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What are your preferred feeders?

E

ExMember

Guest
Hey everyone!

I am wondering what your preferred feeders are? And how you gutload them. Especially Canadians where we can't even get roaches! But if you are outside Canada feel free to join in the fun.

I feed mostly decapitated mealworms to my juvies and adults. And diced mealies to my slings. With the odd crickets.

Mealies are gutloaded with carrots for 24 hours then popped in the fridge. I gutload my cricket colonies with a combination of dry cat food, natural oatmeal and carrots for hydration. This is continuous as I mostly feed my crix to my reptiles who eat everyday and my frog.

I would love to hear everyones gutloading recipes or tips! :)

Cheers!

Can a mod move this to feeders forum or merge? Somehow missed the right forum lol!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Jess S

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1,000+ Post Club
Messages
1,197
Location
South Wales
Hey everyone!

I am wondering what your preferred feeders are? And how you gutload them. Especially Canadians where we can't even get roaches! But if you are outside Canada feel free to join in the fun.

I feed mostly decapitated mealworms to my juvies and adults. And diced mealies to my slings. With the odd crickets.

Mealies are gutloaded with carrots for 24 hours then popped in the fridge. I gutload my cricket colonies with a combination of dry cat food, natural oatmeal and carrots for hydration. This is continuous as I mostly feed my crix to my reptiles who eat everyday and my frog.

I would love to hear everyones gutloading recipes or tips! :)

Cheers!

Can a mod move this to feeders forum or merge? Somehow missed the right forum lol!

I've been sticking to crickets as they are readily available to buy locally and I've found mealworms a bit hit and miss. Not all my T's will take them.
I feed the crix pretty much the same as you, but I also give them a sprinkle of fish flakes (like you'd give a goldfish) .

Eventually I'm going to get B lateralis but will have to make sure I have the right set up etc to breed as I'll have to order online and don't want to have to keep making orders
 

PanzoN88

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3 Year Member
Messages
1,967
Location
Ohio
Superworms and mealworms (I have some superworms in the cabinet waiting to pupate now for breeding), I give vegetables and oats to them. Did have crickets and I am not shy about my disdain for them.
 

Rs50matt

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3 Year Member
Messages
1,078
Location
London
Pokies avics and psalmopoeus all seem to like locusts . Bean weevils or small roaches to the smaller slings (teeny chilensis slings and a few other microscopic ones get cricket drumsticks) . Slightly larger slings like meal worms the MMs I have more success with feeding morio worms (easy to grab I guess) everything else has crickets. Some do like to have small roaches but they can be annoying.
 

gognomie

Active Member
Messages
65
Location
West Midlands
I'm pretty much with everyone else with the mealworms and occasional cricket. I have a GBB that, depending on how it feels when it wakes up in the morning, will turn its nose up at mealworms and only takes crickets. Then bean weevils for larger slings, drumsticks and mealworm slices for the teeny tiny sweethearts.
I found this on youtube which I'm thinking about trying.
 
E

ExMember

Guest
Superworms and mealworms (I have some superworms in the cabinet waiting to pupate now for breeding), I give vegetables and oats to them. Did have crickets and I am not shy about my disdain for them.


I don't particularly care for crickets either. But a necessary evil for me. My grass lizards only eat live prey and have substrate for humidity. Worms burrow so crickets are a must.
 

Zanfe

Member
Messages
33
Location
Horsham, West Sussex
Dubia roaches are my go to. Easy as I have a small colony of them. I wouldn't say I gut load mine as I feed then daily. Monday to friday they get fruit and vegetable. Sat and sunday a seed and oat mix.
Monday carrot
Tuesday banna/ figs
Wednesday apple/cucumber / dates
Thrusday tenderstem broccoli/bell pepper
Friday orange/carrot/cherries/BlackBerries
Saturday and Saturday sees and oat mix
I find the way they eat interesting plus side they dont smell like crickets. And the social side

I do mix it up and once a month mix it up by feeding crickets. I don't like them as a species compared to others. I feed them similarly to my roaches. Same as when I get locust which generally are all eaten before they need to be feed. My h macs go mental for them and an easy chance to seem them.

