Feeding Tongs

Feeding tongs are one of those tools that seem almost too simple to matter until you realize how much easier and safer they make every feeding session. At their most basic, tongs are just an extension of your hand that puts distance between your fingers and the animal you are feeding. That distance protects you from defensive strikes or bites, prevents the animal from associating your hand directly with food, and gives you precise control over where prey items land inside the enclosure.

Almost every invertebrate keeper benefits from having tongs on hand regardless of what species they work with. Tarantula keepers rely on them constantly for delivering prey and removing uneaten food. Scorpion keepers use them to place food in specific locations without risking a sting. Mantis keepers use them to dangle prey within striking range. Even keepers of herbivorous species like millipedes and land snails find tongs useful for positioning food and retrieving spoiled items from humid enclosures where reaching in by hand is awkward.

The connection between feeding tongs and animal welfare runs deeper than simple convenience. Tong feeding reduces the amount of time you spend with your hand inside the enclosure, which means less disruption to the microclimate and less stress on the animal. Every time you open a lid and reach inside, you are introducing vibrations, light changes, and air currents that the animal perceives as potential threats. Tongs let you accomplish the task quickly and with minimal intrusion, which keeps the animal calmer and more willing to eat.

New keepers often ask whether tongs are truly necessary or just a nice extra. The honest answer is that you can feed most invertebrates without them, but doing so consistently introduces risks and inconveniences that tongs eliminate entirely. People also wonder what type of tongs to buy, how long they should be, and whether the material matters. These are all fair questions that come down to what species you keep and how you prefer to work.

This article covers the types of feeding tongs available, how to choose the right pair for your collection, proper technique for different species, and the mistakes that lead to wasted food or stressed animals. By the end you should feel confident selecting and using tongs that make feeding day smoother for both you and your invertebrates.

Feeding tongs work on a straightforward principle. They extend your reach, give you a gripping surface for holding food items, and keep your fingers away from animals that might react defensively to movement near their enclosure. The best tongs for invertebrate keeping are lightweight, have a comfortable grip, and offer tips that can hold a variety of food items without crushing them or letting them slip. Beyond that, the details depend on the size of your animals and the type of food you are delivering.

The most common options are stainless steel tongs, bamboo tongs, and plastic-tipped tongs. Stainless steel is durable, easy to sanitize, and provides a firm grip on slippery prey items like worms and grubs. Bamboo tongs are inexpensive, gentle on delicate feeders, and disposable if they become contaminated. Plastic-tipped tongs split the difference, offering durability with softer contact points that reduce the chance of injuring a prey item before the animal has a chance to take it. Each material has a place in a keeper's toolkit, and many experienced keepers keep more than one type on hand.

Length is the first practical decision. Short tongs in the six to eight inch range work well for small enclosures like deli cups and kritter keepers where you do not need much reach. Medium tongs around ten to twelve inches suit standard terrariums and most tarantula enclosures. Long tongs of fourteen inches or more are useful for deep enclosures, tall arboreal setups, or any situation where you want maximum distance between your hand and the animal. Buying a length that matches your most common enclosure size prevents the awkwardness of using oversized tongs in a tiny container or short tongs in a deep one.

Tip shape matters more than most keepers realize. Flat, broad tips are good for picking up soft items like fruit slices, gel food, or pieces of vegetable. Serrated or ridged tips grip live insects more securely, which is important when you are trying to place a cricket precisely rather than having it jump off the tongs mid-delivery. Rounded tips reduce the chance of accidentally poking or injuring the animal if it lunges at the food before you are ready. Some keepers file or sand the tips of metal tongs to remove sharp edges, which is a smart precaution when working around fast-moving species.

Maintaining tongs is simple but important. After each feeding session, wipe them down with a damp cloth to remove any residue from prey items or substrate. Periodically sanitize metal tongs with a diluted vinegar solution or brief soak in hot water. Bamboo tongs should be replaced once they start to splinter or develop mold, which happens faster in high-humidity setups. Keep tongs stored in a clean, dry location between uses rather than leaving them on top of enclosures where they collect dust and moisture.

