My 7 month female Chilean rose seems aggressive and always hungry

[23 Stuart 23]

Greetings

have a 7 month female Chilean Rose she has shed twice since I have had her, before her last shed she would eat and seemed relax I could handle her no problem but after her shed which has been 1 month sheseems aggressive and hungry I try change her water and comes from her shelter to seem like go for me on a regular, I was told to feed her more as she could be hungry, yesterday she ate 3 meal worms no problem and today she still going for me, she has pulled her water bowl into her shelter, can anyone help what can I do that's if anything is wrong as this could be normal behavior not sure any advice will help.

 

[Lokee85]

Sounds fine to me, a tarantula's temperament can change for seemingly no reason from day to day. You can never truly predict their behavior which is why it's never a good idea to handle them.

 

[23 Stuart 23]

Sounds fine to me, a tarantula's temperament can change for seemingly no reason from day to day. You can never truly predict their behavior which is why it's never a good idea to handle them.

Thanks, I understand about the handling but what must I do about the feeding as she will keep eating if I put a meal worm in but I stopped at 3 yesterday but she would have eaten a 4th.

 

[darkness975]

Thanks, I understand about the handling but what must I do about the feeding as she will keep eating if I put a meal worm in but I stopped at 3 yesterday but she would have eaten a 4th.

A 7 month old Grammoatola porteri would be the size of a pinky nail.

Post pictures.

They are opportunistic feeders and will eat as much as they can when they can. Feed it a cricket every other week and call it a day.

 

[23 Stuart 23]

 

[23 Stuart 23]

View attachment 262779

I was told she is 7 months so being new to having a tarantula I took the person's word.

 

[Lokee85]

Thanks, I understand about the handling but what must I do about the feeding as she will keep eating if I put a meal worm in but I stopped at 3 yesterday but she would have eaten a 4th.

Yeah, like darkness said, they'll often eat as much as you give them until they're full and go on a LOOONG fast. Best way to avoid long fasts is to limit feeding to once every week or two with a G. rosea/porteri. There's not really much you can do about the spider "going for you" other than be careful not to get tagged while doing maintenance.

In regard to your picture, if you insist on handling your T (which is, of course, your choice, your business), please do so in a more responsible way because I would hate for you to lose your T from a ruptured abdomen. The height you are holding the spider at in that pic (if my eyes are seeing correctly) spells certain death if she gets spooked and bolts (again, their temperament can change in an instant). If you are dead set on handling, do so on the floor in a wide open area, have catch cups handy, and NEVER lift the spider more than a couple feet off the ground so you reduce the risks to the spider.

 

[Lokee85]

View attachment 262779

And she's ADORABLE, by the way.

 

[23 Stuart 23]

Thank you for your advice, I will definitely remember that.

 

[Goopyguy56]

I just make sure the abdomen isn't too fat. If your t starts to have a huge nicky minaj butt just slow down the feeding. I never messed with "x" number of crickets a week. Just keep the booty plump but not too crazy. Thats my 2 cents anyways

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I was told she is 7 months so being new to having a tarantula I took the person's word.

She's at least double, maybe even triple that. It's better to just tell us the diagonal leg span (measured from the tip of the front leg on one side to the tip of the back leg on the other side).

Thanks, I understand about the handling but what must I do about the feeding as she will keep eating if I put a meal worm in but I stopped at 3 yesterday but she would have eaten a 4th.

At that size you should be feeding once a week at most.

but after her shed which has been 1 month sheseems aggressive

Everyone else knows what's coming here

A tarantula's temperament can change at any given time and is dependent on the individual (just because a species is considered "docile" doesn't mean that's what you'll get), they can change after a moult or even just at random, G. porteri are notorious for being "a bit bipolar" which is why more defensive individuals are known as "Psycho Rosies".

I have a Brachypelma hamorii (a species that is generally considered "docile") female who went from "most docile tarantula ever" to "raging psychopath" after her second moult in my care, she greets me like this now.

My B. hamorii is still defective.

• The Grym Reaper
• Jul 23, 2017
• 8
• brachypelma brachypelma hamorii brachypelma smithi hamorii mexican redknee tarantula threat threat pose threat posture

She still thinks she's a P. cancerides.

