Chilean Rose Hiding???

[oxymoronix]

Hey, so I'm extremely new to keeping a tarantula - I've had a Chilean Rose for just over a month or two now after a family friend bought one for me. I've read up on it online but I mostly go by what he says is best since he has successfully owned a few??? I just have a tendency to worry! Apologies if the answer is somewhere already.

My T is quite small - unsure of age but can sit in the palm of my hand so maybe only and inch or two leg span? Unsure of sex and it hasn't molted at all in the time I've had it. When I first got it, it would sit in the corner and stretch it's front legs up - I was told this was okay. It wouldn't eat any crickets I gave it so I bought some smaller ones and the family friend told me to leave them for a few days (the internet said the opposite?) so I did and they were eventually eaten like a week later. It was handled maybe once every few days and only for about 20 minutes in total by a few people who wanted to see it. I changed the substrate to this eco something brand because there were little white bug things in whatever I was given with it. Muffet stayed on top of the hide for about a week and ate two small crickets at some point in that time frame.

However - MAIN BIT HERE, sorry for the backstory? - they've been in the hide for ages now - over 2 weeks, maybe 3. I'll include pics, sorry for quality. There's dirt piled up in the entrance and if you shine a light in you can see that there's a dip in the ground where the T sits. There's web completely covering all the exits. I fed them 2 crickets today because it had been a while and no sign of them coming out anytime soon. Crickets were gone when I came back home from doing other things (3 hours ish) so I'm assuming they've been eaten.

Is it okay for the spider to be completely webbed in? Is it doing something? Should I actually be concerned about this?



Also: I've been told that the set up is fine - the guy brought it to me as it was - but sometimes I worry that there's too little substrate?

 

[Flexzone]

As long as there is a source of water in the setup (waterdish) they'll be fine without intervention. Consider the dirt filled entrance as a "Do not disturb" sign it's there way of isolating themselves from the outside world for whatever reason. If any of my T's block up their hide and I couldn't visibly see signs of premolt(darkened abdomen) the safest thing would be to prekill the cricket and leave it in front of the entrance and check the next day if its been eaten..if not take it out and try again a week later. Don't forget that G. rosea's are notorious fasters so dont be surprised if it decides to stop eating for months at a time. G. rosea prefer bone dry substrate and by your picture it looks a little to moist for them and secondly I would add a lot more substrate when it decides to come out to minimize the risk of it falling if it decides to scale the glass, I also hope the seller at least placed it in an aquarium tank opposed to those exo terra's as those aren't suitable for terrestrial T's since the doors prevents you from adding more substrate. And handling is not popular among the hobby as there's always a possibility that the T could injure itself should it bite you in defense and you jerk in reflex or it gets spooked and falls to the ground.

 

[darkness975]

It sounds like your Theraphosidae (@Chris LXXIX ) is gearing up to molt. Do not disturb it while it is hiding away. It will emerge again when ready. Just keep the dish filled with clean water.

Also, do not leave crickets (or any other feeder) in there for more than a few hours. If the spider is trying to molt or is otherwise not hungry they can irritate it and injure or kill it if it starts to molt.

Your species is one of the easiest to keep. Bone dry eco earth (appropriate amount) , a water dish, and a hide. Room temperature is fine unless you live in the arctic with the Windows open.

G rosea/porteri is also famous for mood swings. You have been forewarned.

Handling is not advised; it's a risk to the keeper and the spider.

 

[oxymoronix]

Thank you for the replies! I'll make sure to follow the advice and worry a little less.

 

[cold blood]

I would suggest never feeding a t that's barricaded its self in like that...this species is notorious for fasting, what you have experienced is literally nothing to this species, fasts of a year are not uncommon, fasts of 2 years are not unheard of...going without food for 1-3 months isn't really even fasting for the species, they have a very low food requirement and take a long time to do literally everything...now as a smaller t, a fast that long would be unexpected (not impossible), but still just be patient and wait for it to emerge.

