What do you feed your feeders?

ciColors

Arachnopeon
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May 19, 2014
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I feed my tarantulas crickets (like most do) and I've been feeding those goldfish food (since I have a pond) and vegetables, but wonder if that is good for the T's. Is there any good cricket food that won't potentially harm T's? Like, it seems that most cricket foods are geared toward reptiles and have calcium supplements.
 

REvan342

Arachnopeon
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Jun 17, 2015
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Commercial gut loads aren't really meant for Ts, who require much less calcium.... Generally, fruit and veggie scraps will be fine.
 

owlbear

Arachnopeon
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Mar 23, 2015
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I feed our dubia colony veggie scraps, chopped salad, sometimes fruit. We use them to feed reptiles and ts.
 

cold blood

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That's fine ci. I feed dog kibble instead of fish food, but I've heard that works well.

No evidence to support the "calcium myth"....to quote Public Enemy "Don't believe the hype"

---------- Post added 07-03-2015 at 02:38 AM ----------

I will add that fruits with too much moisture should be avoided as they will mold, rot and lead to mass cricket deaths. Carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lettuce and other leafy vegies are good choices.

Things like strawberries, peaches or melons are the types of things I avoid feeding.
 

louise f

Arachnoangel
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I feed my roaches with oatmeal, (slices of orange once a week ) and watercrystals for drinking source.
 

LythSalicaria

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A combination of high quality cat food and organic greens and vegetables. Usually in the warm months I just toss in salad greens from my garden, but in the winter I'll use vegetable scraps from my cooking...potato peels, carrot stumps, that sort of thing.
 

truecreature

Arachnoknight
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Oct 24, 2014
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My crickets get oat bran, crushed soybeans, dog food, and carrot or potato every other day. I'd do leafy veggies but I'm really paranoid about pesticides so the carrots and potatos are as far as I'll go there.
 

cold blood

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I feed my roaches with oatmeal, (slices of orange once a week ) and watercrystals for drinking source.
Yeah, I use oatmeal as a base. I just use a bottle cap from a 2-liter for water. I fill it with stones to prevent drowning incidents, as they like to molt on or in the water source. They are always drinking the water, so much that I wouldn't consider going without it....never used those gel thingies....I wouldn't ingest them, wouldn't let my dog ingest them....and I'm not giving them to my inverts....why spend extra $ when a few drops of water are basically a free and more easily available source.
 

louise f

Arachnoangel
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Yeah, I use oatmeal as a base. I just use a bottle cap from a 2-liter for water. I fill it with stones to prevent drowning incidents, as they like to molt on or in the water source. They are always drinking the water, so much that I wouldn't consider going without it....never used those gel thingies....I wouldn't ingest them, wouldn't let my dog ingest them....and I'm not giving them to my inverts....why spend extra $ when a few drops of water are basically a free and more easily available source.
Hey thanks CB. you gave me a good idea with the water. I will definently try that:wink:
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Dec 8, 2006
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I feed my tarantulas crickets (like most do) and I've been feeding those goldfish food (since I have a pond) and vegetables, but wonder if that is good for the T's. Is there any good cricket food that won't potentially harm T's? Like, it seems that most cricket foods are geared toward reptiles and have calcium supplements.
Fluker's Cricket Chow, no issues for over 20 yrs
 

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
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Sep 14, 2014
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Mine get whole wheat bread, lots of lettuce and carrots, and some Iams cat food regularly. I am guilty of throwing in Cheerios sometimes. (sigh)
I also fold two papertowels into a 3" square and dampen them (to the point of near dripping) and all the roaches make a beeline to it. Not so drippy it drowns the pinheads though. I can't keep the papertowel damp long enough to suit my crew.
I also notice the isopods in their enclosure love that damp papertowel also. I swap out papertowel twice weekly -- so probably lose some isopods babes that way. I tend to put the lettuce and carrots on top of papertowel -- they seem to stay fresh longer (not that anything lasts more than 24 hours with my thousands).
Crickets get exact same care.
 

Blueandbluer

Arachnobaron
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Mar 17, 2015
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Dry cat food... Heaven knows I have plenty. And I do use gel water because I find it very convenient.
 

cold blood

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Ellan, isopods breathe through a gill system, and therefore require moisture to breathe, hence they are drawn to the moisture.:wink:

Blue, no way dealing with that is more convenient than taking 2 seconds to fill a cap with a syringe.
 

ciColors

Arachnopeon
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May 19, 2014
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good to know what other people have been feeding their crickets. i got the idea to feed the crickets fish food from petcenterusa, also said to use orange slices for water but that seems like too much work for a few crickets.

i also mist them for added hydration...idk if the actually drink the droplets though.
 

Ellenantula

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Ellan, isopods breathe through a gill system, and therefore require moisture to breathe, hence they are drawn to the moisture.:wink:

Blue, no way dealing with that is more convenient than taking 2 seconds to fill a cap with a syringe.
Makes sense, since my isopods live at the water source.
And it also only take a few seconds to re-dampen a paper towel with a syringe too.

I hated the water gels. Mine moved them around, made them dirty -- they'd be rolled over to the egg crates and get my crates damp -- inviting mould. And female crix lay eggs in water gels. I haven't used water gels since week 1.
 

just1moreT

Arachnobaron
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Jun 1, 2009
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I have been using floating catfish food for long time ,does help that I have catfish pond though, as I'm not just buying 50 pound sack for my crickets roaches and mealworms,i use a old bleander to turn it into powder they all love it.I also feed oranges and Apple's sometimes lettuce.I keep dubia red's hissers and mealworms in same bin . so when a roach dies or anything in there does ,the mealworms make good clean up crews and they get big and juicy.they all seem to be living a in a insect utopia till the giant hand comes down swoops some away lol
 

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
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I have been using floating catfish food for long time
I have the floating pellets, reg pellets and flake fish foods --- but I haven't offered any to my crix or roaches for fear enclosure might smell worse.
Does it smell worse? They sorta 'are what they eat' yeah?
 

just1moreT

Arachnobaron
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As far as I can tell no smell in the roach and mealworm container .the crickets will have a slight odor but not to bad but they like to smell no matter what they eat ,meal worms good at keeping dead stuff ate up in roach ben so that is a plus when a big hisser dies and in turn that makes the meal worms good to eat
 

Ultum4Spiderz

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Mealworms work well with dubia?
As far as I can tell no smell in the roach and mealworm container .the crickets will have a slight odor but not to bad but they like to smell no matter what they eat ,meal worms good at keeping dead stuff ate up in roach ben so that is a plus when a big hisser dies and in turn that makes the meal worms good to eat
 
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