bryverine]

When they're hungry, especially post-molt, they'll take prey they otherwise wouldn't. Most of my Poecs will take superworms when they're starving, but many won't after they've put some weight on.

In my experience, every tarantula at every age takes crickets.

They've eaten roaches pretty regularly in the past (pre-premolt/post molt/in-between), maybe they're just getting bored. My other tarantulas seem to love em but they seem to always be hungry.

These two might just be connoisseurs of finer insect dining. I'll throw in some crickets, I just hate having to go to the store for them.

 

[Yanose]

i have noticed that it is tough to get some Ts to eat roaches they will usually come around after a bit but over the years I have had a spider or two that would not eat roaches i always just gave them crickets seemed to work for me

 

[Sarkhan42]

I think it's really down to the amount of activity and the type of activity the prey item produces to get them interested, I've had varying success with different types of roaches. I've never had a T reject a Turkistan, and less often an orange head, but Dubia even when moving just don't seem to cut it for many. Maybe it's way they almost waddle rather then run? They just don't have constant activity and that "spastic" activity that crickets have that Really triggers predator response, almost like a panicked animal and sharks.

 

[mistertim]

My B. smithi won't eat roaches, just crickets and, occasionally, mealworms. Rushing over to it may just be a defensive reaction to an intruder.

 

[bryverine]

My B. smithi won't eat roaches, just crickets and, occasionally, mealworms. Rushing over to it may just be a defensive reaction to an intruder.

They've eaten nothing but dubia since last September or earlier. Both molted in December and have eaten several times since. Like I noted earlier, both attack adult male dubia voraciously.

Maybe the adult males create more violent/sudden vibrations where as the younger dubia don't? I know dubia tend to freeze or play dead, but I crush their heads and they usually squirm about.

But you have a point, they may not be hungry and are just checking out what is messing around near their home.

 

[Sana]

I read an article last year about feeding behavior in wild tarantulas. The researchers observed a pattern in the population that they were studying. According to the article the tarantulas would periodically ignore prey items that they had been eating and wait until something else came along. The hypothesis of the researchers is that tarantulas, like other creatures, know when they need a nutrient that is missing in their diet. In humans this is observed as craving something inexplicably that has been missing in their diet. Tarantulas in captivity don't get a choice in their prey and since there are no studies to tell us what tarantulas need in their diet we feed them what experience tells us they are most likely to eat. When my tarantulas start playing with their food I switch to a different prey item for a few feedings. That switch generally works for me, although there are times that I have misread the behavior and the spider just isn't hungry or is early premolt. I don't have the link to the article that I read anymore though I have posted it a couple different times so it could probably be found again by searching my post history. Hope this helps.

 

[bryverine]

I read an article last year about feeding behavior in wild tarantulas. The researchers observed a pattern in the population that they were studying. According to the article the tarantulas would periodically ignore prey items that they had been eating and wait until something else came along. The hypothesis of the researchers is that tarantulas, like other creatures, know when they need a nutrient that is missing in their diet. In humans this is observed as craving something inexplicably that has been missing in their diet. Tarantulas in captivity don't get a choice in their prey and since there are no studies to tell us what tarantulas need in their diet we feed them what experience tells us they are most likely to eat. When my tarantulas start playing with their food I switch to a different prey item for a few feedings. That switch generally works for me, although there are times that I have misread the behavior and the spider just isn't hungry or is early premolt. I don't have the link to the article that I read anymore though I have posted it a couple different times so it could probably be found again by searching my post history. Hope this helps.

took some digging...

Initial thread you reference:

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/fruit-fly-myth.269716/

I assume this is the article you were referring to?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0106_050106_spider_diet.html

 

[Sana]

Yep that's the one. Sorry about the difficult digging. I'm glad someone took the time to find it though because it's a discussion that comes up at least once every year it seems like so now I'll remember where the darn link is for a while again.

