Quite a mouthful

[Mindibun]

I was "hand"feeding my T from tongs the other day because somone gave me their unwanted small mealworms. They were a little too small for him to find easily and he kept getting a mouthful of dirt. So I started handing them to him on the tongs and he just continued to shove them in his mouth. Then he went after a cricket. No matter how many food items came near him, he wouldn't drop what was already in his mouth; he just kept grabbing more and more.

I thought it was funny. The greedy bass-turd...

Two mealworms and a cricket all at once:

[Lucas339]

funny! what kind is it?

[Neal]

Be very careful about over-feeding like that. They will continue to eat and eat.

[Mindibun]

What makes you say that? I keep 5-10 crickets in the enclosure at all times so that he can eat when he's hungry. I keep cricket food and water and places for them to hide as well so that they don't go after the T. I've never had any problems, and there are always crickets hopping around until the end of the week. If they were the type to eat and eat and eat then wouldn't all of the crickets be gone on the first night?

[Boanerges]

First off, I think the picture is a good pic imo I would personally never leave crix in with any of my T's. It stresses them out having them run around. On feeding day I throw in one cricket. If they eat that one I throw in another. As soon as they show no intrest I take that cricket out and they are done for that feeding session. None of mine will personally just keep eating if I keep throwing them in there. I crush the heads and tong feed the smaller one's, those that don't take it from the tong I just drop it in there and they eventually eat it. That is also to reduce stress of the cricket running around it's cage. This is just what I personally do...

[Neal]

What makes you say that? I keep 5-10 crickets in the enclosure at all times so that he can eat when he's hungry. I keep cricket food and water and places for them to hide as well so that they don't go after the T. I've never had any problems, and there are always crickets hopping around until the end of the week. If they were the type to eat and eat and eat then wouldn't all of the crickets be gone on the first night?

The T's I have seen will keep eating, I seen one rose hair eat like 13 crickets. I usually feed 3-5 a week.

Also it's not very good to keep crickets in the enclosure at all times. Like B said, it will stress your T out very bad, and even though you have stuff for the crickets, it's still not a very good practice.

[Mindibun]

Well, then I guess my next question is: how can you tell if a T is stressed?

And how do they avoid this stress in the wild when there are bugs wandering around all the time?

[Neal]

Well, then I guess my next question is: how can you tell if a T is stressed?

And how do they avoid this stress in the wild when there are bugs wandering around all the time?

I'm not going to really get into it with you, because it seems like your basically questioning our advice. Ask any breeders if they keep any crickets/mealworms/supermealworms/roaches in the tarantula's tank 24/7.

[DSGB]

I have 5 T's and have never keep crickets in with them. I feed them two or three crickets a week. I always take the cricket out if they dont eat it.

[Hulihzack]

I'm not going to really get into it with you, because it seems like your basically questioning our advice. Ask any breeders if they keep any crickets/mealworms/supermealworms/roaches in the tarantula's tank 24/7.

How can you tell a T is stressed? Sounded like a fair question to me...