It does not matter which pet you own, whether a cat, a hamster, dog, or any other pet. Being a pet owner means you are accustomed to taking care of your ward from every aspect. These days many conveniently packaged foods for pets are available with handy instructions about the portion according to the pet’s size written on the packaging.
Many spider pet owners become seriously concerned when their pet tarantulas stop eating, and they also see sudden changes in their tarantula’s health. There can be a reason behind tarantulas losing their good health. However, it can be due to their diet, and in most cases, it is due to what you are feeding to your eight-legged spider friend and how often you are feeding. If something like this happened with your pet, the first thing you should do is seek veterinary care.
Table of Contents
Overfeeding A Tarantula
Naturally, tarantulas do not eat that much; for them, five to six large crickets or so every two weeks do fine. To make your eight-legged spider buddies regular about their eating, you have to set their schedule and follow it regularly.
Another important thing concerned about feeding a tarantula is their age. If your tarantula is young and growing, like juveniles and slings, they are more vulnerable than their adult counterparts. To survive this precarious age, tarantulas of this age need to eat as much as possible and as often as possible to grow out of this age quickly.
To slings, you can feed them every two or three days, but if you are offering a quite large prey, only once a week will also work. It would be best if you always fed your tarantula in moderation no matter what age they are in. overfeeding a tarantula can make them fat and rupture their abdomens as well.
Once they reach ‘juvenile’ age, their growth slows down a bit, making you worried. However, power feeding is not necessary as you can give them a large prey once a week, which is enough for them.
Adult tarantula’s feeding frequency depends on their species as well. For pet owners, it is very important to know the species of their tarantula so you can look at their appetites carefully. How your tarantula responds to its feed and its growth rate determines how much or less they need to be fed.
Effects Of Overfeeding
Overfeeding your spider buddy cannot be useful as it will cause serious effects on their health. Overfeeding will make tarantulas, fat spiders get more fragile, and will be more prone to injury. To sling tarantulas, overfeeding will not be that harmful as they need growth at that stage of their life.
Tarantulas themselves also stop eating once they are full. They stress their digestive systems a lot during swallowing. As tarantulas have a very small mouth, to gulp down a whole cricket, they have to use a lot of energy to get it done. This is the main reason behind their not eating that often.
VERDICT
For tarantulas’ owners, they need to record how much and how often they have fed their pet and when their tarantulas molted last. This tip is great to organize the feeding schedule of their tarantula and keeping this order on track.
