Feeding insects for the tarantula. Feeding tarantula spiders What do tarantulas eat

After reading this article, you will know what to feed the tarantula how to select food insects for him, how often they need to be fed and why spiders may refuse to eat.

Tarantulas, like all spiders, are animals with external digestion. This means that they have no teeth, they cannot chew and tear their food into pieces. Instead, nature endowed them with a completely unique mechanism - external digestion.

When the spider rushes to the victim, he injects poison into it. The venom of different spider species works differently, in some species it is so toxic that it kills immediately, while in others it paralyzes the nervous or respiratory system. But absolutely in all species, the poison immediately starts the process of external digestion. All solid organs become liquid, and the spider simply drinks it, leaving an empty shell.

Without exception, all tarantulas are carnivores. I believe that an insect or food animal must be alive, otherwise the spider may simply not pay attention to it.

So, what to feed the tarantula? Any animal or insect that fits him in size. Small spiders can be fed every other day with insects, the size of which does not exceed the size of the spider's abdomen. Small crickets and small marbled cockroaches are very suitable as such forage insects. I recommend taking 20 of them right away so that your pet always has food. The most important thing for a young spider is to have a temperature of 24 degrees, a humidity of 70 percent and food. Then the spider will grow continuously and very quickly. Sometimes it happens that young spiders refuse to eat. This means either something is wrong with the conditions of detention, or your spider is preparing to molt. If the spider is preparing to molt, then the abdomen of young spiders turns black.

Picking up food insects for adult spiders is much easier. It can be crickets, both small and large, marble cockroaches, flour worms, locusts, newborn mice, small frogs. In general, everything that moves and does not exceed the size of the spider. However, there are species that attack animals that are much larger than them. For example, a goliath spider can attack a two-meter snake with its maximum size of 30 centimeters. Be sure to ensure that adult spiders always have clean water. Place a wide shallow drinking bowl in the terrarium and pour water into it every day.

I make my own gel for my spiders. I buy Terra Aqua powder, it is based on seaweed, I take a teaspoon of this powder and 100 ml of water. I dissolve the powder and put it in the microwave for a minute. After the water has cooled, it turns into a gel, which is very convenient to cut into pieces and give in doses. As soon as my spider eats this piece, I give him another one. One such mold for 100 ml is enough for my spider for 2 weeks. And there are so many jars of this powder that it is enough to make 11 liters of gel. It is also very convenient when you leave to prepare such a mold, place it all in a terrarium and the spider will always have water. I left it so completely calmly and without consequences for the spider for 3 weeks.

Do you already have a tarantula or do you just want to get yourself such a pet?

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What spiders eat in an apartment, a house does not differ from relatives living in the wild. All are predators with the exception of a horse living in the countries of Central America - he eats the green part of the acacia. The main diet is insects. Large specimens eat small vertebrates.

Nutrition in the natural environment

The spider menu consists of 90% animal food, 10% plant food. The basis of the diet are various insects that a predator can easily cope with. skillfully cope with reptiles, amphibians, small rodents. Spiders living in the aquatic environment feed on fry, beetle larvae, crustaceans.

What spiders eat depends on their habitat. Large specimens attack all living things that they can handle. Often these are creatures that are several times the size of the predator, but the spider wins.

What can a small spider, medium in size, eat:

• beetle larvae, moths;
• butterflies;
• beetles;
• grasshoppers;
• locust;
• crickets;
• snail;
• bee;

Large spiders, in addition to insects, eat:

• small birds, chicks;
• mice, rats;
• snakes;
• vipers;
• snakes;
• lizards;
• frogs;
• smaller relatives, males of the same species as the female.

How long a spider can live without food in the wild is impossible to say for sure. Experts say - more than a month. After a hearty meal, the arthropod will want to eat again after 7-10 days.

Interesting!

One of them can eat a bird, but feathered meat is not included in the main diet. Such food is poorly digested, very heavy. Prefers insects, their relatives.

