My slings like fishfood...

nhdjoseywales · Feb 28, 2010

czalzsmith said:
I had a group of B. smithi slings that I did some enzyme experiments with a few years ago, but my lazy butt never logged any of the data. However, I was convinced the slings that were eating the enzyme enriched roaches were growing at a faster rate. I stopped the supplements after they reached about 2.5", and I had to sell all of my stuff, but it was a fun experiment.

I am trying to locate the company that I bought that particular blend of enzymes from, so I can try it again and actually log the information this time. I found them at one of the events here at the OKC fairgrounds, but it's been so long I can't remember the name of the company.

Anyhow, I am just rambling now, but I would be very interested in your findings. It interests me that you say there was no bolus after your sling ate the fish flakes. That is pretty much the concept behind the enzyme experiments too. The more that the tarantula can digest, the bigger/faster it can grow.

as long as your ramblings are this interesting you can ramble all you want

ZergFront · Feb 28, 2010

I had to go back and read because at first I thought czalzsmith was giving them Enzyte (not ENZYMES). I really need my eyes checked...:wall:

SDiego · Feb 28, 2010

Exo said:
I discovered that my Nhandu slings will eat fishflake! I ran out of baby crickets and mealworms yesterday and my Nhandu slings needed to eat, so I thought I'd try something. I took some beta flakes and added a drop of water and formed them into a little ball, then I but this ball in front of their burrows.

Will any kind of fish food work? What is "beta flakes"? Any fish food I should stay away from?

Also, how moist/wet was the food ball?

Don't know anything about fish, other than which filets I prefer when at the farmer's market.

nhdjoseywales · Feb 28, 2010

ZergFront said:
I had to go back and read because at first I thought czalzsmith was giving them Enzyte (not ENZYMES). I really need my eyes checked...:wall:

would that make for a more "potent" tarantula?

Exo · Mar 1, 2010

SDiego said:
Will any kind of fish food work? What is "beta flakes"? Any fish food I should stay away from?

Also, how moist/wet was the food ball?

Don't know anything about fish, other than which filets I prefer when at the farmer's market.

Beta flakes are a type of flake food specificaly formulated for siamese fighting fish or "Betas". they are bright red and higher in protien than most fish foods.
The food ball was moist enough that it had the consistancy of playdough.

SDiego · Mar 1, 2010

Exo said:
Beta flakes are a type of flake food specificaly formulated for siamese fighting fish or "Betas". they are bright red and higher in protien than most fish foods.
The food ball was moist enough that it had the consistancy of playdough.

Thank you, I'm going to try this.

scottyk · Mar 1, 2010

Another option for doing this on a larger scale would be stealing another aquarium based idea:

Homemade gel food cubes:

Start with powdered gelatin as a binding agent. Mix up some different fish flakes and even an assortment of crushed up insects. You then mix it into the gelatin, freeze it and cut it into whatever sized cubes you desire. Once sealed in ziplock bags they stay good in the freezer for quite a long time.

Once thawed, they have a similar texture to what you are doing manually with the flakes. They are also a bit more convenient and offer a medium to provide a greater variety of ingredients.

The gelatin is similar to what water crystals are made of, and poses no danger to the tarantula. The flakes already have binders in them anyway. I've fed gel foods to snails, shrimps and other invertebrates and they thrived on them...

Just throwing it out there as another possibility....

GiantVinegaroon · Mar 2, 2010

Am I the only one who has noticed that almost any arthropod will eat fish food? I haven't tried offering fish food to my spiders, but I've never had an insect or crustacean refuse fish flakes, and I even had a centipede(Lithobius sp.) take fish food!

I haven't fed my fishing spider in awhile...maybe I'll offer a flake and see what happens.

Exo · Mar 2, 2010

scottyk said:
Another option for doing this on a larger scale would be stealing another aquarium based idea:

Homemade gel food cubes:

Start with powdered gelatin as a binding agent. Mix up some different fish flakes and even an assortment of crushed up insects. You then mix it into the gelatin, freeze it and cut it into whatever sized cubes you desire. Once sealed in ziplock bags they stay good in the freezer for quite a long time.

