Tong feeding :)

Do you think tong feeding is a bad habit?

  • Yes

    Votes: 39 67.2%
  • No

    Votes: 19 32.8%

  • Total voters
    58

Venom1080

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I tong feed. All the time. Here in canada im not so blessed as to have large roaches for my giant spiders. I resort to superworms and large crickets. Superworms being cheap and easy to keep; most of my largest spiders live almost exclusively on these. The largest arboreals i always have to feed with tongs.

Whats with the paranoia around tongs? Is there anyone who actually has a first hand account of something bad happening? How do you feel about rubber tipped tongs, still a bad idea?
 

Adrinium

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I just dont think it's super necessary, but there was this video I saw of someone ting feeding their pokie and it literally ran up the tongs and stopped on their hand.. idk that's pretty scary and puts me off of doing it. Plus Ive had my own bad experience with it and even though everything ended up fine I just decided no thank you
 

fried rice

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The tarantula could injure itself grabbing the insect on the tongs or it could run up the tongs.
 

KaroKoenig

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Here in canada im not so blessed as to have large roaches for my giant spiders.
Just out of curiosity: I assume roaches are outlawed/not being sold because of pest potential? If yes, what about locusts? In Canada, a Desert Locust shouldn't have potential to create an environmental risk. If they are not forbidden, I recommend them. A well-fed and hydrated adult is quite a meal even for a larger tarantula. They also have a tendency to go up, which makes them much more convenient for arboreals than crickets and especially worms and roaches. Voíla - No need to tong-feed.
 

DaveM

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I use tongs or chopsticks frequently to grab and manipulate worms, and to toss them into spider enclosures (just because they're more precise than my large fingers), but not to feed the spider directly.
By tong-feeding, people mean using tongs to hand the prey directly to the spider, so the spider is grabbing the prey while it's being gripped by the tongs. That practice will be discouraged by many here for reasons that 1) the spider might injure itself and 2) might run up the tongs. Rubber-tipped tongs probably reduce risk of the first problem somewhat, but what's the benefit? When OP says tongs are necessary for some arboreals -- not being judgemental -- I just wonder why? Can you not toss the worm into the web?
 

Liquifin

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Tong feeding is something I rarely do only for adult tarantulas as most tarantulas will just grab a dubia as soon as it drops above them. I do tong feed or assist feed older specimens as old tarantula specimens are not as fast as hunting prey than average adults, but it doesn't mean they're bad eaters, it just means they're a little slower than usual.
 

Wolfram1

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Im guessing u tong feed because worms have the tendency to burrow as soon as you throw them in and that you breed them yourself making swiching feeders inconvenient

i personally dont and while i understand the concerns regarding tongfeeding i feel like doing so with large worms would be the easyest way to make sure the spider really got its prey

i personally hate crushing heads, i feel way to bad doing that
 

Colorado Ts

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I tong feed. All the time. Here in canada im not so blessed as to have large roaches for my giant spiders. I resort to superworms and large crickets. Superworms being cheap and easy to keep; most of my largest spiders live almost exclusively on these. The largest arboreals i always have to feed with tongs.

Whats with the paranoia around tongs? Is there anyone who actually has a first hand account of something bad happening? How do you feel about rubber tipped tongs, still a bad idea?
I enjoy keeping Phormictopus...they possess a crazy insane feeding response. It really has to be seen to be truly appreciated.

My slings have raised the bar to another level of “OMG!!!”, during feeding times, since their last moult.

I used to catch the prey items with tongs and drop them in-front of the spider, when feeding. 3 times now I’ve had one of my Phormictopus leap almost completely out of the enclosure and try to grab the prey item out of the tongs, before I’ve had time to drop it into the enclosure.

One time, the spider grabbed the prey item and hung on till I placed it into the enclosure by releasing the prey item.

Twice the spider missed the prey item and was onto my hands before I could react...and this is from 3” to 3.5” juveniles.

Yeah, I’m a bit nervous when I feed my Phormictopus...and I never tong feed them.

I will admit to tong feeding one of my Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens slings a time or 6...it was having such a hard time feeding and had become such a finicky eater that I resorted to tong feeding it.
 

Arthroverts

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@Colorado Ts going on about his Phormictopus again :rolleyes:...
:rofl:;):p Just kidding, ha ha!

Anyway, I like Tom Moran's approach of "Off The Tongs"; mainly, the tongs are hardly ever in contact with the prey item at the same time as the tarantula's fangs are. I think some of the worries about a tarantula breaking its fangs on the tongs are overblown to a degree, but it still isn't a situation I'd like to put myself in usually: have you ever tried to pull your tongs away from a hungry specimen that has grabbed it??

Thanks,

Arthroverts
 

Rigor Mortis

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Nov 7, 2018
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I have never tong fed any of my spiders. I don't trust my Ts as far as I can throw them, that's why. :rofl: My A. chalcodes, T. albopilosus, N. coloratovillosus and GBB are voracious and spazzy when I feed them and I don't want to be anywhere near their fangs if for some reason an attack misses.
 

JPG

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While it is definitely better than hand feeding, I'm often worried that it may break its fang.
If it is absolutely necessary I personally use the bamboo tong instead of the metal one to reduce the risk of fang damage.
 

Magicis3

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Easiest way to explain this is- it can very dangerous for both you and the T (O/W). (N/W) T not that dangerous but still dangerous
 

Arachnid Addicted

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I believe tong feeding is ok, but just because I've never had a problem with it.

"Tong-Poke" (😂) feeding, on the other hand, can be harmful.
 

