# Force feeding tarantula



## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

I have a L.parahybana that has not eaten for months and shows no signs of shedding. What do people think of force feeding tarantulas? I managed to get it to eat half a roach by holding it and making it extend its fangs and then just putting a slightly crushed cockroach in them. It ate the soft abdomen. I thought these were easy to look after tarantulas but my blondi is easier!


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

I have a chile rose that went for 20 months without eating a thing!! It was totally fine too 

You cant force feed tarantulas!!


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## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

Yes but its a juvenile, also if you read my post i did say that it ate half the roach.


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## avg86 (Nov 1, 2006)

try going down a size of crickets and siting the temp of his tank at 26c


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## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

I have tried every size and type of food, and his faunarium is on a heatmat, getting to 25C. I mist everyday as it dries up quickly with the heat and ventilation.


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Javeo said:


> Yes but its a juvenile, also if you read my post i did say that it ate half the roach.


 
Even so, you cant force feed a tarantula. You may be able to entice it slightly. If it wants to eat it will, if it doesnt, then it wont. You just have to make sure that the conditions are all correct and leave them to it


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## Willenium (Apr 17, 2008)

As a kid I did force feed but that was pretty dumb really. Doesn't do them any favours at all. Have you tried just killing the food and leaving it in with the spider? My T. apophysis is a pansy and wont eat live food for some reason so you have to crush the cricket's head before dropping it in.


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## avg86 (Nov 1, 2006)

have you tryed little locust


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## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

Conditions are all correct, it just doesn't want to eat. I heard they eat alot, grow like weeds and are easy to look after. but it just hides and does not a thing. I have tried locusts, crickets, flies, moths, wax worms, meal worms, beetles, roaches and spiders.

OK OK, so I cant force the food into the thing, but I forced it to actually take the food and sinkn its fangs in, after which it did proceed to eat it. little pedantic of you


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Javeo said:


> Conditions are all correct, it just doesn't want to eat. I heard they eat alot, grow like weeds and are easy to look after. but it just hides and does not a thing. I have tried locusts, crickets, flies, moths, wax worms, meal worms, beetles, roaches and spiders.
> 
> OK OK, so I cant force the food into the thing, but I forced it to actually take the food and sinkn its fangs in, after which it did proceed to eat it. little pedantic of you


Ok, if you want pedantic, you didnt force it to take the food. It took the food through choice. They will move away and wont take the food if they really dont want it.

Maybe, its having difficulty in realising what it is. Maybe if you leave it alone to eat it might. Maybe it just doesnt want to eat?!?!


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## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

As before If you read my op you will notice that it hasnt eaten for months, but its not a sling so must know what food is as it must have been eating to get to its current size. I have left it alone for all these months! its not my first tarantula, I do know how to care for them. Also I forced it by holding it in my fingers so it could not move away, it had no choice in that. It opened its fangs in defence, i guess it did choose to do that, and I put the roach onto its fangs when it naturally reacted by biting onto the roach. I then put it back in its viv. I hope its clearer now.


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Javeo said:


> As before If you read my op you will notice that it hasnt eaten for months, but its not a sling so must know what food is as it must have been eating to get to its current size. I have left it alone for all these months! its not my first tarantula, I do know how to care for them. Also I forced it by holding it in my fingers so it could not move away, it had no choice in that. It opened its fangs in defence, i guess it did choose to do that, and I put the roach onto its fangs when it naturally reacted by biting onto the roach. I then put it back in its viv. I hope its clearer now.


Thats an interesting practice. I would never do that to an invertebrate, they just arent designed like that.

I will stand by what I said before, you cant force it to eat. It either will or it wont. If your setup and everything are 100% correct then there is little you can do. It will eat when necessary. And if it doesnt eat and dies then its just natures course.


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## zoe6660 (Jun 3, 2007)

maybe put the tarantula and its set-up somewhere dark and warm leave it for a bit keep checking and offer some food.


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

Dont stress it out. As long as the rump is a good size their is nothing to worry about. Mine refused to feed for 4 months! And it does it on every moult, 2 months feeding 4 months refusing.


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## drummerja (Oct 8, 2008)

i had a mature chile rose a year or so ago that went over 8-10months without feeding before it eventually died during a moult. was quite sad, but apparently after their sperm web and maturity, alot of rose' die like this.
not feeding isnt something really you should worry yourself over. spiders which burrow and dont come out of hiding for months on end dont exactly have a fridge where they can just grab a snake when they need to. i dont know what the exact year ammount was, but apparetnly this spider went for god knows how many years without eating
at the end of the day, as crownan said, it will eat by choice. spiders do what they want, when they want. it ate, possibly because it was enticed somehow, but if i did that with any of my Ts, they would rear up and most likely try and attack my face or flick hairs.
good luck anyhow, but he/she will be fine. just try and feed it every now and then. if its ur only T, i know it can be a waste buying a box of crickets every week, but if needs must!


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## matty (Feb 17, 2007)

Just leave it to it, it's not a problem.

Oh & I kept my Parahybana bone dry apart from having a water dish & overflowing it every few days, seemed to work fine. Surely it's too humid if you're misting the tank every day? My avics only get misted about every other day & their humidity is really high.


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## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

Its in a faunarium so it drys out in a few hours so thats not a problem at all. It did eat half the roach (the soft abdomen) so I'll leave it for a few months again i guess!
Its not aggressive at all, doesnt flick or anything. 
I have a female T.blondi as well, she eats a full grown roach every few days, and I wouldnt even try to handle her. I have plenty of beasts to feed so no worries on that score


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## Steve 88 (Jan 21, 2008)

is it humid enough? my sling wont eat if its too dry.


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

a overfed spider is a dead spider...

let it eat when it wants, i never feed mine reguarly and the times some dont want to eat can be weeks or many months....never a problem


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Javeo said:


> As before If you read my op you will notice that it hasnt eaten for months, but its not a sling so must know what food is as *it must have been eating to get to its current size*. I have left it alone for all these months! its not my first tarantula, I do know how to care for them. Also I forced it by holding it in my fingers so it could not move away, it had no choice in that. It opened its fangs in defence, i guess it did choose to do that, and I put the roach onto its fangs when it naturally reacted by biting onto the roach. I then put it back in its viv. I hope its clearer now.


They can go for months without eating.

Case closed


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## Javeo (May 4, 2008)

Its all better now, ate a locust all by itself today. I guess it just needed reminding that food is good


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## Incubuss (Dec 19, 2006)

Javeo said:


> Its in a faunarium so it drys out in a few hours so thats not a problem at all. It did eat half the roach (the soft abdomen) so I'll leave it for a few months again i guess!
> Its not aggressive at all, doesnt flick or anything.
> I have a female T.blondi as well, she eats a full grown roach every few days, and I wouldnt even try to handle her. I have plenty of beasts to feed so no worries on that score


Where is the heat mat? Is under the tank? If so, then remove it and put on the back or the side.


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