While feeding a tarantula is not too difficult, there are many questions you probably have about feeding your pet. In this post, you will learn all about tarantula feeding – when to feed a tarantula, what they eat, feeding schedule and chart, how often to feed (day or night), prey sizes, if you should use tongs to feed a tarantula, feeding after molting. You will also find information on what you can feed your tarantula apart from crickets.
What do tarantulas eat?
Tarantulas are carnivores – in the wild they eat various live insects that they can overpower. Most common foods for tarantulas include:
- Crickets
- Dubia roaches (large ones only for juveniles and older)
- Hissing roaches
- Turkestan roaches (Red Runner roaches)
- Silkworms
- Phoenix worms (calci-worms)
- Occasionally, mealworms and superworms (morio worms or king worms)
Bigger tarantulas in the wild also eat grasshoppers (cut wings) and millipedes, and even small lizards, mice and frogs. However, it’s better to avoid feeding any frogs, lizards and even mice (or only rarely) due to ethical reasons. Some worms will burrow in the substrate, so will not make very good feeding preys. That’s especially true for arboreal tarantulas.
Generally, tarantulas prefer easy prey, so that they don’t have to waste too much energy overpowering them. Crickets and other small roaches are often easiest for a tarantula to catch and digest.
Tarantulas spend most of their days hiding in a burrow and waiting for a prey to approach. Once a prey approaches its burrow and moves webbing made by a tarantula, it strikes. Tarantulas rely on detecting movement and vibrations at close ranges and feeling movement in webs to know when a prey is near.
Once a tarantula is sure it’s a prey and not a predator, it strikes. Then, it injects venom with its fangs and starts the digestion process or webs the prey and leaves it for later. Tarantula’s digestion process occurs outside of its body, with it then ingesting digested juices for nutrition.
Do tarantulas need light for feeding?
No, tarantulas don’t have very good vision, and they mostly rely on vibrations and movement of webs to catch their prey. While seeing shapes at close ranges helps and some tarantula species stalk their prey. But tarantulas much prefer lower light settings. Natural room light is optimal for a tarantula to feed (they are nocturnal, so would be dark at night).
How long do tarantulas digest their prey?
It might take 1-2 hours for a tarantula to ingest a cricket in general. And then, another 7-12 hours to digest its prey. After digestion, a tarantula will pass crystalline waste. Hard parts of the prey (carcass) will remain undigested, as you will need to remove it from the tank along with tarantula’s poop.
Can I feed my tarantula dead crickets?
Every tarantula is different, and some tarantulas will eat dead crickets and other bugs, while others won’t. In general, young spiderlings are more likely to eat dead crickets and other prey than older tarantulas.
However, to also mention, dead crickets and other bugs might have less nutrition, however it’s not always the case. Freeze-dried crickets will have low hydration levels, too. Freshly killed prey is better than freeze-dried crickets.
If you have live crickets, you can feed them nutritious foods before feeding them to your tarantula. This way, you can be sure that crickets you’re feeding to your tarantula are nutritious.
When feeding live crickets and other bugs, you should gut-load them (feed them nutritious foods) before you offer them to your tarantula. You can use complete cricket diet like this or similar. Also, you can have oatmeal/bran for food and substrate, freshly chopped vegetables, as well as water gel, piece of orange or water in a small dish. Also, place toilet paper tubes/ cardboard egg trays in the cage for crickets to hide when they need.
Gut-loading is important and you can read more about it here (new tab). However, there’s no need to dust crickets you feed to your tarantula with calcium. There’s no evidence it is good/safe for them.
What not to feed a tarantula
There are some insects that you should avoid feeding to your tarantula for safety reasons. These include:
- Ants
- Centipedes
- Stinkbugs
- Wasps
- Scorpions
- Fish flakes
- Dog or cat food
Can tarantula eat mice?
Yes, tarantulas can eat mice, but as their digestion takes place outside the body, you will be left with a carcass, liquefied organs, bad smell, and blood in the cage.
Having said that, if you want to feed a mouse to your adult (only) tarantula, you would need to pick a pinkie or fuzzy mouse or rat (it can’t see yet). Any mice or rats should not be bigger than your tarantula’s abdomen. You must not feed a live mouse, as it’s unethical and not fully safe (mice/rats can bite back).
You will either have to kill a mouse just before feeding it, or buy frozen ones and let one thaw before offering. Never microwave a frozen mouse. It will most definitely burst inside due to uneven heating and cause a big mess and smell! Yikes!
Can tarantula eat mealworms?
Yes, you can feed mealworms to your tarantula from time to time. Don’t feed mealworms too often, because they are fatty and will cause obesity in your tarantula.
You can also feed mealworm beetles to your tarantula. Mealworms that are not eaten in some time turn into beetles, but are also edible. Superworms can also be offered to your tarantula from time to time.
Mealworms will burrow and hide if you put them directly in the cage. That makes them useless to eat, especially for tree dwelling tarantula species.
