Why do tarantulas get so stumped by feeders playing dead?

[viper69]

It's not that they "decide" not to eat it, because when the roach moves, they grab it. It would be like if, say, you were brought into a dark room, and then the lights came on for a tenth of a second, and you're able to see out of the corner of your eye, something that looks like a burger. You can't be sure that's what it is, because the room went dark too fast. BUT, you can smell the burger, and when you walk closer and put your hands out, you can feel the bread, and the warmth radiating from it.
You then say "nope, that's not a burger. I can't see it, so it's not there."
When a tarantula's senses tell it that food is served, it should be enough to just pounce. But it waits for the thing to move first.

Man, my emilia is always ordering burgers and eating them.

Unfortunately they are often a black box with 8 legs because the money to research Ts is in taxonomy almost exclusively.

As a side note, I have had Ts ignore roaches. Not all Ts go for them, even when they move.

 

[Ungoliant]

This is something that is a stark difference with true spiders. Of all the true spiders I've kept, this whole playing dead trick never works. If the spider felt movement, they know that the food is still around somewhere even if it's not moving. They'll wander until they stumble upon it and proceed to take the prey down.

My web-dwelling true spiders (Kukulcania hibernalis) are not exactly fooled by this trick, but they do use the movement of the prey to home in on the location. If it sits in the web perfectly still, the spider can figure out where it is, but it seems like the movement is usually needed to trigger their predatory instincts, because they will often sit there with one front leg on the prey until it moves. (And they know the difference between my poking it to simulate movement and the insect's own movements.)

That being said, their sensitivity is amazing. I have one Kuk with a massive web that covers an entire mountain inside her 8-gallon terrarium, and no matter where you drop the prey, she finds it within seconds.

 

[Andrea82]

Not all T's are 'stupid', some have developed a technique to flush out prey:

 

[ledzeppelin]

That's interesting. I've always place small dubia (that I've crushed the heads) in the bottom of of my Avics enclosures at night and they have them picked up by morning. The enclosures open at the bottom and I just drop the dubia on the substrate. Which is about as far away as I can put the food from the T in the enclosure.

All my slings refuse prekilled dubia -.- They will only eat prekilled and/or cut up mealworms -_- which is severely annoying since my mealworm colony has been infested with mites and I have to dispose of it -.- I haven't had to buy food for my Ts for 10 years and I'm annoyed -.-

 

[Trenor]

All my slings refuse prekilled dubia -.- They will only eat prekilled and/or cut up mealworms -_- which is severely annoying since my mealworm colony has been infested with mites and I have to dispose of it -.- I haven't had to buy food for my Ts for 10 years and I'm annoyed -.-

I guess I am lucky so far. I own a lot of Ts and non have refused to eat dubias. I have 6 C. sp. hati hati slings that are about the size of ticks and they readily eat tiny (day or two old) prekilled dubia. All the Ts I've raised from slings and even the ones I have bought as juvies/adults have all readily eaten dubias.

I've only fed a few other feeders more as a novelty than out of a need. I've never bothered to get more once they ran out.

 

[Vikingsblood]

This is why I stopped trying to use Dubai as feeders when I had my previous collection. I had a 36 tarantulas and over a 2 month period after buying a started Dubai colony, not one single T would touch them. Out of frustration I went back to crix and everyone started pigging out happily again.

 

[Trenor]

This is why I stopped trying to use Dubai as feeders when I had my previous collection. I had a 36 tarantulas and over a 2 month period after buying a started Dubai colony, not one single T would touch them. Out of frustration I went back to crix and everyone started pigging out happily again.

Did you crush their heads when you fed Dubias? That pretty much how I do it when I feed dubia roaches and all my Ts eat them with no hold outs.

I've literally fed two crickets since I got into this hobby. I got both of them for my I.mira Ts in hopes they would strike better from the trap doors. They didn't so I went back to the dubias they hunted and ate just as well.

 

[Vikingsblood]

Yep, tried crushing the heads, even partially crushing the roach itself...not one single T in my collection would touch them. I even had one of the most aggressive P. murinus I have ever seen that would run from the roaches like it's life depended on it. I always wondered if maybe there was something wrong with that whole colony of feeders that the T's could sense? Who knows? I finally just sold the colony.

