Chile Rose feeding requirements?

[Carole Selkirk]

I have inherited my sons chile rose tarantula she is approx 18 months old and would like some advice on how to look after her without killing her with kindness. How often should I feed her and with what?
The petshop guy keeps giving me conflicting advice on feeding habits. He gave me a black cricket to see her over until the locusts arrived in store.
I know I have to keep the humidity up and water in her bowl.
I am terrified of spiders so that does not help much, I find I can cope with her as long as she doesnt move too quickly, the biggest problem I have is the live food it gives me the creeps as I cannot touch them and when I try to use pincers to pick them up I find their legs fall off and I am left with a squirming body on my carpet.
I would be grateful for any advice and no I cant rehome her!

[Ray Gabriel]

Hi Carole,

Firstly i would like to say the spider if it is eating black crickets (before the locusts arrive) it is alot older than 18 months (or do you mean your son has had the spider for 18 months?).

Black crickets will be fine, I dont know how much you know about spiders, but the abdomen (the bit without any legs) should in reality not be much bigger than the carapace (the bits where all the legs come out, sorry if that sounds a little bit cheeky but like i said i dont know what your knowledge of spiders extends to).

What substrate do you keep your spider on? Peat, vermiulite , coir.

What is the tank heated by? is there a heat maat under the tank? (do you have central heating which is on alot over the winter?)

as long as there is water in the water dish humidity for this species is not really a problem.

Can you post a pic of the spider in her tank please.

This species of spider is very docile so dont worry about her moving fast, i bet you can move faster LOL

Ray

[Carole Selkirk]

Thanks Ray!

The tank is sat on a heated mat, my son had the spider for 18 months and was tiny when he bought it, it has moulted twice to my knowledge and its overall span is 4 ins(legs and body). I will post a pic later today when I figure out how to do it. I think it is on peat and it has a log to hide in. i was told that black crickets are too rich for it so it shouldnt have too many.

[Howard Farley (Huk7)]

Hi Carole

(sorry Ray, jumping in on this!!)

Ideally the heatmat should be on the back of the tank, but underneath will be fine. However, make sure that it only covers about 1/2 of the tank floor and ideally not under the hide, this way the chances of overheating are greatly reduced.

As Ray said, regarding humidity, a water bowl (not too big though), will suffice. Not sponges or cotton wool (regardless of what pet shops will try and sell you!), just clean water, anyhting else in there is a bacteria magnet.

As for food items, well, unfortunatey, you are not alone in not liking the crickets!! But they are the best food for the T.

Black crickets will be absolutely fine for your spider and will not be too rich (I've personally never heard of that before!). However, black crickets can sometimes be a bit more aggressive than the brown ones, not a problem for your sized spider normally but potentially could be if it is moulting. Only put one cricket in at a time and remove any uneaten after 24hrs.

Keep crickets in a bigger container than what they come in, a small pet-pal type tank is fine, with some eggcrate for hiding, feed them some fish flake and pieces of fresh carrot (for moisture), replacing every few days, as the old saying goes, you are what you eat!

Chile's are renowned for fasting for long periods, so as long as it's abdomen is a good size (as per Ray's post), there is no need to worry.

Hopefully this has answered some of your questions but I'm sure you'll have more, so feel free to post away!!!!

Howard

[Ray Gabriel]

Hi Carole,

(NO probs Howard)

As Howard was saying, the heatmat should idealy be on either the back of the tank or inside the lid, depending on the tank size. the reason i was asking if you had central heating which was on alot over the winter is that if the answer was yes then you probably would not need any additional heating for a Chile Rose.

This has changed slightly as i have never heard of a chile rose growing from tiny to over 4" leg span in 18 months, this would normally take around 4 years, so i wonder what you have? and really untill we see a pic of the spider we cannot really go any further.

