Hungry sling...

[foritxxar]

Hey all.

I've noticed my g. pulchripes sling has been tackling prey with... let's call it "vigor." I started to offer it food daily as a response and it's eaten nearly every meal offered (it's only refused one meal in seven days). It even ate twice today when my girlfriend fed it a bit after I did. From what I've read, tarantulas don't overeat, so my question to you is this: is it safe for a sling to eat daily? If not, why? Also, why would it possibly overeat?

I'm going to hold off on feeding the little fella for a couple days just in case. It's just so hard not to drop a roach in there knowing Nugget'll chomp it up in seconds.

 

[Martin Oosthuysen]

Hey all.

I've noticed my g. pulchripes sling has been tackling prey with... let's call it "vigor." I started to offer it food daily as a response and it's eaten nearly every meal offered (it's only refused one meal in seven days). It even ate twice today when my girlfriend fed it a bit after I did. From what I've read, tarantulas don't overeat, so my question to you is this: is it safe for a sling to eat daily? If not, why? Also, why would it possibly overeat?

I'm going to hold off on feeding the little fella for a couple days just in case. It's just so hard not to drop a roach in there knowing Nugget'll chomp it up in seconds.

Hello
This is a very debatable topic,since one group would say they can't overeat and another the opposite. Those who believe they can
- growth too fast longevity of T shorter
- due to fast growth the T will develop incorrectly
Those believe it can't
- T's are not like reptiles and will stop or refuse when enough
- is it needed that a T is fed a lot ? No,since in the wild food isn't always in abundance.
- males will tend to eat more due to faster growth rate than females
In the end it's which side you believe,I personally can't see a T over eating at all. Is it needed ? Nope,a sling could be fed three times a week yet again up for debate. With the specific genus,grammostola will eat aggressively and suddenly stay without food for weeks even months like the famous Rosea and I've seen this with pulchripes as well.

 

[foritxxar]

Thanks for the response. It seems that it refuses food when it doesn't want it, so I'm inclined to believe it won't overeat. Food intake and molts (growth) seem unrelated, as it has been a bit since it's last molt and it's been eating voraciously. You'd think it would have molted by now...

Thanks again, I appreciate the rundown.

 

[Martin Oosthuysen]

Thanks for the response. It seems that it refuses food when it doesn't want it, so I'm inclined to believe it won't overeat. Food intake and molts (growth) seem unrelated, as it has been a bit since it's last molt and it's been eating voraciously. You'd think it would have molted by now...

Thanks again, I appreciate the rundown.

It is a pleasure.

 

[PetTarantulaWorld.com]

From what i have read over feeding shortens their life span but speeds up growth rate.

 

[foritxxar]

After doing some light research on the topic, I've found that nobody really agrees about overfeeding. This does not include "powerfeeding," which entails raising temperatures to increase metabolic rates, thereby increasing feeding and growth rates; everyone agrees that powerfeeding is detrimental.

I think when my two A. brocklehursti slings are mature I'll attempt to breed and use the slings to do a bit of a research project... see what the facts really are. Won't be for at least a year, though.

 

[Martin Oosthuysen]

After doing some light research on the topic, I've found that nobody really agrees about overfeeding. This does not include "powerfeeding," which entails raising temperatures to increase metabolic rates, thereby increasing feeding and growth rates; everyone agrees that powerfeeding is detrimental.

I think when my two A. brocklehursti slings are mature I'll attempt to breed and use the slings to do a bit of a research project... see what the facts really are. Won't be for at least a year, though.

The only thing that bothers me is,on the one hand they say a T can't overeat. If anyone believes in that,then power feeding is null and void since taking a human into concideration who could actually over eat this never influences their growth but only promotes overweight situations.

I also take note that human and tarantula physiology are not the same,but the pure concept is the same T can't overeat so can't become obese and a T's genetics as any other animal insect or human has a certain set pregrammed code that depicts longevity and growth.

Will food truly impact on a T's growth rate or longevity ? From all my specimens I have,I have not observed this so far. Meaning,a T that will mature say in 4 years will now mature in two ? That's a bit weird,since that means we are saying we can manipulate genetics and changes at a cellular level just by manipulating food.

If we start believing that,we can start believing we can change color and size and other trademarks,by just changing factors. A T no matter how well fed,has a set size limit why doesn't that change ? Why doesn't a Brachypelma Smithi say grow as large as a therolaposa blondi,just because I fed it more easy it's genetics and preprogrammed at a cellular level.

Another thing to look at, take two T's same sack same gender feed the one once a day the other once or twice a week. You will see the first will stop eating faster,while the other one will eat for a greater time period but I'd bet both specimens will go into molting cycle at the same time. This is why some people say,my T hasn't eaten in weeks ! Of course,since you've fed it a lot and it has enough stored food within itself and another will say my T almost ate upto molting time.

This isn't a rule,but a mere observation and view and personal opinion. I'd say test it out,look at what I said objectively and logically. In the end I'd bet you'd get to the same conclusion,even though many may have different views on this. So I truly hope you try the test,will be great to see what happens. In my communal setups,the proposed pushing growth hasn't applied wonder if my view will be proved or disapproved good luck.

 

[foritxxar]

From what I can tell, powerfeeding is less about overfeeding and more about raising metabolic rates by increasing temperatures. Eating more often is just a byproduct. All lifeforms have increased metabolisms at higher temperatures, even humans (it can be easily observed in most mammals by looking at sexual development: hotter climes correlate with faster maturation). By keeping your T too hot, you cause it to develop faster. Like you said, though, I don't believe daily feeding alone would cause faster growth and shorter lifespans. It just doesn't make sense. The worst case scenario I could imagine would be a really fat spider... lol. I think I'll separate my first clutch into four groups: one fed daily at normal temps, one fed daily at hot temps, one fed twIce a week at norms temps, and one fed twice a week at hot temps. I might add a control group, one fed randomly at changing temps (within a safe range, as close to natural temp cycles as possible). That way there'll be some concrete evidence on the whole topic.

 

[Martin Oosthuysen]

From what I can tell, powerfeeding is less about overfeeding and more about raising metabolic rates by increasing temperatures. Eating more often is just a byproduct. All lifeforms have increased metabolisms at higher temperatures, even humans (it can be easily observed in most mammals by looking at sexual development: hotter climes correlate with faster maturation). By keeping your T too hot, you cause it to develop faster. Like you said, though, I don't believe daily feeding alone would cause faster growth and shorter lifespans. It just doesn't make sense. The worst case scenario I could imagine would be a really fat spider... lol. I think I'll separate my first clutch into four groups: one fed daily at normal temps, one fed daily at hot temps, one fed twIce a week at norms temps, and one fed twice a week at hot temps. I might add a control group, one fed randomly at changing temps (within a safe range, as close to natural temp cycles as possible). That way there'll be some concrete evidence on the whole topic.

Haha,remember a T will compensate temperature by moving around finding desirable spots eating more or less to achieve the same as it would at a desirable temp. So if we say metabolism would go up,the T will eat more but the level achieved is still the same.

So the one cancels the other,say two crickets hotter temps and one T normal temp. Is the T really getting more,not in my opinion since on hotter temps he or she is burning out food twice ad fast and the equation is nullified. You as human do the same,I run I am hot I will drink fluids to compensate my body losing these due to a hightened metabolism but that same person sits at a desk will now consume less.

Even looking at eating,people will consume more to adapt to having a more vigorous day and less on a quiet one. I am not speaking of an obese person or someone with an eating disorder just a normal person. So in the end change situations,you will be changing the needs of the T and thus the test won't reflect true figures.