Species Tliltocatl vagans (ex Brachypelma vagans)

[aaronrefalo]

i dont mind feeding that sized mouse to my tarantulas...i only done it twice but i rarly do, i think that even for doing it once its a pitty giving a big meal knowing that u will be left will much of it there..i prefer giving a fuzzy and maybe a small amout is left of it

Aaron

 

[Billdolfski]

I don't see what the big deal is, of course many ppl out there would never do this as a mouse could very well mangle ur spider. U can do what u want with ur own spiders, and if it dies is in the process... well, it wasn't much of a predator now anyways =P

 

[Nick_schembri]

I did not do this just for fun I thought it was the best way to get rid of the mouse that I was not going to feed to my boa.
Dont get me wrong, I'm not in the hobby because I think that tarantulas are 'cool' because they are big and dangerous. I am interested in their biology and natural way of life. I dont even mind my pet hole OBT.
I believe that in the wild if such a large prey item were to pass by the T's burrow, she would still try to eat it.
I dont think its rare in the wild for T's to capture prey larger than themselves. They evolved good ways of defending themselves and that is on what I based my decision wether to feed the mouse to the T or not.

I dont mind hearing peoples' opinions and comments but I do mind people who make statements such as "Your Vagans is lucky and you are reckless."

 

[Stracs-arachs]

I agree, I think that you are definately taking a chance feeding your T a large mouse like that. I know you are curious on what would happened? or can my T take the mouse......but you may have killed your T in the end. Now you know and I think this can be a learning experience for other T owners.

Try the pinkies or hoppers next time.....by the way good looking T!

 

[king7]

ive fed my chille rose mice before and had no problems.

id be interested to see if anybody on these boards has ever lost a T to a mouse,or heard of it.or even a T being injured by a mouse.T's are more than capable of taking down a mouse and it is up to te owner if they choose to try it or not.

 

[Crunchie]

ive fed my chille rose mice before and had no problems.

id be interested to see if anybody on these boards has ever lost a T to a mouse,or heard of it.or even a T being injured by a mouse.T's are more than capable of taking down a mouse and it is up to te owner if they choose to try it or not.

I highly doubt anyone would admit that so one isn't likely to hear of it occuring on boards like this. Lets face it, if they posted saying their tarantula had been injured/killed by a mouse they'd get slaughtered by folk here. It's no wonder no one's admitted it.

 

[becca81]

ive fed my chille rose mice before and had no problems.

id be interested to see if anybody on these boards has ever lost a T to a mouse,or heard of it.or even a T being injured by a mouse.T's are more than capable of taking down a mouse and it is up to te owner if they choose to try it or not.

I've seen a tarantula killed by a mouse in a local petstore. The spider was an adult H. lividum (I believe female - it was 5 or 6" and not a mature male). One of the guys who worked in the shop was telling me about the spider (deadly venom, urticating hairs, etc. )and said that this species *only* ate mice and rats. I told him that it would do well with only crickets, but he said that only feeding it crickets would be like "him only eating lettuce." Choosing to ignore the stupidity of his comments, I was about to leave when I heard him tell the another guy in the store to watch as he fed the T a mouse.

Full grown mouse - squealing and thrashing as the guy lifted it by the tail, popped the tank lid, and dropped it into the tank with the T. The T was in a 2.5 gallon aquarium with reptile carpet - no substrate. The spider jumped back when the mouse was introduced, going into a threat pose. It struck the ground a few times, barely missing the mouse.

It was finally able to sink its fangs in the mouse, somewhere near one of the back legs. The mouse was thrashing, bent itself over, and attacked the spider. I couldn't see exactly what happened, I just saw the mouse's mouth at the spider's leg near the femur, then I saw the leg on the floor (I don't know if the mouse bit it off or the spider threw it off since it was bitten) and the spider bleeding. They kept wrestling - the spider continued to "re-bite" the mouse, the mouse kept attacking the spider, biting it. End result with a lot of mouse blood and hemolypmh on the reptile carpet and two dead animals.

The idiot in the shop tried to get the mouse out when he saw the spider initially hurt, but he could get in there to do anything - it all happened so fast.

 

[becca81]

I dont mind hearing peoples' opinions and comments but I do mind people who make statements such as "Your Vagans is lucky and you are reckless."

Sorry, Nick, but this statement is true. Your vagans *is* lucky and while you personally may not typically be reckless, your actions in this case can be considered reckless.

 

[evilarachnid]

WOW! I would of never thought a B. Vagan would take a mouse that size. I have a B. Vagan that is about 5'' and the largest food item I have ever given it was a fuzzy. Nice pic of your B. Vagan.

 

[nightbreed]

ive fed my chille rose mice before and had no problems.

id be interested to see if anybody on these boards has ever lost a T to a mouse,or heard of it.or even a T being injured by a mouse.T's are more than capable of taking down a mouse and it is up to te owner if they choose to try it or not.

Ahhhh so you have wantonly broken the law then, congrats.

My friend like I said earlier its your animals do what you will, but it is guys like you that give ammunition to Animal Aid, RSPCA and other groups of that nature and with your help keeping exotics will end up being illegal in this country. :clap:

Anyway I think my feelings on this subject are clear and I've moaned enough about this in similar threads, so I shall leave this thread alone now.

 

[becca81]

Anyway I think my feelings on this subject are clear and I've moaned enough about this in similar threads, so I shall leave this thread alone now.

Your moaning about the subject, IMO, has always been honest and respectful and I think you bring up some really good points about the issue.

I think it's always important to warn people about the risks and offer an alternate perspective (for all of us).

 

[Beccas_824]

I would never offer anything to one of my T's foodwise that is bigger than its abdomen (that is the rule of thumb).
Although I would never give such a huge fuzzy mouse to any T, it is your choice and your T. However, I don't agree with it, and i don't think it was smart. Just my opinion...

 

[nightbreed]

Your moaning about the subject, IMO, has always been honest and respectful and I think you bring up some really good points about the issue.

I think it's always important to warn people about the risks and offer an alternate perspective (for all of us).

Thank you, I do my best to try and get my point across without being rude and having the thread degrade into a flame war.

Thanks again

 

[king7]

i dont think me feeding my T 2 WC mice (from my work warehouse) will fuel animal aid groups or make it illegal to keep exotics.

is it still illegal to feed WC mice to pets?

 

[nightbreed]

i dont think me feeding my T 2 WC mice (from my work warehouse) will fuel animal aid groups or make it illegal to keep exotics.

is it still illegal to feed WC mice to pets?

Yes its illegal to feed live verts, it doesnt matter if they a WC or not, and if they were wild caught then your lucky your T isnt dead for two reasons,

First, wild mice have a stronger survival instinct and it really could of kicked your T's butt.

Second, you have probably fed your T a food item with a high level of toxins in its system, not a good idea.

And yes it could help groups like animal aid, they already try to say people who keep exotics are irresponsible, it doesnt help our cause when exotic keepers flaunt the law and feed live verts, it makes us look cruel which gets the cute and fluffy brigade on their side.

 

[king7]

all fair points and duly noted

 

[Nick_schembri]

A while back I had posted about my B.vagans that had a bad molt. An extra layer of abdomen came off with the molt. So here are some pics of when i first bought her to now. She's a girl! And she grew so much. Abdomen is now completely healed.

 

[Nick_schembri]

This is what she looked like at less than 1.5"

 

[ChrisNCT]

Glad to hear that the T is doing great!

 

[Nick_schembri]

Here she is after her first molt in my care