MBArachnids

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The largest arboreals i always have to feed with tongs.
My very unpopular opinion would be that depending on your enclosure you should tong feed. I would suggest tong feeding with soft rubber tipped tongs. (Mid size tongs, long enough so if the T misses it isn't close to you and short enough that you still have decent control of it)

My reason being...If you are limited to super worms then the chance of you dropping it in there, the worm starts digging and disappears 100% of the time, unless the T is close to the bottom. Now to most of you that might not be a problem dig it out, try again etc. but if you have arboreal enclosures like mine then digging that bugger out is going to be a very very stressful experience. I have cork bark, landscaping at the back and pothos plants in almost all enclosures. I have had 2 instances of the worms digging and I left them thinking the T would dig them up, they were beetles before long and my T did not eat it at all. Upon picking it up you can smell a really pungent odor coming from the beetle that deters the T i presume.

My opinion is purely based on your circumstance as I have the luxury of feeding roaches and locusts.
 

Ungoliant

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Whats with the paranoia around tongs? Is there anyone who actually has a first hand account of something bad happening? How do you feel about rubber tipped tongs, still a bad idea?
I use tongs to grab feeders, crush their heads, and drop them in, but I don't let the tarantulas grab prey directly from the tongs. Even if the tarantula didn't break its fangs, I wouldn't want it running up the tongs and escaping or tagging me.

Rubber tips mitigate the risk of broken fangs but not the risk of running up the tongs.
 

spideyspinneret78

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When I first started out, I tried tong feeding my Trinidad Chevron. She got so excited about the prey item that she immediately ran up the tongs and nearly bit me. I've never done that again, and highly recommend that people avoid doing it. Especially with fast arboreals.
 

Venom1080

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The tarantula could injure itself grabbing the insect on the tongs or it could run up the tongs.
Spare me your parroted opinion please, and bring me first hand accounts.
I use tongs or chopsticks frequently to grab and manipulate worms, and to toss them into spider enclosures (just because they're more precise than my large fingers), but not to feed the spider directly.
By tong-feeding, people mean using tongs to hand the prey directly to the spider, so the spider is grabbing the prey while it's being gripped by the tongs. That practice will be discouraged by many here for reasons that 1) the spider might injure itself and 2) might run up the tongs. Rubber-tipped tongs probably reduce risk of the first problem somewhat, but what's the benefit? When OP says tongs are necessary for some arboreals -- not being judgemental -- I just wonder why? Can you not toss the worm into the web?
I keep alot of Poecilotheria. Not just heavy webbing Avicularia. Theres often not a web to toss into. I convert standard aquariums into arboreal cages. They're quite tall, extremely difficult to not tong feed in.

Also, apparently no evidence of those claims, so careful.
Just out of curiosity: I assume roaches are outlawed/not being sold because of pest potential? If yes, what about locusts? In Canada, a Desert Locust shouldn't have potential to create an environmental risk. If they are not forbidden, I recommend them. A well-fed and hydrated adult is quite a meal even for a larger tarantula. They also have a tendency to go up, which makes them much more convenient for arboreals than crickets and especially worms and roaches. Voíla - No need to tong-feed.
You know, im not actually sure. Ive never seen them. Always assumed no.

@Colorado Ts going on about his Phormictopus again :rolleyes:...
:rofl:;):p Just kidding, ha ha!

Anyway, I like Tom Moran's approach of "Off The Tongs"; mainly, the tongs are hardly ever in contact with the prey item at the same time as the tarantula's fangs are. I think some of the worries about a tarantula breaking its fangs on the tongs are overblown to a degree, but it still isn't a situation I'd like to put myself in usually: have you ever tried to pull your tongs away from a hungry specimen that has grabbed it??

Thanks,

Arthroverts
I have. Pulled a C marshalli out of the cage and nearly killed it. Tongfeeding terrestrials is a waste and dangerous if you panic. This was many years ago. Now i tong feed 8" pokies and dont flinch. Its an art in many ways.

Simply put... Not much good can come from it But a few specifically awful things can.
The "good" that comes from it is my large arboreals actually eat instead of starving. I dont buy crickets often and certainly dont care to breed them.

And again, we all know the tales, but who has first hand accounts?

My very unpopular opinion would be that depending on your enclosure you should tong feed. I would suggest tong feeding with soft rubber tipped tongs. (Mid size tongs, long enough so if the T misses it isn't close to you and short enough that you still have decent control of it)

My reason being...If you are limited to super worms then the chance of you dropping it in there, the worm starts digging and disappears 100% of the time, unless the T is close to the bottom. Now to most of you that might not be a problem dig it out, try again etc. but if you have arboreal enclosures like mine then digging that bugger out is going to be a very very stressful experience. I have cork bark, landscaping at the back and pothos plants in almost all enclosures. I have had 2 instances of the worms digging and I left them thinking the T would dig them up, they were beetles before long and my T did not eat it at all. Upon picking it up you can smell a really pungent odor coming from the beetle that deters the T i presume.

My opinion is purely based on your circumstance as I have the luxury of feeding roaches and locusts.
Exactly. Some of my enclosures almost prevent standard superworm feeding. Im not willing to find new cages for them, especially if the animal doesnt benefit in any way.
 

DaveM

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Also, apparently no evidence of those claims, so careful.
Read threads posted above by @moricollins .
I've never gotten my tongs close enough to be bitten and can't tell you first-hand of any consequent problems.
I did have a full-grown, healthy adult female B. hamorii (> 6 months post-molt) break a fang on the armored pronotum of a G. portentosa hissing cockroach. That was probably a freak accident, but I believe our Ts are fast and strong enough to break their fangs when they fully attack hard objects. Stainless steel tongs are harder than the toughest old roach.
 
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