My Big, Bad, Vicious Tarantulas (not for the weak)

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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socrates i think i share a telepathinc link with you... im just about to buy my A.genic a pinky as it came out of its molt early yesterday (im going to leave a few days before i feed it). Do you think its wise? I can't imagine my A.genic NOT eating it. After a molt it always seems to be not bothered about food then once it gets the taste it never stops. She also is looking really thin from not eating for well over a month.

scaramanga said:

socrates i think i share a telepathinc link with you....

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ROFLMAO...

Give it a try! Just because my Genic wants to be a chicken, doesn't mean that yours won't. My whole point was as well to try to fatten him up a bit, but no such luck. Maybe, MAYBE I'll try again after his next molt. Pinkies are fairly cheap here, so it didn't rip a hole in my wallet, but I just felt horrible about wasting 2 of them.

Please let me know how your Genic reacts if/when you try, would you?

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Wendy
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sure, im planning on videoing it i think mine is big enough to eat one now... its got about 3" body, 3.5"+ legspan. Might just pop down to the pet shop now and see how much pinkys are. Arent they usually dead when you buy them?

Nope, they're alive over here. They take however many you want directly from the Mama mouse. I asked for particularly tiny ones. But even at that tiny size they'll squeak and urinate and squirm and wriggle. :8o

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Wendy
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Socrates said:

But even at that tiny size they'll squeak and urinate and squirm and wriggle. :8o

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Wendy
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hmmm... well ill see how it goes... If the pinky is dead and i have to freeze it is it ok for the T when it defrosts?

Yesterday, I actually fed my A.genic a pinky too. She is around the 6" mark and takes pinkies and rat pups like popcorn. Socrates, I am guessing that your T's might be just a tad to small to tackle pinkies already. BUT I could be wrong. I also tried a pinkie on my 3.5" H.minax and she did the same as your A.genic. My T.blondi molted about 3 weeks ago and just yesterday resumed feeding. She is now around the 6.5 to 7" mark in legspan, and man I tell you what, I have never seen her eat so much! She act's starved. I know that after T.blondi molts and resume feeding they eat a bunch, but never realized how MUCH they eat. I am going to see if she will eat a pinky a day to get her plumped back up and then get her back on her regular feeding schedule. I know it's off the subject, but I just thought I would share it with everyone. Laters

Scaramanga, it's illegal to feed live vertebrates to your tarantula in the UK, unlike in the US. Here we have to feed pre-killed pinkies.

Deforsted pinkies are usually warmed in a cup of water. My tarantulas seem unwilling to take carrion though. I know some people have success with all kinds of inanimate food, but I've had none.

It's very sad to have to throw dead baby mice in the bin when the tarantula shows no interest. I won't be trying it again. Good luck with yours.

Wendy,

I know you probably didn't "want" to feed the pinkies, and hence the quick exposure) but IME you might have been more successful if you had just left the pinkies in the Ts enclosure overnight (assuming that the prey item was not too big for the T). They (the Ts) probably would stalked it more naturally under the cover of darkness as opposed to attacking it as a threat and if not most of the time the pinkies would still be alive in the am.

@scaramanga: I have fed frozen thawed (I use very hot water for about 10 minutes to thaw and heat the pinkie). But in this case I usually hope for a quick strike because there is no natural movement or heat to attract the T after a few minutes and the food will sometimes go to waste if left too long.


hth

Jeff

Hmmm... i just measure my Ts last molt and from fangs to abdomen she is just 3" and a 3.5" 'hunched' legspan. Maybe she is too small but ill give it a go. I won't feel as cruel as if i had them alive. Like socrates.

As for inanimate food... My A.genic never went for mealworms as they would burrow underground before she had a cnace or she didnt pick up the movement... So i tied the mealworm to a piece of thin black string. It worked! Ive been feeding her these large mealworms on string regularly and she never gets tangled or anything. It almost seems like she understands what happening because when she is finished she drops the small knotted remains in the water dish I was thinkging of doing the same for the pinkys.

BTW thanks for the tips on serving pinkys, i was wondering how to get the temp up and defrost them.

wasted pinkys

I had the same thing happen with my Ts.....I bought 2 pinkies, one for my Tblondi and one for my Rosie.....both are about 5"......well The Tblondi ended up getting both of them (which she chomped) The time before this I put the pinkies in & left them for a few hours.....neither one ate them! I thought I had bought my last pinky for sure! I have to hide them from my Husband as it is! He freaks about feeding mice.....anyway, I think it was a case of them simply not being hungry at the time....from now on only the Tblondi gets mice!