Feeding Tarantulas

Video Transcript

"In this clip we are going to discuss feeding your tarantula. Once you've defined your enclosure, it's time to feed your animal. This is a Chilean rose hair species that I have in this enclosure. But dependent upon your species you're going to need to identify what it likes to eat best. And also ask your pet store what they are used to feeding their tarantulas. Most tarantulas feed on crickets but there are other sources of food for them. Some larger species eat pinkie mice and other smaller species can eat things like meal worms. But most importantly you need to find out what your tarantula is used to eating. This particular tarantula is used to eating crickets. Crickets are a great source of nutrition and if purchased from a pet store, you know they are safe. If you find a bug that is outside and you are hoping to feed your tarantula, think twice because that particular insect or bug could have been exposed to some sort of chemical that can harm your tarantula. So when feeding your tarantula it's very simple, remove the lid, obtain a cricket, see I've got a little cricket here. And then just place the cricket in the area of your tarantula. If you have a large ten gallon tank like this, if you have a small tarantula, you may need to move it into a smaller container, because it might not be able to find its food. Now a large tarantula like this one here, will get a large or adult cricket. So a good way to identify what size of cricket to feed your tarantula is to look at the abdominal size of your tarantula and look at the size of the cricket. If the abdomen is about the same size as the cricket, that's perfect. If you have a spiderling, which is two to three years old, they have a lot smaller of a cricket, excuse me a lot smaller of an abdomen so they need a lot smaller cricket to feed. So you drop your cricket in there next to your tarantula, your tarantula may not eat right away. Why? Remember they're nocturnal creatures so they may choose to wait until the evening to hunt for their food. Another important thing to remember is tarantulas are carnivores and must have live food to feed on. So you can't supply them with anything dead. All crickets must be alive, pinkie mice and meal worms must be living for the tarantulas to be able to feed. They are live feeders. Another important aspect of feeding your tarantula is making sure that there is enough water available. Now tarantulas aren't going to drink the water that you provide, but it does maintain a level of humidity in their tank. If they do choose to drink, make sure to put a rock into your water dish so they don't fall in and drown. If you do have a tropical species of tarantula, you need to make sure to mist the soil to keep it moist. Never mist your animal. These are very good guidelines to feed your tarantula."