What do spiders eat in an apartment

Exotic pets eat everything they eat in the wild. The owners give their wards various insects, worms, snails, caterpillars, as well as small vertebrates, reptiles, amphibians. Large animals are fed with rodents.

Which make their way into the room through open windows, doors, cracks in the wall, eat cockroaches, flies, fruit flies, mosquitoes, moth caterpillars, a butterfly that accidentally flew in, a wasp, a bee. with complete unsanitary conditions, a lot of pests. Little spiders eat all the living creatures that are in the apartment.

Interesting!

Whom spiders can eat depends on their own size. Small predatory individuals choose fruit flies, mosquitoes, caterpillars. An arthropod of medium size can only eat insects - it catches flies, bees, wasps. If too much prey is entangled in the web, the spider frees it. It does the same with, since they emit an unpleasant odor during self-defense.

How does a spider kill its prey?

Arachnids differ somewhat in their way of life, behavior, and hunting tactics.

• Animals wait for their prey in the center of their creation or in close proximity. The presence of insects is determined by vibration, vibration.
• They are actively looking for prey by exploring the surrounding area. They attack at the right time.
• Some spiders do not weave trapping nets, but construct a web in the form of a funnel near a hole, a shelter.

Predators also behave differently - they entangle their prey with their threads, leave it for a while, and begin to feed on insects almost instantly. However, initially, predators act identically with their victims - they inject a poisonous substance.

All spiders have poisonous glands, kill insects, small vertebrates with chelicerae, which are located in front of the cephalothorax in the form of fangs. Poison with a paralyzing effect is injected into the wound, its own saliva, which turns the insides into a liquid mass.

On a note!

It takes 5 to 15 minutes for the prey to become usable. All this time, the predator is watching insects, sitting on the sidelines. When the body stops convulsing, the meal begins.

How wild house spiders eat

Arachnids do not have complete digestive organs. Food is digested from the outside, after which the arthropod sucks the liquid mass through the mouth opening. There are also no teeth in the mouth. They help grind, grind food chelicera, tentacle-like pedipalps. Some spiders are only able to suck in liquid food, others crush the shell, bite the skin. The kosinochka eats the whole victim.

Amphibians and rodents take longer to digest. The predator eats a mouse, a snake, a frog gradually, turning it in different directions, constantly injecting a new portion of saliva. How spiders eat flies can be seen in the video below.

The diet of a predator depends on the habitat. An arthropod can stay without food for about a month. With a large number of insects, it feeds 1 time in 7-10 days. Some members of the family are so "greedy" that they do not crawl to the side until they leave one shell or empty space from the victim. In other cases, they leave prey in reserve.

Spiders are part of the order of arthropods, numbering almost 42 thousand species around the world. About 3 thousand species live within the former USSR. All spiders except one species are predators.

Diet in the natural environment

Spiders are classified as obligate predators, the menu of which includes exclusively small vertebrates and insects.. Arachnologists mention the only exception - Bagheera kiplingi, living in Central America.

On closer examination, Kipling's Bagheera is not 100% vegetarian: in the dry season, this spider (for lack of Vachellia acacia foliage and nectar) devours its relatives. In general, the ratio of plant and animal feed in the diet of Bagheera kiplingi looks like 90% to 10%.

Hunting methods

They depend on the way of life, sedentary or nomadic. A wandering spider usually watches over the victim or cautiously creeps up to her, overtaking her with one or a couple of jumps. Wandering spiders prefer to envelop their prey with their threads.

Sedentary spiders do not run after the victim, but wait until it wanders into skillfully woven nets. These can be both simple signal threads, and ingenious (large in area) networks stretched to the observation point of their owner.

It is interesting! Not all hunters entangle their victims with cobwebs: some (for example) are simply waiting for the insect's body to soften to the desired condition. Sometimes the spider frees the prey. This happens in two cases: if it is too large or smells strongly (bug).