 

[darkness975]

After the Theraphosidae emerges again and you add more substrate to the enclosure, you might want to angle that hide so that it more resembles a burrow hole in the ground. That's what I do with mine, anyway.

 

[Dovey]

I am going to leave myself open for fair criticism for admitting to this, but I wanted to share. I keep my rose hair in an old Fluval Edge glass tank, and I cover the lid with screen and close-fitting rubber band. I recently moved, however, and could not find the correct size of rubber band to block off the entrance, which is about 5 by 7 at the back of the ceiling panel. My rose hair usually spends the day in an old tin can hide, and the nights in a burrow I started for her under a branch that she finished excavating to her taste. So yes, I left her in an unsecured habitat for several days, thinking that since I had never seen her climbing around she was sedentary at night when I was asleep. More fool me! One morning, I found webbing all over the exterior of the tank! She had even webbed over the tank opening! Needless to say, I got that tank covered lickety-split. They are MUCH more active at night than you may realize. I have since given her many more plants and low wood features to climb around on and explore at night, knowing now how active she is while I sleep. Her temperament tends to be pretty spooky during the day, so I believe she must have been wild caught. I handle other tarantulas, including some with reputations for less friendly behavior, but not this one, since she is temperamentally ill-adapted to human interaction.

 

[Walker253]

I am going to leave myself open for fair criticism for admitting to this, but I wanted to share. I keep my rose hair in an old Fluval Edge glass tank, and I cover the lid with screen and close-fitting rubber band. I recently moved, however, and could not find the correct size of rubber band to block off the entrance, which is about 5 by 7 at the back of the ceiling panel. My rose hair usually spends the day in an old tin can hide, and the nights in a burrow I started for her under a branch that she finished excavating to her taste. So yes, I left her in an unsecured habitat for several days, thinking that since I had never seen her climbing around she was sedentary at night when I was asleep. More fool me! One morning, I found webbing all over the exterior of the tank! She had even webbed over the tank opening! Needless to say, I got that tank covered lickety-split. They are MUCH more active at night than you may realize. I have since given her many more plants and low wood features to climb around on and explore at night, knowing now how active she is while I sleep. Her temperament tends to be pretty spooky during the day, so I believe she must have been wild caught. I handle other tarantulas, including some with reputations for less friendly behavior, but not this one, since she is temperamentally ill-adapted to human interaction.

Wow, somebody got lucky. I love it though, you didn't provide a good enough lid, so your Rose Hair fixed your mistake.

 

[darkness975]

I am going to leave myself open for fair criticism for admitting to this, but I wanted to share. I keep my rose hair in an old Fluval Edge glass tank, and I cover the lid with screen and close-fitting rubber band. I recently moved, however, and could not find the correct size of rubber band to block off the entrance, which is about 5 by 7 at the back of the ceiling panel. My rose hair usually spends the day in an old tin can hide, and the nights in a burrow I started for her under a branch that she finished excavating to her taste. So yes, I left her in an unsecured habitat for several days, thinking that since I had never seen her climbing around she was sedentary at night when I was asleep. More fool me! One morning, I found webbing all over the exterior of the tank! She had even webbed over the tank opening! Needless to say, I got that tank covered lickety-split. They are MUCH more active at night than you may realize. I have since given her many more plants and low wood features to climb around on and explore at night, knowing now how active she is while I sleep. Her temperament tends to be pretty spooky during the day, so I believe she must have been wild caught. I handle other tarantulas, including some with reputations for less friendly behavior, but not this one, since she is temperamentally ill-adapted to human interaction.

There is not really much to be said about this. It is clear that you made a grave error and it is also lucky that it was not worse. Not sure how you thought they don't move at night??

Anyway, next time move it to a secured habitat if you are unable to secure the one it is in.
Also, if you are indeed using "screen" to cover the opening then she could most definitely chew through it.
I hope you don't have a huge gap between the lid and the substrate.
A tin can does not sound like a suitable addition to the environment either.

You should post a few pictures of the enclosure. It sounds like it needs some major work.