Tarantula that won't eat, what have you done to get it to eat again.

[theconmacieist]

I thought maybe it was a tarantula. I have had success feeding large burrowing wolf spiders to adults before.

 

[DVirginiana]

I wonder if you could get the same response by feeding a true spider and not have to sacrifice any other T's in your collection.

 

[vespers]

Ah, so my guess was correct.
I, too, am curious as to what what the "feeder species" was. The thought that comes to my mind is, how does one decide what tarantula is more worthy or deserving of continued life than the other?

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

Just out of curiosity, what species was fed? How big was the "meal spider".

Dang thing looks nice and plump now, so I'm guessing the fed spider was an adult or close.

Ah man, I knew this question was going to be asked and to be honest I will keep this part to myself. But I will say that it was a little smaller than her.


-J

---------- Post added 05-21-2015 at 08:22 PM ----------

I heard it was a P metallica

Ahhhh! Most likely not.

---------- Post added 05-21-2015 at 08:29 PM ----------

I wonder if you could get the same response by feeding a true spider and not have to sacrifice any other T's in your collection.

You know I do wish I didn't have to sacrifice another spider. The whole purpose to this thread is really of why of all the prey that was giving to her from her last molt she refused. Why is it that minutes before feeding her a tarantula she would not eat crickets? And why a week later after having her first meal that she still refused a different source of food but accepted another tarantula as a meal?


-J

 

[Roosterbomb]

I asked this question on another post. What's the difference between a cricket and a tarantula. Aside from cost I don't understand why people are so offended by it.

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

Ah, so my guess was correct.
I, too, am curious as to what what the "feeder species" was. The thought that comes to my mind is, how does one decide what tarantula is more worthy or deserving of continued life than the other?

Yeah you were right all a long. As a pet keeper I have a tarantula that not had a meal over a year, obviously the baumgarteni is a rare species in the hobby and which makes her valuable. Regardless of the financial part she is still valuable as the two that died, take away the financial part all spiders are equal, but hard choices have to be made.


-J

 

[theconmacieist]

[/COLOR] You know I do wish I didn't have to sacrifice another spider. The whole purpose to this thread is really of why of all the prey that was giving to her from her last molt she refused. Why is it that minutes before feeding her a tarantula she would not eat crickets? And why a week later after having her first meal that she still refused a different source of food but accepted another tarantula as a meal?


-J

I have experienced that some of my larger arboreals will ignore smaller prey like crickets and go for larger male dubias. I don't know if it is because they don't deem them worthwhile or that they are better at hiding.

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

I asked this question on another post. What's the difference between a cricket and a tarantula. Aside from cost I don't understand why people are so offended by it.

My thought is since we love our tarantulas we just don't want to see another tarantula get hurt, neglected or abused.



-J

---------- Post added 05-21-2015 at 08:52 PM ----------

I have experienced that some of my larger arboreals will ignore smaller prey like crickets and go for larger male dubias. I don't know if it is because they don't deem them worthwhile or that they are better at hiding.

That maybe true, it's just weird that two of my spider around the same time molted and decided to refuse food. One died earlier this year.
Now my adult Acanthoscurria sp. "Fracta" is doing the same thing. The only difference with her is that she did eat after molting, later I tried to mate her with my mature male that I had at that time, she killed the male and ate the male. Once after eating the mature male she went on a fasting mood.



-J

 

[Hobo]

I asked this question on another post. What's the difference between a cricket and a tarantula. Aside from cost I don't understand why people are so offended by it.

A live, healthy tarantula can seriously injure or kill another in its struggles.
A cricket cannot.

 

[Roosterbomb]

I Agree 100%. But I get the feeling some of us start harrassing others for feeding Ts to other Ts. I don't plan to ever do it but if people don't feel comfortable posting no ones gonna learn. Sorry didn't wanna drag the post of topic too far. I just want to know what other people might have done and how they've done it without fear of being slammed.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Well, a couple thoughts. One tarantula was probably going to die in the end, so it was a matter of having to choose which. If you had done nothing, there would likely still be one less spider. Secondly, dying of starvation, even a self imposed starvation probably entails more suffering than being immediately killed and eaten, and being killed and eaten is the more natural of the two demises. As long as it is a last ditch effort, I don't really see a big problem. A controversial thing to be sure, but wrong? I don't think so.
I do hope that anybody that would consider it would make it a last-ditch attempt rather than "My spider hasn't eaten in two months, I'll try giving it another tarantula!" Also, if i was faced with such a choice, I'd prefer to use a mature male if one was available, preferably one that had already been successfully paired.
I think the question of whether or not a largish true spider, if available, would trigger the same feeding response, such as a wolf spider. Like you, I also wonder if the possibility might exist that the spider will no longer accept anything but another spider.That could become a bit of a headache to have to make a similar decision repeatedly for the rest of the fussy-eater's life span. Be sure to let us know if the B. baumgarteni finally accepts anything else.