Experienced keepers often develop preferences that go beyond the basics. Some prefer locking tongs that hold prey securely while they maneuver it into position, which is especially helpful when target feeding an animal that needs food placed in a very specific spot. Others favor flexible tongs that give slightly when the animal strikes, reducing the chance of the tongs startling the animal with rigid resistance. A few keepers even bend the tips of their tongs to create an angle that works better for reaching around cork bark hides or into curved enclosure corners. These refinements come with experience, but starting with a solid basic pair gets you through the learning curve.

Tarantulas and scorpions represent the most common tong-feeding scenarios in the invertebrate hobby. For tarantulas, medium-length metal tongs with smooth tips work well because you are usually placing a cricket or roach near the entrance of a hide or directly in the path of a waiting spider. The goal is to present the prey close enough that the tarantula detects vibrations and strikes without you needing to chase it around the enclosure. Scorpions are similar, though their feeding response tends to be slower and more deliberate, so holding the prey item steady with locked tongs for a few seconds often produces better results than simply dropping it.

Mantises require a different approach because most species prefer to ambush prey from above or at eye level rather than picking it off the ground. Tong feeding a mantis usually means dangling a fly or small moth in front of the animal and waiting for it to strike. This calls for lighter tongs with fine tips that can hold a small insect delicately without crushing it. Long forceps or tweezers often work better than standard feeding tongs for mantis keepers because the precision required is much greater. Beetles, stick insects, and roach colonies that eat prepared diets or fresh produce benefit from tongs mainly for food placement and removal rather than active feeding.

Millipedes and centipedes occupy different ends of the tong-use spectrum. Millipedes are docile herbivores that rarely need careful prey delivery, but tongs are still useful for placing fruit, vegetables, and protein supplements in the enclosure without disturbing the substrate or the animal. Centipedes, on the other hand, are fast, aggressive feeders that absolutely demand tong feeding for keeper safety. Even experienced handlers use long tongs with centipedes because a defensive bite from a large species is genuinely painful and potentially medically significant. Never hand-feed a centipede regardless of how calm it appears.

Aquatic and semi-aquatic invertebrates like shrimp, crayfish, and aquatic snails rarely require tong feeding in the traditional sense, though long aquascaping tweezers serve a similar purpose for placing food in specific locations within a tank. Hermit crabs eat from dishes and rarely need direct food delivery, but tongs help with placing and retrieving fresh food from humid enclosures where mold develops quickly on uneaten items. Isopod colonies generally receive food scattered across the substrate surface, making tongs useful primarily for cleanup rather than feeding itself.

Across all groups, the universal principle is the same. Tongs create a buffer between you and the animal that reduces stress for both parties. The specific tong type, length, and technique changes with the species, but the underlying logic of minimizing direct contact during feeding applies to every invertebrate you will ever keep.

Before you buy tongs, take a quick inventory of your collection and enclosure sizes. If you keep mostly terrestrial tarantulas in standard acrylic enclosures, a single pair of ten-inch stainless steel tongs covers nearly every situation. If your collection spans arboreal setups, deep fossorial enclosures, and small deli cups for slings, you will want at least two lengths. Budget-wise, a decent pair of stainless steel feeding tongs costs a few dollars and lasts for years, so there is no reason to make do with kitchen utensils or improvised tools that lack the control you need.

When you sit down to feed, have your tongs and food items ready before you open any enclosures. Pick up the prey item with the tongs, open the enclosure, deliver the food, and close the lid. That entire sequence should take seconds, not minutes. The less time the enclosure is open, the less disruption to temperature and humidity inside. If you are feeding live prey, grip it firmly enough that it cannot escape the tongs mid-delivery but gently enough that it remains alive and moving when you release it near the animal. Dead or crushed prey triggers a weaker feeding response in most predatory species.

Daily tong maintenance is nothing more than a quick wipe after each session. Weekly, give them a proper cleaning with hot water and let them dry completely before storing. If you keep species with different health profiles or if one animal is under treatment for mites or infection, use separate tongs for that enclosure or sanitize thoroughly between animals. Cross-contamination through shared tools is a real concern in collections with multiple species, and a two-dollar pair of backup tongs eliminates that risk entirely.

When something goes wrong during feeding, the most common issue is a prey item escaping into the enclosure before you have placed it where you want it. Loose crickets hiding in substrate or climbing the walls stress the animal and may chew on a molting invertebrate if left overnight. If prey escapes the tongs, use them to recapture it immediately or remove it if the animal shows no interest. The other common problem is the animal striking the tongs themselves rather than the food. This is not dangerous to the animal, but repeated tong strikes can condition it to associate tongs with threat rather than food. If this happens, try presenting food from a different angle or placing it on the substrate rather than holding it directly.

