On offering of different feeders

[hellknite]

If a T refuses to eat I offer a different type of feeder until it eats.. but if does not, I leave it be.

Example:
A. geniculata
Dubia (not interested)
Superworm (not interested)
Lateralis (not interested)
Cricket (pounces it up quickly)

G. pulchripes
Superworm (not interested)
Cricket (not interested)
Lateralis (eats it up instantly)

I'm not forcing my T's to eat but this feeding ritual has worked well many times. I don't know if there is an explanation about this on why T's refuse some feeders.
Of course this is limited based on the availability of feeders one keeps. Just wanted to know your views on this one.

 

[MatthewM1]

I have more of a you'll eat it damn it! Kind of approach lol my C. fasciatum is my only T hesitant to eat dubia and last time I offered one he just threat posed it for a few hours they stuck it near his water dish, i picked it up with the tongs and tossed it back at him and he quickly ate lol. Very interesting to hear results you've had. I have a hypothesis that it's the leg strength of dubia that turn off some T's.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

All of my Ts respond well to superworms but more so with crickets and frogs

 

[Fuzzball79]

Had to dig up this thread, because I've noticed definite prey preferences in some of mine:
A. Genic SAF:
Cricket: no mercy, gets pounced on straight away
Waxworm: lets it tickle her feet for a while and then grabs and eats it
Lateralis: Pounced on an devoured
Morio Worm: tried it yesterday and she ran away from it when it crawled into her new burrow under the log (she made it herself). She then spent ages sulking outside her hole, not wanting to go back in while that creepy thing was there. She's back inside this morning so I assume the worm either moved on, or she eventually killed it (or she's let it move in with her, lol). Maybe she just wasn't hungry yet neither.
Dubia Roaches: Need to try them again when she's recovered fully from her molt. The last time she'd just gone into premolt and wasn't interested.

G. Rosea SA unknown:
She's finally over her fasting phase and is eating again. In fact she seems constantly hungry at the moment, always on the prowl. Tough, she only gets food every 2 weeks.
Brown crickets: Get pounced on and eaten
Lateralis: If she's fast enough to grab them straight away or within a couple of attempts, she eats them. If they escape too many time she gives up and sulks for weeks.
Wax Worm: Yucky! If the go anywhere near her, she lifts her legs and backs away.
Dubias: Not interested at all, just lets them crawl underneath her. I hope at least one of the "bigger" (both not fully grown yet) will eventually take them as I am becoming quite attached to the roaches now. When I start given them names it'll be too late, lol.
Black cricket: Did not want it at all.

B. Boehmei sling:
Is yet again in its loooong premolt period (she takes about a month), so I have not had the chance to feed it a lot.
Small brown crickets: When its hungry it'll catch them midjump, which is very impressive to watch
Small meal worm: Will eventually eat them if there's nothing else. Probably because it doesn't have a big web where they get caught in so I have to squash their heads to stop them from digging.

GBB sling:
Seems to be in premolt now, as it's not eating which is unusual for it.
It's got pretty much the same eating habits as the Boehmei, with the advantage of heaving thick webs, so everything can be live fed.

A. Versicolor juvi:
It eats about anything I offer. It sometimes takes a while to catch it, but eventually I'll find it munching away. So far it's had:
Wax worm
Meal worm
Brown cricket

Last but not least
T. Gigas sling:
I shall be calling it Jason, as it relentlessly stalks its prey until it's ready to pounce and kill.
The prey has to be alive and it doesn't seem to like it being placed in its web directly.
Mini Mealworm: Tried a prekilled one and placed it into its web, so it was ignored. Haven't tried a live one because they dig straight in.
small brown crickets: as stated. Hunts and kills mercilessly.

 

[hellknite]

There are days that some of my T's won't refuse anything, but then there are days that they would choose what to eat. I'm on the impression that some T's like prey that are pestering or annoying them..

 

[aileen31613]

my 5 month old G. pulchripes just had a cricket this morning is it okay? i'm a newbie and btw is it okay not to always handle my T? or should i have to most of the time?

 

[hellknite]

my 5 month old G. pulchripes just had a cricket this morning is it okay? i'm a newbie and btw is it okay not to always handle my T? or should i have to most of the time?

Stick to your crickets and the T would be fine. Just feed him/her as required. It's better if you don't handle your T, they don't want to be handled.

