Goliath Bird Eater Tarantula.

Feeding pictures of a Goliath Bird Eater(theraphosa blondi), these guys are very aggressive and make quick work out of a rat pup. :eek: http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1174777477

Lunch.....Tarantula style. :P http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1174777784

These bird eaters get large, I have some that are in the 6-7 inch range and all eat rats! :eek: http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1174777909

*shudder* I don't konw why I looked at this when I am so petrified by anything with more than 6 legs, but I did...it's kinda cool, in a scary sort of way :P I didn't know they are mice or rats. Anyways, cool spider (I guess haha) I have the major creepy crawlies now, but still good pics ^_^

so you have tarantulas as well? cool. yeah feeding them mice is also an alternate feed, but mice dont provide the same nutrients as insects do.but it's still ok to feed them rat pups.

Nice blondi. Do you know the sex? Mine is a little over 6 inches now and keeps destroying skins, so I haven't sexed it yet. How big is yours?

Thats awesome I saw a bunch of those on Ian's table at the Richmond show!

Quote:

---

These bird eaters get large, I have some that are in the 6-7 inch range and all eat rats!

---

Actually, they get much larger than that. Mine is currently 10 inches and isn't done growing yet.
As was said, vertebrate prey make good alternative food sources, when typical food sources are not available, however, feeding an all vert. diet to a tarantula, especially the large species such as Theraphosa and Lasidora, on a regular basis can cause problems with nutrition, thus it can cause molting problems.

Mine ended up Female thank god, dont mind my ugly fingerz
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g55/Bodar/shot2.jpg

she is about 10 inches, old pic but you get the point ill update later today
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g55/Bodar/elvis3.jpg


ok so you definatly should not be feeding rat pups on a regular basis. the spider does NOT need much if any calcium in its diet. calcium causes bad molts. and as you more than likely already know. the bigger a T.Blondi gets the harder it is for it to molt. or at least increased the likely hood of a bad molt. as you read above mine is around the 10 inch mark and i feed it crix, and lots of em. i used to feed mice. but i almost lost her to a bad molt, not willing to go through that again. just try to hold your Blondi and use a q-tip to try and get a fang off that would'nt molt off. SCARY, even if you fridge it.