power feeding
- Thread starter mamadori
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Define power feeding?
What do you consider powerfeeding.
Some will as if you feed a sling more then 1 prey a week then it is power feeding.
Some will say if you offer it all it can eat then it is power feeding.
depends on how much you are feeding and the tarantula that you are feed it too.
What do you consider powerfeeding.
Some will as if you feed a sling more then 1 prey a week then it is power feeding.
Some will say if you offer it all it can eat then it is power feeding.
depends on how much you are feeding and the tarantula that you are feed it too.
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Some say that power feeding will shorten the overall life span of a T. I have not seen any evidence of that yet. But its a strong possibility.
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It's your choice really.
Power feeding is usually done for spiderlings, especially slow growers such as:
king baboon, rosehair, etc.
in theory it would shorten the lifespan of a T.
also, power feeding a sling would probably okay, but when u powerfeed juvies~sub adults~adults.. they get the "bulk" - heavy and bigger abdomens.
this causes a problem of when tarantulas climb around the cage, they will fall and get injured, possibly killed.
Power feeding is usually done for spiderlings, especially slow growers such as:
king baboon, rosehair, etc.
in theory it would shorten the lifespan of a T.
also, power feeding a sling would probably okay, but when u powerfeed juvies~sub adults~adults.. they get the "bulk" - heavy and bigger abdomens.
this causes a problem of when tarantulas climb around the cage, they will fall and get injured, possibly killed.
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I'd say it's more than possible. Once they get enough food stored up to molt, they molt. And tarantulas only have so many molts in a lifetime, so that equates to making them age faster. :?
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It is not a theory that power feeding will shorten a tarantula's life it is a fact. Arthropods life spans are governed by the number instars they have. Power feeding increases the molting frequency which in turn shortens the life span. What is not known with tarantulas is what is the maximum number of instars they may achieves. This number is known for some other arthropods but not tarantulas.
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So if the number of instars is unknown, then how can we know if there is a negative in all of this? If there is an unlimited number if instars and they just die from old age I don't see how helping them through the fragle stages of 3rd 4th and 5th instar has that big of an impact.
You could just look at males . I know of people who have " power fed" males of quite long lived species and managed to get them mature in a year instead of the usual 4 or 5 years. If this hasnt shortened their overall lifespan I would be most surprised.
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The exact number of instars in a tarantula's life is not known but the fact that their life is governed by a fixed number is. There are numerous studies that have tied the life span of arthropods to the number of instars including spiders. I am not aware of any using tarantulas though. However it stands to reason if this is a general characteristic of arthropods it applies to tarantulas as well. Given the long life span of tarantulas there aren't too many studies that use them.
Power feeding through the first few instars will probably not have a large impact on the overall life span but it will still shorten it.
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Yes but me like many other just feed males to time when they mature and when the female molts........ I do much the same thing I feed the males fast and get them big........ but once they are penultimate if the female is not ready I dont feed him at all...... once a month if that so that I can make sure the timing is right.
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Power feeding through the first few instars will probably not have a large impact on the overall life span but it will still shorten it.
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True I will agree with that, but I deal with Brachys and if that means they lose 1-4 years off there life...... oh well lol they are still going to give me a run for my money when I get old.
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True I will agree with that, but I deal with Brachys and if that means they lose 1-4 years off there life...... oh well lol they are still going to give me a run for my money when I get old.
But its not like a mature female will just drop dead because she's molted a certain number of times. Say a female is set to die after her 15th molt. It could be several years between molt 15 and 16.
Either way, i dont think powerfeeding shortens a FEMALES lifespan. Definatly a male tho.
Either way, i dont think powerfeeding shortens a FEMALES lifespan. Definatly a male tho.
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How can you say that? If you increase the molting frequency it will shorten the life span. Yes, it won't immediately drop dead once it reaches its last instar, but if it reaches that point sooner, you have shortened its lifespan. For example purposes only, lets say a female has 10 instars and it molts once a year under normal conditions. If you power feed and this results in its molting every 9 months, it will live for a little longer than 7.5 years. Under normal conditions, the same tarantula would live a little over 10 years. Increased molting frequency equals shorter life span plain and simple.
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Oh no.... I agree with the over all belief that it does shorted a T's life..... male or female. Definatly speeds up a males..... and may shorten a females. How dramatic of a shortening? I don't know for sure but I am going to set up a test to see. I might be 60 when I have some sort of results....
Hey whats a short lived T that I can use for this to get some results faster?
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obt's
males can mature in under a year and females in under two, iirc
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Look at some of the faster growing tarantulas. Most old world tarantulas seem to grow faster than new world tarantulas. I would start there. You would need a fairly large number of them to reach any solid conclusions. You would also need to make sure the conditions that each population is in is well controlled.
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Females can be sexually mature in under a year.
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I think I am going to use females, we all know that males can be dramatically affected by power feeding.
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You're going to have to start powerfeeding before you can sex them. Unless you're pretty good at it.
And why not males? Have you come to the conclusion males are affected more then females? And how much??
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It's just widely known that power feeding can make a male mature faster thus die faster.... Now I want to find out if the females life is cut that short by similar practices.
And I have a high power microscope... I can get them sexed at 1 inch.