eat eat eat pop?

Are we sure that spiders won't eat until they pop. I know it sounds ridiculous but I have a N. chromatis sling that is feeding on a cricket, has been since yesterday. It looks like a dog tick. I swear if I breathed on it wrong I think it'd go pop. How in the world do they do it?

I have a 4-1/2 in. Ornata that consumed two pinkies in a time span of around twelve hours last weekend. I believe it's actually a Pigalitheria Ornata, what a beasty little T.

Well I suppose no one has ever done an experiment to see if a tarantula could pop by feeding it too much. Erm... I don't really know what to answer with to that question lol
I suppose like with humans and other animals it can't be healthy to eat too much food, I assume there must be a cut off point somewhere. I don't think it'd be good for a tarantula to be on a hugely porky side when it comes to moulting, I figure it'd make it far more difficult for the tarantula...
I've never actually had a tarantula with a huge abdomen, I do worry that they would have trouble moulting. I tend to give my t's a couple of crix a week and they do just fine.

I read somewhere that T's feed by capilary action. In other words they "soak up" the juices. I don't know if it's true or not but if it is I would think it would be impossible to pop from eating too much. Once the pressure got too much they wouldnt be able to take any more juices. If anyone has heard of this I would love to know more about it.

I know some T's are 'eating machines' and eat EVERYTHING you give them, weather they really need to eat or not. i don't know if a T could physically 'burst'. I know humans sometimes use the expressions "Oh I'm stuffed, if I eat anymore I think i could pop" but obviously, thats not going to really happen.
i think with T's the side effects of overeating consist more of molting troubles with T's.
So, I wouldn't over feed your T's.

I may be way off here, but I always thought that the more you fed the faster they shed? Meaning as I always understood it that once they reach that "bursting" point they shed and become a larger size therefor allowing them to eat more.
I have noticed some truth to this, in the babys I have raised for example, ones that would eat lots always grew faster than the picky eaters of the same species and when I didn't feed for a while (few weeks or even a month or so) they wouldnt shed but would otherwise be fine.
Like I said tho I may be way off with this train of thought.

Imegnixs_Cinder said:

I may be way off here, but I always thought that the more you fed the faster they shed? Meaning as I always understood it that once they reach that "bursting" point they shed and become a larger size therefor allowing them to eat more.
I have noticed some truth to this, in the babys I have raised for example, ones that would eat lots always grew faster than the picky eaters of the same species and when I didn't feed for a while (few weeks or even a month or so) they wouldnt shed but would otherwise be fine.
Like I said tho I may be way off with this train of thought.

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Power feeding will increase the frequency of molts, which will in turn shorten a tarantula life span. I don't know if the tarantula molts because it has reached its "bursting" point.

The other risk that no one has mentioned is that on overweight tarantula stands a far greater chance that its abdoman will rupture due to a fall or an injury.

Windchaser said:

Power feeding will increase the frequency of molts, which will in turn shorten a tarantula life span. I don't know if the tarantula molts because it has reached its "bursting" point.

The other risk that no one has mentioned is that on overweight tarantula stands a far greater chance that its abdoman will rupture due to a fall or an injury.

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IS the shortening proven, or is it the application of knowledge learned on various Other animals....My biggest versi just died and it was almost exactly 8 years old...Old age perhaps? Never was power fed much though...Sickness possible as well........
T

Windchaser said:

Power feeding will increase the frequency of molts, which will in turn shorten a tarantula life span. I don't know if the tarantula molts because it has reached its "bursting" point.

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Yes pretty much what I mean, only you said it better than I did.
I don't know if its because of bursting point either, but I have noticed that before they molt the abdomen after power feeding does get very large. Also not feeding can slow the growth so "might" be some connection. Saying that tho, I have also power fed and not had the T shed even when yes it looks like its about to burst.

tony said:

IS the shortening proven, or is it the application of knowledge learned on various Other animals....My biggest versi just died and it was almost exactly 8 years old...Old age perhaps? Never was power fed much though...Sickness possible as well........
T

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I am not aware of any direct proof with respect to tarantulas.

There have been studies done with spiders (though not tarantulas themsselves) and many other inverts, as well as vertebrates, which show that reduced calorie diets do increase the life span. Also, from several sources that I have read it has been stated that most inverts life span is controlled by the number of molts/instars. With some inverts, the exact number is known. With tarantulas, I would assume because of the lack of study and their long life spans, no one has determined this. However, other spiders do exhibit this trait. There has been plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that power feeding does increase the frequency of molting. So given this, it seems only reasonable to conclude that power feeding will shorten the life span of a tarantula. If you decrease the time between molts, and the ultimate life span is determined by the number of molts/instars, the life span has been effectively shortened.

Windchaser, is there not also some beleif that keeping at cooler temps can slow growth too?

Imegnixs_Cinder said:

Windchaser, is there not also some beleif that keeping at cooler temps can slow growth too?

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This is a fact. Temperature affects the metabolism of tarantulas. Higher temperatures increase the metabolism while lower temperatures will slow it. I was keeping my discussion limited to feeding since that was the orinigal topic. But yes, there are multiple factors that are involved in determining when a tarantula will molt. That is why it is impossible to answers question asking for specific growth rates of tarantulas. Too many variables are involved in order to give a specific answer.

Thanks, reason I asked is sort of related, I was thinking along the lines of even if a T is power fed and looks about to burst, maybe a lower temp could have some effect on if it will shed or not, but wasn't sure if the lower temp thing was true or not.