If they have molted my go to is normally a Mario worm, or meal worm.

I do like to mix up food choice every so often in case one or several have decided to be picky eaters and I believe it helps in the long run.
 

Konstantin

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
967
Location
Preston,UK
Hi all
My modest collection is only 5 Adult Ts atm and one is fasting and not sure she will eat before I reach retirement. Lol.My preference for feeders is large Dubias with their head crushed (to prevent playing dead and burrowing, they are still alive 24-48 hours later if not eaten) but my Ts sometimes shy away from them so second best is brown large crickets.I keep feeders of mine in small critter keepers on a 1.5 cm oat bed as substrate(food) and egg crate for cover.I feed organic carrot every few days when gets eaten.The Dubias have waterdish with them.I do not heat them to stimulate breeding as a tub of each lasts me ages when I buy them just keeping them in good nick.
Regards Konstantin
 

Nunua

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
539
Location
Finland
I have a colony of Dubia roaches and a box of mealworms for my 19 tarantulas.

Mealworms are in the fridge in a oat flake / fish food mix and before using I pick few of them to another dish with veggies and/or fruits in it to load them with nutrients. I use these usually with small slings or as a first post molt meal for juvies. (Adults get superworms as post molt meal, but those I don't have at home all the time because I just buy few of them when I need.)

For roaches I keep small cat food pebbles available all the time because it's an extremely easy and efficient way to provide them protein. They also get fruits and/or veggies every now and then to get other nutrients and water. The colony seems to be thriving, though I should get them a bigger box to live in. :)
I started my colony by buying 10 adults (few gravid females, non-gravid females and males) and few smaller ones from a hobbyist nearby.

Dubias can be a pain in the ass because they prefer playing dead but that problem is easily solved by crushing their head which makes them to walk and twitch around. I don't feel too bad for them because Ts will kill them soon anyway.
 
Last edited:

KenD

New Member
Messages
8
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
Lateralis roaches for sure. I have a (ridiculously oversized) colony of them and they're my primary feeder for my T's. I fed them dry cat food and an assortment of fruits and vegetables, nothing special. I had some trouble finding red runners when I got my first slings so I got a small number of meal worms as an emergency solution - and despite my best efforts at neglect and poor care I now have a thriving colony of them as well Cut up they're great for slings that still scavenge feed, but for some reason meal worms have always been the one creepy crawly that give me the shivers so I'd really prefer to run out of my supply of them
 

Colorado Ts

Member
Messages
41
Location
Johnstown Colorado
Hey everyone!

I am wondering what your preferred feeders are? And how you gutload them. Especially Canadians where we can't even get roaches! But if you are outside Canada feel free to join in the fun.

I feed mostly decapitated mealworms to my juvies and adults. And diced mealies to my slings. With the odd crickets.

Mealies are gutloaded with carrots for 24 hours then popped in the fridge. I gutload my cricket colonies with a combination of dry cat food, natural oatmeal and carrots for hydration. This is continuous as I mostly feed my crix to my reptiles who eat everyday and my frog.

I would love to hear everyones gutloading recipes or tips! :)

Cheers!

Can a mod move this to feeders forum or merge? Somehow missed the right forum lol!
My collection of Tarantulas has grown to the point that I've given up on keeping crickets and I'm now maintaining two roach colonies; B. lateralis and B. dubia.

Crickets and nice in small numbers and in ventilated containers, they are easy to care for and maintain...but they small.

Roaches are much easier to care for, way easier to breed in larger quantities and make a great food for Tarantulas. The B. lateralis roaches have a nice range of sizes, from small pinheads to adults..so this allows me to feed tiny slings to adult spiders. The B. dubias don't have the tiny nymphs like the Lats have and they will play dead and burrow into the substrate...but when feeding large spiders they are a great option to possess.

Currently I'm thinking of getting and starting a 3rd colony of roaches...Hissers...
 
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