The spider kills its prey with a toxin concentrated in venom glands, which are located in chelicerae or (as in Araneomorphae) in the cephalothorax cavity.

The spiral muscles surrounding the glands contract at the right moment, and the poison enters its destination through a hole in the tip of the claw-like jaws. Small insects die almost immediately, while larger ones convulse for some more time.

Hunting objects

For the most part, these are insects that are suitable in size. Spiders that weave webs more often catch all flying, especially Diptera.

The species "range" of living creatures is determined by the habitat and season. Spiders that live in burrows and on the surface of the soil eat mainly beetles and orthoptera, not disdaining, however, snails and earthworms. Spiders from the Mimetidae family target spiders of other species and ants.

Argyroneta, a water spider, specializes in aquatic insect larvae, fish fry and crustaceans. Approximately the same thing (small fish, larvae and tadpoles) is eaten by spiders from the genus Dolomedes, which inhabit wet meadows and swamps.

The most interesting "dishes" are included in the menu of tarantula spiders:

• small birds;
• small rodents;
• arachnids;
• insects;
• fish;
• amphibians.

Young snakes often appear on the table of the Brazilian tarantula Grammostola, which the spider devours in huge quantities.

Feeding method

It has been proven that all arthropods demonstrate an arachnid (extraintestinal) type of nutrition. In a spider, everything is adapted for the use of liquid food, starting with the filtering device of the pre-oral cavity and pharynx, the narrowed esophagus and ending with a powerful sucking stomach.

Important! Having killed the victim, the spider tears and crushes it with its jaws, launching digestive juice inside, designed to dissolve the insides of the insect.

At the same time, the spider sucks up the protruding liquid, alternating the meal with the injection of juice. The spider does not forget to turn the corpse over, processing it from all sides until it turns into a dried mummy.

Spiders that attack hard-covered insects (for example, beetles) pierce their articular membrane with their chelicerae, usually between the chest and head. Digestive juice is injected into this wound, and the softened contents are sucked out.

What do spiders eat at home

Not bred, but true house spiders (Tegenaria Domestica) eat house flies, fruit flies (Drosophila), mealybugs and larvae. Spiders specially bred in captivity adhere to the same rules as in the wild - to be interested in proportionate food objects.

Proper Diet

The food insect should ideally fit within 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the spider itself. Larger prey can complicate digestion and even scare the spider.. In addition, a large insect (served during the molting of a pet) injures its unhardened integuments.

Growing spiders (at the age of 1-3 days) are given:

• Drosophila;
• young crickets;
• flour worms (newborns).

The diet of adult spiders (depending on the species) includes:

• exotic cockroaches;
• grasshoppers;
• crickets;
• small vertebrates (frogs and newborn mice).

Small insects are given immediately in "bundles", 2-3 pieces each. The easiest way to feed arthropod pets is cockroaches: at least they are not seen in cannibalism, like crickets. One spider is enough for a week 2-3 cockroaches.

Another word of caution - do not give your pets carnivorous arthropods such as centipede, other spiders, and insects like the praying mantis. In this case, the “lunch” will easily bite those who are going to satisfy their hunger.

Purchase (preparation) of feed

Provisions for spiders are purchased at pet stores, in the bird market, or from people who are specially involved in breeding live food. If you want to save money, grow fodder insects yourself, especially since it is not difficult.

You will need a glass jar (3 l), on the bottom of which you will put fragments of egg packaging, bark, scraps of newspapers and cardboard: a colony of marble cockroaches will live here. So that the tenants do not run away, apply petroleum jelly to the neck, or even better, cover it with gauze (pressing it with a rubber band).

Launch a few individuals there and feed them scraps from the table: cockroaches grow quickly and reproduce their own kind.

