It’s an age-old question: do tarantulas eat their babies? Tarantulas, also known as arachnids, are actually gentle creatures and they rarely attack humans or other creatures – so you might be wondering if they really do eat their own young, or spiderlings as they are called. In this blog post, we’ll explore the answer to this question and uncover the truth behind whether or not tarantulas eat their babies.
The short answer is no, tarantulas generally do not eat their babies. While it is possible for a mother tarantula to eat her babies in some extremely rare circumstances, it is more likely that the mother will abandon her eggs if she doesn’t have enough resources to nurture them until hatching. In these cases, the baby tarantulas do not get eaten by their mother, but instead starve to death before hatching from the egg.
Let’s read on to find out more.
What Do Baby Tarantulas Eat?
Baby tarantulas, also known as spiderlings, typically feed on eggs with legs, such as tiny insects.
They also sometimes eat their mother’s unfertilized eggs or their own hatched siblings, which is a behavior known as “cannibalism”.
In the wild, baby tarantulas may feed on small arthropods, such as ants and mites. However, it is not necessary for them to do so in captivity; they will usually thrive on a diet of ground-up dry food.
In general, baby tarantulas should be fed once or twice a week, with the amount of food depending on their size and age.
What Do Adult Tarantulas Eat?
Adult tarantulas typically feed on insects and other arthropods, such as crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, moths, and other spiders.
They may also eat small reptiles, frogs, and mice in some cases.
Some species of tarantula even hunt birds, while others are cannibalistic, meaning they will eat their own kind.
In fact, the female tarantula will sometimes consume the eggs with legs that she has laid and even eat her own babies if she cannot find food.
It’s important to remember that tarantulas are exclusive carnivores, so they need to eat a variety of prey, depending on their size.
Adult tarantulas are usually at least 2-4 inches in length. Quite remarkably, the Goliath Bird Eating Spider has an 11-inch leg span!
Tarantulas can eat a variety of food, such as grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, smaller spiders, arthropods, cicadas, caterpillars, millipedes, mealworms, superworms, roaches, king worms, silkworms, hornworms, toads, frogs, fish, lizards, bats, pinky mice, rodents, small snakes, and even birds.
We have a very informative article here How Often do Tarantulas Eat? that goes into more detail.
What if a Tarantula Cannot Find Food?
When a tarantula is unable to find food, it may resort to eating its own eggs, or eggs with legs as they are called.
This behavior has been observed in the wild, but is quite rare. It’s important to remember that while this behavior is instinctual and part of their survival mechanism, it is by no means common or necessary for tarantulas to consume their young in order to survive.
How Long Can a Tarantula Go Without Food?
The answer to this question depends on the species of tarantula, but generally speaking, tarantulas can survive for quite a while without food.
Newly hatched baby tarantulas, also known as spiderlings, have tiny eggs with legs and must feed on their mother until they are able to hunt prey on their own.
Adult tarantulas can go up to two months without food, and some species can even survive longer than that.
In cases where a tarantula is unable to find food, it will enter a period of dormancy or stasis until food becomes available again. During this period, its metabolism slows down and it stops eating.
The tarantula will continue to drink water and can survive for quite some time in this state. In fact, some tarantulas can remain in dormancy for over a year before emerging to hunt for food.
Therefore, while tarantulas are not known for their impressive hunger-endurance, they are certainly capable of surviving without food for extended periods of time.
When they do find food, though, they eat voraciously and seem to never tire of the hunt!
Do Baby Tarantulas Eat Their Mother?
Many people wonder if baby tarantulas eat their mother. The answer is no, they do not. Baby tarantulas are born with enough energy to survive for several weeks without food.
In fact, it is very rare for baby tarantulas to feed on their mother’s carcass. While there are some species of spiders that exhibit this behavior, tarantulas are not among them. In other words, babies do not eat their mother in the tarantula world.