What Do Barking Spiders Eat?

What do barking spiders eat? Barking spiders are carnivores but they also consume insects. Just like other spider breeds, they eat different types of insects that’s available in the wild. What do barking spiders eat? For bigger barking spiders, you might also see them feed on other spiders that are smaller or equal to their size. In this article, you’ll learn what do barking spiders eat?

What Barking Spiders Feed On

What do barking spiders eat? Barking spider breeders recommend providing them with crickets and also supplement it with other types of insects. If you have a bigger spider, you can also opt to feed them small lizards or perhaps a pinky mice. Keep in mind that feeding barking spiders a certain meal will depend on their age, size and if they are molting or not. It will also vary if you are breeding them.

Barking Spider Preys

What do barking spiders eat? The common preys that you can provide for your barking spider includes crickets, moths, meal or super worms, roaches like Dubai roaches, house flies and grasshoppers. You can certainly not go wrong by feeding them crickets because all kinds of spiders like crickets. If you will feed cockroaches, it’s best that you buy a Dubai roach. You can also feed them grasshoppers but make sure that it is relative to your pet’s size.

What do barking spiders eat? Bigger barking spiders can be fed small sized animals including pinky mice, small rodents, small lizards, frogs, small hatchlings and birds, and sometimes even baby snakes. Just keep in mind that the prey should be smaller than your barking spider’s body size. Most Barking spider owners prefer to feed their pet on a diet of crickets supplemented occasionally with other insects.

Wild Barking Spider Feeders

What do barking spiders eat? Barking spiders are nocturnal pets which means they are active at night and search for food at night. The diet of a barking spider in captivity is different to that of their diet in the wild. They can eat all sort of insects, and can also hunt for small wild preys.

For the barking spider, they usually use their webs to trap their prey, but some prefer an ambush attack. They seat their and wait for their prey before attacking them. Some spiders chase their prey but not the barking spider species. You might also notice them spinning a trap wire that can help signal them if a potential prey is at bay. In the wild, spiders are usually just hanging out in their burrows, this is why they use their webs to help them know if a prey or predator is outside.

Tarantulas use their fangs and strong jaws to kill their prey. The way they consume is by using their fangs to suck out the blood off of their prey, while for some species they use their own venom to kill their target.

Food Consumption

What do barking spiders eat? The barking spider consumes their prey’s flesh. They usually inject a chemical first that would paralyze their prey before sucking the blood out of them. Then they coat their preys with digestive enzymes. Barking spiders including other similar species have straw – like mouth that makes them unable to eat solid food or chomp the food like we do. This is why they need to liquefy their prey so they can be able to eat using the short straw mouths they have.

What a lot of newbies don’t know is that barking spiders and other tarantula species have a large sucking tummy. Whenever the stomach muscles contract, they create a sucking action that allows them to dissolved their prey and turn them into liquid in no time.

What do barking spiders eat? These liquid is then broken into small particles in the intestines. The particles are then absorbed through the walls of the intestines into the barking spider’s bloodstream. They are then distributed throughout the body. The barking spider then converts the left over prey into a small ball and throws it away.

How to Feed Your Barking Spider

What do barking spiders eat? For you to feed your barking spider safely, you can drop the cricket using a pair of round nosed forceps near your pet. Make sure to not hand – fed your spider unless you want to get bitten because some spiders could be snappy eaters. If you do not have a pair of forceps you can drop the prey into the terrarium. Your barking spider might prefer live prey. They rely on prey movement to spot their prey. You can poke the prey to provoke them to move so your spider is able to spot them.

Feeding Frequency

What do barking spiders eat? As mentioned earlier, barking spiders are nocturnal hunters. They prefer to hunt at night. This is why it’s best to feed your pet in the evening or early in the morning when the spider is most active. You can feed adult barking spider once a week. Juvenile or growing spiders have more dietary requirements. You can feed them for as long as they will eat. They may need to be fed every day or every other day. For growing barking spiders, you need to feed them more often but once they go through their molting period, you should stop feeding them until it’s over. As your pet grows older their growth rate slows down. They may end up eating only once every 2 or 3 weeks

Food Size

What do barking spiders eat? When it comes to the size of the food, it will depend on the body of your barking spider. The rule of thumb is that the meal size should be half of your pet’s leg span, or generally a smaller prey size than their body. There are instances though that they eat a prey that’s as big as them. You can feed your tarantula 1 to 5 crickets per feeding depending on the size of the cricket and the size of your barking spider. When your pet is full they will stop responding to the prey. You can check the abdomen size to know when your barking spider is full. If the abdomen is twice bigger than the cephalothorax you should stop feeding your pet.

Leftover Feeders

What do barking spiders eat? When it comes to leftovers, it’s best that you remove any uneaten food within 24 hours of feeding. Crickets or other preys if uneaten and left in the burrow may disturb your pet and this could cause them get stressed. If you fed live feeders like crickets, then they could injure your barking spider.

Remove the uneaten food in their cage if you see that your pet doesn’t want to eat them anymore. If you don’t, then it could start decomposing and could be a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi that could harm your barking spider as well.

Water for Barking Spiders

Barking spiders need a supply of clean and fresh drinking water since they are in captivity. In the wild, they tend to rely on dew and water droplets from plants. As a keeper, you need to provide a clean bowl of water at all times. Ensure that you change the water regularly.

The water bowl should be shallow to avoid the risk of your barking spider falling into the water and drowning. As a precaution and to provide support to your pet, you can add some pebbles into the bowl of water.

Can You Feed Them Fruits and Veggies

What do barking spiders eat? As mentioned earlier, barking spiders are carnivorous animals. They usually rely on a diet of insects or other small animals in the wild. However, in order for them to get hydrated, they can eat minimal amounts of veggies and fruits. You can provide your pet with carrots, and certain fruits like apples or grapes and see if they like it. Keep in mind that it’s best to not turn this into habit because these are not primary diet.

Is Your Barking Spider Not Eating?

What do barking spiders eat? There could be a time that your pet may refuse to eat. Here are some of the reasons why and what you can do to help:

Large Meal

Obviously if your pet already had himself full then he will not really try to eat anymore. Stick to feeding your pet at least once a week, and give them the appropriate amount they need.

Wrong Prey

Barking spiders can sometimes be picky eaters. They usually use their vibration to pursue their prey. However, some prey could play dead when they feel threatened and this can make your pet lose interest on the meal.

Molting

Barking spiders also go through molting on a periodical basis to change their exoskeleton. During the last few days before molting your barking spider may lose their appetite.

Damaged Fangs

What do barking spiders eat? If your barking spider has damaged fangs that’s why they will lose their appetite. Sometimes if your pet has a meal too early after molting, then this could damage fangs. Don’t feed your pet right away after molting.