hey guys newbie here looking for some advice...

[Mike]

... from experienced tarantularers....


my name is mike as you can tell anyway i have had a chile rose for about 14 years now... it wasnt a spiderling when i bought but was quite young when i bought it, probably less than a year old

anyway, i have had many other breeds over the years including a pink toe, salmon pink, goliath, red rump, etc... have bought a lot from dr bob bustard, this chile rose was the first spider i bought and its the only one left now!

but i recently rehoused it from the tank which it had been living in for many years, and it doesnt seem to be eating much... usually feed it black crickets... i know it will have to refamiliarize itself with its new surroundings but i am just worried, is this normal behaviour? any advice

thanks

[Phil Messenger]

HI
It's really not uncommon for G.rosea to stop feeding, sometimes for many months, it may be due to it being rehoused or just rosea being rosea, i would say nothing to worry about, i have never seen a T starve it's self to death try feeding on a weekly basis, if the food remains uneaten after 24 hoursi would remove it and retry in a week or so.

[James Campbell]

I can say for sure if it was anywhere near a year old, it would still look like a small pink sling....

More likely 3 years old if it were a small version of the adult spider going by looks...

[Skitch2]

James Campbell>>

I can say for sure if it was anywhere near a year old, it would still look like a small pink sling....

More likely 3 years old if it were a small version of the adult spider going by looks...

I would totaly agree with that.

When my Rosehair stoped feeding a few years back i just upped the temp of her tank and she very rarely fails to eat now. (she's a pig) hehe
So my advice is to....

(1) don't worry ,Chillies go off food for any number of reasons, if they are seemingly in good health and not too thin dont panik.

(2) Make sure it has fresh water.

(3) Raise the temperature your keeping it at, then try feeding it 3 days after you raise it.

[Mike]

hi guys thanks for the replies

just out of interest, what do you heat your tanks with? have always just used the standard heat pads... ie. not thermostatically controlled

it has definitely eaten since i rehoused it as there are several carcasses in the tank now... its also started rearranging the furniture dug a nice big hole in the corner!

oh well lets just hope it eats soon

[sarah Smith]

dont worry about her if she has eaten since she was rehomed she is just doing the typical fussy chille thing and not wanting to eat. Unless she is due to moult chilles will stop feeding for very long periods when they are getting ready to moult or mine does anyway.

[Howard Farley (Huk7)]

Hi Mike,

All of the information given has been spot on and I couldn't add anything extra to that. However, I would also like to say welcome to the BTS site!!!

Also you mention Bob Bustard, that's a blast from the past for the old timers in the hobby like us! I also bought some T's from him years back, I think at a BTS or IHS show, I wonder what he's doing now?

Howard