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Many people would-be or newbie pet tarantulas owners wonder what these creatures can eat. Indeed, it is crucial to know what to feed your spider because, obviously, this is essential to its wellbeing and, ultimately, survival. However, a question that we are asked quite often is whether tarantulas eat fruit or not? Well, the tentative answer to this is to say yes, they can eat fruit; nevertheless, most do not. Furthermore, tarantulas could not solely survive on fruit as they are by nature carnivorous and require live food for survival.
Do Tarantulas Eat Fruit?
As a rule, no. But that does not mean it has never happened. In the wild, tarantulas will not eat fruit. They hunt live prey such as crickets, grasshoppers, worms, and cockroaches. When it comes to fruit eating, there are some spider species known to extract liquid from fruit, so it is not impossible that a tarantula
might do the same.
Why Fruit is Not a Suitable Food Source for Tarantulas
Although there may have been some incidents of tarantulas appearing to eat fruit, or vegetables for that matter, most experienced owners are of the opinion that the spiders are simply extracting water and not actually eating the fruit/vegetables in question.
Acanthoscurria gomesiana 
Blue Foot Baboon 
Mexican Fireleg
As carnivores, tarantulas need meat. They inject enzymes into their prey, which liquifies the insides and allows them to easily ingest it. This is not something that they can do with plants as plants do not break down as easily.
Tarantulas are obligate carnivores, which means their diet has to consist of other creatures as they require nutrients that are only found in meat sources. They do have the capability to ingest small amounts of plant matter, but they do not have the physiology to digest it fully.
Photo Credits:
- Featured Image (Brazilian Red Birdeater): Hectonichus – This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
- Acanthoscurria gomesiana: Source: Hector M. O. Gonzalez-Filho, Sylvia M. Lucas, Felipe dos S. Paula, Rafael P. Indicatti, and Antonio D. Brescovit (2012) “On the Taxonomy of Acanthoscurria Ausserer from Southeastern Brazil with Data on the Natural History of A. gomesiana Mello-Leitão (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae)”, International Journal of Zoology, vol. 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/721793 Figure 1 – This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
- Blue Foot Baboon: Quengsalinas – This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
- Mexican Fireleg: Micha L. Rieser
