If you’re thinking about getting a pet tarantula, you’ve probably thought a lot about how to feed them and their nutritional needs. Tarantulas primarily rely on live food, which naturally presents its own set of difficulties and considerations if you don’t know their eating habits. Though they can eat a variety of live insects, there are some bugs you should avoid feeding them. Keep reading the article to know what harmful bugs you should not give them. But, before that, let’s learn some benefits of keeping a Tarantula as your pet.

Tarantula as a Pet

Most people choose either a dog or a cat as a pet. Some people even desire to acquire a bird like a parrot, a cockatiel, or an aquarium to keep fish as pets. But some people might go beyond and want to keep exotic animals as their pets. If you are considering purchasing a tarantula as your exotic pet, that will be a great decision. To survive, tarantulas don’t require expensive food. Such as you can get dubia roaches for a minimum price on Top Flight Dubia Roaches, which is one of their favorite foods. They are capable of going weeks or even months without eating. This is because they are born with a slow metabolism because they are predatory animals. So they hardly ever experience hunger.

The cost of keeping them is relatively low compared to many other exotic pets. You only need a standard-size container, some holes drilled in it, a coco-fiber substrate, and a cork bark hide to hold a tarantula. Tarantulas have a very long lifespan. The lifespan of the tarantula you purchase will depend on its type, but most of them can live for around 15-20 years. They are incredibly resilient and can survive in any environment, which is another amazing quality of these creatures.

What to Not Feed Your Tarantula

Many tarantula owners might think that if they find a cockroach scurrying around the house or a beetle in the backyard, it might be a perfect idea to provide their pet for a few weeks when it might not have a meal otherwise. And if it were not so risky, that would make perfect sense! There are many dangers involved in giving your tarantula an outside bug to eat. One thing you don’t want your tarantula to be exposed to is contamination or pesticides. And, of course, the bug could carry any number of diseases and parasites. You wouldn’t want the outside environment to affect your tarantula, and you should avoid it if possible.

The same goes for any bug or cockroach you might find in your home. Household pests may not come into contact with pesticides, but they may be exposed to other chemicals used for cleaning, odor neutralizer, etc. It’s also best to keep your spider away from these. Because their environment is controlled, tarantulas should only be fed insects purchased from a store or bred by a professional. A reliable supplier of feeders will never expose their insects to anything that could harm your spider. The insects are more likely to reach you unscathed.

The situation is not hopeless, however, if you cannot obtain a shipment of feeders. Tarantulas, luckily, are remarkable creatures that can get by on surprisingly little. So if your tarantula loses access to food for a couple of weeks but always has access to water, it will likely survive. After not eating for more than six months, a grammostola rosea may appear to be in fine health. She is unaffected by fasting for those durations. slings can survive for up to two months without food. So, you might not need to worry as much in most situations.

What to Feed Your Tarantula

As tarantulas are carnivorous, they can only consume living prey. Therefore, crickets make up the majority of a tarantula’s diet when it is kept in captivity; however, a wide variety of other gut-loaded insects like mealworms, king worms, dubia roaches, silkworms, hornworms, and some other kinds, are also available as alternatives as well as supplemental foods.

It was once a regular thing to give tarantulas live pinkie mice; however, this practice has become illegal in the UK due to laws governing animal welfare. However, your tarantula can be persuaded to eat legally-permitted dead pinkie mice by waving the mice on a thread in front of it to imitate live movement. Tarantulas depend almost entirely on crickets as their primary source of protein, as these insects are the most easily obtainable live food. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that any bugs that are provided as food to it are small enough for your tarantula to be easily managed, especially for younger spiderlings that are still relatively small.

Where to Find Proper Foods for Tarantulas

Naturally, live insects like crickets are more challenging to come by than the typical bag of pet food, and it’s unlikely that you can purchase a container of live crickets at the grocery store. If you know how and where to look, it is not difficult to find live insects like crickets for your tarantula. You can find crickets at many pet stores, and those who don’t usually stock them can get them for you. In addition, you can get crickets and other live foods at any store that specializes in or sells exotic pets, and you may even order them online and have them shipped to you.

Final Words

Tarantulas can be a long-time exotic companion if you are feeding them right. Make sure to feed your tarantula the foods that are suitable for them and not harmful. Remember the suggestions mentioned above and feed your tarantula accordingly to keep it healthy.