So I broke my own promise yesterday. I was never ever going to buy another pinky mouse for any of my Ts for as long as I own tarantulas. Don’t have a clue WHAT possessed me to change my mind and give it another try. Possibly a burst of insanity? :8o
In any case, since my A. Geniculata had molted a couple of weeks ago (he’s about 3.5” now) and was eating quite well finally, and since my new(er) Avic Avic apparently had an insatiable appetite, I went out and purchased 2 pinky mice. One for my Genic, one for my Avic – at least that was my plan.
Got home with the unfortunate creatures and placed the first one close to my Genic’s hiding place. He came dashing out of there as if he was going to be eaten! After a while he slowly backed back into his hide, fangs raised, apparently on full alert (or so I thought). I then grabbed victim #2 with my forceps and offered it directly to my Avic. Nothing – nada – zit – zilch! After what seemed like an eternity, and my arm began to shake from holding the pinky for such a long time I decided to offer it to my B. Smithi (3.5”). Now please keep in mind that my Smithi REALLY didn’t need to eat at all, he was quite plump to begin with, but I didn’t want to waste a perfect dinner.
I tried to gently place the pinky on my Smithi’s substrate, but it slipped out of the forceps and bounced onto the substrate, about 3” away from my Smithi. “WHAM” – Smithi dashed over and I heard his fangs penetrate the pinky, accompanied with a tiny squeak. My heart sank! I watched in horror, and to my dismay Smithi only hovered over the pinky, but didn’t eat it. Apparently he gave a dry bite as well, because after a while the pinky began to move. WHAM, Smithi bit him again!
To make a long, sad story short (yeah right), neither one of my tarantulas ended up eating their dinner. At one point I even pushed my Genic’s “dinner” into his hide, only to find him pushing it right back out. Eventually the Genic even came out of his hide to walk as far away from his dinner as possible.
And as for my Avic’s refusal to take the mouse because I thought he was stuffed. WRONG! When I briefly offered him a rather fat and juice cricket from my forceps, he bounced right on it!
….and here I am…feeling extremely guilty for obviously putting 2 baby mice through torture before discarding them. I don’t think I’ll be trying this again.
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Wendy
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In any case, since my A. Geniculata had molted a couple of weeks ago (he’s about 3.5” now) and was eating quite well finally, and since my new(er) Avic Avic apparently had an insatiable appetite, I went out and purchased 2 pinky mice. One for my Genic, one for my Avic – at least that was my plan.
Got home with the unfortunate creatures and placed the first one close to my Genic’s hiding place. He came dashing out of there as if he was going to be eaten! After a while he slowly backed back into his hide, fangs raised, apparently on full alert (or so I thought). I then grabbed victim #2 with my forceps and offered it directly to my Avic. Nothing – nada – zit – zilch! After what seemed like an eternity, and my arm began to shake from holding the pinky for such a long time I decided to offer it to my B. Smithi (3.5”). Now please keep in mind that my Smithi REALLY didn’t need to eat at all, he was quite plump to begin with, but I didn’t want to waste a perfect dinner.
I tried to gently place the pinky on my Smithi’s substrate, but it slipped out of the forceps and bounced onto the substrate, about 3” away from my Smithi. “WHAM” – Smithi dashed over and I heard his fangs penetrate the pinky, accompanied with a tiny squeak. My heart sank! I watched in horror, and to my dismay Smithi only hovered over the pinky, but didn’t eat it. Apparently he gave a dry bite as well, because after a while the pinky began to move. WHAM, Smithi bit him again!
To make a long, sad story short (yeah right), neither one of my tarantulas ended up eating their dinner. At one point I even pushed my Genic’s “dinner” into his hide, only to find him pushing it right back out. Eventually the Genic even came out of his hide to walk as far away from his dinner as possible.
And as for my Avic’s refusal to take the mouse because I thought he was stuffed. WRONG! When I briefly offered him a rather fat and juice cricket from my forceps, he bounced right on it!
….and here I am…feeling extremely guilty for obviously putting 2 baby mice through torture before discarding them. I don’t think I’ll be trying this again.
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Wendy
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