 

[Trenor]

Maybe, I had not thought of that but it's possible.

If you want you can send my all your Ts and I'll let you know if I can get them to eat the roaches. It might take a while.

 

[Vikingsblood]

Maybe, I had not thought of that but it's possible.

If you want you can send my all your Ts and I'll let you know if I can get them to eat the roaches. It might take a while.

Well the collection I'm speaking of was my old collection and I no longer have it, I just recently got back into the hobby with an order of 10 B. smithi/hamorii slings. Picked up a small G. roses last weekend also just for kicks. And no, you can't have my spiders...

 

[darkness975]

Well the collection I'm speaking of was my old collection and I no longer have it, I just recently got back into the hobby with an order of 10 B. smithi/hamorii slings. Picked up a small G. roses last weekend also just for kicks. And no, you can't have my spiders...

G. roses , sounds beautiful lol.

Crickets seem to elicit a better feeding response a lot of times.

 

[BrockiePelma]

Similar question comes to mind when it comes to water dish/water drops.how does the tarantula know,or how does a tatarantula detect that there is water in that particular spot.i rarely see any of my Ts drinking in a dish,but despite having a water dish, i still frequently see most of them climbing on the sides when i mist the cage(which i assume is because they want to drink the droplets on the sides). its a lot of hassle for me to regularly maintain the water dish and im pretty sure its not even being used most of the time,its just there for my peace if mind knowing they'll have source if water available almost always.

 

[Moakmeister]

Similar question comes to mind when it comes to water dish/water drops.how does the tarantula know,or how does a tatarantula detect that there is water in that particular spot.i rarely see any of my Ts drinking in a dish,but despite having a water dish, i still frequently see most of them climbing on the sides when i mist the cage(which i assume is because they want to drink the droplets on the sides). its a lot of hassle for me to regularly maintain the water dish and im pretty sure its not even being used most of the time,its just there for my peace if mind knowing they'll have source if water available almost always.

They drink from the dish when they need water. I've already seen my G pulchripes drink from the dish a number of times, including the first day I had him. There's no reason not to have a water dish. I would imagine that it would be easier to have one than to wet the substrate. I've figured out that they don't flip it over or fill it up with substrate if you don't put it in the corner.

 

[Vikingsblood]

G. roses , sounds beautiful lol.

Crickets seem to elicit a better feeding response a lot of times.

Autocorrect hates me...

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Similar question comes to mind when it comes to water dish/water drops.how does the tarantula know,or how does a tatarantula detect that there is water in that particular spot.i rarely see any of my Ts drinking in a dish,but despite having a water dish, i still frequently see most of them climbing on the sides when i mist the cage(which i assume is because they want to drink the droplets on the sides). its a lot of hassle for me to regularly maintain the water dish and im pretty sure its not even being used most of the time,its just there for my peace if mind knowing they'll have source if water available almost always.

Spiders can detect humidity as well as heat from specialized hairs on their body so they are able to tell where water is. Combined with the chemo receptive hairs, they can tell the water is drinkable.

From a lot of pictures of how people setup their tarantulas, it seems that some don't realize how difficult or awkward it is for a tarantula to climb on a cup or dish of water to drink. They will do it if they have to, but as you found out, they will much prefer to lay on top of a water source to drink. Water dishes should be buried into the substrate to where the rim is flush with the substrate so a tarantula can lay on top of the water instead of trying to maneuver their mouths over the side to get to it. The best water cups to use are the 1-2 ounce condiment cups (also called souffle cups). When it gets dirty just take it out, throw it away, then add a new one. Not very aesthetically pleasing, but beats spending more time and effort maintaining something nicer looking when the tarantula could care less.

Also, I notice some tarantula keepers get a little crazy with trying to avoid overflowing water cups/ dishes for species from arid regions because they think it will harm the tarantula in some way. It's a good practice to overflow water dishes every once in a while so that tarantula has easy access to water by drinking from the substrate.

