Can Tarantulas Eat Superworms?
Tarantulas in the wild aren’t considered top predators and can be eaten by an array of animals such as birds, lizards, foxes, and coyotes.
Diet is essential in providing your tarantula with all the nutrition they require, and one way is gut loading mealworms.
Can Tarantulas Eat Superworms?
Tarantulas are carnivorous predators that eat insects, lizards, and small mammals in the wild. When kept as pets in captivity they benefit from being fed a diet that includes dubia roaches and crickets; many owners also find superworms are an easy food source that they can breed quickly for feeding purposes.
However, if superworms are the primary food source for your tarantulas, supplement their diet with other protein-rich feeder insects like mealworms, cockroaches and grasshoppers to ensure they receive all the essential vitamins for survival. You could even dust mealworms with calcium powder to encourage more eating by the spiders.
Before feeding mealworms to your tarantula, it is recommended that they are gut-loaded to improve digestion. Also beware not to overfeed with superworms as this could lead them to burrow themselves deeper in their enclosure or become disruptive when it is time to molt.
Nutritional Content of Superworms
Tarantulas are carnivorous animals that only feed on live prey. When kept as pets, however, they can be fed earthworms, nightcrawlers, crickets and dubia roaches as feeder insects; grasshoppers should only be given to captive-bred specimens in order to avoid parasites; wax worms are another popular feeder insect but since their low protein and vitamin content means only occasional feedings should be done as a means of adding fats into their diet.
Superworms offer similar nutritional content as mealworms and can be gut loaded and dusted with calcium during feeding to boost their nutritive value. Some tarantula owners prefer superworms as a cheaper, less smelly alternative to crickets or roaches; others find their tarantulas ignore these feeders entirely.
Health Benefits and Risks of Superworms
Superworms have become popular with owners of tarantulas due to their easy reproduction and higher nutritional value than crickets; however, when left in its substrate these worms pose a potential threat; they can sneak up behind an unsuspecting spider as it burrows itself under soil and attack with bites; this can result in serious injuries to its host spider.
If the tarantula is in the process of molting, you should withhold all food until its exoskeleton has fully regenerated; otherwise it could experience difficulty moving and could get injured.
Tarantulas in nature are strict carnivores and feed on various insects and small animals such as lizards and snakes, including Dubia roaches and crickets for food. When feeding your pet tarantula Dubia roaches and crickets should comprise most of their diet; superworms should only be given on occasion. It is wise to gut-load feeder insects with calcium prior to offering them to your tarantula for consumption.
Serving Size and Frequency of Feeding Superworms
Many tarantula owners worry about what size feeder insects to give their pet. A general guideline would be offering insects roughly equaling half the width of your legspan or slightly less; depending on species, some may even accept smaller insects as food sources.
As with all feeder insects, it is vital that your tarantula receives only those packed with essential vitamins and nutrients to support its health. Gut-loading ensures this.
Superworm larvae require plenty of water and food in their larval stage for proper development; once they reach the final development stage, they emerge as beetles.
As superworms pupate, they become vulnerable to predators such as tarantulas. Furthermore, superworms have a reputation for biting back if attacked — hence why feeding superworms as treats rather than as the primary source of nutrition is recommended for your tarantula.
Other Alternatives to Superworms
Many pet owners offer alternatives to superworms as food for their tarantulas, including cockroaches, grasshoppers, and mealworms as alternatives to crickets, which may cause stomach upset in the animal. Mealworms provide easy breeding options while offering abundant protein and other essential nutrients to their hosts — they make an excellent food source!
However, many tarantulas prefer roaches and crickets over mealworms because these snacks tend to be easier on their stomachs and less likely to escape from their enclosures.
Another alternative to superworms are grasshoppers, which offer greater nutrition than mealworms with a variety of vitamins and minerals. Before offering grasshoppers to your tarantula, however, make sure they have been gut-loaded to ensure full digestion of each insect.
Tarantulas may enjoy feeding on stink bugs, which provide additional nutrition, which are available at most pet stores. Unfortunately, however, many pet owners do not advise feeding stink bugs to tarantulas due to calcium build-up which could occur as a result.
Conclusion about Eating Superworms
Tarantulas are carnivorous predators in their natural environment, eating a wide range of insects, lizards and small mammals. When kept as pets they enjoy feeding on dubia roaches and crickets but may also enjoy snacking on feeder insects like superworms!
Though superworms are generally safe for tarantulas to consume, it is wise to treat them as supplements rather than main courses because they may contain parasites and bacteria that could potentially harm them.
Superworms should also be avoided for another important reason: their powerful jaws could injure your tarantula should it get its hands on one. Therefore, it’s advisable to crush their heads prior to feeding them to your tarantula.
If a tarantula rejects an insect, it’s usually best to wait a day or two before trying again. Over time, she will become familiar with its taste and texture and may accept it eventually.
