former mother of all eaters not eating...

[kosh]

my female rosehair who i had nicknamed miss piggy has stopped eating...she used to take food everyday...
she seems to have stopped eating after i cleaned her tank out...
it is a medium kritter keeper and she was eating so much i wanted to clean all the poo out and so i did with plain water (no cleaners) and i replaced the substrate with the exact same thing (100% vermiculite) from the same bag as previous substrate...i put the same hide and the same water dish in the tank all in the same locations as previous....
for the first week or so she wouldnt come off the top of her hide...now she comes down to the substrate sometimes (i guess she just needed to lay down some new webbing before she wanted to walk on the substrate)......but she still refuses to eat after 2 or 3 weeks......i have offered her crickets and superworms (she loved them before)....there is NO sign of a moult coming up.......and i am keeping her tank right next to my mature male rosehair now.....
could her lack of appetite be due to the rehousing or perhaps the new neighbor???
she does seem a little more prone to attack and bite than normal (she's NOT a very docile girl anyway)

 

[Nixy]

From what I've read from other Rosie parents. They can up and go for LONG periods of time without eating.
Offer her food. Maybe move her keeper away from the males enclosier for now and Test to see if that's the problem.
But don't keep dropping things in and yanking them out. Offer, then give her some days then offer again.
She might just be pissy about the change in her territory and needs settle in time.
Does she look healthy?
Act healthy save for the eating?
I Personaly would give her some more settle in quiet time. Reduce stresses and let her " carpet" her substrate and such.

Maybe the others will have better advice.

I hope this helps.

 

[kosh]

no i havent been "dropping things in and yanking them out"..........i have only been offering her food maybe once or twice a week.....and she hasnt been taking....i left the crickets in there and they might be in the hide hiding...but i dont have any fresh batteries for my flashlight so i cant see if the crickets are still in there...maybe she has eaten them and i just didnt see her.......i will get some batteries and check

 

[sunnymarcie]

I just cleaned my rosies house to............

I had to, it was a mess. It cleaned out it's
living space(I say IT because I'm
not sure of it's sex)I woke up yesterday to find
all of the nasties stacked up outside of my T's
hide! So, I fished everything out and changed the water. I even added a little more substrate and
a few crickets. Fangs ate up the crickets, but
would not go in the hide either. :?

 

[dennis]

My rosie hasn't eaten for a few weeks now. I offer him a cricket twice a week. When he doesn't get the cricket within 30 minutes I will take the cricket out, and try again in a few days. Best thing is, not to worry.

Dennis

 

[rob]

I didn't clean my Rosie's cage, but she also has stopped eating. She usually grabs and eats whatever I throw in (normally two crickets every two or three days) within a minute or so, but now she hasn't eaten in over a week. I threw a cricket in this morning and she not only didn't eat it, but the cricket crawled right underneath the T's abdomen. The T must have sensed this because she raised up a bit to let it get by. I wound up removing the cricket and probably will wait at least another week to feed her again. She'll eat when she's hungry enough.

 

[Arachnopuppy]

My rosea once didn't eat for over 6 months. Just keep putting water in and everything should be fine.

 

[Joanie]

Rosehairs are known to be unpredictable eaters. Mine's been fasting since November, and this isn't even a particularly long fast for her.

So I wouldn't worry about your rosehair. She might just need more time to adjust to the newly clean cage. In any case, don't worry, she's not gonna starve!

 

[Lopez]

Originally posted by lam
My rosea once didn't eat for over 6 months. Just keep putting water in and everything should be fine.

Yep, my 10 year old female hasn't eaten since at least August, and she still looks plump and healthy.

 

[Gillian]

It may be an iminent molt. My Audra stopped eating completely for 3 months, and became VERY pissy.
Peace,
Gillian

 

[kosh]

hmmmm.......i guess it could be an imminent moult....she stopped eating and has got the "very pissy" thing down pat!!!!
but it seems more than coincidental that she stopped eating at the same time i cleaned her cage out and started keeping her next to the male......
IF it is an imminent moult, how long before hand will the abdomen begin to show signs? (i.e. dark spot, etc..)

 

[ithuriel]

hi,
my rosehair was moved to a new home/tank well before xmas n wouldnt eat a thing so i left her alone n just kept the water topped up. three weeks ago she started eating again n is has happy as a rosehair can be

 

[Infinity]

I wouldn't worry about it, Kosh... rose hairs are "seasonal" eaters, and can go for months without eating. As long as you have a good clean water supply for her, she's good to go.

There was a really good post on here a few weeks ago from Bjorly (I think), which was an in-depth paper on how to care for rose hairs written by Stanley Schultz (author). It sheds alot of light on the sometimes odd behavior of the little beasts.

here's the link (I hope), just skip down to near the bottom of the page...

http://arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5292 :}

 

[kosh]

yeah, i read Bjorgly's post a while back when it was posted......it was a very interesting read......
the spider has started spending a little time on the substrate recently so i guess she probably just needs some time to adjust to her new surroundings.....(as others have suggested in this thread)...
i sure wish i knew why she was a psychopath though.....she isnt all calm and docile like my male rosehair......she actually SCARES me!!!