As for crickets being to Rich a food, this is complete rubbish, is he saying you should buy the more EXSPENSIVE locusts to feed your spider ? almost every spider in the country is fed at some point in thier lives on crickets and have been for years.

Ray

[Larry Shone]

I have to say I have no heat mat under my young Chile rose, and I keep the tank as dry as I can as its a desert species-if it gets too wet in there shes not happy and starts climbing the walls.
I feed her crickets, she seems to turn her nose up at mealworms!

[Carole Selkirk]

pictures of chile rose (if this worked!)





I hope this is a chile rose after all this. I know that the water dish needs the peat clearing out of it and just fresh water adding.The heat pad was actually under the log which the T lives in but she has just dug all the peat out from under it so I have moved the heat pad to the other side. I dont have the heating on all the time so do I still need to keep the heat pad on? Sorry to keep asking all the time but you dont get anywhere without asking and I really want to suceed with this T.

[Ray Gabriel]

Hi Carol,

Sorry for late reply bath night LOL

Ok your spider is a Chile Rose Grammastola rosea, if your son managed to get the spider this big in 18 months i have a job for him.

Ok tank looks gook, the reason it is digging is because that is what they do, the substrate depth looks a bit shallow to me, but knowing how you feel about the spider this IS ok.

i would place the heatmat on the back of the tank, if the room the spider is in does not go below 60 then i dont think they will need the heatmat, these spiders come from Chile which is not all tropical sun and skys but has a climate very similar to the UK. i have been told that it is hard to export these spiders out of chile for a few months of the year because the spiders are under a couple of feet of snow, this is the reason i think many G. rosea have long periods of non feeding.

I have been collecting spiders in the wild a few times and yet to find a colony of spiders complete with water dishes, so dont worry about the water dish being filled up with dirt, i think the spiders drink of any surface moisture they find, as well as getting much moisture from thier food. With this in mind though i would still keep the water dish (with or without dirt) damp all year round for Air humidity especially for moulting.

MOULTING i hear you ask, well when the spider comes up to moult this is when (if you manage to see it) you will be turned onto spiders and loose much of your fears.

Sometime within the next 6-12 months the spider will lay lots of web down on the ground , this is a (mouting mat) the spider will then turn onto its back at this point do not worry, dont panick but with as little disturbance as possible sit close by and watch. when you see the spider on its back dont touch it (not that you would LOL) and post up here, either myself or another member will talk you through the process so you are ok (the spider will be fine they do this all the time, its the owners who get a bit worried like expectant fathers on the first time around LOL)

Keep posting with any other questions.

Ray

[Ray Gabriel]

Just noticed you are in Hull, my UK geography is not that great, how far is that from York?

There is an invert show comming up soon in York. Just thought you might like to go there and see the live stuff and speak to other people about crickets. spiders, etc

Can someone give the date please

Ray

[Howard Farley (Huk7)]

Just noticed you are in Hull, my UK geography is not that great, how far is that from York?

There is an invert show comming up soon in York. Just thought you might like to go there and see the live stuff and speak to other people about crickets. spiders, etc

Can someone give the date please

Ray

Here you go:

8th of April
Amateur Entomologists Society York Exhibition
Held at York Racecourse
Doors Open 10.30am - 4pm | Admission: £3.00, Under 16's £1.00

[lee smith]

if you need more help, you can pm me as i too live in hull and will be happy to pop round and give you any help that you may need.

also the best place for crickets and other T related things in hull is "hull pets and gardens" on the beverly road.

[Carole Selkirk]

Thankyou to all who have replied and given me advice

A big thankyou to all of you guys who have advised me on here, I am sure there will be lots of oher questions that I will need answering. I am going to try to get to york as I think it will be really interesting. I just hope I dont kill the T with kindness.

[Larry Shone]

i am constantly being told that the chile rose is pretty bullet proof and i have to agree!
Mine will eat when she wants to and suddenly decide she's not in the mood for food. She seems quite fussy at the mo,will only eat crickets!