Cleaning out the tank for a Chilean Rose?

[Bobarian78]

Hello everyone,

I purchased my Chilean Rose at the BTS show in May, and she seems to be happy and is eating regularly (she does prefer brown crickets to black crickets though). The thing i am not sure of though is when to clean her tank out? How do i know when she needs a fresh enviroment. I know these spiders are pretty clean, but it is starting to look a bit tatty in there if you know what i mean...

Also, i haven't handled her since i got her (as with advice from this forum) but i don't know how i will get her out of the tank without hurting/damaging her for me to clean out the old substrate. How do i do this??

Any help or ideas kindly appreciated.

Adam

[Adam Walters]

Hi Adam,

Generally, anywhere between 6-12 months is an acceptable length of time to wait before cleaning the whole tank/replacing substrate etc. It will however depend on a number of factors including humidity levels, any leftovers that were not removed, and so on. Unless it is really tatty, or is starting to smell, it's probably best left alone.

For when you need it, here is a guide on how to remove you tarantula:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/the.tarantula.store/howto-rehouse.htm

It's pretty basic, but gives you an idea. Unless you have somewhere to store him/her whilst cleaning, you could always use the bath (plug in ofcourse and no water )

Hope this helps.

[Bobarian78]

Cheers for the reply. At least i now how to get her out of the tank. She seems quite happy in her tank at the moment, but has put so much web down that any crickets that i put in get immediately stuck and can't move! She is on a mixture of peat and cocanut.

Adam

[Layla McInnes]

She is probably happy with that web thing though! My AF G rosea wont even consider anything to eat unless its brown crickets which is terribly annoying as I detest them and much prefer to use black! You wouldnt think they would have a prefered food would you?!

[sarah Smith]

Yeah it is strange that they can be fussy beasts when it comes to food, it sure is not what I expected a year ago when I first started out in this hobby. Over time tho I have got used to the food foblies of my T`s and the strangeness of it all. By the way Layla those chacos are at it again, they wont take anything except hoppers now little fuss pots.

[Layla McInnes]

Just like me....I prefer a crunchy locust :P
kidding btw lol!