Brachypelma vagans

I have a 2" Brachypelma vagans that I received on Thursday. I fed it yesterday and it ate 8 crickets. It ate three in the morning and then 5 after I got home from work. I heard that they were aggressive feeders, but WOW! When I put the crickets in after I got home from work, it caught four right away and had them in its chelicerae all at once. Can anyone give feeding advice on B. vagas? Is this good to last several weeks or should I keep feeding it more unitl it stops?:?

Wow! Eight in less then twenty four hours? Were they pinheads?

bio teacher said:

Is this good to last several weeks or should I keep feeding it more unitl it stops?:?

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You should do some searches on powerfeeding. Long story short, this is a good way to get an obese tarantula (more likely to die if it falls, and possibly more likely to have molting problems) and it is also a good way to shorten your spider's lifespan. Think of each molt as the tarantula's equivalent of "aging" six months, since molts are what determine their size and whether or not they are sexually mature or dying of old age.

The more you feed a tarantula, the faster they molt. So, in a very real sense, the faster they age as well.

Unless you have some very specific reason (want to force a specimen to be breedable ASAP), stop this immediately. One cricket per week is plenty.

Tarantulas are designed to eat food whenever they find it, in case they don't see food again for a year. In addition, a tarantula does not care about living a long time. The sooner it becomes mature and reproduces, the better, as far as nature is concerned. But nature's priorities are not our priorities, and a tarantula's instincts are not designed to have food constantly thrown at it.

I would have to agree, 1 or 2 a week is more than enough. I have one and she will eat almost all the time which seems to be normal for this species. They will be just fine on even far less than that.

Mushroom Spore said:

You should do some searches on powerfeeding. Long story short, this is a good way to get an obese tarantula (more likely to die if it falls, and possibly more likely to have molting problems) and it is also a good way to shorten your spider's lifespan. Think of each molt as the tarantula's equivalent of "aging" six months, since molts are what determine their size and whether or not they are sexually mature or dying of old age.

The more you feed a tarantula, the faster they molt. So, in a very real sense, the faster they age as well.

Unless you have some very specific reason (want to force a specimen to be breedable ASAP), stop this immediately. One cricket per week is plenty.

Tarantulas are designed to eat food whenever they find it, in case they don't see food again for a year. In addition, a tarantula does not care about living a long time. The sooner it becomes mature and reproduces, the better, as far as nature is concerned. But nature's priorities are not our priorities, and a tarantula's instincts are not designed to have food constantly thrown at it.

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i agree

I had a Brachypelma vagans, and she was a real pig when it came to crickets, too! A few species of tarantulas are really voracious eaters, and most of the time they'll over-eat due to their natural instinct to eat everything they can get ahold of, if you let them. My A. geniculata is like that; she'll pounce on anything that moves and she'll keep eating if I keep feeding her. But like Mushroom Spore said, the more your tarantula moults, the "older" it gets.

-Sarah

Most people usually only feed once a week. It also depends on the size of your T on how many you feed. Let's say you have one around 2 inches. I would usually only feed this 2 to 3 crickets at the most. If one perhaps looks on the thinner side, then I would give the same amount and then maybe 3 days later feed them another 2. I have a L. parahybana that I have had for 10 years now. She is full grown now. I feed her a dozen to 15 crickets at one time every 2 weeks. That is keeping her up to par on the mass she already has and maybe a bit more, but she is not overly huge. This is keeping her looking good, healthy and of all the years I have had her I have NEVER had any molt problems. Also when I know she is due to molt I moisten her substrate a bit with a spray bottle. She does have a very large water dish and she does drink from it. I have pics of this. She now only molts once every year and a half. I have breed her once and will try one more time. She however ate the last 2 males so I guess she didn't want to be mated at that time. She molted soon after. She is in her window now for a male so I just have to find one. And the breeding of her the 1st time was a success! But I got her as a wild caught. She was my first one. She lives in a 20 gallon tank. I will have to set up more time for pics of these. Just what I have found out on some of the ones I have had. Other people have other conceptions on what they have experienced. Hope any of this helps. The love of the T grows and grows. I have changed many a peoples minds on these wonderful creatures we all love!!