Sounds like I better cut my feeding rates down. My female A. Genic, which is about 6", has an abdomen the size of a golf ball! My female G. Rosea also has a big ol' butt. However, it doesn't seem to affect them in any bad way because they rarely do any climbing and the substrate is high enough that any fall would be minimal. As far as affecting growth rate, the only T that has been molting frequently is my female L. Parahybana, but they grow fast anyway.

tony said:

IS the shortening proven, or is it the application of knowledge learned on various Other animals....My biggest versi just died and it was almost exactly 8 years old...Old age perhaps? Never was power fed much though...Sickness possible as well........
T

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To answer your question, yes power feeding does shorten the life span of your t's, and it's proveable.
We already agreed that power feeding causes more molts quicker, thus leading to the "maturing molt" quicker. If this is true that the maturing molt is reached faster by power feeding, then you've obviously shortened the lifespan of your t by doing so. This is especially true with males since their days are numbered after their maturing molt. As for the impact power feeding has on lifespan AFTER the maturing molt, that I couldn't be sure of.
To relate more to this post, I have read before ( I think it's in The Tarantula Keepers Guide) that t's are not capable of eating til they pop.

czalzsmith said:

To answer your question, yes power feeding does shorten the life span of your t's, and it's proveable.
We already agreed that power feeding causes more molts quicker, thus leading to the "maturing molt" quicker. If this is true that the maturing molt is reached faster by power feeding, then you've obviously shortened the lifespan of your t by doing so. This is especially true with males since their days are numbered after their maturing molt. As for the impact power feeding has on lifespan AFTER the maturing molt, that I couldn't be sure of.
To relate more to this post, I have read before ( I think it's in The Tarantula Keepers Guide) that t's are not capable of eating til they pop.

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Is their any direct proof of this? I know it is talked about all the time but is their any conclusive proof that power feeding alone can cause a T to grow/mature faster? I have heard that powerfeeding and raising temps can cause this, but is their any professional studies that have been done besides by hobbyists that can actually make this a known and proven fact? Im not saying I disagree with your statement, I just do not recall ever reading that this was actually a proven fact, just in most cases mere speculation by most of the people in the hobby. if so has anyone actually done this study with a large number of slings all the way untill maturity using different variables and all that good stuff.

Another observation, the number of threads I have read that ask this question, Is it just me or could this whole subject be avoided if people did not feel the need to powerfeed :? , Bigboy In no way am I saying or targeting you for powerfeeding, just a observation that i have made over the past year

shogun804 said:

Is their any direct proof of this? I know it is talked about all the time but is their any conclusive proof that power feeding alone can cause a T to grow/mature faster? I have heard that powerfeeding and raising temps can cause this, but is their any professional studies that have been done besides by hobbyists that can actually make this a known and proven fact? Im not saying I disagree with your statement, I just do not recall ever reading that this was actually a proven fact, just in most cases mere speculation by most of the people in the hobby. if so has anyone actually done this study with a large number of slings all the way untill maturity using different variables and all that good stuff.

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I am not aware of any studies performed on tarantulas within this area. However, over the last several years there has been a number of studies showing that obesity in humans does shorten the life expectancy.

There are also a number of studies that show a calorie restricted diet increases the life expectancy. The calorie restricted diet studies were performed on many different species including both mammals and invertebrates. Given that the results appeared to be consistent with each animal studied for the effects of a calorie restricted diet on life expectancy, it seems reasonable then to extrapolate that obesity in other animals will have anegative effect.

This isn't the hard evidence that you were looking for, but it is a start.

shogun804 said:

Is their any direct proof of this? I know it is talked about all the time but is their any conclusive proof that power feeding alone can cause a T to grow/mature faster? I have heard that powerfeeding and raising temps can cause this, but is their any professional studies that have been done besides by hobbyists that can actually make this a known and proven fact? Im not saying I disagree with your statement, I just do not recall ever reading that this was actually a proven fact, just in most cases mere speculation by most of the people in the hobby. if so has anyone actually done this study with a large number of slings all the way untill maturity using different variables and all that good stuff.

Another observation, the number of threads I have read that ask this question, Is it just me or could this whole subject be avoided if people did not feel the need to powerfeed :? , Bigboy In no way am I saying or targeting you for powerfeeding, just a observation that i have made over the past year

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I believe it is proven, in fact, I bought 4 B. Smithi slings(about 1 1/2") from a pet store here about 6 mos ago. He had them on special because he got a great deal on them, and had a lot of them to sell. All of the slings were about the same size.
Now the 4 that I bought are nearing 3 1/2 inches (they've all molted about 3 or 4 times in my care).
The slings at the pet store are barely (if any) bigger than they were when I bought mine from the start. I was telling the owner that if he wanted to trade me back a few of them for display purposes (mine were prettier and much larger) that I would be willing to do that for him. The owner didn't really believe me when I told him how much bigger and more colorful the ones I bought were, so he asked to see one. Then I went home and brought 1 of mine back, and he was astounded at the difference!(by the way, he feeds all of his t's roughly every 10 days)
Personally, I don't like to think of myself as a power feeder. I simply feed higher protein prey on inconsistent schedules. This method of rearing has produced excellent results for me.
It is clear to see though that simply changing the diet has a significant impact on the developement of the t. Similar results have been noted with several other species that I keep.I do often experiment with the diets of my t's, and am 100% convinced that the diet dramatically affects the developement of the t. Though my findings aren't published, or "professional"; they are much more than speculation, or assumptions based on totally incomplete data.
I did not make this reply to debate, but rather to inform you of what I have personally discovered.

I don't want to steal the thread but how do you all feel about heavy feeding to pregnant Ts? Do you hold back food from them? My pregnant Ts as a whole have been voracious feeders.

Heavy feeding to a pregnant t could result in a molt before she lays her eggs, thus leaving you with a t that's not pregnant anymore.