Hi all, my first post- stumbled upon this handy little place to help me navigate the world of caring for a spider.. anyways, I'll skip the intro.
Almost a week ago, I bought my first Tarantula- I had done my research, read a book and skimmed the internet and against my better judgement had to settle for buying from a local petstore. I ended up with a petite little chilean rose. As yet I haven't determined its sex (being a beginner, I don't see any hooks on the legs or bulbs on the pedipalps, but I also think it is immature) and I've been noticing some strange behaviour... imagine that.
It is all pretty typical, from what I've heard about roses, but I thought I would atleast put it out there.. Also worthy to note that I am not sure whether he/she is wild caught or bred in captivity.
First of all, it is a VERY active spider considring what I was told to expect for a rose. He/she likes to climb and has already lost a leg while I was at work, from climing his/her cage, I'm sure. In the past 24 hours he/she seems to have finally calmed down and learned to stay in one spot, but place of that there seems to be a fair bit of web spinning going on. There is now a thin layer of web on top of its substrate in one part of the enclosure. Indications of an upcoming molt maybe? It is worth taking note that the web is laid over a slope, which I thought was atypical of molting beds.
Secondly, and typically of roses, he/she hasn't eaten yet. I put three medium crickets (what the petstore said they were feeding him) in there a few days after bringing him home (they had been feeding him every day, but I have a once-a-week regimen planned for him) and he ignored them. When I went to take them out a day later, I noticed one was half-eaten in the den area I set up for the spider (which it never uses) but later attributed it to cannibalism on the part of the other two crickets.
My guess is he/she is probably coming up on a molt, or just not reacting well to the new home I've set up. Maybe still stressed from the move? The behaviour doesn't bother me too much as I've heard it talked about time and time again with roses, but any tips? It would be nice to reduce his climbing behaviour as I don't want another missing leg. How can I make my rose feel more at home, so to speak?
total newbie post, I know. Humour me.
Almost a week ago, I bought my first Tarantula- I had done my research, read a book and skimmed the internet and against my better judgement had to settle for buying from a local petstore. I ended up with a petite little chilean rose. As yet I haven't determined its sex (being a beginner, I don't see any hooks on the legs or bulbs on the pedipalps, but I also think it is immature) and I've been noticing some strange behaviour... imagine that.
It is all pretty typical, from what I've heard about roses, but I thought I would atleast put it out there.. Also worthy to note that I am not sure whether he/she is wild caught or bred in captivity.
First of all, it is a VERY active spider considring what I was told to expect for a rose. He/she likes to climb and has already lost a leg while I was at work, from climing his/her cage, I'm sure. In the past 24 hours he/she seems to have finally calmed down and learned to stay in one spot, but place of that there seems to be a fair bit of web spinning going on. There is now a thin layer of web on top of its substrate in one part of the enclosure. Indications of an upcoming molt maybe? It is worth taking note that the web is laid over a slope, which I thought was atypical of molting beds.
Secondly, and typically of roses, he/she hasn't eaten yet. I put three medium crickets (what the petstore said they were feeding him) in there a few days after bringing him home (they had been feeding him every day, but I have a once-a-week regimen planned for him) and he ignored them. When I went to take them out a day later, I noticed one was half-eaten in the den area I set up for the spider (which it never uses) but later attributed it to cannibalism on the part of the other two crickets.
My guess is he/she is probably coming up on a molt, or just not reacting well to the new home I've set up. Maybe still stressed from the move? The behaviour doesn't bother me too much as I've heard it talked about time and time again with roses, but any tips? It would be nice to reduce his climbing behaviour as I don't want another missing leg. How can I make my rose feel more at home, so to speak?
total newbie post, I know. Humour me.