 

[darkness975]

Spiders can detect humidity as well as heat from specialized hairs on their body so they are able to tell where water is. Combined with the chemo receptive hairs, they can tell the water is drinkable.

From a lot of pictures of how people setup their tarantulas, it seems that some don't realize how difficult or awkward it is for a tarantula to climb on a cup or dish of water to drink. They will do it if they have to, but as you found out, they will much prefer to lay on top of a water source to drink. Water dishes should be buried into the substrate to where the rim is flush with the substrate so a tarantula can lay on top of the water instead of trying to maneuver their mouths over the side to get to it. The best water cups to use are the 1-2 ounce condiment cups (also called souffle cups). When it gets dirty just take it out, throw it away, then add a new one. Not very aesthetically pleasing, but beats spending more time and effort maintaining something nicer looking when the tarantula could care less.

Also, I notice some tarantula keepers get a little crazy with trying to avoid overflowing water cups/ dishes for species from arid regions because they think it will harm the tarantula in some way. It's a good practice to overflow water dishes every once in a while so that tarantula has easy access to water by drinking from the substrate.

Agreed. I use the 2oz souffle cups and bury them to be flush with the substrate.
Emily here pulled it up prior to drinking but normally it's flush lol.

G. porteri Drinking

• darkness975
• Apr 10, 2017

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Agreed. I use the 2oz souffle cups and bury them to be flush with the substrate.
Emily here pulled it up prior to drinking but normally it's flush lol.

G. porteri Drinking

• darkness975
• Apr 10, 2017

I notice my tarantulas will pull on the water cups more often when they are positioned right up against the side of the enclosure then when the cups are buried away from the edges. From my interpretation of the behavior, tarantulas can more easily detect and find the water source since they can touch it with their feet (yeah, I like to call the tarsus feet so what? ), but still have difficulty getting on top of it. To compensate it appears tarantulas will try to tip it over for easier access. When I say they prefer to lay on top of water, it means they need to have all eight legs around the outside of the cup or dish touching the substrate to lay down. That's the way tarantulas drink from pools of water on the substrate or sides of the enclosure. They find it and lay down on it with the pedipalps and chelicerae spread.

 

[darkness975]

I notice my tarantulas will pull on the water cups more often when they are positioned right up against the side of the enclosure then when the cups are buried away from the edges. From my interpretation of the behavior, tarantulas can more easily detect and find the water source since they can touch it with their feet (yeah, I like to call the tarsus feet so what? ), but still have difficulty getting on top of it. To compensate it appears tarantulas will try to tip it over for easier access. When I say they prefer to lay on top of water, it means they need to have all eight legs around the outside of the cup or dish touching the substrate to lay down. That's the way tarantulas drink from pools of water on the substrate or sides of the enclosure. They find it and lay down on it with the pedipalps and chelicerae spread.

When I move a couple of years from now and I have a lot more room for expanding my collection, I am also going to give some of my current collection larger enclosures, like Emily here. At that time I will be able to give her a large enough enclosure so that I can have the water dish away from the sides and still not compromised for walking space. In this particular image she is housed in a large Critter keeper, so there is not a whole lot of extra room, that is my reasoning for having the water dish up against the side like that.

Do you also use the Disposable water cups like I do or do you use permanent ones that you scrub out when they get dirty?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Do you also use the Disposable water cups like I do or do you use permanent ones that you scrub out when they get dirty?

Yes, I use the Solo 2 oz cups in every one of my tarantula enclosures that are large enough to accomodate them. Even for my four giants: Theraphosa stirmi female, Theraphosa stirmi mature male, Theraphosa apophysis mature male, and Theraphosa apophysis female.

 

[TarachTis]

I have seen this a few times with crickets and roaches. I was sitting in front of my Mexican Red Knee’s house for over 40 minutes the other day as this cricket laid dead still on its back and the Tarantula just stood over it. Eventually Mexy started to step away and the Cricket attempted to roll over and run but that was its downfall.

Same thing with a roach. She stood on it for a while and after an afternoon the roach finally messed up.

the tarantulas definitely know that something is there because they wait and wait until it shows itself again.