Once thawed, they have a similar texture to what you are doing manually with the flakes. They are also a bit more convenient and offer a medium to provide a greater variety of ingredients.

The gelatin is similar to what water crystals are made of, and poses no danger to the tarantula. The flakes already have binders in them anyway. I've fed gel foods to snails, shrimps and other invertebrates and they thrived on them...

Just throwing it out there as another possibility....

That's a great idea, I think I might try this tonight and see if it works.

pouchedrat · Mar 2, 2010

I feed my T's and true spiders almost exclusively frozen/thawed already (both adults and slings, and my three little scorpions eat this way as well). I'm actually curious about the gelatin experiment.

It might be interesting to try myself, although the only mass amount of a single species of slings I have right now are my Hogna helluo, and although they'd grow far faster than some T's would, I'd rather try it on T's.

Hmm, time to buy a small group of 10 or so cheap slings and experiment on them... heh. Maybe B. albop or A. hentzi? It would make for a very LONG experiment, though, lol.

scottyk · Mar 3, 2010

Exo said:
That's a great idea, I think I might try this tonight and see if it works.

Let me know what kind of results you get. Looks like I'm moving again in April, so I'll start experimenting with this when I get settled in. Anything I make now will be getting thrown away in a few weeks...

pwilson5 · Mar 3, 2010

would be interesting to try this with a really vibrant T... ill start trying it with my Versi... lol

Exo · Mar 4, 2010

scottyk said:
Let me know what kind of results you get. Looks like I'm moving again in April, so I'll start experimenting with this when I get settled in. Anything I make now will be getting thrown away in a few weeks...

Well, I tried the gell-food and they appear to have eaten it! I had fishfood, bloodworms and mashed cricket in them and it seems like they really like them. :drool:

pouchedrat · Mar 4, 2010

That's pretty awesome. I'm recieving 20 B. vagans spiderlings eventually and half will be my control, the other half will be tried with fish food and see what happens. It'll be a long experiment, but I'm going to record everything, from who eats and who doesn't, pictures, when each one molts, etc.

I think it'll be interesting to see the results, if there is a difference or not. Especially with something that long-lived.

scottyk · Mar 4, 2010

Exo said:
Well, I tried the gell-food and they appear to have eaten it! I had fishfood, bloodworms and mashed cricket in them and it seems like they really like them. :drool:

Excellent! :clap:

I have a few pounds of high end pellet foods in the freezer and a booming colony of mealworms. I think once I get settled in I'll try adding them to some some mashed crickets and roaches and see what I can concoct.

I'll add pics and feedback directly to this thread!

Scott

LadySharon · Mar 5, 2010

I'm very interested in this.

I have a co-worker (one of my bosses acctually) who likes T's... but every other insect on the planet is "icky" In otherwords... she can't deal with a cricket or a roach or anything else you normally would feed T's.

She said "Isn't there something I can just sprinkle in the cage" (I immidatly thought of thouse gell thigns you feed crickets - that's what the instructions say)

Well I mentioned this thread to her... and she's kept beta's before so she knows about the flakes... and would be fine feeding altered flakes or small gell cubes where you can't TELL that there are insects in there.

But of course with her the spider would be living exclusively on these so... I'd like to know the results of this experiment first.

This ALSO would be very helpful in emergency situations if you can get a T used to eating both this type of food item and normal moving insects. It would allow people to keep a supply of food for times they may not be able to easly get feeder insects.

I wish I could participate.. but I'm in a one bedroom condo right now. So this would go under "when I get a house".

Maybe if I succesfully mate my red phase roseies. (though they grow slow).

Keep us posted!

- Sharon

micheldied · Mar 5, 2010

i think i might try a soaked massivore pellet.

i'll let you guys kow how it goes.

nhdjoseywales · Mar 9, 2010

i tried dried baby shrimp this morning, so far one sling does seem to be munching on it

TheTyro · Mar 9, 2010

I think i'm going to try this with my true spiders, the Phidippus regius babies.

matthias · Mar 9, 2010

hmm a reason TO breed my para. This could make keeping large number's of T's a lot easier and cheaper.
My guess is that once they hit a certain size they will stop taking the "dead" stuff.

My slings like fishfood...

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