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Tips on superworms please

Ed Zeppelin

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I recently got a medium-sized female pink toe who absolutely loves big fat juicy crickets. So yesterday I got her a few superworms just for something different. I put a worm directly on the substrate (coco fiber) near the spider and the worm buried itself in no time. I placed another worm in a shallow dish and the damned thing crawled over the side and buried itself too. If this keeps up pretty soon I'll have something that resembles an ant farm. ;)

Should I just stick with crickets for now? I did get a couple of pinkie mice so maybe I could try that. Any suggestions on the worms? I do, however, like to fish so at least the worms are not a complete waste.
:T:
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Metalman2004

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Crush their heads before you throw them in. They should still wriggle for a bit.

You’re going to want to dig up those buried superworms. They’ve been known to chomp on molting tarantulas.
 

PanzoN88

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I advise against using mice, there is no need for them to be fed to tarantulas. Superworms are fine if the heads are smashed (that is all i use for my larger specimens. If your Avic does not take to the superworms, stick to crickets or try your luck with dubia roaches.
 

Ed Zeppelin

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Crush their heads before you throw them in. They should still wriggle for a bit.

You’re going to want to dig up those buried superworms. They’ve been known to chomp on molting tarantulas.
Mine hasn't molted since I've had her but digging up the worms gives me a chance to clean her tank again. And like Arachnoclown said, it's possible she doesn't like worms.

:T:
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yeahhtrue

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I've been using worms lately as they're much easier to keep than crickets. But I have the same problem with burrowing. People say to crush the heads. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but either I don't crush the head enough and the worm still burrows, or I crush the head too much and the worm is dead and hence does not get a feeding response from my Ts.
 

Whitelightning777

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The best way to feed them worms is to firmly affix them directly into the web and the T will take over from there. Arboreal tarantulas just won't go digging in the ground for anything. I use meal worms for that. I just take one out of the fridge and put it in. As it warms up, it moves more and more until it attracts enough attention.
 

Arachnoclown

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The best way to feed them worms is to firmly affix them directly into the web and the T will take over from there. Arboreal tarantulas just won't go digging in the ground for anything. I use meal worms for that. I just take one out of the fridge and put it in. As it warms up, it moves more and more until it attracts enough attention.
Pokies will dig up prey...watched them dig up worms and roaches many times.
 

MassExodus

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One word. lateralis. Crickets are the devil. lats should replace crickets as the number one most used feeder, I don't know why they haven't yet..crickets are stinky loud disease spreading filthy little..well. Dubia are good too, but some spiders don't care for them. I still use superworms occasionally but as an all around feeder? Lateralis. The only problem is when you have several large tarantulas you need bigger prey than lats, they just arent efficient.
 

Whitelightning777

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Because crickets have a scent, it's easier for tarantulas to hunt them down. My pokie knocks down crickets much faster then roaches precisely because roaches are cleaner.

B lats are also invasive and require professional help to get rid of should they ever get loose. Dubai roaches and crickets aren't.
 

MassExodus

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Because crickets have a scent, it's easier for tarantulas to hunt them down. My pokie knocks down crickets much faster then roaches precisely because roaches are cleaner.

B lats are also invasive and require professional help to get rid of should they ever get loose. Dubai roaches and crickets aren't.

They are indeed invasive, but you really have to be careless to cause an infestation. Ive had escapees during feeding time. They require a food source and time to breed in order to infest. They have neither of these things in my house. Seriously, you would have to be VERY careless..
 

Whitelightning777

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Only a male and female need to escape and roaches can eat almost anything. I do all my feedings for the slings I have in the kitchen sink with the drain plugged.
 

Whitelightning777

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I'll do that when I run out of roaches. For now I'm trying pinhead lats. Those deli cups are so small that they'll run into each other sooner or later.

Jamie's makes the perfect roach enclosure.
 

MassExodus

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Only a male and female need to escape and roaches can eat almost anything. I do all my feedings for the slings I have in the kitchen sink with the drain plugged.
Im speaking from experience, Ive been using them for some years, and I live in Texas, an ideal environment for lats...never had an issue. And Ive had multiple escapes. And no, their diet doesnt consist of almost anything..dont fall for hysteria when its posted online ;)
 

Whitelightning777

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In my last apartment, my cat encountered a huge centipede that was probably not native and destroyed it, getting bitten in the process.

I also had mysterious roach infestations that building management could never resolve and the roaches basically looked like the lats, not the more common German ones. I think one of the many potheads was mishandling exotics, probably got stoned and left enclosures open.

Still in Baltimore it could be anything.
 

MassExodus

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Lol those damn hippies! :D I wasnt taking apartments into account. Just single homes. You're right, someone next door could be living in squalor, there are some filthy ppl out there. In that case, yeah, an infestation could occur. Happily, I live in the country and have a clean house.
 

Whitelightning777

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Nyx my cat bravely held the line against the horde. She'd kill them and line them up in a perfectly straight line in front of the food dish. As an ex feral, she's a true "murder cat" but with a zany sense of humor.

Nyx Is there a God.jpg
 
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