Lizards as food

[spazz]

Somehow an anole got into my T's enclosure and she did what came natural. I assume this to be fine, but thought I'd ask just in case. She has had it for about an hour now. Should I try and take it away or let her finish?

 

[DalilahBlue]

As long as it is dead I wouldn't worry. There are many dangers to feeding vertebrate food to T's, but as long as it is dead I wouldn't worry. Some folks feel that the extra calcium in the verts can increase the chances of wet molts.

 

[DalilahBlue]

Oooooh, and by the way that bark is not the greatest sub for your T. Many kinds of pine-ish bark are actually toxic. Eco earth and coco fiber are great choices.

 

[spazz]

Oooooh, and by the way that bark is not the greatest sub for your T. Many kinds of pine-ish bark are actually toxic. Eco earth and coco fiber are great choices.

Thanks for the replies. The substrate is zoo-med coconut husk.

 

[Sabeth]

In the wild, tarantulas probably snatch up prey other than insects (in addition to insects). I bet lizards are occasionally on their menu.

 

[spiderengineer]

tarantula eat more than just insect in the wild so a lizard would be on their menu. I know it was not intentional, but I would monitor your T in the next few days to make sure that lizard did not have any parasites or was sick that could carry over your T.

 

[spiderengineer]

Thanks for the replies. The substrate is zoo-med coconut husk.

generally you want a finer coco husk substrate like eco earth. the chips you have seem uncomfortable for a T to molt or just walk around in

 

[spazz]

generally you want a finer coco husk substrate like eco earth. the chips you have seem uncomfortable for a T to molt or just walk around in

Okay, I will look into getting the finer stuff. Thanks!

 

[spazz]

Oh yeah, I think I found out how the anole got into the enclosure. I am going to get something to plug it up so this can't happen again.

 

[spazz]

generally you want a finer coco husk substrate like eco earth. the chips you have seem uncomfortable for a T to molt or just walk around in

Seems like DalilahBlue put a hex on that stuff, because almost right after she mentioned it that damn stuff started to grow mold, and a lot of it! I had already decided to change it out, but that like a spark under my butt. I went out and picked up the EcoEarth. The other stuff was ZooMed too, just not as fine. I used to use the PetsMart version of the fine stuff when I had T's back in the day, but thought this time around I'd give something else a shot. Big mistake, and costly too. I also moved her to a much smaller enclosure, that I felt was more appropriate to her size.

 

[ipreventdeath]

Yeah the lizard will be fine. Don't buy into that calcium affecting molts crap. Insects are the preferred choice, but a lizard every once in a while wont hurt anything.
The shredded husk will be perfect, but the mold is most likely an issue with too much moisture. That rose hates a moist house so just keep the cage bone dry and it'll keep the mold away and the rose will be happy. Just give her a full water dish and leave it at that. Don't even bother over flowing it.

 

[ipreventdeath]

In fact, you could even double or triple the amount you have in there and she might start a burrow. Most won't burrow in captivity, but none of them will without a deep substrate.

 

[spazz]

In fact, you could even double or triple the amount you have in there and she might start a burrow. Most won't burrow in captivity, but none of them will without a deep substrate.

I decided to take your advice on upping the amount of substrate. If for no other reason than to lessen the impact if she should fall.

Bad photo, but oh well, it gets the point across.

 

[DalilahBlue]

Looks good!

I haven't seen anything definitive about wet molts being directly related to calcium intake. It's something that's still being studied (I hope). My biggest concern with vert/inverts is you run a higher risk of the prey injuring your T. Too many people have found out the hard way that a mouse or such can easily kill a full grown T.

 

[ipreventdeath]

My biggest concern with vert/inverts is you run a higher risk of the prey injuring your T.

That's the only risk there is. In nature Ts consume reptiles, mammals and birds all the time. They pretty much eat whatever they can overpower. I highly doubt this process, which has been going on for millions of years, would still be occurring in nature if it was responsible for killing the spider. Just my two cents.
I will say, it's never a good idea to feed your T only one type of prey item, no matter what it is. A varied diet is a healthy diet.