To feed mealworms to your tarantula, place them in a dish with some food (oat flakes and similar). You will need to put your tarantula in a dish that contains mealworms so it can eat them. You can also put some mealworms and your tarantula to a separate clean enclosure, such as Kritter Keeper. Don’t touch your tarantula, give it some time to feed and then return it to the cage.
Can tarantulas eat waxworms?
Yes, you can feed waxworms to your tarantulas from time to time. You should limit how often you offer them, because they are very fatty and might cause obesity in your tarantula.
Having said that, some tarantulas reject waxworms because they find them too small. That’s especially true for bigger tarantulas. But this will depend on each tarantula. Waxworms are generally taken well by young tarantulas, as helps them gain weight (if underweight).
Can tarantulas eat hornworms?
Yes, you can feed your tarantulas hornworms. While they are not cheapest feeders, they can definitely make great treats from time to time.
Can tarantulas eat fruit?
No, tarantulas are carnivores, and don’t eat fruits. They only eat other animals, no vegetables or fruits.
Tarantula feeding rules
- Gut-load all the insects for 24 hours before you feed them to your tarantula. You can offer cricket food like this, as well water gel or water in a small dish, chopped vegetables etc. No need to dust with calcium.
- Make sure that prey is not too large for your tarantula – it shouldn’t be longer than the width of your tarantula.
- Don’t feed a newly brought tarantula for at least 5 days – let it acclimate first.
- Never feed bugs from outside – they could be contaminated with pesticides and fertilizers.
- Don’t leave any live bugs for more than 24 hours, as they might harm your tarantula
Tarantula feeding time. When should I feed my tarantula?
Generally, there’s no difference when you feed your tarantula. If you have other commitments, you can feed your tarantula when you are free. Feeding at night will also work, as tarantulas are nocturnal and are active during that time.
If you feed your tarantula during the day, you have a better chance of seeing it eat. However, make sure it’s not too bright in the room, or your tarantula might decide not to eat. You can leave its food in the tank overnight, and remove any uneaten ones the next day.
Should I use tongs to feed my tarantula?
In general, you should avoid tong feeding your tarantula because of a potential fang injury. While smaller spiderlings and juveniles generally attack a prey itself, larger tarantula are high-strung and very likely to attack tongs and try to insert their fangs into them.
Because most tongs are metal, it can be risky for larger tarantulas. Some tarantulas will also get scared when you open their tank lid and try to feed them anyways. It’s better to drop prey into your tarantula’s cage for feeding.
Tarantula feeding and molting
Because tarantulas become very vulnerable during and after the molt, you need to be careful about feeding it during this time. Actual tarantula molting often takes around 1-6 hours, depending on the size of a tarantula. But it’s days or even weeks after molting, that your tarantula’s exoskeleton is still hardening.
That’s why you shouldn’t feed your tarantula during and few days after the molt (for spiderlings), and 2-3 weeks for older tarantulas. During molting and after that, you should not leave any feeder bugs in the tank.
Once your tarantula starts behaving normally again and walking, you might start feeding it. Also, a big indicator is fangs – make sure they are fully black before you start feeding your tarantula again.
You should remove any that might be left in the tank as well. You can guess your tarantula is entering a molting stage if tarantula’s body appears darker. This is due to fluid that builds between new and old skin.
Tarantula prey feeding sizes and schedules
In general, tarantula’s prey should not be larger that its opisthosoma – (rear section of their body, or abdomen). Please note, that feeding schedule is general, and there are no specific rules on when to feed your tarantulas. Look at your tarantula’s abdomen – if it looks very round and big, cut on food until it gets smaller. And if your tarantula’s abdomen looks slim – you can feed it a bit more.
Don’t confuse it with newly brought tarantulas – don’t feed them for the first 5-7 days. If it’s abdomen is shriveled, it is likely to be from dehydration. Offer it water and mist its enclosure so it can lick water droplets.
As you get more experience, you will learn how often and what prey sizes to offer your tarantula based on various factors. Temperatures, age, time of the year, stages of life – many factors depend on how much to feed.
| Size and age of a tarantula | Size of prey | How often to feed | How many bugs to feed |
| Baby/Spiderlings (under 1-1.5”/2.5-3.81 cm) | Pinheads (crickets), flightless fruitflies, or cut larger prey into smaller pieces, not larger than tarantula’s abdomen (often 1.5-3, up to 5 mm) | 1-3 times a week | One prey at a time |
| Juveniles and sub-adults (under 3-4”/7.6-10 cm) | Not larger than tarantula’s abdomen (around 15-25 mm) | From once a week to once in 2 weeks | 2-10 crickets, or if larger prey, one to a few |
| Adult tarantulas (over 4”/10 cm) | Not larger than tarantula’s abdomen (around 25mm or larger, depending on species) | From 2 times a week to once a month (can feed all bugs the same day, depends on species) | 6-10 crickets, or a large prey |
Thank you for reading this post. To learn more about tarantula care, visit this page.