I had a discussion with Inyanga and overfeeding came up.

In the year or so I've spent on this site the topic has never come up, save for one instant where it was mentioned by Cerat I think? But it was only one post in random topic.

So what constitutes as over feeding? A buddy of mine lost a B. Klaasi some time ago and the only abnormality I could see was a huge abdomen. Other than that, the enclosure was in excellent condition and the T looked healthy (Aside from being very obese).

Sure I realize that whether or not you are overfeeding is dependent on certain factors, like size\age of the T, frequency of feeding and size of the meal. So if I feed a T a 1/2 cricket every second day, it would only be overfeeding if it is a sling or small juvie but not if its a subadult or older.

Secondly, some keepers do powerfeed their slings which is frowned upon, I know. Where do you draw the line between powerfeeding and overfeeding? I'm sure one can justify powerfeeding if their was some other factor like a Ts health. Does the difference lie in how many consecutive instars you powerfeed?

My feeding schedule is once a week. The meal size depends on the T size. Meals would be:
<5cm legspan: 1/2 size cricket
5>7cm legspan: 1.5cm dubia
7>10 legspan: 2cm dubia
>10cm legspan: adult dubia.
This is a rough estimate, I thumbsuck based on how I usually feed.

This is my brain fart for the day. I like to get everyone's opinion on this.

The fact that you mentioned B. klaasi is interesting. I have a 3cm sling, that looks like it has a balloon for an ass. I thought it was in premolt, so I stopped feeding it for about 3 weeks. It's abdomen is still massive. Decided to throw in a small cricket yesterday, and it was comical to watch that little eager beaver pounce on the cricket. I don't get it. I haven't fed it anymore than my other slings. In fact, I've fed it less. Yet it still sports a J-Lo rear end.

My friend's klaasi was at about 4cm legspan. Its abdomen was more than four times the size of its carapace.

Shane Visser wrote: The fact that you mentioned B. klaasi is interesting. I have a 3cm sling, that looks like it has a balloon for an ass. I thought it was in premolt, so I stopped feeding it for about 3 weeks. It's abdomen is still massive. Decided to throw in a small cricket yesterday, and it was comical to watch that little eager beaver pounce on the cricket. I don't get it. I haven't fed it anymore than my other slings. In fact, I've fed it less. Yet it still sports a J-Lo rear end.

I used to have a sub-adult male B.Klaasi that also had a huge abdomen and i fed him once a week regardless of this... Nothing bad ever happened to him and he never died or anything... I think maybe they just get that huge abdomen because they have a slow growth rate and it takes a while for a "Mexican" Brachypelma to molt, All my B.Boehmei slings also have pretty big Abdomens and i feed them once a week as well.

Swifty wrote: My friend's klaasi was at about 4cm legspan. Its abdomen was more than four times the size of its carapace.

Same story here. It is due for a molt though, so I'm a little confused that it ate yesterday. Oh well, will feed it once a week, until it stops eating.

Vinzy, I've owned quite a few Brachys, but none have as fat an ass as this klaasi.