T Blondi prey selection

[dougle]

again folks I am not over feeding any of my T Blolndi or any of my other Ts , again folks they dont get rodent prey or any other prey every week , I simply offer my T Blondi a varied diet that is all, if they refuse to feed on my feeder roachs I will remove them and offer a anole ,if they voraciously snatch the anole instead of the fat hisser,dubai ,or cave roach that is also offered that means that they are indeed hungry ,just not for the roach and vice versa, if they snatch the mouse than of course I will not offer food to them for at least a month ,due to the fact that a mouse is the largest meal they will get opposite a anole , which will usually last them a month,I have had T Blondi go off feed four four months at a time with know problem I already know these things folks ,what I am simply talking about is offering a varied prey item selection , I am not talking about trying to feed them every week , it depends on the size of the prey item they take down, the T Blondi that was fed the mouse earlier today will not feed again for a month or more ,and I want offer her any prey items until this time has passed unless she shows an increased activity in her enclosure ,I just fed one of my large female LPs a large female dubia roach, a female white knee and female brazilain red were also fed the same thing and they all were aggressive towards there roach prey.

[jayefbe]

Originally Posted by dougle

if they voraciously snatch the anole instead of the fat hisser,dubai ,or cave roach that is also offered that means that they are indeed hungry

If they are passing up perfectly acceptable prey that 99% of other people's blondis will eat, then they are indeed not hungry. It's nice that you're offering a varied diet, but if all it's eating is vertebrates I think you're asking for trouble.

[dougle]

Its my oppinion that these large Ts are opportunistic feeders meaning that they wait in there dens or maybe hang around there dens for prey to walk by or maybe fall out of the trees,they have to be ready and have the power to immediatly strike and subdue the prey before it escapes, this is why I believe they are so large,as far as the stament made in what they feed on we really can not say excatly what there diet is because we dont live in the rain forest with them so lets not speculate and say all they eat is small insect prey , that is a blanket statement that is proably logically not true espically when you look at all the diversified live in a rain forest , there are many small mammels and reptiles , and even small birds that a T Blondi would have know problem subdueing if they walked or scurried past there home. I dont think they would pass up a good meal just because its not a insect!

[xhexdx]

Where did anyone say all they eat in the wild are insects?

[dougle]

I am pretty sure this T Blondi will once again feed on roachs again ,but for this moment it seems to prefer other prey ,who knows next month it could want a fat large hisser or dubai roach , but I will always over diffrent prey items if one is rejected and let the T Blondi decide.variety is the spice of life why not offer are T s a varied diet ,that way you know they are getting everything that they need to grow healthy and strong.They just dont eat roachs in the rain forest folks !

[BrynWilliams]

Originally Posted by xhexdx

Where did anyone say all they eat in the wild are insects?

A point very well made Joe.

--

The point I think a lot of people are making is, and I will make this as simple as possible:
- In the wild they probably do occasionally eat vertebrates
- In the wild this may occur extremely infrequently
- In captivity the situation is artificial and so exposure to prey items is entirely up to us, the keepers. Ergo, in keeping with attempting to recreate a wild-esque environment for them, one must assume that insects are going to be far more accessible in the wild to the T compared to verterbrates. Hence emphasis is placed on these food items.

[spiderfield]

Originally Posted by Fran

It is not recommended to feed too much vertebrate prey...
Although Im not sure how % of the food on their diet in the wild is mice and small rodents and what % are insects....At least for large ones.

Seems reasonable to think that teir diet would consist mainly in large insects but in the wild, they will eat whatever crosses their path and can overpower if they are hungry.

And I dont believe you can overfeed a tarantula. That is still wrong to me.

I second that. I've never been to any South American rainforest (only Costa Rican and Philippine forests), but at night the forest floor definitely comes alive with a bunch of different types of small verts and inverts, so I don't doubt that a T. blondi's environment would be completely different. As such, i'm sure they definitely experience both ends of the vert/invert spectrum every now and then.

[osmbr]

Originally Posted by xhexdx

But...that's why elephants are so big, right?

</joke>

yeahh so they can take down larger blades of grasseveryone knows that haha

[dougle]

Again folks the point is not that they dont eat just vertibrates, the ? is that your T Blondi will eat other prey other than insect prey and they may at times prefer that other prey over the insect prey which I know is a fact because this has happened to me several times when feeding these large Ts simple folks .Is their anyone out their who has had the same expierence when feeding T Blondi? maybe the Blondi senses it needs extra protein or calcium espicially after a molt so it selects the mouse over the dubia knowing that the mouse would provide more of both?

[dougle]

About time !spiderfield got it ,is their anyone else?

[Fran]

Ill go a little farther and say that I do feed my Blondis (all my t's for that matter) every week.
My blondis normally will feed non stop (If small prey like roaches or ckrickets) for 2-3 days non stop. Then refuse food for another 2-3-4 days, and start eating again.

I dont believe in overfeeding among other reasons because its proven way too many times that they wont eat when they dont need it. So I offer food as long as they want it.

[Exo]

Originally Posted by dougle

About time !spiderfield got it ,is their anyone else?

The problem is that your blondi won't eat anything but vertebrate prey, and there is evidence that eating to many vertebrates may cause molting problems.

The solution is to only offer roaches untill she eats, and she will eat one sooner or later.

Next thing ya know and....POOF, she's eating roaches again. there, problem solved.

[dougle]

EXO you are wrong again! listen mate that is not what I said ,again T Blondi consume more than just insects , and thats ok thats what I am saying ,that it appears that they like a varied diet consiting of insects, small mammels ,and small reptiles ,did I say it slow enough folks ,these are big spiders who go after larger non insect prey folks that is a fact obvisously ,and its ok to feed them more than just insects ,and it appears that they sometimes prefer more than just insects, and sometimes when they want eat roachs they will eat something else like mice instead of roachs .

[dougle]

I have never had a molting problem ,actually it appears that my T Blondi are getting bigger and they molt perfectly ,have never had a molting problem ,if your feeding a varied diet like I am and keeping a humid enviorment ,than it appears you have know problem with molts.

[JimM]

I happen to be perusing Rick West's site right now, and there are several pics of Avicularia with vertebrate prey, including one with a bat.

Many T's regularly consume vertebrate prey, not just the largest of the large species.