Wild caught grasshoppers as food.

JakeLeg

Arachnopeon
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Mar 26, 2007
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32
Where I live in the summer there are an abundance of grasshoppers... big ones,little ones, green ones, brown ones. I figured these would be great for my T's.

I consulted prior posts here and some guys at the local spider shop and it does seem there is legitimate concern over parasites and pesticides...

I live on a big piece of land and I know we aren't using pesticides so that just leaves parasites in the grasshoppers.

Has anyone ever actually had a T contract parasites from wild caught food?

Thanks in advance.
 

Ted

Arachnoprince
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Jul 7, 2007
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Where I live in the summer there are an abundance of grasshoppers... big ones,little ones, green ones, brown ones. I figured these would be great for my T's.

I consulted prior posts here and some guys at the local spider shop and it does seem there is legitimate concern over parasites and pesticides...

I live on a big piece of land and I know we aren't using pesticides so that just leaves parasites in the grasshoppers.

Has anyone ever actually had a T contract parasites from wild caught food?

Thanks in advance.
good question..I'm not sure about any real concerns regarding parasites..but have noticed that many of my Inverts have been reluctant to eat them often or at all, in captivity..i think they get intimidated by them jumping on them and flailing wildly about.

usually crickets were accepted much easier, I presume because they are fairly passive and small in size.

just a guess and theory.
best of luck..but if you have a valuable specimen of any sort, i never recommend feeding them wild prey...same goes for my reptiles.
just as a precaution.
 

Becky

Arachnolord
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I'd be more worried about pesticides some people use. Even if they aren't used on the piece of land where they are.. whats to say they weren't where they came from originally?
 

funnylori

Arachnobaron
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You could always breed them for a generation. They ovaposit in soil, so you can just put them in a tank with a bowl full of wet sand (ie put water in until a thin layer is visible on top everyday - very important) and they will put quite a few egg pods in there with about 50-80 eggs each in a week or so. Then you just remove the sand, wash it into a strainer over a bucket (bucket catches sand so you can re-use it, strainer catches pods). Put the pods on damp vermiculite and keep warm. :)

They only need a month before they will hatch. Then you just feed them young rye grass and wheat grass, and a little bit of wheat germ. :D I raised over 3000 hoppers this way in a lab. Once you seperate the eggs from the rest of the colony, the paracites and pesticides aren't to much of a problem. You just have to make sure some vector doesn't contaminate the kids...

They eat a ton, and poo a lot... So they aren't the most efficient feeders. They also require a lot of sunlight and warm temperatures every day.
 

Ted

Arachnoprince
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You could always breed them for a generation. They ovaposit in soil, so you can just put them in a tank with a bowl full of wet sand (ie put water in until a thin layer is visible on top everyday - very important) and they will put quite a few egg pods in there with about 50-80 eggs each in a week or so. Then you just remove the sand, wash it into a strainer over a bucket (bucket catches sand so you can re-use it, strainer catches pods). Put the pods on damp vermiculite and keep warm. :)

They only need a month before they will hatch. Then you just feed them young rye grass and wheat grass, and a little bit of wheat germ. :D I raised over 3000 hoppers this way in a lab. Once you seperate the eggs from the rest of the colony, the paracites and pesticides aren't to much of a problem. You just have to make sure some vector doesn't contaminate the kids...

They eat a ton, and poo a lot... So they aren't the most efficient feeders. They also require a lot of sunlight and warm temperatures every day.
what sort of a vermiculite/water ratio works best?..maybe a 9-1?
 

Merfolk

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I often use caught feeders, but I rarely feed them to my more pricey spiders.
Once in the while in the summer, the rest of the year is bought feeders. Long term feeding of wild gaught prey increases the risk.
 

julesaussies

Arachnobaron
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but have noticed that many of my Inverts have been reluctant to eat them often or at all, in captivity..i think they get intimidated by them jumping on them and flailing wildly about.
Interesting link, i read the whole thread. i think the idea of T's eating grasshoppers (raised or wild caught) caught my interest. When i was recently out hiking with SCABIES, there were tons of grasshoppers out where we found lots of T's - all very well fed by the way. Not too sure about what kinds of grasshoppers they were or whether or not they were poisonous to mammals, herps or T's. There was so many that several would fly up with every step i took and like i said, the T's we found were plump and well fed by something!
 

matthias

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I've been looking for hoppers around Chicago for a while now, I thought they would be an excelent addition to my Blondi's diet. Still haven't found anything.
Anybody know if they are easer to breed than crickets?
 

julesaussies

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I've been looking for hoppers around Chicago for a while now, I thought they would be an excelent addition to my Blondi's diet. Still haven't found anything.
Anybody know if they are easer to breed than crickets?
Did you read the link posted by sick4x4? i believe it discusses breeding hoppers in there - also discusses the possibility of some hoppers being potentially poisonous. i have no idea about the poisonous issue; you'd have to do more searching.

 

sick4x4

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I often use caught feeders, but I rarely feed them to my more pricey spiders.
Once in the while in the summer, the rest of the year is bought feeders. Long term feeding of wild gaught prey increases the risk.
feeding WC anything possess risks and belive me when i say:wall: it has cause heated arguments amongst many hobbyist:eek: ...a couple treads had to be closed because of name calling and personal attacks...really though because of the industrialization of alot of habitats, many prey items have become exposed to pesticides of one sort or another...in cali especially due to all of the farming and produce growing that goes on here year round...

basically i find myself sooo tempted when i drive up the 126 towards ventura, seeing a wide assortment of hoppers, mantids, grubs, pillers, ect.ect.on my collecting trips but i know they use pesticides up here:embarrassed: sooo its a risk not worth taking....also since locusts and many hoppers are illegal to own or raise here in cali, my variety of prey items just seems to be limited:mad: i would love someone to breed hoppers of some sort and make them available as feeders....but i dont know how economical that would be????:? but its worth looking into, since many of us would love the opportunity to use them as a treat every once in awhile!!!
 

ballpython2

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Does anyone know online where you can buy grasshoppers from like you can crickets???
 