 

[23 Stuart 23]

Thanks for all the advice but I just want to check should I stick with meal worms or change to roaches, crickets or super worm and how many a week or month.

 

[sasker]

Aren't G. porteri and G. rosea known for being docile except for the 5% or so that are maniacs that want to bite your face off? Another thing: I have a theory that frequent handling might reduce some tarantulas' tolerance to handling. It's not that the more you handle a tarantula the more relaxed they are about it. But in this case it is obviously the change of character between molts.

@The Grym Reaper : I'm still a bit jealous that my B. hamorii is not more like yours. Has yours molted since she turned to the dark side? Did she become any less aggressive after that?

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Aren't G. porteri and G. rosea known for being docile except for the 5% or so that are maniacs that want to bite your face off?

No, they're notorious for being psychos, Senshii84 on YouTube has a video explaining why they're not good starter tarantulas, she tests the temperaments of 4 of them (2 rosea and 2 porteri) and 3 out of the 4 were pissy.

@The Grym Reaper : I'm still a bit jealous that my B. hamorii is not more like yours. Has yours molted since she turned to the dark side? Did she become any less aggressive after that?

She's moulted once since then and, if anything, she's nastier

 

[Sadie11]

At that size, IMO, I would switch to roaches or crickets. I would feed one of whichever you decide on, once a week. You may want to skip a week here and there on the feeding if the abdomen is huge. If you want to continue to use mealworms, that's fine. I would feed 2 mealworms a week, but spread them out over the week. I personally don't like super worms. Like I said, this is all just my opinion.

 

[Paul1126]

You may want to skip a week here and there on the feeding if the abdomen is huge

Is having a huge abdomen on a tarantula that size an actual problem?
I would guess the only time a huge abdomen would cause problems is on an adult.

 

[Sadie11]

@Paul1126 The reason I said that is to keep the T eating. If she's constantly being fed, there's the possibility of it fasting for quite a while. Especially this species. Am I wrong? (Truly wondering, not being a smartbutt. Lol)

 

[Paul1126]

@Paul1126 The reason I said that is to keep the T eating. If she's constantly being fed, there's the possibility of it fasting for quite a while. Especially this species. Am I wrong? (Truly wondering, not being a smartbutt. Lol)

That's true I believe, I wasn't attacking you I was curious.

 

[Anoplogaster]

I actually don’t have a set feeding schedule for my Ts. I mostly just look at their body conditions and what they’re doing. I’ll look at one and think “Yeah, she could eat. Here’s a fat roach.” Spiders are sculpted for survival on very little food. As humans, we like to have a regular eating schedule for ourselves. Most spiders in nature are “sit and wait” predators. Depending on the species and what their natural habitat is, there could be LONG stretches of time between meals. And they are adapted to that.

In your case, you can choose to feed a lot until it goes on a fasting period. The fasting periods can go for a tremendously long time for this species. Or, you can feed sparingly, and you’re more likely to see it eat each time.

Now, the one thing you should NOT do is feed it a lot for the sole purpose of calming it down for handling. That is not a good mentality to have as a T keeper.

 

[Deb60]

She's at least double, maybe even triple that. It's better to just tell us the diagonal leg span (measured from the tip of the front leg on one side to the tip of the back leg on the other side).



At that size you should be feeding once a week at most.



Everyone else knows what's coming here

A tarantula's temperament can change at any given time and is dependent on the individual (just because a species is considered "docile" doesn't mean that's what you'll get), they can change after a moult or even just at random, G. porteri are notorious for being "a bit bipolar" which is why more defensive individuals are known as "Psycho Rosies".

I have a Brachypelma hamorii (a species that is generally considered "docile") female who went from "most docile tarantula ever" to "raging psychopath" after her second moult in my care, she greets me like this now.

My B. hamorii is still defective.

• The Grym Reaper
• Jul 23, 2017
• 8
• brachypelma brachypelma hamorii brachypelma smithi hamorii mexican redknee tarantula threat threat pose threat posture

She still thinks she's a P. cancerides.

She must have PMT or be going through the change