 

[NYX]

Anyone hear of/ use timberline vita bugs for T's? They are specially breed crickets/worms to have more vitamins and nutrients.
Here is a video with people talking about them:

 

[Rick Stallard]

I try to feed crickets one feeding and Dubias the next. This winter it may be Dubias most of the time. It's a 50 mile round trip to get crickets, (crickets are $1.25 a doz.) . I started a Dubia colony a couple of months ago ( 100 for $25) for the reason of not being able to get crickets to feed everyone. There are more than T's to feed. My colony is now maybe 1000. Thats great but some of my sub and adult Ts don't much like them. Guess the kids will eat anything but the adults are picky. For some reason I have never fed superworms to the Ts. My lizards love them, so I'll try them on the Ts. Something that works good on slings is waxworms. Small enough and are easy to find. Has anyone fed silk worms?? When I can get them I do. The lizards eat them like a kid with cotton candy. They are full of all the good stuff crickets and roaches don't have. Hard to find except at major expos and online. A T might go crazy over such a soft tasty meal.

 

[Rick Stallard]

Anyone hear of/ use timberline vita bugs for T's? They are specially breed crickets/worms to have more vitamins and nutrients.
Here is a video with people talking about them:

You can do the same thing yourself very easy and I'm sure for a fraction of the cost. If you can't set up a shoebox for gut loading some crickets and can afford it, its better than pet shop bought.

 

[Rick Stallard]

There are days that some of my T's won't refuse anything, but then there are days that they would choose what to eat. I'm on the impression that some T's like prey that are pestering or annoying them..

If thats the case I know several keepers that would be eaten fast. They and their egos think it's funny and macho to poke and prod a T until it gets mad and strikes. Same people probably train fighting pit bulls.

 

[NYX]

You can do the same thing yourself very easy and I'm sure for a fraction of the cost. If you can't set up a shoebox for gut loading some crickets and can afford it, its better than pet shop bought.

I decided to start a colony of dubai roaches. For eventully when I get more T's and in the mean time my local reptile shop will take my excess for store credit so bonus. But I thought it was intresting that people where saying these vita bugs showed better results than gut loaded.

 

[creaturekeeper 91]

When I went to the NARBC expo in tinley park IL the timberline reps told me that vita bugs are fed a patented gut load as opposed to the other crickets and worms so u probably could formulate your own feed. Personally I've had much better luck with the banded crickets than brown especially when buying in bulk. 100% survival rate

 

[Rick Stallard]

When I went to the NARBC expo in tinley park IL the timberline reps told me that vita bugs are fed a patented gut load as opposed to the other crickets and worms so u probably could formulate your own feed. Personally I've had much better luck with the banded crickets than brown especially when buying in bulk. 100% survival rate

What kind of price do they get for these "super" crickets? It would be pretty easy to make a very vitamin packed feed, but it's only worth it if you have a few days to get them all gut loaded. I've fed both the banded and brown crickets. It does seem like the banded live longer, but the browns are fatter.

 

[creaturekeeper 91]

I didn't even bother asking how much but I'm sure its costly for crickets. If I bought them by the thousands then the patented food would be out of their system and replaced with the food I offered anyway so regular crickets for me. Then Idk I must just have had good luck with the bandeds..

 

[NYX]

I just really don't like crickets I had a colony when I was breeding bearded dragons. Ugh They are noisy buggers gets old fast. I was more curious if it was these vita bugs where truly a superior product then I would give it a whirl. Thats why I am excited about the dubai no chirping!

 

[hellknite]

I tried gut loading my crickets and roaches with this for a month.. coloration were more pronounced..

 

[Fuzzball79]

My Genic is a greedy pig, lol (obviously nothing unusual for a Genic):
On Saturday I put a Morio Worm in with her, which she didn't want at the time (it went inside her burrow and she refused to go back in), so 2 days ago I gave her a cricket which she ate with gusto. Unfortunately I couldn't get the Morio Worm put of her faunarium and had more or less forgotten about it. This evening the T was scotting around her enclosure, moving her plants and pushing the sphagnum moss around. She was definitely on a hunt, but because I only fed her 2 days ago, I would have let her wait until at least next week.
But no, the next thing I see is her standing on her tiptoes with a certain Morio between her fangs, munching away. Honestly that spider is a bottomless pit, lol, and I'm not even into powerfeeding, especially not a subadult.

 

[MatthewM1]

Be careful leaving superworms in an enclosure. They can and will eat right through a T that is molting.

 

[Fuzzball79]

Thanks I know. It just went straight under the half dug in log and I didn't want to disturb her at that time. She's only just molted a couple of weeks back so should be "save" for a while. I'm glad, she's got it though, she's still munching on it this morning (I'm in the UK, so it's morning, lol), only the tail end to go. That meal should last her for a good 2 weeks, though she might beg to differ.