Tarantula Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating

Tarantula Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating

A tarantula that refuses food for weeks is often just fine, this is the one pet on our site where skipping meals is genuinely normal, not a red flag. Here's how to actually tell the difference. For the rest of their care needs, see our complete Tarantula care guide.

Feeding Schedule by Life Stage

• Slings (under about 2 inches): Every 2 to 3 days, using pinhead crickets, fruit flies, or other tiny prey no larger than the sling's own abdomen.
• Juveniles (roughly 2 to 4 inches): This is where sources disagree most, estimates range from every 4 to 7 days up to every 7 to 14 days. Growth slows at this stage, so treat any number here as a starting point to adjust based on abdomen size and appetite.
• Subadults and adults: Commonly every 1 to 2 weeks, but actual need is strongly species-dependent. A slow-metabolism species like a Chilean rose hair might only need four or five crickets a month, while a fast-growing tropical species can eat multiple times a week.
• Mature adult males: After a male's final molt into sexual maturity, many eat markedly less or stop almost entirely, redirecting energy toward finding a mate. Some never eat again after maturing. This is a natural end-of-life pattern, not a health problem.

Across every stage, prey should be no larger than the tarantula's own abdomen, and any uneaten prey should be removed within 24 hours, a live cricket left in the enclosure can injure a freshly molted, vulnerable tarantula.

What Tarantulas Actually Eat

Captive tarantulas eat live insect prey, there's no formulated diet to fall back on. Crickets are the usual default, high protein, low fat, easy to digest. Dubia or discoid roaches are a good alternative, especially for larger spiders, they're more nutrient-dense and digest more slowly. Mealworms and superworms work as supplemental items, crush the head first on larger roaches and superworms, they can bite. Waxworms are fine only occasionally, they're high in fat. The largest species can occasionally take a pinky mouse, though it isn't necessary for a healthy diet.

Gut-load feeder insects on a nutritious diet for a day or two before offering them so that nutrition actually transfers. Skip calcium or vitamin dusting entirely, that's a reptile practice, not a tarantula one, see the FAQ above.

Feeding itself looks different from most pets: a tarantula injects digestive enzymes through its fangs to liquefy the prey's insides externally, then a muscular "sucking stomach" pumps the liquid meal into its gut, leaving the empty exoskeleton behind as a small leftover pellet. Offer prey live and whole, never chopped.

Safe Treats and Foods to Avoid

Safe staples: crickets, dubia and discoid roaches, mealworms, superworms (crush the head first), and occasionally a pinky mouse for the largest species only.

Treat-only: waxworms, fine occasionally, too fatty for regular use.

Avoid entirely: wild-caught insects of any kind, pesticide and parasite risk isn't worth it, buy from a breeder or pet store instead. Fireflies specifically are treated as a hard no across tarantula-keeping resources, the strongest documented toxicity data is actually for reptiles rather than tarantulas directly, but the precaution is consistent enough to take seriously. Skip processed human food entirely, it isn't part of a natural diet.

Why Tarantulas Stop Eating

1. Premolt fasting. By far the most common reason. A darkening, plumping abdomen and reduced activity typically precede a molt. Duration varies hugely, slings might fast a few weeks, adults can go several months, with rare outlier cases reported well past a year.
2. Post-molt recovery. Right after molting, the new exoskeleton and fangs are soft, don't feed for roughly 3 to 7 days for slings and juveniles, 7 to 14 days for adults.
3. Mature male mating drive. Once males reach their final molt, many stop eating heavily or entirely as they focus on finding a mate. Natural, not illness.
4. A new enclosure or environmental stress. Rehoming or an off husbandry detail, temperature, humidity, hide availability, can make a tarantula anxious and unwilling to eat for a stretch after a move.
5. Species-specific fasting tendency. Chilean rose hairs in particular have a reputation for long, seemingly unprompted fasts regardless of any other factor.
6. Prey pickiness. Rejecting one prey type while accepting another, or refusing prey that's too large, isn't a health concern by itself.
7. Illness, injury, or dehydration. Appetite loss paired with not drinking, visible injury, uncoordinated legs, or the "death curl," legs tightly curled beneath an upright body, points to a real problem.

When to Actually Worry

Not eating by itself is usually not an emergency for a tarantula, a plump, active spider refusing food for weeks is typically just in premolt. The one concrete, sourced threshold: for juveniles specifically, refusing food for more than 6 to 8 weeks alongside weight loss or lethargy warrants a vet consult. Adults can safely fast far longer during premolt, sources don't converge on one number for adults, weeks to several months is well within normal.

The bigger red flag isn't hunger, it's dehydration. A shrunken, shriveled, raisin-like abdomen paired with uncoordinated legs or an inability to lift the body off the ground is the real emergency sign, and it can be fatal within days if not corrected with immediate access to a shallow water dish. When a tarantula stops eating, check water access and humidity first, watch the abdomen (shriveled means urgent, plump and dark likely means premolt), and see an exotics vet if refusal comes with lethargy, injury, not drinking, leg curling, or, for juveniles, passes roughly 6 to 8 weeks with visible weight loss.

For the rest of their setup and health needs, see our Tarantula cost guide, handling guide, and health issues guide, or browse the Invertebrates care guide category.

Sources & Further Reading