is this cruel.......?

[tom landock]

I have fed adult mice to larger tarantulas (T. stirmi for example) on quite a few occassions. In one case (of many times I have done this), the mouse bit my spider and caused injury to its leg leading to leaking of fluid. After that one instance, I started to feed them dead mice or pinkies. I would rather not inflict harm on my spider. I say that because it is not the mouses fault. It is mine for placing it in the terrarium with my T. So, I am the one inflicting harm. The mouse is doing as nature would have it do...defending itself. I will say that in my experience, it did not take long for the effects of the venom to kick in (especially when feeding to large old world species - Asians).....but still....its better to be safe than sorry. I also find that if you want to offer your tarantula a variety of foods for nutritional value (which is why I started offering mice to begin with), then I would replace the feeding of mice with raw chicken breast strips/tenders or raw chicken. It is packed with protein and no harm could come of it unless you just left the remnants in the cage....that would eventually lead to mold and the smell would be awful. I have converted to raw chicken, now, instead.

ok, puttin me to sleep..................................

 

[Casey K.]

ok, puttin me to sleep..................................

They make Ambien for that. I find a nice hot cup of chamomile tea helps, too.....

 

[tom landock]

They make Ambien for that. I find a nice hot cup of chamomile tea helps, too.....

they have stripper clubs to KEEP ME AWAKE...................now u go to sleeppppie

 

[Casey K.]

they have stripper clubs to KEEP ME AWAKE...................now u go to sleeppppie

Oh, I apologize.....please excuse my "class"..... I certainly am not going to attempt to try to be on that level.....but if I did.....I'd probably put a LOT of them to shame...

 

[SlingMom]

NICE...........but >> is 1 less mouse in this world......................u dig..?

I do dig - but only when I have to ...but as a person who has had mice for pets, and find them incredibly cute, I just cannot use them for T food. I would have a snake for a pet if I didn't have to feed it furry little critters.

 

[MassExodus]

Lmao, interesting thread. Also interesting that the OP asks peoples opinions and then gets irritated when he recieves them. I'll just say this. Feeding mice is in no way the safest and most efficient way to feed your tarantula. And that's what the folks in this hobby generally do : The safest, most efficient thing. Argue til your blue in the face, it changes nothing.

 

[Rs50matt]

This has become entertaining. Someone. Chimes in with a joke or advice and gets shutdown. @Casey K you've only had 1000s of Ts so why should we listen to anything you say? You know nothing ‍‍‍ ( that's clearly a joke and I put emojis to keep the redneck happy ).

Everytime someone rights a reply over 1 paragraph or with words over 3 syllables it's considered boring and not worth reading. Lack of education and years of chewing tobacco and sleeping with your sister is really starting to take a toll on your attention span

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Personally I think the only reason a person should kill animals is for food and when killing there should be minimum suffering PERIOD!

What about pest species like rats and mice? Or gophers that kill all the food I'm trying grow to feed my animals?

What happens when hunting is banned by ignorant government officials, and an animal population grows to an unsustainable levels, and then they start dying off from starvation or horrid disease epidemic?

What about dangerous animals that would harm people or pets? Can a case be made for self-defense? I don't eat bears, but I'd have no hesitation in killing one that was attempting to harm me or my family, or an innocent bystander.

Surely there must be some circumstance where killing for reasons other than food is okay? No?

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Is nature cruel? This isn't really relevant since these creatures will eat mice in the wild. Man's laws don't really apply to wild things and our perception of cruelty doesn't amount to much in their regard. When I first started keeping spiders, there wasn't the supply of crickets and other food insects like there is available now and I used pinky mice along with mealworms, neither complained. Having kept a Ball Python that would only eat live mice, the law in the UK would have caused it's death. Which is cruel? There is danger in applying human feelings to wild animals or to creatures that are part of the food chain of other animals. The long and short answer is no, it isn't cruel, it is natural. The spider dispatches whatever it eats quickly and painlessly to protect itself from damage by a struggling food source. If one were to carry this argument a bit further, it could perceive that keeping tarantulas in an enclosure is also cruel, the same could be said of feeding them crickets. There are folks that consider keeping pets of any kind cruel, even those that don't eat live prey. The final thought is if you think something is cruel, don't do it, only has to make sense to you. If you think having a dog or cat is cruel don't have one, simple. Our spiders will live with or without mice so the choice belongs to the keeper, personally I keep my options open to provide the best care I can for my T, it is really as easy as that.

This is not a question of what happens in the wild. This is not a question of letting a picky snake starve to death because of stupid laws.

This is a question of senseless pain and suffering of the prey species, and potential harm or death of the animal the OP is responsible for keeping alive and well.

Sometimes some pain and suffering of the prey is necessary, as in the case of your ball python. Any rational person will have no issue there. In the case of the OP's spider and an oversized dangerous prey item, the pain and suffering, and potential harm to the tarantula is not necessary, or even sensible.

 

[Arachnoclown]

I'm going to make all my tarantulas vegans from now on!!!!

 

[ilovebrachys]

This has become entertaining. Someone. Chimes in with a joke or advice and gets shutdown. @Casey K you've only had 1000s of Ts so why should we listen to anything you say? You know nothing ‍‍‍ ( that's clearly a joke and I put emojis to keep the redneck happy ).

Everytime someone rights a reply over 1 paragraph or with words over 3 syllables it's considered boring and not worth reading. Lack of education and years of chewing tobacco and sleeping with your sister is really starting to take a toll on your attention span

love this @Rs50matt -spot on!

 

[ilovebrachys]

I'm going to make all my tarantulas vegans from now on!!!!

Now that would be interesting...tofu in the shape of crickets perhaps!?

 

[Arachnoclown]

Now that would be interesting...tofu in the shape of crickets perhaps!?

Never mind...vegan and vegetarian diets kill animals to.
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97836&page=1

 

[ilovebrachys]

Never mind...vegan and vegetarian diets kill animals to.
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97836&page=1

I didn't mean tofu crickets for real lol I am a vegetarian...and no its nothing to do with killing animals...I just cannot stomach eating itnot a choice as such

 

[Arachnoclown]

I didn't mean tofu crickets for real lol I am a vegetarian...and no its nothing to do with killing animals...I just cannot stomach eating itnot a choice as such

My wife cant digest alot of meats...she only eats fish.

 

[Beowulf68]

Interesting article about predation and a few videos

 

[Arachnoclown]

https://relay.nationalgeographic.co...rantula-kills-opossum-first-time-photos-video

 

[Beowulf68]

Thank you Arachnoclown. Hard to upload while at work.

 

[Casey K.]

My wife cant digest alot of meats...she only eats fish.

Omg! You have a wwww.....wwww...wuh.... ffs spit it out already.... "WIFE"?!

 

[Casey K.]

Bite me Casey!

Oh I would....don't you dare for one second think I wouldn't.....I'd inject some potent ass venom in you that would subdue you in seconds.....