Ts and mice?

[Justin]

how big does a T have to be to handle a hopper? i thought they had to be big, but i keep hearing stories or seeing pics that say otherwise.

 

[Tarantula]

My L parahybana is eating one right now and she is only 6 inches. Same with my Rosie. My L parahybana ate an adult mouse twice as big as a hopper when she was only 4 inches. That is the most extreme size difference I have been through though.

 

[Jobe]

Well, my c.huahini killed it, but did not eat the mouse. I will be trying again later this month. You can look into my thread later on for an update to see if the second time round goes better.

-e-

 

[Doug H]

Justin, this is my experience, I will never feed a live mouse to any of my adult T's because when I was younger I had a 9'redtail boa constictor snake. that I fed live rats .I bought her when she was 4', so she ate alot of rats. but this one time a rat took out her eye.rodents have very sharp teath. and if your T grabs hold of a mouse by the back leg the mouse has every opertunity to reach around and bite back. if your going to feed mice instead of one mouse it would be better and safer for your T if it was fed a couple small pinkie mice (new borns). Some people may not agree, some people may think I go over board on this issue. but when there T is killed or gets a leg ripped off I bet they will feel different just my personal experience.

 

[Henry Kane]

I think you have a point Doug. I would never tell anyone what to do with their bugs but I would point out that hoppers do pose some risk to your T. Even adult T's. I personally wouldn't take the chance with anything bigger than a pinkie. There are several hobbyists who may not agree, which is fine, just my point of view.
Well, then again, I often feed anoles to some of my biggest T's and have been told that there's risk involved in that as well. I have been using anoles as prey for a couple years without incident to my spiders (as I'm sure some hobbyists have with hoppers) however I do feel that a mobile rodent is a greater risk to my T's than an anole. Again, just my outlook. I can respect any hobbyists idea of what's good for their own T's. That is as long as it doesn't fall into the J.P.I. (just plain idiotic ) category of T keeping.

Atrax

 

[MrDeranged]

If you're worried that a pinky may be too small, and I've seen pinkies comparable to large crickets, then try a rat pup. They're much bigger than mouse pinkies yet just as defenseless...

Scott

 

[rknralf]

I agree. I wouldn't feed hopper mice to any of my tarantulas. The biggest I'll go is a pinkie, and only after a molt to help them beef up.
I wouldn't want to put any of my tarantulas at risk.
Mice have very sharp teeth and are extremely quick. I wouldn't be so sure that the mouse would get the better of the situation every once in a while.
Just my opinion, but I wouldn't.

 

[Justin]

You all say that you would not go any bigger then a pinky, why not fuzzys?