The article was both interesting and helpful to me. I feel like my tarantulas benefit from a more varied diet. I have no evidence to show that they are healthier or not, just observation within my personal collection. Turns out that a meal worm once a month is super entertaining. The two feeders that I don't use are dubia roaches (most of my tarantulas just keep them as pets) and super worms cause they gross me out.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

They are indeed dubia. I crush their heads usually so they squirm a lot too.
They've both been eating roaches since last year. They both seem to enjoy adult male dubia (maybe it was just coincidence and they were just really hungry every time I gave them one of those).

I thought so. Practically the same scenario you described plays out regularly with 8 individuals of Theraphosa species I have from adult to spiderling. The adults are fed only adult male dubia while the smaller ones get immature dubia roaches of appropriate size. The spiderlings that get the immature dubias always run to the roach, the roach freezes, the spider stops attacking and keeps one or more feet (tarsus) on top of it, then they either stay in position for a while or they lose interest in the roach. The adult spiders that get adult male dubia will only attack and feed on them if they are moving. The difference is that adult male dubia run like crazy and don't freeze while the immatures do. My observations of this feeding behavior strongly support the idea that dubia roaches in particular do not have a smell that tarantulas pick up on as food. Maybe because of the thick shell a dubia roach has. In all 8 of my Theraphosa individuals, unless the dubia is moving, that trigger to pounce and eat it does not occur. Sometimes all it takes is for a small dubia to twitch an antennae or leg while the spider has it under foot and the roach is done for. When I see one of my spiders practically standing on a dubia roach, I always know that roach is going to mess up at some point and twitch causing its demise.

Considering that tarantulas are known to scavenge on dead prey both in the wild and in captivity, they use their sense of smell/ taste via the chemoreceptive setae on the bottom of the tarsus which is interspersed with the scopula pads to determine what is food and what isn't. Observing feeding behavior with dubia roaches, it appears that tarantulas use a combination of mechnoreceptive setae AND chemoreceptive setae to figure out what is food and what isn't. This is why I believe a tarantula will chase a dubia roach and not eat it even when it's touched by the spider. The spider detects prey from the movement, the roach freezes as a defense, but as soon as the spider smells/ tastes it, it get a little confused. It's an absolutely fascinating thing to watch and it gives me more respect for the natural defenses of a dubia roach.

 

[cold blood]

Here's a trick I use for prey items that do the "freeze". I squirt them with a syringe...not a lot, just enough to get the ts attention, as we've all seen their reaction to a stream of water (or at least most of us have)....I don't necessarily have to hit the prey, just the area, almost every time the t pounces instantly.

Interesting observations Lonnie, thanks for sharing. I have a porteri that does this with supers and waxies, she pounces, gets right on them, and even follows them, all the while right there on top ready to sink a fang....but she never does...chalk that up to, the t is in fact hungry, but just not "down" with the prey I offered. The only t that this syringe trick doesn't work with is this porteri.

 

[Sana]

Here's a trick I use for prey items that do the "freeze". I squirt them with a syringe...not a lot, just enough to get the ts attention, as we've all seen their reaction to a stream of water (or at least most of us have)....I don't necessarily have to hit the prey, just the area, almost every time the t pounces instantly.

Interesting observations Lonnie, thanks for sharing. I have a porteri that does this with supers and waxies, she pounces, gets right on them, and even follows them, all the while right there on top ready to sink a fang....but she never does...chalk that up to, the t is in fact hungry, but just not "down" with the prey I offered. The only t that this syringe trick doesn't work with is this porteri.

I never thought of that. I'm going to have to try it.

 

[bryverine]

Here's a trick I use for prey items that do the "freeze". I squirt them with a syringe...

I squirt them with photons!

Ok I focus a laser at the roach's foot to get it to move. You have to be very careful I only do this to turn the roach towards the spider, NEVER when the tarantula is near it though. I find it gives it a bit of a push to make them move.

 

[bryverine]

So my smithi ate the roach AFTER it was trying to burrow (crushing heads doesnt always prevent this). She found where it was digging, dug down, nabbed it, and had been munching on it...

Maybe she just likes a challenge?