Thoughts?

[Wg25]

Saw a guy on Arachnoboards feeding his T a piece of chicken. I've never seen or heard of this? ._. Can't imagine it being good for his health? Thoughts??

 

[swimbait]

unnecessary

 

[Steve123]

I too think it's unnecessary. And if it were, looks to me like too big a piece. My conclusion from this photo is that this unfortunate T landed in the hands of an immature owner who can't resist using his T to get attention. If I'm right, I'd make sure to never sell to him/her.

One interesting tidbit however, is that there are German breeders who infrequently use organ meats like chicken heart to bring large females (Theraphosa e.g.) into breeding condition. I myself have tried it with Pamphobeteus, but have no controlled data. Not sure anybody does. The warning is to use them infrequently; however, again I have no data, and to remove the food bolus the next day, or else . . .

 

[Tomoran]

Did this person mention why he/she was doing this? Was there an explanation? Personally, I don't see the point at all. Plus, a piece of chicken that size is going to leave one heck of a mess to clean up and ultimately introduce a lot of bacteria into that enclosure.

 

[Thistles]

@Steve123! I love you!

Sorry, I got excited.

I've heard of people giving tarantulas grapes, too, but, like the chicken, I don't recommend it. A piece of chicken is I suppose much like if a wild tarantula were to scavenge a dead bird. We do know they do that. I doubt it will directly harm the tarantula, but the mess left by the chicken has the potential to be pretty indirectly harmful. I personally don't want to experiment with my pets, so I'll stick with roaches.

 

[londelsh]

What about small lizards would anyone recommend them?

 

[Tomoran]

What about small lizards would anyone recommend them?

I know Mike from Mike's Basic Tarantula feeds his house geckos on occasion. For many of these species, small lizards would likely be prey in nature. Personally, I feed badly enough watching the feeder bugs get impaled by those fangs, so I'd have a tough time using lizards. Plus, having used frozen pinky mice years ago, I decided that the nasty bolus left behind wasn't worth it.

 

[londelsh]

I know Mike from Mike's Basic Tarantula feeds his house geckos on occasion. For many of these species, small lizards would likely be prey in nature. Personally, I feed badly enough watching the feeder bugs get impaled by those fangs, so I'd have a tough time using lizards. Plus, having used frozen pinky mice years ago, I decided that the nasty bolus left behind wasn't worth it.

That's where I got the idea from, and that's why I put it out there to see what everyone's though was about it. Me personally it doesn't bother in fact I think its interesting and fascinating. But that's me personally lol.

 

[Tomoran]

That's where I got the idea from, and that's why I put it out there to see what everyone's though was about it. Me personally it doesn't bother in fact I think its interesting and fascinating. But that's me personally lol.

I watched my Rosie eat a pinky mouse YEARS ago, and my fascination quickly turned into disgust as it went down. Lol. That's ME, though, and I can certainly understand if someone wanted to mix up the diet a bit. The main reason i wouldn't do it, though, is because the boluses from vertebrates are a bit more nasty and gooey than those from feeder insects. You have to be extra-diligent with cleaning them out after a feeding, or they can stink and breed bacteria. If a T were to drop one of those in a den, it could rot and create a bit of a nightmare.

 

[londelsh]

I watched my Rosie eat a pinky mouse YEARS ago, and my fascination quickly turned into disgust as it went down. Lol. That's ME, though, and I can certainly understand if someone wanted to mix up the diet a bit. The main reason i wouldn't do it, though, is because the boluses from vertebrates are a bit more nasty and gooey than those from feeder insects. You have to be extra-diligent with cleaning them out after a feeding, or they can stink and breed bacteria. If a T were to drop one of those in a den, it could rot and create a bit of a nightmare.

Yeah I see what you mean, at the moment both my T's are to small for anything bigger then a cricket, so it wont be for a while till I get to that stage.

 

[Entity]

The problem with feeding mammals and bird is the mess. You have to make sure that u get everything out of the enclosure. The rotting meat remainds can draw even more things in then the problems we already deal with from time to time. They dont need to be fed that stuff to live a long and happy life so why risk it. Not to mention the smell it is likely to create. I dont know, in my opinion i wouldnt do it.

 

[Steve123]

The mess, bacteria, and whoa the smell the next day. Yay, @Thistles is back! Today I just pulled a B. albopilosum from you from years back, alive and kicking it was, and I just saw a post of yours on Fauna last night, how coincidental is that?

Yes to all of the above posts; I'm sticking to crickets, except maybe a tiny piece of organ meat once during the course of bringing a "big and hairy" female T (Theraphosa, Xenesthis, Pamphobeteus, Hysterocrates) to breeding condition. I did that for P. ultramarinus bred last year (photos of her and slings in FS section). I don't think it's the secret to success, but because she's only the second P. ultramarinus to be bred in the states (Anastasia's the first as is well-known) and I hear only 5 or so breeders have bred them in Germany, I'll probably do it again.

What about small lizards would anyone recommend them?

One breeder friend told me in the wild, some Poecilotheria spp. eat a large number of lizards. I've been meaning to confirm that, yet, even if it is true, no I wouldn't use them, for the same reason people state they wouldn't use chicken muscle meat . . . plus there is sadness for the lizard.

Cheers all!
Steve

 

[Thistles]

That little freebie Chilobrachys dyscolus you sent me in August matured not too long ago. I've already paired him with my female and he lived to tell the tale! If I'm successful, you're getting a mess of babies.

The only vertebrate prey I've ever offered my tarantulas was a prekilled pinky. I had thawed it to feed one of my snakes, and the snake rejected it. Not wanting to waste the pink, I gave it to the largest T I had at the time (this was years ago when I was relatively new to the hobby) which was a penultimate male Avicularia metallica with a 6" or so DLS. He took it from the tongs very nicely and I removed the bolus the next day. No problems, no guilt and Freddie matured a few months later into a big ole beast of a pink toe. Even though I had no trouble, I still wouldn't offer vertebrate prey unless I was in a similar circumstance and had to choose between wasting a pinkie and feeding it to a T.

 

[RedCapTrio]

What about small lizards would anyone recommend them?

I definitely recommend them that is if you can catch them. I have fed my biggest T lizards from my garden pond as these love to stay in the filters. And they move super slow so you can easily catch them.

Reason for me feeding lizards is variety. That is all, and the bolus is bolus in the end. Does not stink of anything but the T does go for days eating.