how often to feed large spiders

[ragingcobalt]

My 7 inch l Parahybana eats everytime i feed it so long as its not already eating. its a pretty big spider and i want it to continue growing fast but am unsure if its okay to give it a cricket everyday or not. it sure seems like 1 cricket a week would be starving it considering how agressively it eats compared to my other Ts. So could some one with more experience with larger species enlighten me as to what is okay.

[Talkenlate04]

A few crickets (5 or less) every two weeks or so is plenty. I know you want it to grow fast, but at 7" she is already a big girl, the more you feed now the faster she will grow but in turn the shorter she will be living in your collection. The term "power feeding" is used in the hobby, and all that means is you feed your T's anything and everything all the time to push them to the next molt, but you have to keep in mind that T's have a set number of molts in their life. So the faster you get them to that molt, the faster she dies in the end.

You feed your T regular meals every few weeks and you could have her for a long long time to come.

[tmanjim]

My 7 inch female L. Para only eats once per month and may go 2 months. She is huge and beautiful.

[pinkfoot]

Perfect advice, above ~

I'd like to add that you can monitor your Spid's opisthosoma for size. If it becomes dis-proportionately small, you're obviously feeding too little.

[fartkowski]

I would say about 2 large crickets a week should be ok.
If the abdomen get to be a bit small the feed a little more.
I usually feed my big girls a bit more after a molt.

[Brian S]

With very large spiders I generally give about 5-6 crickets a week or 4 lobster roaches every week or 2 or 1 big disacoid roach every 2-3 weeks. If you feed crickets you will probably need to feed it more because it takes alot of them (depending on size of crix) to give that spider a good meal. They will live on 1 or 2 a week but you can always plump them up and then start cutting back which is how I do it.

[Merfolk]

I really go with abdomen size. Twice a week, I go through my collection and the specimens with the abdomen twice the volume of the prosoma or more are simply left unfed until they slim down a bit (I still give water though), some fast for weeks after a big meal. I monitor the behavior and will feed the specimens that seem eager for food and live alone those that don't appear to be hungry.

If you enjoy feeding often, you should avoid mice, the spiders are bloated for weeks. Cold blooded verts or insects are far easily digested.

[ballpython2]

My 7 inch l Parahybana eats everytime i feed it so long as its not already eating. its a pretty big spider and i want it to continue growing fast but am unsure if its okay to give it a cricket everyday or not. it sure seems like 1 cricket a week would be starving it considering how agressively it eats compared to my other Ts. So could some one with more experience with larger species enlighten me as to what is okay.

I have also that i know isnt this size but I just feed it 5 or so crickets a week until it won't eat any more. i also notice after it has completed its molt even if it still has a big abdomen once the fangs turn blk it will eat more lol..Mine does this.

[tamjam69]

A few crickets (5 or less) every two weeks or so is plenty. I know you want it to grow fast, but at 7" she is already a big girl, the more you feed now the faster she will grow but in turn the shorter she will be living in your collection. The term "power feeding" is used in the hobby, and all that means is you feed your T's anything and everything all the time to push them to the next molt, but you have to keep in mind that T's have a set number of molts in their life. So the faster you get them to that molt, the faster she dies in the end.

You feed your T regular meals every few weeks and you could have her for a long long time to come.

This may sound like a silly question but I am so inquisitive.. is that a personal thing to each individual spider (the preset number of molts) or individual species? Or do they all have the same number of molts(all T's)? enlighten my sponge of a brain. LOL

[Mushroom Spore]

is that a personal thing to each individual spider (the preset number of molts) or individual species? Or do they all have the same number of molts(all T's)?

It's probably by species, since you have some spiders that don't live as long (Avicularia) while there are others that will live effing forever (Grammostola).

However, we'll never know if all members of a given species have the exact same number of molts in them unless someone out there is willing to devote a decade or three of their life to a large-scale experiment.

[7mary3]

I'm a young keeper (22), and I would be more than happy to donate a decade or three to this experiment if slings were provided.

[RottweilExpress]

but you have to keep in mind that T's have a set number of molts in their life.

Proof please. I disagree.

[jbrd]

but you have to keep in mind that T's have a set number of molts in their life. So the faster you get them to that molt, the faster she dies in the end.

I have heard that there is a set number of molts for a T, but yet I have never seen actual proof of this?
If you know something I do not, please point me in the right direction.

[seanbond]

any proof of set amount of t molts??

[sick4x4]

i belive ryan was talking figuratively....but to the question of feeding, i'd say 1-2x's a month is good, as anything more than that can be overly excessive...a good indicator would be the size of the abdomen vs the carapace... they should be the same width, which indicates a healthy T....

wayne