My G Pulchra is so defensive

RoseT

Arachnosquire
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
87
I feel bad for her everytime I feed her she runs for it like she hasn't been fed in months ( I guess &we eating is the good part) I'll throw two small crickets in shell grab one have it in its mouth and still try and attack the other one, not to mention she almost always raises her abdomen when I open her inclosure, then I drop in some water through the screen for some humidity and she runs toward it and thinks its prey. From what I know this is not normal behavior for the species but I do understand every T is different. I guess I just want to know if maybe in time she will calm down, she's about 2 inches in leg span and I've had her for 3 days now.
 

Shell

ArachnoVixen AKA Dream Crusher AKA Heartbreaker
Staff member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
1,659
It could mellow with time, or it could just be the way it is. 3 days isn't much time to settle in, that could be part of it also. Grammostolas are known for having mood swings as well.

My pulchra has a VERY strong prey drive as well, and I have a B. smithi who will dive into her water dish to attack the water when I fill it up. Every spider is an individual. Give it more time to settle in. I also have numerous spiders who will take down (or attempt to) a couple of crickets at once.
 

DrJonnyD

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 8, 2010
Messages
54
I have had my little girl for over six months and she is the same. She will dry bite at anything that moves in her tank (water, tongs, crickets, my hand), it doesnt matter. she will on occation kill a cricket and just leave it there till it rots. I dont mess with her at all. Got her so i could have one to handle, but of course that is not the case with mine. She is about three and a half inches. I hope she changes, but if she doesnt, its alright. I just have to be on my toes, she is beautiful just the way she is.
I read they may not be as deffensive if you remove them from thier enclosure. The behavior is just a response to you messing with "HER" home. Good luck with your little girl.
 

Bill S

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 2, 2006
Messages
1,418
My small G. pulchra is also an aggressive feeder. Not sure that's unusual. Actually, my G. roseas are also aggressive feeders unless they're walled up getting ready to molt. I suspect that the aggressiveness they attack prey with is related to how much you feed them - overfeed and bloat them and they may go "on the wagon" once in a while.

By the way - the word here is aggressive, not defensive. Defensive is when an animal is protecting itself from perceived threats, so when a tarantula throws a threat display in response to your hand entering its space, it's being defensive. But if it attacks that hand with the intent of eating it - or more typically attacks a cricket with the intent of eating it - that's aggressive.
 

RoseT

Arachnosquire
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
87
^^ Agreed, i just didnt want to make it sound like shes a brat.. =). I love her though, and I dont care how she turns out, I guess im just disappointed that theres a possibility that I wont get to handle her soon. Its ok, I think shed rather be observed than handled...My Rose Sling and B smithi are my calmest, they are both great when feeding comes around, very patient and calm...Cant wait till they get bigger.
 

eporter

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
42
I love my rosie, mine would go after 2 crickets at once before it went MM on me (doesn't eat much at all now). its personality is really calm, almost pet rockish, it likes to teleport and the most it gets defensive is to slap my finger if i try to get near it to do cleaning and it doesn't want me too, and even then not that often. although I have to tell this story b/c there is no one i can do that to where i am at. I had to hide my rosie when my apartment got inspected (once a year), put him in the back of my closet, but he was fine, didn't get below 70 degrees. so i put him back under his heat lamp and then he crawled up onto the ceiling of his cage. now i know this is typical rosie behavior, but mine doesn't do that very often at all, and b/c the roof of his encloser has a mesh (converted fish tank) that i have covered in plastic on one side (control humidity and flying bugs) i didn't want his feet to get stuck so i gently nudged him back on top of his log, where he proceeded to lift his body all the way up on his tiptoes to get closer to the heat lamp. but he didn't go for the walls again. i thought it was so cute that he stayed down off the ceiling. i felt bad though that he had to go up on his toes in an effort to get warm, but it only took a short while to get the temp back up to 80 degrees....anyway, i thought it was cute and y'all are T owners, so i thought you'd enjoy it...i love my random personality generator!
 
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