increase in appetite...

jesstarantula<3

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
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11
what would be a good reason for my Grammostola rosea to suddenly be eating more. When I got her she would eat 2-4 crickets a week and now she is eating that many or more in a day. and before she molts she stops eating completely so I'm not sure why the sudden increase in appetite.
 

NevularScorpion

Arachnoangel
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Jun 30, 2007
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Her body is probably adapting to her new feeding habits. If she is an adult I don't recommend feeding her that often.
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
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Feeding a G. rosea that much can cause it to fast which can be frustrating, so food for thought. Did you ever try feeding it more than 2-4 before? Is it possible that it would have eaten more had you tried?
 

jesstarantula<3

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
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Feeding a G. rosea that much can cause it to fast which can be frustrating, so food for thought. Did you ever try feeding it more than 2-4 before? Is it possible that it would have eaten more had you tried?
I guess it's possible that she would have eaten more, but now she gets irritated if she doesn't eat everyday and she didn't do that before.
 

B8709

Arachnoknight
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Nov 25, 2009
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Why are you feeding 4 a day? Don't do this. It's so unnecessary. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Feed it 1 or 2 a week.
 

jesstarantula<3

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
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Why are you feeding 4 a day? Don't do this. It's so unnecessary. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Feed it 1 or 2 a week.
She gets irritated if I don't feed her. She climbs the walls of her terrarium and taps her front legs repeatedly until she eats and then she calms down and goes back into her burrow.
 

B8709

Arachnoknight
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She gets irritated if I don't feed her. She climbs the walls of her terrarium and taps her front legs repeatedly until she eats and then she calms down and goes back into her burrow.
I've never heard of anything like that. It sounds ridiculous. Just let her climb the walls then.
Also...Powerfeeding like you're doing can result in a shorter lifespan.
 

jesstarantula<3

Arachnopeon
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Jul 26, 2010
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She's a 4.75" female Grammostola rosea. How many crickets would you recommend I feed her in a weeks time?
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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Jan 5, 2005
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my adult female would get 6-12 adult crickets A YEAR. she wouldn't eat for about three months during winter and for summer would get a cricket every couple weeks. she stayed very nice looking


it kinda sucks cuz feeding is the one time they (usually) do something so the desire for interaction can lead a new hobbyist to over feed. also, they are not warm blooded so even relative to size they burn calories WAY slower than mammals... they just don't need as much food.

there *are* tarantula species that do need to eat more often... but G. rosea are pretty slow growers and have quite minimal food requirements
 

Stopdroproll

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Aug 27, 2006
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I feed my Ts (slings/juvs/subadult) like once a month and they are still pretty fat. Feeding way to much.
 

Motorkar

Arachnobaron
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Aug 16, 2009
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I can feed my spiders every day for whole month streight with beetles from mealworms becouse they get that fat look after more than a month, its same resuilt if you give them a superworm or three a month. I did this experiment, did it with crckets and they need about 1 week and a half to get really fat. With roaches its about something similar than the beetles from mealworms. I feed my both juveniles just a bit more becouse I want them to get that bulkier body and when they grow up I will feed them about ONCE every 14 days or so.
 

Londoner

Arachnoangel
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Mar 21, 2008
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G. rosea is one of the species that I don't have a set feeding schedule for. I just go by abdomen size. When it starts to look smaller I'll let it have a little feast. Sometimes this can mean a couple of months between meals for some of my adults.
 

jesstarantula<3

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
11
Yeah I definitely have been over feeding her. I cut her back and will only be feeding her a cricket or two (at the most) a week.
 

NevularScorpion

Arachnoangel
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Jun 30, 2007
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she can probably see her own reflection in her cage causing her to drum like that. some of my curlys does that too because they see their reflection in their cage making them think that their reflection also wants to mate with them XD, it does not matter if its a male or not. Also, since your feeding her a lot she is probably ready to mate that is why she is very receptive.
 

jesstarantula<3

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
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NevularScorpion: haha it's funny that you said that because I started to wonder if that's what it might be because I only know of tapping as being mating related.
 
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