confused about eating habits

[mschemmy]

I have a MM LP that has a really weird eating habit that I was hoping someone could shed some light on for me. He has not molted in almost 2 months and his abdomen is bald. I thought he was in pre-molt because if I put a cricket in the tank he wouldn't bother with it. One day I happened to accidentally drop the cricket on top of the tarantula and it went right after it and ate it. So after this happened I noticed that if a cricket walks right under it, or beside the T, it won't bother with it, but if I periodically drop it directly on it's front legs it will eat it. Anyone know why it is doing this?

[TZach]

This happens alot with my g. Rosea.She would grab the cricket, then let it go. I just switched her to superworms, she loves them. My guess is maybe she doesn't like them that much. Try another prey item, and see if she likes it.

[mschemmy]

Thanks for the response. I will give it a try!

[captmarga]

If he's a MM - mature male - meaning he has hooked out, he's not going to molt again. If he does, it's likely he won't make it through, at least not intact. MM's sometimes eat, sometimes are just wandering looking for females. Don't count on him being a huge eater any more.

Marga

[SamuraiSid]

Like marg said, MM is the reason

[Tweak]

Does he eat the entire cricket when you drop it on him? Because if not it sounds like he may just be killing them out of self defense. Like a few other people above me have pointed out, he's now a mature male and his instinct to feed has all but been replaced with his instinct to procreate.