my poor rosy

[cleversod]

Hercules, My adult G.Rosea , is causing me a bit of worry, 3 things really.

1. Her water dish empties very quickly due to wicking and the substrate is quite wet around it now, are these water crystals/gels of any value, anyone think of a way to stop the water wicking out of the bowl ?

2. I'm going away for a few days and I think she will molt soon. She is not eating and gone dark in colour and is webbing a lot. I'm keen to ensure she has plenty of water ,, difficult if I'm away for a week.

3. She used to be such a placid girl, but since start of the summer she is one mean little cow,, doesnt shy away anymore,, go in her enclosure to clean up or change the water and she is jumping up at the tweezers and lots of threat displays, up on 4 legs,, tapping,, the works,, not like her at all. I've heard of Rosies that turn mean but this is such a sudden change. Maybe molt behaviour, but I thought they usually go slow and inactive before a molt.

Thanks
John

 

[LisaD]

Sorry to hear about the personality change in your rosy. Are you sure it is a female? How long have you had it, and what is the size and set-up of the enclosure?

On the water, can you mount a water bowl slightly above the substrate against the side of the cage? I don't believe tarantulas can utilize the crystals.

 

[Drachenjager]

water it once a month and just a tad of water.
leave it be till after it molts and give a couple weeks to harden up. see if that helps attitude

 

[cleversod]

shes about 3 years old now. I could try mounting a dish on side of cage, but cant quite see how that would help?

 

[malevolentrobot]

i wouldn't be overly concerned about the water dish, having a bit overflow and into the sub is standard practice keeping rosea. mine has a fairly shallow dish so it usually has to be topped about once a week.

like above stated, the good news about your grumpy rosea is it just as well could go back to nice after a moult. or even before that. general consensus is that rosea are a pretty weird bunch.

i'd like to know how you know your rosea is three years old, though. is that how long you've had it in your care or what you were told? depending on its size, that assumption is way off. if it was WC (wild caught, most likely) you really don't have a great idea of its age.

 

[Londoner]

Just take the waterdish out, clean off the webbing and put it back in. If you're only gone for a few days the T won't dehydrate if it's otherwise healthy. If you're worried about it molting and having no water, why not try putting an extra waterdish in the enclosure? I've done this with some of mine when I've been away for more than a week and it worked fine .

 

[cleversod]

HI, Ages is an estimate, I've had her for 2 years, and she was believed to be about a year old, when I first got her. She last molted 2 years ago, soon after I got her. So she is probably 4 to 6 years, thinking about it. But as you say, its an estimate.

 

[malevolentrobot]

at one year old, it must have been one tiny rosea when you got it then. i ask about size/age approx. because of a question already stated:

Sorry to hear about the personality change in your rosy. Are you sure it is a female? How long have you had it, and what is the size and set-up of the enclosure?

are you sure its not male? it has no sign of MM characteristics? also, as you may know rosea take forever to moult. my 4 1/2" female, for instance, was in premoult for at least 4 months (and it could have been longer, since sometimes i fail at noticing these things.)

 

[LisaD]

I mentioned mounting the water dish above the substrate because I assumed the wicking was due to substrate getting in the water dish, not from webbing. I have some Ts that disturb the substrate, and move their water dishes around or get substrate into the water dish. Second or larger water dish is also an option.

 

[cleversod]

too old for a male i think, and she is about 5 inches