Lost feeder. Should I be concerned?

[Nurse Ratchet]

So this is my new baby. T. albopilosus, about 5 inches. He/she was so sad at pet shop on a half inch substrate so I took him home with me for $18.00 and gave him a bag of substrate for Christmas.
Yesterday I fed him a super worm, but wasn't expecting such an enthusiastic response to my tongs. I dropped said super worm and it burrowed. My T dug after it like a little puppy to no avail. It's somewhere in 7 inches of substrate in a 12x12 enclosure. I suck.
Do I need to empty out the enclosure to find this rouge super worm? (Please say no, cuz I will if you tell me I have to and I really don't wanna).
Y'all like pics, so here's my baby and the crib.

 

[Memo7]

No leave it be. No need to stress your T. It will come out as a beetle and then you can remove then.

 

[Oursapoil]

You will likely see your worm again making a little alcove against the glass of the terrarium a few inches below the ground. You will then be able to observe it transform into a pupa before finally coming back above ground as a beetle. Nothing to worry about here as rightfully said by @Memo7
Have a great day.

 

[octanejunkie]

No worries at all

 

[pongdict]

I learned my lesson long time ago. Sometimes superworms and mealworms can burrow quick. I always crush the heads of superworms/mealworms before feeding. If you want worm movement to trigger a response from your T, just crush the head a little and it will still be moving some.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Place a carrot in the enclosure. Sometimes you'll find it eating on it.

 

[Nurse Ratchet]

Place a carrot in the enclosure. Sometimes you'll find it eating on it.

I have some grapes...

 

[Nurse Ratchet]

Thank you all. I was worried the worm may nibble on my T and kill it. Though watching it transform sounds neat. So much for traditional docile curly hair. This one kicks hairs, threw a threat pose at the water dish, and tackled my tongs. I shall do a no-no and attribute human emotion; my T has pet shop PTSD.

 

[DustyD]

Superworms can be deceptive. More than once they have played dead on me only to burrow quickly once they touch substrate. And they seem to be able to do at least some digging from either end.

Also I noticed that even after crushing the head the body moves when grabbed by tongs. I have left one overnight and it doesn't move but pick it up and it does wriggle a little.

 

[Nurse Ratchet]

Can't say I'm a fan. My toad seems to like them in a pinch, but I feel like a nice gut loaded cricket is more nutritional. Haven't tried horn worms, the cost is abominable near me. And I'm momentarily turned off of dubias since my last batch developed mites. Harmless most likely, but blah.

 

[octanejunkie]

Can't say I'm a fan. My toad seems to like them in a pinch, but I feel like a nice gut loaded cricket is more nutritional. Haven't tried horn worms, the cost is abominable near me. And I'm momentarily turned off of dubias since my last batch developed mites. Harmless most likely, but blah.

Abominable? Don't buy them from snowmen. I actually love that you use that word outside of the colloquial context.

All kidding aside, the best thing you can do is give your animals a variety of food items, gutload them when you can, and don't overfeed.

I'll just leave this here

Underfeed vs overfeed

I am happy to share my observations, and philosophies, accumulated from keeping and feeding tarantulas in re feeding frequency. If you read no further; less is more when it comes to feeding tarantulas. Tarantulas are wild animals, they are not domesticated, and like most animals are...

www.tarantulaforum.com

 

[Nurse Ratchet]

Abominable? Don't buy them from snowmen. I actually love that you use that word outside of the colloquial context.

All kidding aside, the best thing you can do is give your animals a variety of food items, gutload them when you can, and don't overfeed.

I'll just leave this here

Underfeed vs overfeed

I am happy to share my observations, and philosophies, accumulated from keeping and feeding tarantulas in re feeding frequency. If you read no further; less is more when it comes to feeding tarantulas. Tarantulas are wild animals, they are not domesticated, and like most animals are...

www.tarantulaforum.com

What are your thoughts on small, more frequent feedings? I read/ seen a lot of advice on how many items people feed variously sized/aged T's per week, but I've just been offering one item every once a week. Am I doing it wrong? Should I be tossing in multiple feeders and fishing them out later? That doesn't seem right, and it's a pain in the tush to hunt down the feeders imo.
Primarily I'm referring to my GBB who is always lurking at the front glass with a "feed me woman" look. I've been giving one large cricket or one super worm every 4-5 days. When I got him, abd was less than half the size of carapace. I read somewhere that they should be about the same size, which they are now.
T. albopilosus I purchased is a chunky monkey who got a worm so he'd simmer down.
T. vagan has been buried since 11/11, so no food, and A. avic has had two small crickets over 3 week period. Super skinny but too busy molting to have a appetite.

 

[octanejunkie]

What you're doing sounds fine. I feed less consistently and my Ts are doing well. Remember, they are opportunistic eaters, schedules are for our benefit.

 

[Reptisect]

So much for traditional docile curly hair. This one kicks hairs, threw a threat pose at the water dish, and tackled my tongs. I shall do a no-no and attribute human emotion; my T has pet shop PTSD.

Welcome to my world.

 

[DustyD]

As I have only seven tarantulas, I can vary their feeding times more easily than someone with many more mouths to feed. And while I do track their feeding days on an Android app, I also keep an eye on their abdomen and will hold off a bit with the food if they look too full. I am learning. Slowly, but learning.

 

[DustyD]

Oh and back to your original question. On one occasion when a superworm burrowed into the substrate after I thought it was incapacitated, my G. pulchripes started to upend her hide and dig deep apparently in search for it. After leaving her hide on its side reaching the top of the enclosure, I rehoused her. I was planning on doing that anyways in a week or so.

 

[DustyD]

Here's what she did:

 

[CarolsDarkSarcasm]

Oh and back to your original question. On one occasion when a superworm burrowed into the substrate after I thought it was incapacitated, my G. pulchripes started to upend her hide and dig deep apparently in search for it. After leaving her hide on its side reaching the top of the enclosure, I rehoused her. I was planning on doing that anyways in a week or so.View attachment 62711
View attachment 62714

This pic is awesome!