JakeLeg

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JakeLeg

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Mar 26, 2007
Messages
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WC food risks...

I hear ya... There seems to be very strong opinions... but I don't hear any real antecdotes of anyone who has had a T catch parasites.

Just trying to figure out if the concerns are based on real cases or just precautions.

Something just seems right about varying the diet of these little guys... I couldn't imagine eating on the same thing every meal... (even if it was pizza!:} )



feeding WC anything possess risks and belive me when i say:wall: it has cause heated arguments amongst many hobbyist:eek: ...a couple treads had to be closed because of name calling and personal attacks...really though because of the industrialization of alot of habitats, many prey items have become exposed to pesticides of one sort or another...in cali especially due to all of the farming and produce growing that goes on here year round...

basically i find myself sooo tempted when i drive up the 126 towards ventura, seeing a wide assortment of hoppers, mantids, grubs, pillers, ect.ect.on my collecting trips but i know they use pesticides up here:embarrassed: sooo its a risk not worth taking....also since locusts and many hoppers are illegal to own or raise here in cali, my variety of prey items just seems to be limited:mad: i would love someone to breed hoppers of some sort and make them available as feeders....but i dont know how economical that would be????:? but its worth looking into, since many of us would love the opportunity to use them as a treat every once in awhile!!!
 

sick4x4

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i'll find some of the treads for ya, since they are mixed in with other topics all involving different food items..yet i do remember a few cases were T's became infected and eventually died due to parasites(im trying to remember who it happened too??) but i think most of the cases happened in the mid-west though and had more to do with pesticide then parasite???? so i belive the concern involves both hypotheticals and actual fact... understand someone didn't just make it up to scare us all lol.... its not the boogeyman;) ......

any hoot, with the value of many collections going up, people hear parasites and turn tail and run.......and who would blame them....i couldn't imagine some of my baby's getting sick and dieing cuzz i wanted to add variety to their diet. though truth be told, i have fed a few OBT's both mantids and WC hoppers(the green ones, im not sure what they were called) and nothing happened to them...but like we have seen above, just cuzz nothing happened this time doesn't mean it wont eventually..... there's no way to know for sure with WC's and there in lies the problem, "the intangibles"...so really its up to you but document and keep watch, soo you can post here...i know im interested...
 

ricneto

Arachnosquire
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Jun 9, 2007
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I run out of crickets and bought locusts (grasshopers?) because the shop run out of crickets as well. Is it safe?
I fed 2 alreadt and the T loves them.:drool:
I am not sure if they are more for reptiles.
 

dtknow

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Does BT affect tarantulas? Also, in some places they introduce a kind of parasite that causes grasshoppers to lay fewer eggs. But I doubt tarantulas would get it from eating the grasshoppers. And wild T's eat them just fine, even in areas with development.
 

funnylori

Arachnobaron
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what sort of a vermiculite/water ratio works best?..maybe a 9-1?
I put them in 6 inch diameter petri dishes. First I cover the bottom with a thin layer of vermiculite. Then squirt water onto it so that the vermiculite sticks, but the water does not pool. Then put pods in a single layer, then cover with vermiculite. Dampen the top layer of vermiculite, you don't want any pooling so don't go over board. Then put the lid on. I would re-dampen the vermiculite every day to every other day if it looked dry. Pooling and condensation on the top aren't so good. In about a month there will be lots of tiny hoppers.

Internal parasites do happen in hoppers. I don't recall what kind they were, it could have been microscopic. I never noticed it, but the graduate students I worked for were having issues with infected hoppers. Sometimes flesh flies would explode out of the wild caught ones. *is not helpful*:eek:
 

JakeLeg

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
32
Poodles and Microwaves... Parasites and WC food

Thanks friend! I believe pesticides would obviously be a concern. As far parasites... well it might not be the boogeyman but when I was a kid I believed an old lady blew up her poodle in a microwave trying to dry it off. :liar:

I was really hoping for someone to post and say... "Yeah... I fed a grasshopper to my T and a month later he died and worms crawled out."

I have begun to feed a few to my T's and hopefully I won't be that guy a month from now.

The T's love em (B. Bohemi, B. Smithi, B. Albiceps) except for my B. Vagans, and the hoppers being stronger prey than crickets allow the T's to use more of its predatory skills... very entertaining.

I'll certainly post and keep you guys updated as things progress.

Thanks a bunch for all the input.






i'll find some of the treads for ya, since they are mixed in with other topics all involving different food items..yet i do remember a few cases were T's became infected and eventually died due to parasites(im trying to remember who it happened too??) but i think most of the cases happened in the mid-west though and had more to do with pesticide then parasite???? so i belive the concern involves both hypotheticals and actual fact... understand someone didn't just make it up to scare us all lol.... its not the boogeyman;) ......

any hoot, with the value of many collections going up, people hear parasites and turn tail and run.......and who would blame them....i couldn't imagine some of my baby's getting sick and dieing cuzz i wanted to add variety to their diet. though truth be told, i have fed a few OBT's both mantids and WC hoppers(the green ones, im not sure what they were called) and nothing happened to them...but like we have seen above, just cuzz nothing happened this time doesn't mean it wont eventually..... there's no way to know for sure with WC's and there in lies the problem, "the intangibles"...so really its up to you but document and keep watch, soo you can post here...i know im interested...
 
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