Hthat eats a tarantula? Yes, everything that moves and fits him in size! Do you think this is a joke? Not! Any insect, small mammal, reptile, etc. Everyone can be fed. I sometimes fed hairless parrots!!! Yes, yes, it's just that my budgerigar was laying too many eggs, up to 12-14 pieces. But I couldn’t feed the chicks, so I had to do in such a barbaric way!
Let's start in order. The size of the feed should be one and a half, two times less than the length of the bodytarantula. Otherwise, the spider will be scared, and you will not get anything but stress from your pet. Although it depends on the nature and mood of the spider, a hungry tarantula can take food even larger than it is. Small spiders are best fed with small cockroaches. Do you think that run in your house? :-))) Not. Marble cockroach is best suitable for this. For example, I keep a colony of these insects at home. This is very easy to do. Take a small aquarium, glass jar, etc. you can put egg grates on the bottom without a lid, you can pieces of bark, sheets of cardboard, empty coconuts and much more, the main thing is that there is a place for cockroaches to hide. Coat the edges of the aquarium with a thin layer of petroleum jelly on top, so that the cockroaches do not scatter around the apartment. Launch a couple of hundred of these animals and feed them with waste from your table. It can be bread, and cleaning vegetables, meat waste, in general, whatever comes to hand. Marble cockroaches are very prolific and grow quickly. You can feed the tarantula right away. Choose for food from the beginning wingless, these are still immature individuals. Leave the adults to breed.Marble cockroaches are good, because if they arescatter around the apartment, then they will not live there anyway, our apartments do not suit them! Adult tarantulas can also be fed cockroaches, but this is very dreary if you have, let's say, more than one spider. I feed frogs to large tarantulas, they are freely sold onBird market of all sizes. Keep live frogs in the refrigerator. Pour half the water into the container, launch the frogs, you can close the lid with holes on top, and put it in the refrigerator (Not in the freezer, of course!). Change the water twice a week. And that's it, you always have food for spiders in stock. Sometimes I pamper my pets with naked, newborn mice, sometimes for especially large ones and adults. But it's dangerous enough. A good food for tarantulas is crickets, but to contain the culture of theseinsects are quite troublesome. They require moist soil or sand to breed, and are highly cannibalistic if they are hungry enough. You can also buy locusts at the Bird Market, which is also a good food for your pet. In the summer you can catch grasshoppers, caterpillars, flies, but most importantly, you must be sure that the caught insect is free of pesticides!
How often should a Tarantula be fed? I feed small spiders as much as they can eat. I run into a container that containsspider, pieces, five cockroaches of the right size. As soon as he eats them, I launch more. Five pieces are approximately enough for 5-7 days, unless of course he is hungry. Most importantly, if the spider refuses to eat for 6-7 days, then the food must be caught, perhaps the spider is going to molt (more on this in another section). Good growth of young animals, I think, is an abundance of food and an increased temperature up to 30-32 degrees. The main thing is that there are no temperature fluctuations. Adult spiders can be fed once every two weeks, this is enough for him. You can do more, it's up to you. In general, a spider can be without food for a very long time, more than a year, the main thing is that it has free access to water. But I do not advise you to experiment like that!
The tarantula, seeing the prey, swiftly rushes to it, grabs it with its chelicerae, at the same time injecting poison. At Some species have a strong poison, and the prey is immobilized after 1-2 minutes, while others are weaker, and the caught insect beats in the fangs for a long time. Further, the bird-eater usually performs the so-called dance, weaves a cobweb rug on the ground, sometimes braids prey. Then he injects gastric juice into it, spiders have external digestion, and for a long time, sucking out the already digested food, eats the insect. The meal can take up to 3 days. After that, a dry lump interspersed with cobwebs remains from the prey. The bird-eater takes this ball away from its shelter. Very often he simply throws it into a drinking bowl with water. Never leave leftover food in the terrarium for a long time, together with humidity, this contributes to the violent development of mites! It must be said that ticks cannot do anything harmful to the Tarantula in its normal state, but if the spider molts, they can severely damage it. The water in the drinker needs to be changed as it gets dirty. Always keep the terrarium clean, some hobbyists change the bedding with each molt of a young spider. And in adults at least once every three, four months.
And here are bloody photos of a meal with mice for lunch for a snack ...

