Tarantulas have become a popular pet for terrariums. Looking for something exotic? Get a tarantula.
Despite looking scary and having a fearsome reputation, its venom is not dangerous to humans, although it can cause pain, discomfort, and allergic reactions in some cases.
Some species have urticating hairs that can cause skin irritation and are problematic if they get inside the lungs – they should be handled with care.
That being said, tarantulas are one of the easiest pets to keep – one of the reasons why they are the preferred pets of many.
One of the most common questions about these spiders is this: what do tarantulas eat? We’ll discuss about tarantula diet in this post and also look at how often to feed tarantula.
Let’s start learning about tarantula feeding habits.
What Do Tarantulas Eat
This is the most basic question when it comes to tarantula care: what does a tarantula spider eat?
Truth be told, tarantulas are not picky when it comes to their food – they can basically eat anything that moves and is small enough for them.

In the wild, the tarantula diet is composed of large insects, centipedes, millipedes, and other spiders.
Some of the big species, like the Goliath bird-eater, can even eat mice, frogs, lizards, birds, bats, and small snakes.
But what do you feed tarantulas in captivity? In a terrarium, the diet of a tarantula can include the following:
• Crickets
• Grasshoppers
• Cicadas
• June Beetles
• Mealworms
• Roaches
• Superworms
• Silkworms
• Black soldier fly larvae
• Hornworms
• Pinky mice
Crickets and mealworms are convenient as they are readily available in pet stores. You can also find many of these insects outdoors.
For bigger spiders, you can feed superworms and Dubiaroaches. Tarantulas that are really big can also be fed pinky mice.
Because they are predators, feeding tarantula live prey is preferable – it will activate their natural predatory behavior.
You can enhance the nutritional value of your tarantula feed by either gut loading or dusting with multivitamin powders.
As for the size of their prey, tarantulas do not shy away from hunting large animals– some even as large as they are! However, large prey, while having more nutritional content, has a chance to injure your precious spider, so it should be avoided.
The rule of thumb is that the tarantula prey should not be larger than the size of the spider’s abdomen.
How Do Tarantulas Eat
Tarantulas are ambush predators; they catch their prey by jumping towards them at lightning speed and sinking their long and powerful fangs into the victim to inject venom that incapacitates them. The fangs also help chew the food.

Once the prey is caught and immobilized, the tarantula secretes digestive enzymes into it. These enzymes turn the insides of the poor creature into a nutritious juice, which they suck through their straw-like mouth in true spider fashion.
Spiders can only consume liquid food through their mouths, so the leftovers of their prey, such as the insect exoskeleton, are curled into a ball and discarded by the tarantula.
By the way, this ball of spider leftover is called a bolus. Your spider tends to throw them in the same corner of your terrarium.
So how long does it take a tarantula to eat? It should take at least an hour for your spider to consume most prey. If it hasn’t been eaten for 24 hours, then something is wrong.
While tarantulas can produce silk, they do not use it to trap their prey like some spiders; instead, they use it to create a nest, from where they can stage an ambush.
Arboreal species create a silk tube to reside in, while terrestrial species create burrows lined with silk to hold it in place.
How Often Do You Feed A Tarantula
Tarantulas are different from pets such as fish – they don’t have to be fed that often.
How often tarantulas eat depends on whether it is an adult or a growing juvenile. An adult needs to be fed just once a week, while a juvenile can be fed every 2-3 days.
So just how long can a tarantula go without eating? They can go without eating for months; there are even cases of tarantulas not eating for many years!
So that means you can take that vacation without any worries; just make sure your pet has water all the time because they can’t survive long without water.
They are animals with a low metabolic rate that are designed to get the maximum calories out of the prey they catch, which allows them to fast for long periods.
That doesn’t mean you should starve them for eons. However, you should also not overfeed them. When your tarantula is hungry, it will start prowling for its prey.
You should feed them one meal at a time – one big meal can suffice for a week.
If in doubt, look at their abdomen closely: how plumb it is indicates how well-fed they are.
When to Feed Tarantula
Tarantulas are nocturnal hunters, so you should wait till nighttime to feed them prey.
You should also know when NOT to feed them – you should not feed them when they are molting.
They will show no interest in eating while molting; live prey has a chance to injure your spider’s delicate exoskeletonduring this vulnerable process, so it should be avoided.
Juveniles molt as often as every month, while adults molt every 1-2 years. The molting usually happens around spring.
The tarantula will often lay on their back or side while molting, so don’t be alarmed if you see this, and, most importantly, don’t disturb them.
So when to feed tarantula after molt? Wait at least two weeks before you start feeding your pet spider; as we said, spiders can go for many months without eating, so there’s no risk of you starving them.
Conclusion
By now you must have a good idea of what tarantulas eat. We also discussed other aspects of tarantula feeding, such as how often, when, and when not to feed them.
As we have seen, these spiders are not fussy eaters, and you don’t have to feed them that often.
Did you know that tarantulas can live for 25 years? With proper tarantula diet and feeding habits, your hairy pet will stay with you for a very long time.
Thanks for reading.