G.Rosea fasting

[Sarah Willis]

I got my G.Rosea (Cherokee) in February and I was told at the time that she had moulted 2 weeks before. So her moult was exactly 3 months ago.

Since I got her she has been a voracious eater - any cricket or grasshopper placed in her enclosure was lucky to last more than a minute or two and because I had read Rosies often don't eat a lot, I was surprised by her greed.

Anyway, I'm unsure of her age - the shop told me she was about a year old, but having posted pictures on here including one of her on my hand for an idea of scale, I was told she's more likely to be about 3 years old. As an estimate I would say her body is 2.5 inches long from fangs to tail and with her legs spread out she's about 4 - 4.5 inches across so I guess she's about fully grown?

So she's now stopped eating as of about a week ago. I've dropped a cricket in a couple of times and ended up taking it out as she ignores it. Even when it ran right into her she just picked her feet up out of the way and let it walk underneath her and get away.

Can anyone give me a clue as to if she might be simply fasting or approaching another moult? I don't know how often they moult when they get to this size, or even if they still do moult. Other than not eating, she seems just as happy as usual, sitting in her hide most of the time, coming out to sit in the warm area occasionally and she has plenty of fresh water to drink if she wants it.

[Sarah Willis]

Aha - I've gone back through several pages of posts and found someone else who asked exactly the same question! I'm not worried about her fasting anyway, as I was aware they did this. I'd still be interested to know though, if a Rosie of the size I mentioned in my previous post is likely to be fully grown and if she will still moult eventually.

[Colin D Wilson]

I have had G rosea that have stopped growing at anywhere between 4 - 6.5 inch LS, they have continued to moult on a yearly basis after that unless there has been a problem, loss of a limb etc.
As far as fasting, they don't just stop eating due to upcoming moults, they just feel the need to stop and won't feed untill they're good and ready.... still no cause for concern at all

[Sarah Willis]

Thanks for the advice, Colin. I'll just try her with a snack every so often then till she's ready to have one. Crickets are probably relieved to have a bit of a stay of execution, hahaha.

[Larry Shone]

Well my chile rose has always been a greedy guts since I had her from a sling, and now altho shes about 4 inches, and nearly adult nothing has changed with the feeding. Put a cricket/beetle/mealworm in and its gone instantly.

[Rich.Harrington]

As long as the spider isn't really using energy then even 3 months isn't alot in their terms of no food. I've given up worrying about how often any of mine eat regardless of species, I tend to just work on how they look. young slings I like to keep fairly plumb in the abdomen as they need it for growth. Sub adults and larger I just try to keep them roughly the same size abdomen as the carapace (larger and smaller depending on terrestrial/arboreal). Since most things go slowly with spiders means even if you are leaving them a little hungry for a couple of weeks you see it in plenty of time to throw in a few larger meals.

Even though it's likely only in my own head, I'd also like to think it gives the animals a more natural feeding cycle, as apart from very young slings none of my spiders have anything like a regular feed, I look in on them every couple of days to check for water and if one looks like it may be hungry then food gets tossed in. Obviously the downside to this is that your feeder animals don't really last if you are using prepacked crix/locusts.