A tarantula spider, or tarantula spider, is a large spider whose dimensions, including legs, can exceed 20 cm. These spiders are often kept at home. Tarantulas belong to the phylum Arthropoda, the class Arachnida, the order Spiders, the suborder Mygalomorphic, the family Theraphosidae.

Tarantula spiders got their name thanks to the engravings created by the German artist and entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian, where a large spider is depicted attacking. She saw a spider attack on a bird during her stay in Suriname.

In some sources, confusion arises due to a mistranslation, where all large spiders, including tarantulas, are called tarantula. In fact, tarantulas are classified as infraorders of araneomorphic spiders, and tarantulas are mygalomorphic spiders with a completely different chelicerae structure, due to which they differ in such large body sizes with a leg span reaching 28-30 cm. You will find a more detailed description of the tarantula by.

Tarantulas, types, photos and names

Currently, the family of tarantulas is divided into 13 subfamilies, including many species. A description of some tarantulas is given below:

• Brazilian black and white tarantula(Acanthoscurria brocklehursti)

differs in rather aggressive, unpredictable character, bright coloring and intensive growth. The body size is from 7 to 9 cm. The leg span of the spider is from 18 to 23 cm. The black-and-white tarantula lives in Brazil, hides between tree roots or between stones, and can also dig holes, although it can often be seen out of any shelters. The life expectancy of females is 15 years. The comfortable temperature for keeping this spider is from 25 to 27 degrees Celsius, air humidity is 70-80%.

• Smith's brachypelma, he is Mexican red-knee tarantula(Brachypelma smithi)

a species of spider native to Mexico and the southern United States. These are large spiders with a body length of up to 7-8 cm and a leg span of up to 17 cm. The main body color of the tarantula is dark brown or almost black, some areas on the legs are covered with orange and red spots, sometimes with a white or yellow border. The body is densely covered with light pink (sometimes brown) hairs. Representatives of the species are especially calm and non-aggressive, have low poison toxicity. Females live up to 25-30 years, the life expectancy of males is about 4 years. The diet of spiders includes various insects and rodents. The ideal temperature for keeping a tarantula is 24-28 degrees with an air humidity of 70%.

• Avicularia purpurea

species of South American tarantulas, widespread in Ecuador. The body length of the tarantula is about 5-6 cm. The span of the legs is no more than 14 cm. At a cursory glance, the spider looks black, but when the sun hits it, it can be seen that the cephalothorax, legs and chelicerae are cast in an intense purple-blue color, the bristles on the paws have brick color, and the hairs near the mouth are orange-red. The favorite habitat of this spider is pastures, tree hollows, as well as gaps under the roof and cracks in the walls of inhabited premises. Representatives of the species are non-aggressive, rather fast and shy, unpretentious in care and food, so they are often kept at home. The ideal temperature for keeping a tarantula varies between 25-28 degrees with an air humidity of at least 80-85%.

• Avicularia versicolor

a species of tarantula, common in Guadeloupe and on the island of Martinique. Representatives of the species grow up to 5-6 cm in length and have a limb span of up to 17 cm. Young specimens are distinguished by a bright blue body with white stripes on the abdomen. After 8-9 lines, the entire body of the tarantula is covered with thin bright hairs, and red and green tones with a metallic sheen may appear in the color. Tarantulas of this species are quite peaceful, they bite only when they are squeezed into a corner. Unlike most relatives, they do not comb poisonous hairs off themselves, therefore they are a favorite terrarium species and a source of pride for collectors. At home, they eat crickets and cockroaches, an adult is enough for one frog or a month. The life expectancy of females is 8 years, males - no more than 3 years.