Could I do it? I'm not sure. I had enough difficulty euthanizing one when I knew it was for the best, and there was no question that it was for the best. And even then, I needed somebody else to tell me that it was. But that's a weakness of my own, not a criticism towards the action you chose.

 

[Hobo]

Jose pointed out it was a risk; I think it's important to point that out and this was a last possible alternative, just in case a new keeper finds this thread.

There's a big difference between a cricket and a tarantula as a feeder, and the choice to feed prey that can significantly injure your tarantula should not be taken lightly.

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

A live, healthy tarantula can seriously injure or kill another in its struggles.
A cricket cannot.

That is true I took a risk. The two tarantula I gave her was a bit smaller than her. Even though both tarantulas that were smaller it could have injured my baumgarteni.
Though what remains of this topic is will she now accept her regular feeding meals or do I have to feed her another tarantula to keep up with her health/weight?


Jose

 

[Roosterbomb]

This might be wacky but is it possible that it starts off defending itself then the feeding response kicks in?

 

[fuzzyavics72]

I find this to be super intresting, since I've bought some stuff from a local buddy over the three years and the same thing happened to me. I've had P met(P met actually died for a friend, but was bought from the same guy like the other two), A. Metallica, and recently a GBB stop eating all of a sudden and all three died about ten months when they stopped eating. I made sure they had a lot of fluids to make up for them not eating. The local guy didn't feed well so, I thought that was the problem, but not all the t's i bought from him did this. I honestly think they had some sort of parasite in them..... I wish you luck Jose, but if this speciemen dies, I would dissect him/her. That might give you some clues.

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

Well, a couple thoughts. One tarantula was probably going to die in the end, so it was a matter of having to choose which. If you had done nothing, there would likely still be one less spider. Secondly, dying of starvation, even a self imposed starvation probably entails more suffering than being immediately killed and eaten, and being killed and eaten is the more natural of the two demises. As long as it is a last ditch effort, I don't really see a big problem. A controversial thing to be sure, but wrong? I don't think so.
I do hope that anybody that would consider it would make it a last-ditch attempt rather than "My spider hasn't eaten in two months, I'll try giving it another tarantula!" Also, if i was faced with such a choice, I'd prefer to use a mature male if one was available, preferably one that had already been successfully paired.
I think the question of whether or not a largish true spider, if available, would trigger the same feeding response, such as a wolf spider. Like you, I also wonder if the possibility might exist that the spider will no longer accept anything but another spider.That could become a bit of a headache to have to make a similar decision repeatedly for the rest of the fussy-eater's life span. Be sure to let us know if the B. baumgarteni finally accepts anything else.

Could I do it? I'm not sure. I had enough difficulty euthanizing one when I knew it was for the best, and there was no question that it was for the best. And even then, I needed somebody else to tell me that it was. But that's a weakness of my own, not a criticism towards the action you chose.

I will let you guys know, I'm hoping that she will start eating her regular food. It's unfortunate that I have another tarantula I bought for her. If I see a decrease in size of her abdomen within a week I will try to feed her again with some crickets, if she does not want the cricket I will be giving her another tarantula. Right now I'm not comfortable with her weight and health of how long she went without food.


-J

---------- Post added 05-21-2015 at 10:35 PM ----------

This might be wacky but is it possible that it starts off defending itself then the feeding response kicks in?

I had the same thought, makes me wonder that it might be a challenge for them. I just don't understand why not eating for so long.


-J

 

[Hellemose]

Someone send him a couple of L. parahybana breeding groups they should be able to provide a steady source of "meal" T's

that being said, it is quite interesting, i havent experienced anything like that except for a G. rosea going off food for long periods of time, i dont see anything wrong chosing to use a T as food, they would no doubt risk ending that way in nature, just as i have no issues using young bearded dragons as food to my woma's and blackheaded pythons, it might seem "cold and harsh" but odds are that they have had a far better life than most others before they got eaten and it is natures way.

 

[vespers]

Well, its logical to assume that other arachnids would be a part of a tarantulas diet in the wild at times.. I've read that B. vagans will regularly prey upon C. gracilis scorpions, for example.

 

[Blueandbluer]

This might be wacky but is it possible that it starts off defending itself then the feeding response kicks in?

This was also my thought. "Hey, that's big enough to hurt me, I'd better kill it" and then once it's in her fangs "...it's kinda tasty, might as well not waste it."

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

The first two tarantulas that was killed and eaten by my B. baumgarteni I bought them at the pet store. I did buy another just in case I need to feed her another spider, I hope it does not come to that cause I also can't afford to feed her gourmet food.
I will tell you though the three spiders that I bought for her to eat were docile tarantulas.


Jose