newbie with a few questions!!?

[adam warr]

Hi all, this is my first post, and basically i'm just after a little confirmation that all is well with my 1st ever spider!

My wife brought her for me on friday, for my birthday, from Birmingham Reptiles and Pets, who i must admit were fantastic. Chris, who dealt with the sale, was full of good advice and very knowledgeable. I would certainly recommend them to anyone in the West Mids area.

She's a Grammostola Rosea (red form) and beautiful! About half grown maybe, but I really don't know! I got the whole set up already put together, with her in it good to go.

We've called her Miley (Cyrus) which is my 8 year old stepdaughters idea, but i like it and it seems to fit!

She has a bit of a bare patch on her back, which Chris explained could mean she's moody and likes to flick hairs, or she may be readyish to moult.

Anyway, now I've introduced her, I'd just like to explain a bit of behaviour to you and hopefully get a bit of feedback to put my mind at rest.

Firstly, I noticed she is missing the very end joint of her left side 2nd from back leg. She uses the limb to walk on fine, but she obviously has no grip with it. Will this re-generate during a moult?

She also seems to hide down the side of her cork bark tunnel thingy, against the heat mat (which is on the side of the vivarium). She's laid a bit of web around, hopefully making herself comfortable there. The temp there is 30C, and the humidity is about 65%. It's not a problem that I can't really see her, I'm well aware of the fact that they are rarely seen anyway! I just wandered if this is normal, that she really likes the heat?

Also, how long does a tarantula take to eat a small cricket? I popped one in yesterday to see if she was hungry, and I'm pretty sure it's gone now, although I didn't see her eating it?

Anyway, sorry about the huge message, I have read a beginners book thoroughly, and I'm in the process of reading the Tarantula Keeper's Guide by Schultz et al. I didn't recklessly just buy a spider then panic! I just thought I would ask these questions here to hopefully get some real feedback.

Many thanks, and I hope everybody enjoyed the exhibition today!

Adam.

[Lisa Baines]

not at all and welcome to the forum.

the foot can regenerate. If it is a sub adult it will grow back fine, no need to worry. we have a haplopelma with a damaged foot and she hobbles along fine

I think by the sounds of it your rosea is doing all it should do. And it doesn't take them days to eat a cricket. we feed ours on a night and there is only a husk left in the morning.

You mentioned that the heat was 30oC. is this just in one corner / end? this should be fine so long as it has somewhere to cool down if it needs to. But I think 30oC as an ambient tank temperature might be a little too warm.... I stand corrected if I am wrong. (I'm more of a scorpion woman but we have a rosea)

[Alexander Ramsey]

Hi mate,

My first T was also a rose and over time I have come to realise how good a first T they are. Your set up sounds as good as any so no worries there.
As for the cricket thing, if you can't see it, it may be that it's burried itself in or found a corner to hide in? that seems to happen a lot with mine. So probably chuck a couple more in? The thing about roses is how resiliant they are. Mine has eaten half a dozen crix in a few days and then gone about 4 months before eating another? That means a lot of putting them in and taking them out but the T'll just do as it wants.
Generally the patch is more an indicator than a concern, often if it darkens it can mean a molt is due but again, your T will do as it wants and when it wants. Just take any crix out when you see it on its back.
You'll get a feel for the temprament over time, if its kicking a lot of hairs off its patch when you're doing tank maintenance, it probably has an attitude but generally they are a docile breed. My rose has never kicked hair at me, ever?

If you get more T's then the reading up is perhaps more important as different species have different requirements and habits, but generally speaking roses are easy going and easy to take care of.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Adam, welcome to the forum. You've got yourself an ideal starter T. I wouldn't worry about the leg, they do regenerate with moults. Look for an overall tank temp of 22-26c is fine. Eating a small cricket won't take long, maybe 30mins or so. Make sure she has water available at all times, the bald spot is most likely due to hair flicking, if she is near moulting you will notice the bald spot darken, but doubtful if she's still eating, and don't worry they can go off their food for months without ill affects. Also remember to pick up any uneaten food and the T's bolus - that's the waste from eating the cricket, they will sometimes dump them in their water bowl or nearby.

[adam warr]

Morning all,

Thankyou for the quick replies! I was hoping that the forum would be busy straight after the exhibition!

I'm glad about the foot re-growing, although my last cat got ran over and walked sideways for the rest of its life! So I'm no stranger to hobbling pets!

The temp in the tank is 30C right on the heated end, so I guess if she wanted to she could get away from the warmth. She does tend to bask in the heat though, so I'm just assuming she likes to be warm.

I havent found any cricket husks, so I'll assume she hasn't eaten them and they are burried in somewhere. I don't really want to disturb her yet as she's been making more webs all around and seems quite content, so i'll just leave them be for now and try feeding her in a few days. The bald patch is growing over now, so I'll just assume she got spooked or annoyed and had a good rub! I've got no plans to handle her really, although it would be nice to show her to the kids a bit closer, so I don't think i'll be getting bitten if she is well moody!

Cheers all,

Adam.