For keepers managing larger collections, efficiency matters. Develop a feeding route that moves through your enclosures in order, with tongs and food prepped in advance. Some keepers use a small tray with pre-portioned food items sorted by enclosure, which eliminates the need to stop and count out crickets between each feeding. These small systems save meaningful time when you are feeding twenty or fifty enclosures in a single session.

The most common mistake with feeding tongs is using them in a way that teaches the animal to fear them rather than associate them with food. Jabbing tongs into a hide to coax out a reluctant feeder, tapping them against the enclosure walls, or making sudden movements near a nervous animal all create negative associations. The animal learns that tongs mean disruption, not dinner, and future feeding sessions become progressively more difficult. The fix is patience. Present the food calmly, hold it still or move it slowly, and let the animal decide when to strike. If it is not interested, remove the food and try again tomorrow.

Using tongs that are too short for the enclosure is a mistake that puts both keeper and animal at risk. When your hand has to enter the enclosure past the wrist to reach the feeding spot, you have lost the safety buffer that tongs are supposed to provide. This is especially dangerous with large centipedes, defensive tarantulas, and hot scorpion species where a bite or sting has real consequences. Always match tong length to enclosure depth and buy longer rather than shorter if you are between sizes.

Neglecting to clean tongs between feedings in multi-animal collections is a biosecurity lapse that spreads disease and parasites. Mites, bacterial infections, and fungal spores can all hitch a ride from one enclosure to the next on a pair of dirty tongs. This is easy to prevent with a quick wipe between animals or by keeping separate tongs for quarantined or sick individuals. It takes seconds and protects your entire collection.

Another frequent error is gripping prey items so tightly that they are dead or crushed before they reach the animal. Most predatory invertebrates rely on movement to trigger their feeding response, and a motionless cricket sitting on the substrate generates far less interest than one that is walking and antenna-twitching. Learn how much pressure your tongs need to hold different prey items securely without killing them. This takes a little practice, but it makes a noticeable difference in feeding response rates.

Finally, some keepers fall into the habit of always tong-feeding species that would benefit from more natural hunting behavior. Dropping prey into the enclosure and letting the animal hunt it down provides enrichment and exercise that tong-to-mouth delivery does not. Tongs are a tool for situations that call for precision, safety, or minimal disturbance. They are not a replacement for allowing your animals to express natural predatory behavior when conditions allow it. Use them where they add value and step back where they do not.

Feeding tongs are a simple, inexpensive tool that solves real problems in invertebrate keeping. They protect your hands, reduce stress on the animal, minimize enclosure disruption, and give you precise control over food placement. Every keeper should own at least one pair matched to their most common enclosure size, and keepers with diverse collections benefit from having multiple lengths and tip styles available. The investment is minimal and the payoff in safety and convenience is immediate. A few dollars spent on the right pair of tongs saves you from bites, botched feedings, and the frustration of chasing escaped prey around an enclosure.

Proper tong use is fundamentally about reducing stress during one of the most frequent interactions you have with your animals. A calm, efficient feeding session where the enclosure is open for seconds rather than minutes, where the food lands exactly where it should, and where the animal eats without being startled or harassed is better for the animal and more satisfying for you. Tongs make that outcome reliable rather than lucky. Clean them between uses, match the length to the enclosure, and replace them when they wear out.

No single tong type works perfectly for every species and situation, which is why understanding your collection's specific needs matters. A tarantula keeper's ideal tongs differ from a centipede keeper's, which differ again from what works best for mantis feeding. Take the time to learn what works for your animals and do not assume that what works for one species transfers directly to another. The differences are small but they affect feeding success and the animal's willingness to eat consistently.

At the end of the day, feeding tongs represent a small piece of a larger husbandry philosophy that values doing things calmly and deliberately rather than rushing through care tasks. The keeper who takes the time to select the right tongs, clean them properly, and use them with patience is the same keeper whose animals eat reliably, stress less, and thrive over the long term. Good tools used well make good husbandry easier, and tongs are one of the most accessible examples of that principle in action.