spider as food?

[system92]

I found this spider, my cham is actually too small for it, but i was just curious, can it be eaten by a chameleon? or another lizard?

All i could find about this spider:

Name: Argiope argentata or Silver Argiope

-Order: Araneae
-Infraorder: Araneomorphae
-Family: Araneidae (Orb Weavers)
-Genus Argiope
-Species: argentata

Its not harmful or dangerous for human
Apparently not poisonous


thank you

 

[tkilgour]

I know many members here will tell you to keep them away from spiders, simply because of their venom. That is probably a good rule of thumb to follow.

However, I know several expert keepers that let their chameleons eat spiders and have no issues from it. Personally, if I saw a spider in one of my enclosure I would just remove it.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I have given my chameleons Orb Weaver spiders in the past without issue. However the general consensus is to stay away from spiders.
That photo looks nothing like the Orb Weavers I was feeding off.

 

[ChameleonNerd]

if your chameleons tongue is slow, or your chameleon ever has trouble eating i wouldn't feed it off. an infinite amount of venom can be ingested without harm, but a bite could be fatal

 

[Thezillaman21]

general rule of thumb is spiders =no go
Its best to just play it safe. even tho like sandra said some spiders are safe. why take the risk of looseing your cham?

 

[Cainschams]

You guys are no fun!! Id feed that sucker right off. Ive fed tons of spiders from lots of different species with no problems. Im betting a good bit of their natural diet is made up of spiders. Wish I could find that video of a newly hatched cham picking off baby spiders from the web.

 

[Gotti]

You guys are no fun!! Id feed that sucker right off. Ive fed tons of spiders from lots of different species with no problems. Im betting a good bit of their natural diet is made up of spiders. Wish I could find that video of a newly hatched cham picking off baby spiders from the web.

Are you talking About from that show about madagasscar? If so I saw that too!

 

[tkilgour]

Jared was one of the expert keepers I was thinking of. I was hoping he would give you his opinion.

You guys are no fun!! Id feed that sucker right off. Ive fed tons of spiders from lots of different species with no problems. Im betting a good bit of their natural diet is made up of spiders. Wish I could find that video of a newly hatched cham picking off baby spiders from the web.

 

[Cainschams]

Jared was one of the expert keepers I was thinking of. I was hoping he would give you his opinion.

Im an expert on anything free, especially free feeders!!!

I do use caution, of course. Collect from a pesticide free area, no what you are collecting and with spiders I always make sure the bodies are under the general rule of thumb on feeder size (no bigger than the width of the head). Of course there is a chance of getting bit but is there not that chance with superworms, butters, silks, horns, crickets, roaches, hoppers etc etc etc etc

 

[system92]

thanks guys yea i actually did some research, and anyway my cham is too little to eat a spider that big, i just gave it to my other lizard which is bigger, ate it with no problem