Theraphosa blondi feeding question

mwh9

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
Messages
211
For those of you that have one of these what is your method of power feeding them. I did search for this information but, didn't really find anything useful. I currently have a 3" sling that appears to be a little under fed that I recently got from a reputable reptile shop. It does have a good appetite and a bad attitude. Please specify cricket size if recommend how many and how often.
 

Hedorah99

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
1,863
For those of you that have one of these what is your method of power feeding them. I did search for this information but, didn't really find anything useful. I currently have a 3" sling that appears to be a little under fed that I recently got from a reputable reptile shop. It does have a good appetite and a bad attitude. Please specify cricket size if recommend how many and how often.
Power feeding is generally not approved. There is no real formula for it. If you just want it to gain some weight, i would feed it 2 adult crickets a week (both at the same time is fine) or some decent sized roach nymphs. Thats pretty much how I have been feeding mine and they have been growing just fine.
 

MizM

Arachnoprincess
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 13, 2003
Messages
4,915
With underfed specimens, I simply toss in 4 or 5 crix, make sure they eat them, and repeat the process. When they ignore the prey, they are sated. Size of cricket should always correspond to the size of the T. NEVER feed prey that is too large or your T could become the prey.

Powerfeeding involves keeping the T at higher temperatures and humidity to stimulate appetite so that it will accept more prey when it wouldn't naturally eat. Don't bother with this, as some think it might shorten the Ts lifespan. At the very least, it's not a natural way to raise them.
 

mwh9

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
Messages
211
Thanks for your replies, I should have stated that I didn't intend to implement any of these practices, but did want to feed it enough to regain it's health. Knowing the upper feeding limits would allow me to do this without over doing it. The reason I mentioned cricket size was only because the obvious, 2 medium crickets are less than 2 adult crickets. Again thanks, and other replies are welcome.
 
Last edited:

matthias

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
393
My T. blondi was never offered less than 4 large crickets at that size. When he was full he stopped eating. As he's gotten bigger I've increased the prey size to Discoid roaches, and an occasional small mouse.

Your blondi is going to get to be 9 to 10 inches in diameter (or bigger) and much bulkier than other T's of that leg span. It is going to need more food to grow to be big and strong.

Now if it is under feed now, a week or two of 6 to 8 large crickets/1" roaches will do nicely. Or you may want to try a frozen/thawed pinky mouse.
good luck :eek: :eek: :eek:
 

RottweilExpress

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,085
I'm on Matthias line here.

My male blondi has grown in 11 month from 7cm legspann to 16-17cm and is fine and dandy. Let the sling eat a good deal. I generally serve one or two pinkies between molts, and a foodbase of B. Dubias and the occational large grasshopper. ATM I feed him several Mature male Dubias each week, and he takes them with ferioucity dispite that he's got a golfball stuck on his carapace ;)

I can only guess how much he'd grow if I had put him on a higher temp during the past year. It's 21-24 degrees Celcius mostly.
 

Lucara

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 5, 2007
Messages
656
I wouldnt advise using too many mice..ive heard alot of horror stories of T's dieing in their molt or coming out deformed because of the excess calcium.
 

Mina

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
2,136
I wouldnt advise using too many mice..ive heard alot of horror stories of T's dieing in their molt or coming out deformed because of the excess calcium.
As have I, but I also know of someone who feeds his blondis and aphphysis T's only on mice and hasn't ever had a moult problem.
I don't know if it happens or not, but there have been a lot of debates and discussions about it.
I agree with Matthias. When our blondi was that size we fed him 3 to 4 crickets a week, officially. (I have no idea how many extras Matthias managed to sneak to him) and that is what we currently feed our apophysis who is about that size.
 

matthias

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
393
(I have no idea how many extras Matthias managed to sneak to him)
HEY!, I recorded every single thing I feed him!{D


I wouldnt advise using too many mice..ive heard alot of horror stories of T's dieing in their molt or coming out deformed because of the excess calcium.
Untill I see more than anicdotal and coincidental stories on this I'm going to ignore it. Some one feeds their T a pinky then their next molt they have a problem. So they blame the mouse. Bad molts happen, sometimes just because. I have two T's right now that are recovering from bad molts neither has had anything other thand crickets and Turkistan roachs.

Sub-adult, and adult blondi's eat small mamanls, lizards and amphibians in the wild. A T of that size could not prosper on 2 crickets a week. Mine has all but stoped eating anything smaller than an adult Discoid.
 

RottweilExpress

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,085
I wouldnt advise using too many mice..ive heard alot of horror stories of T's dieing in their molt or coming out deformed because of the excess calcium.
Molting problems with Blondis is well known. The factor behind it is not. Some say humidity, some don't.

But regarding mice and calcium, nah. There are plenty of breeders that feed mice and nothing but mice to their blondis, and they are big and chunky and grows with speed. There are numerous posts on the subject if you do a proper search.
 
Top