Feeding

Feeding your tarantula is very easy. They need an insectivorous diet, with the odd piece of meat for variety. Larger spiders such as Theraposa blondi, (Goliath), may need a more regular meaty addition because of their size, but as long as they get a varied diet there should be no problems. The other important consideration is water. This must be available at all times. NEVER put sponge or cotton wool in the water bowl as this is a breeding ground for bacteria, and will get dirty very quickly when crickets defaecate and lay eggs in it.

These are black crickets. They are a lot larger than brown crickets which you will probably find easier than any other prey item. These will cannibalize each other more often too.

These are micro or pinhead crickets. They are an ideal starter prey for tiny spiderlings. These are so small that you need to tap one ot two out at a time into the spiderlings vial.

Brown crickets. These come in several sizes, micro, first, second, medium and large are generally available. These are the staple of the tarantula diet. The ones pictured are seconds.

These are food bolus's, sometimes called spit balls. This is the end result of the digestive sequence. They are generally dry spheres that are left by the spider. If they get moist they will become a food source for mould, fungus and bacteria. Mites can also be a problem. It is best to use good husbandary and remove these whenever seen.

Spiders in the wild can go long periods of time without eating. It is perfectly normal for your spider to not eat for a while. Usually this is a good sign of upcoming moult. If your pet stops eating then remove all live prey from the enclosure. It is a good idea to get into the habit of removing uneaten remains, be they live or dead on a regular basis. Crickets and mealworms are liable to nibble an inactive spider, resulting in severe injury or death. Tarantulas will eat meat, dead or alive. In Britain it is ILLEGAL to feed live vertibrate food such as mice, lizards and frogs to any other animal. Tarantulas are quite happy taking thawed pinky mice or a cube of beef, or heart. Live insects are perfectly acceptable.

Other food items available are Locusts or hoppers, which are a large grasshopper with incredibly strong back legs. These are only good for very large spiders because of the strength. They also have quite strong jaws, and tend to stick to the top of the enclosure. Thus making them not  particularly good prey item. Meal worms, these come in a variety of sizes. There is the standard size, king or giant mealworms and super worms. Personally I do not like these for prey items as there are far too many horror stories of them disappearing into the substrate only to come up again under a moulting tarantula, causing it's death. I would advise against superworms as these are a different family to the other two, and have much bigger jaws that they will use. I know of and have seen spiders getting bitten by mealworms. Many spiders will learn how to handle them and some have been known to dig them out of the substrate, but to my mind the risks are too great. Wax worms,these are the caterpillars of the Honey Moth. These make a good suppliment to the diet, they are fat and juicy and harmless to spiderlings almost half the size. The moths make a good addition to an arboreal spiders diet. Cockroaches, these are becoming more and more popular as a food for spiders. They are quite hard to come across in Britain, but they are generally easy to find in the USA from tarantula suppliers. There are a lot of species, and most if not all are good food for tarantulas. Only one species is classified as the dirty cockroach we all hate, that is the German cockroach. The others are easy to feed, and keep, and once a starter colony has established they are prolific.