Q about my G. rosea

RL600

Arachnopeon
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Jan 10, 2007
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I moved her in to a new 'home' a few weeks ago. I had some crappy mulch stuff in there that the pet store gave me. I was told it was bad, so i switched to bedobeast (3 or so weeks ago). Ever since the switch she hasn't been moving around her terrarium as much as she did when the mulch was in there. Shes always on top of the artificial plant (she uses it like a hammock, its so funny), or on top of the rock hide (the fake plant is on top of the rock hide, so she isnt moving much). She never moves off of those 2 things. She is moving from one spot to another on the plant and on rock hide though. So atleast shes moving. Also, she hasnt eaten at all in the last 1-2.5 weeks. Anything wrong? Pre-molt? :( ugh.
 

Mushroom Spore

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Ever since the switch she hasn't been moving around her terrarium as much as she did when the mulch was in there. Shes always on top of the artificial plant (she uses it like a hammock, its so funny), or on top of the rock hide (the fake plant is on top of the rock hide, so she isnt moving much). She never moves off of those 2 things. She is moving from one spot to another on the plant and on rock hide though. So atleast shes moving.
In other words, she is a completely happy and healthy G. rosea, congratulations. :D

As for premolt, not eating for 1-2 weeks is NOTHING. Mine didn't eat for five months before it molted, and one board member had one go two years. Heck, it might not even be premolt, sometimes they just aren't hungry. How often do you feed it, and what? If you feed more than a cricket or two a week, it's probably too stuffed for more.
 

Tunedbeat

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Yea, my rosea hasnt ate anything in a year! And she doesn't move much.
 

BurrowDweller

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Sounds like a happy rosie to me too. I have three and they don't move around much, kinda like an eight legged pet rock most of the time. If they start moving a bunch then I know somehting is up with them.
 

Mina

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Not eating much, not moving much = happy, normal, rosie. I have 6, they don't tend to hide but they don't move much either. Food is very much a occasional thing for them. My biggest female eats somewhere in the area of every other time I feed her, and when she moves, it is a call the media event. Yours sound completely typical, in other words, just fine.
 

bigo

Arachnosquire
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but it also could be avoiding the moisture from the bedobeast.
 

Alice

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it sounds like a happy rosie. if she is avoiding the bedobeast, it might be because it's moit. rosies HATE moist substrate, so make sure it is bone dry. but everyone here already told you: there is nothing wrong with a rosie not eating and not moving. so enjoy your pet :)
 

prey

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Rosies often elicit much more excitement from the owner upon arrival than they do after getting well-fed and settled in. Again, though, this is a good thing. Unless your bedding is too moist (easily corrected by ample ventilation and abstaining from adding moisture), your T is right as rain. I got a finger or eyeball feel for moisture/humidity by gauging it first. There are very inexpensive, adhesive indicator strips on the market for reptiles that go inside the vivarium. I went with electronic, digital humidity measurement devices only to find they all gave different readings. Averaging the readings, I went with the mean, and have thrived and stopped testing. But most of this was for relativley advanced concerns that never really applied to my G. rosea.
Rosies are, of course, usually fine with just a water dish evaporating in the tank. Still ,though, I've never just plopped any (even low humidy loving) spider onto a substrate so dessicated that it might suck the moisture out of my pet, esp. w/unmoistened vermiculite and dusty, uber-dry peat at play.
Sounds like you're doing fine :) Bed-a-beast is coconut fibre, isn't it? Great stuff. CocoSoft touts having retained tannins to better repel nasties. Sure enough, it's the best I've had. I'm converting from 50/50 peat/vermic to CocoSoft in the containers I can afford to fill w/it, lol. Peat and vermiculite I was getting by the cubic yard and so my fathful old deep burrowers will have to cope with it for now!
 
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RL600

Arachnopeon
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the bedobeast seems a little moist, so maybe so. but i appreciate everyones replies! im glad shes fine. i just thought it was really odd because she used to be more active moving around and eating and such. but as long as shes fine, sounds good to me! thanks a lot guys. appreciate it.
 

daniel s.

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I have my chilean rose in the coconut substrate too and everytime I clean her cage monthly and have to replace it with new one, since it's still damp it does take her some days to settle down too so don't stress over it. And how did you sexed your tarantula, is there a special method of doing so?

-Dan
 

Mushroom Spore

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I clean her cage monthly
You don't need to do this. Just pick out cricket bits and any mold, and you're good to go. I haven't changed the enclosures on my big Ts in over a year now, and they're all settled in and happy. :)
 

daniel s.

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You don't need to do this. Just pick out cricket bits and any mold, and you're good to go. I haven't changed the enclosures on my big Ts in over a year now, and they're all settled in and happy. :)
Is there any major consequences for only changing the substrate once a year then? Like can tarantulas poo and piss and make the cage smell bad? Sorry if this may sound stupid, I'm still learning a lot of good information in this awesome forum:)

Thanx,
-Dan
 

Mushroom Spore

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Is there any major consequences for only changing the substrate once a year then? Like can tarantulas poo and piss and make the cage smell bad?
Haha, no. Tarantula poo (which is the entirety of their waste, they do not urinate) is tiny, tiny white specks that usually get buried at the back of the enclosure. My big Ts are on the same dirt they were the day I got them, and there's maybe 2-3 tiny visible poo spots at all. Tarantula poop is not like what we're used to as humans, or from other mammals or even reptiles. Their metabolisms are VERY efficient.

You don't even need to change it once a *year*. If you own a poop-crazy species like Avicularia you might want to do more cage cleaning just so it'll look better, but the spider doesn't care.

The only way a T's cage is going to smell bad is if the tarantula dies in there and is left to rot for several days. Or if you feed it mice or fish. Or if some kind of crazy fungus takes over, but since G. rosea should be kept completely dry with a water dish, you'll never have fungus.
 

daniel s.

Arachnopeon
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Thanx for the information Mushroom Spore! You rock!!!!:) Do you also know how I can sex my rosie?
 
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Mushroom Spore

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Do you also know how I can sex my rosie?
Nope, I have no skillz there. But there's some linked threads and image examples in the Tarantula Sexing subforum or whatever it's called. If you can get the hang of it, you're better than I am. {D
 
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