What do you feed to your tarantulas on a regular?

[Mike Withrow]

Meal worms and crickets for my smaller spider's and slings. Dubias for the rest.

 

[viper69]

I only feed mealworms at present, since both my Ts are small juveniles. I also feed them the mealworm pupae. It will likely stay that way for the time being as the next Ts I plan on getting will all be slings ranging in size from 1/4” to 1/2”. Those I plan feeding cut up mealworm pieces.


This is the first mention I've seen on here of such a thing. I can’t imagine captive raised crickets having much risk of acquiring parasitic infections unless they are fed something that is contaminated. Which I would imagine any sensible cricket farm would take measures to ensure does not happen.


Whole or in parts?

One finger tip at a time

 

[Jaycooks1]

Crickets tried super worms they would not touch them. I will try horn worms as soon as the slings get bigger.

 

[Pedipalpable]

I'll preface by saying that pinworms are not prevalent but tarantula hobbyists do encounter them from time to time. If one has been in the hobby long enough and particularly has bought or raised crickets long enough for the purpose of feeding to other animals one becomes aware of the parasites. Crickets can carry a number parasites ranging from mites to nematodes to pinworms. Typically any mites found on crickets are harmless to tarantulas as they are the type that typically feed on wheat or grain based products fed to the crickets coming from cricket farms.
A couple of years ago apparently I sold someone a tarantula that probably had pinworms. I realized this in hindsight after I had a discussion with someone that had been in the hobby for over 20 years who had a similar experience firsthand in his collection. He himself thought at the time that the source were crickets that he bought from a local pet store that were not necessarily kept in the best conditions. He discovered this after cutting a cricket up for the purpose of feeding the pieces to slings and noticed a worm.

Good to know if I ever decide to start feeding my Ts crickets. And also good to know that it is uncommon, though I suppose if were common keepers would have stopped using crickets to feed their Ts long ago. It does make me wonder though if the parasitic nematodes that you see very occasionally mentioned here find their way into captive raised Ts by way of infected crickets.

One finger tip at a time

Ah, so you're frugal about it! Good man. I hate seeing food go to waste, be it mine or my spiders'.