• Aphonopelma seemanni

a typical representative of the fauna of Central America, distributed from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, to Panama and Honduras. Usually lives in burrows. The inhabitants of Costa Rica are distinguished by black color with white stripes on their legs, the spiders of the Nicaraguan population are dark brown with beige stripes on their legs. The body size of a mature spider is 6 cm, the leg span is about 15 cm. These spiders are not aggressive towards people, do not have toxic poison (except for scalding hairs), are characterized by low growth rates and longevity (females live up to 30 years). Therefore, this type of tarantula is very popular among spider lovers. Comfortable temperature for Aphonopelma seemanni is 24-27 degrees with air humidity at the level of 70-80%.

• Brachypelma boehmei

lives in Mexico, preferring to settle in holes. The body length of adult specimens with a leg span reaches 15-18 cm, the length without legs is 7 cm. In addition to the large size of the spiders, they are distinguished by an exceptionally bright black-orange color. These tarantulas are calm and unpretentious, in captivity they feed on locusts, cockroaches and worms. The life expectancy of males is 3-4 years, females live much longer - more than 20 years. The optimum temperature for keeping these tarantulas is 25-27 degrees with a humidity of 70-75%. Due to unauthorized capture and trade, the tarantula Brachypelma boehmei is included in CITES Appendix II (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) as endangered.

• Brachypelma klaasi

a Mexican species of tarantula, whose representatives are distinguished by a massive body and short powerful legs with a span of 14-16 cm. This type of spider has a black-orange color, like Brachypelma boehmei, but is distinguished by the presence of thick orange-red hairs covering the stomach and paws. Tarantulas of this species live in Mexican semi-deserts and high mountain forests. They have an even, calm character. Female tarantulas live up to 20-25 years. Comfortable for these spiders, the air humidity should be 60-70%, the air temperature should be from 26 to 28 degrees. The bird-eating spider Brachypelma klaasi is endangered, so it is listed in the CITES convention.

• Cyclosternum fasciatum

one of the smallest tarantulas, the maximum paw span of which is only 12 cm. But, nevertheless, in terms of the size of the body, it is in no way inferior to its relatives: females grow up to 5 cm in length with a leg span of 10-12 cm, the length of males is 3.5 cm with a paw span of up to 9.5 cm. The body of the spiders is painted in dark colors with a reddish tint: the cephalothorax is red or brown, the belly is black with a red stripe, the legs can be gray, black or brown. The favorite natural habitat of these tarantulas is the tropical forests of Costa Rica and Guatemala. At home, the tarantula can be quite nervous and aggressive. The comfortable temperature for keeping the tarantula Cyclosternum fasciatum is 26-28 degrees with an air humidity of 75-80%.

• Chilean pink tarantula(Grammostola rosea)

a very beautiful tarantula, one of the record holders in the number of sales among members of its family. The total size of an adult spider, taking into account the legs, is 15-16 cm. The color of the body is various variations of brown: brown, chestnut and sometimes pink. The body and paws are densely strewn with light hairs. The species range covers the southwestern part of the United States and Chile, including the Atacama Desert. Comfortable daytime temperature for this type of tarantula is 25 degrees during the day and 18-20 degrees at night, with an air humidity of 60-70%. The spider is not aggressive and combs the hairs very rarely. The life expectancy of females is 15-20 years.

• Theraphosa Blond, he is goliath tarantula(Theraphosa blondi)

the biggest spider in the world. A specimen with a leg span of 28 cm was included in the Guinness Book of Records. The body size of a female goliath tarantula reaches 10 cm, for males - 8.5 cm, and the mass of an adult spider can be 170 g. Despite their impressive size, goliath tarantulas have modest disposition, brown coloration, and the paws of spiders are densely strewn with red-brown hairs. Goliath tarantulas inhabit the tropics in the territories of Suriname, Venezuela, Guyana and northern Brazil, where they hunt mice, small snakes, lizards and frogs. Due to the ban on the export of animals from their habitats, goliath tarantulas are a huge rarity not only for terrariumists, but also for collectors. The comfortable temperature for keeping the goliath tarantula is 22-24 degrees with an air humidity of 75-80%. The spider is quite aggressive and can bite its offender.