For many tarantula keepers, feeding is one of the few times they might be able to see their tarantula regularly. Engaging with your tarantula and seeing them hunt makes it tempting to feed them every day or multiple times a day. This isn’t always best for them, however.
Tarantulas can be offered food every day, but this doesn’t mean they will be willing to eat the food provided every day. Tarantulas will only eat when they are hungry. While they may attack the prey, this doesn’t mean they want to eat it. Placing unwanted live food in their enclosure can cause tarantulas stress.
Feeding a tarantula every day technically isn’t that bad for them, but there’s a lot you need to keep in mind. This is why tarantula keepers usually keep a feeding schedule instead of feeding them every day.
Can you Feed a Tarantula Every Day?
Tarantulas will not eat if they are not hungry. While they can be offered food every day, they might not be willing to eat. Tarantulas know when they don’t need to eat, and while they might attack live food, this doesn’t mean they will eat it.
How much food a tarantula is willing to eat is determined by age, size and species. Feeding spiderlings as often as possible is standard advice for helping the tarantula grow faster. Tarantulas will not overeat, so there are no concerns about them overeating and becoming sick due to this. Offering them food every day doesn’t mean they will want to eat it. However, unwanted live food in their enclosure can be stressful for them.
Is is Safe to Feed a Tarantula Every Day?
Tarantulas will not overeat, so feeding a tarantula every day won’t hurt them directly. However, this will stress the tarantula, and excess food can also cause other problems such as mould, bacteria growth and mites.
Disturbing a tarantula causes them stress as they are susceptible to sounds and vibrations. This means touching their enclosure when not needed will stress the tarantula and hurt their behaviour patterns. It can also cause them to delay moulting until they feel comfortable.
Certain live foods can also cause problems when left inside the enclosure for extended periods. For example, crickets are a common live food for tarantulas. Crickets are opportunistic omnivores and will eat your tarantula while they’re incredibly vulnerable after moulting.
Leaving excess dead prey inside the enclosure also encourages mould and bacteria growth inside your tarantulas home. Most moulds will not harm your tarantula, but you will need to rehouse the tarantula if the mould grows out of control. Some bacteria are also very bad for your tarantula’s health. In addition to this, the food excess could cause the mite population to explode in numbers, and mites can be very difficult to deal with. While most mites won’t hurt your tarantula, they will get everywhere and end up in every invertebrate enclosure you have.
Should you Feed Juvenile Tarantulas Every Day?
Young tarantulas require more food than adults to help with their growing period. Feeding spiderlings and juveniles are often as possible will ensure they grow quickly. This is typical advice for raising young spiders since spiders will not overeat.
If a tarantula is not hungry, then they won’t eat the food you’ve offered them. There’s no harm in providing young tarantulas food every day, but they probably won’t want to eat every day. If the tarantula shows no interest in eating the food, it should be removed from the enclosure to prevent mould, bacteria and mite outbreaks.
What would happen if you Fed a Tarantula Every Day?
While you can offer food every day, a tarantula might not want to eat every day. The tarantula might ignore your food offering, or they might attack it and then ignore it. Leaving excess food in their enclosure can cause a range of stressful problems for your tarantula.
Tarantulas are very sensitive animals. Sounds and vibrations can cause them a lot of stress, so touching the enclosure every day to feed them can harm them. Excess live food in their enclosure can also cause them stress. A stressed tarantula will behave differently, and it could even delay their normal moulting patterns.
Leaving dead prey in the enclosure for extended periods can cause an outbreak of mould, bacteria and mites. In all cases, the tarantula will need to be rehoused into another enclosure since there’s no easy method to fix those environmental changes. While they might not hurt the tarantula, once the levels get out too far of balance, it can cause problems for them, your house and you. Feeding a tarantula every day means you need to clean the enclosure every day to prevent potential issues such as a mite outbreak or mould.
Summary
Tarantulas can be offered food every day, but that doesn’t mean they will want to eat it. Disturbing the tarantula every day is not beneficial for them, and it’s best to leave them alone to prevent the animal from getting too stressed. Too much food in the enclosure also increases the risk of a mould or bacteria outbreak, which could kill your tarantula and put you at risk. Leaving particular live food such as crickets inside the enclosure and not removing them can also put the tarantula at risk of harm during their next moult.
