Wild-caught food

[Amanda]

I want to start adding some variety to my 4" G.rosea's diet. Right now, she eats large crickets. I have access to mealworms, superworms, and mice (pinkies and fuzzies) at the store, but I also have an abundance of lizards around my house... I live in Florida. I don't have the heart to dispatch a pretty green chameleon, although it would make some nice pictures with the color contrast. I've settled on catching the dark green/black Cuban Anoles.

The problem is that our yard is sprayed once a month by a commercial lawn service. This doesn't hurt the anoles, but is it possible that they are overly contaminated if they and their food supply are living in a sprayed yard? I know that they can cover quite a bit of ground, so catching them from the neighbors' yards may be out of the question as well.

Any thought on this, as well as additional easy-to-get food sources would be much appreciated.

 

[Bjorgly]

I would never use wild caught food, because even if the animal has never come into contact with a pesticide or whatever, something it ate may have and the cycle continues with small animals building up a tolerance to poisons. IMO just a no-no, better safe than sorry.

Mark

 

[Windchaser]

I would also recommend against using wild caught prey, especially considering the fact that you know your area is sprayed. It simply is not worth the risk of loosing your tarantulas due to contaminated prey. Stick to store bought prey items. You will be safer in the long term.

 

[Wikkids_Wench]

I would also recommend against using wild caught prey, especially considering the fact that you know your area is sprayed.

I completely agree; the anoles will have consumed at some point insects contaminated with pesticide (and will themselves have been sprayed), and many of the chemicals will be indigestible. They will simply remain in the anole's system. Most pesticides designed to kill insects will also prove lethal to arachnids.

 

[elliot]

how about getting her some nice captive bred roaches for variety? there are lots of places that will ship them to you, and they would be much more nutritious than a lizard, IMO.

That being said, your T will be perfectly healthy on a diet of crickets, and you could always gut load them if you want to add more nutrition to your spider's diet.

 

[Mister Internet]

how about getting her some nice captive bred roaches for variety? there are lots of places that will ship them to you, and they would be much more nutritious than a lizard, IMO.

That being said, your T will be perfectly healthy on a diet of crickets, and you could always gut load them if you want to add more nutrition to your spider's diet.

I don't believe you can own roaches in FL... or at least, not without the Arthropod Permit, but I'm not sure, I thought they were illegal altogether.

Anyway, Superworms and mealworms are really easy to breed yourself if it's just the cost you're worried about...

 

[elliot]

I don't believe you can own roaches in FL... or at least, not without the Arthropod Permit, but I'm not sure, I thought they were illegal altogether.

wow, that's pretty lame.

 

[Leiurus87]

Its just a law that applies mostly to apartments and other communal housing structures to insure sanitation. Private homes, its ok. If not officialy, whose gonna go around doing random creature checks? Our police cant even catch murderers .

 

[elliot]

if they were worried about sanitation, ideally they should make a distinction between pest species and all the rest. probably too much hair splitting in their eyes, though.

 

[Merfolk]

I wonder if quarantined anoles would do the trick. You feed them insects from a store (devoid of pesticides) and pure water, but I dunno how long their metabolism takes to flush these toxins out.

Better be careful. Somebody here lost a bunch of Pokies overnight after feeding them moths caught outside his home (figured out he lives near a plantation that is heavily sprayed)

If you can catch wild feeders from an area proven devoid of such activities, it might work. My sister lives on a fishing lodge in the middle of the forest, and the only insecticides found in the area are on people's skin (I mean, ever seen those videos where moose and deers litteraly disapear behind a cloud of fierce mosquitoes? There you go!) so I'd might try some WC bugs there. The also have huge Dolomedes sp, so here's a prime for me!!!

 

[eman]

I'm starting to breed my own house geckos (Hemidactylus frenatus)for this purpose. I do believe there is a substantial risk in feeding WC anoles and any other lizards, reptiles or amphibians to ts... I have caught toads and frogs and used them repeatedly over the years. However, these were mainly captured from remote areas that were not exposed to pesticides.

 

[Amanda]

Great discussion!
That's was my instinct on the anoles too, but I thought I'd ask. I haven't researched ordering feeders by mail because I'm worried about minimum quantities. Cost isn't an issue because even 'expensive for a roach' is still relatively inexpensive for an occasional treat. It's just that I currently only have one T large enough to eat medium to larger feeders. I watched a centipede eat a fuzzy mouse at the store the other day. Maybe I'll get Ophelia a treat. I just want more options than just mice, crickets and worms.

 

[Brian S]

I am fortunate that I live way out in an area that I know there are no pesticides. During the Summer months I feed several wild caught grasshoppers. The tarantulas love em and they make a big meal when compared to crickets.

 

[ancientscout]

Beware of feeding mice to tarantulas

It has been said before and it should be stated again. Feeding mice to your tarantula could put it in danger of being bitten by the mouse itself. You could lose your T by trying that. Additionally, it is a discusting site really. Especially the pinkies. In nature only the biggest animals could tackle such mammals. It is unknown just how sucessful they are as opposed to how many perish during such an encounter.
Tarantulas are only tuff on insects and our fingers even though they can and do take larger prey items it would not be a good practice.

We are quite fortunate to obtain and care for such high spirited and wonderful creatures that tarantulas are and therefore have an obligation to not only care for, but protect them from undue harm. Remember Amanda, you are the one responsable for the well being of your animals. Don't put them in harms way. Try large roaches..if you have a medium size spider it could be a gas to watch the main bout between those two.
Ancientscout

 

[Kid Dragon]

Its just a law that applies mostly to apartments and other communal housing structures to insure sanitation. Private homes, its ok. If not officialy, whose gonna go around doing random creature checks? Our police cant even catch murderers .

Actually Mr. Internet was correct, its not OK even in private homes. You need an arthropod permit unless they are arthropods native to Florida. Skunk roaches are OK, but my gator is the only thing I own that will eat them. And yes, you need a different permit for a gator.

I feed wild caught Cuban anoles to some of my kingsnake and baby ratsnake species and occasionally to my gator and my Ts. My Ts grab and eat tiny anoles like they were crickets. So far no ill effects, however it is not their stable diet. Over 90% of the time my Ts eat gut loaded crickets.

 

[SpiderZone2]

The only wild thing I caught was a toad. I gave it to my L. parahybana. It took 3 days before she let it drop. Man it was messy and stinky!! But she did get a lot out if it. I agree with the rest of them and don't feed them anything you know that can be harmfull. We really don't know all the affects that feeding them even mild contaminated insects,etc. would bring and I would hate for you to loose a T under those circumstances. I only feed mine pinkies as they are less likely to bite and I have never had a problem with them. I hope this if helpful.....