My new Rose Tarantula

I just bought a Rose Tartantula from pet Supplies Plus. They said that he was dehydrated when we bought him. I think he was just starving maybe, hes back is a little thin, as in I have seen fatter, but he doesn't look unhealthy, or sickly or anything. I think they got him from a Reptile farm. I think thats sad, but what can you do? In the past two days we have had him he has eaten six Crickets!! I think thats amazing! I read they eat like 4 a week. We have just been letting him chow down since we know his booty should be bigger. Do you have any suggestions??? He has a small water dish also, and some potting soil we bought from the hardware store down here. What are those little white things in potting soil though is my question??? I'm not sure. Its SUPPOSED to be all organic, if these white things aren't I'm throwing it out and getting my darn $1.50 refund! Lol Well Thank You very much for the help! I think hes to cute by the way. I actually got to hold him today! I have held one before when I was a kid, but its been awhile. He seems very calm. I'm lovin that!

The little white things in the potting soil are probably pearlite which is a soil lightener and is organic so no wprries

Thank You SO much John. I won't worry now. I forget if I asked maybe I didn't, but do you Spider experts here have any suggestions on how to get his booty fatter??? I think I'm doing the right thing letting him eat a bunch, but am not sure. Like I said I THINK. I know with Geckos their fat tails, or behinds are their fat reserve and if they drop their tails you have to bulk them up, and get that tail fat again. So this is where I get the fatting him up idea from. Am I on the right track, is there anything else I can do???

The neet thing about tarantulas is that they will and can go llllooooonnnnngggg times between feedings. If you are worried feed it well and you can feed it pinkies,frogs,toads and small lizards for a higher protien snack. Mine eat everything so far including June bugs and other things I rustle up.
I would not worry about overfeeding as when it is full or not hungry it will not eat

Its the same as with reptiles, very high protein. Mealworms and pinkie mice will do the trick. Up the feeding to a couple of days a week. You do not want a starving tarantula on you. Add a bigger but shallow water dish as well to help with the dehydration and do not use a sponge for it to drink with. They hold a alot of bacteria.

Once you get it up to size again use a small deli cup filled with water and a cotton ball. Then make sure you change the cotton ball out regularly.

Here is the care sheet that we use for it.

http://www.scalesnstuff.com/Care%20Sheets/rosehair.html

Thank You for the advice! Ermac has eaten ten crickets in three days!! My next question is about the pinkie mice. I have a Corn Snake, so I readily have pinkies, but they are pre frozen. Pre frozen is highly recommended for Snakes, so thats what I have. Will he even take a thawed out pinkie. A lot of species won't take stuff if its not moving. My more interesting question is would it hurt the poor guy to inject his venom into something dead!???? This is what I am mainly worried about. Like would it rot the tissue being dead and then make him sick if he eats it???

Other neat question I thought about is how do you tell if they are being aggressive?? We had some friends over last night. It was Jeff(my Fiancee), and me, and our friend Chad, and our neighbor Greg. Greg LOVES Spiders, and Chad owns a Rose hair, and some all black, aboreal Tarantula that he brought over with him. Well my Fiancee and Greg got in friendly huffs last night. Jeff is way protective of his babies! Greg wanted to hold him but couldn't get him out because he went half way into his hide, but he used his finger and gently "played" with Ermac. Rubbed his legs and made him dance. Thats what it looked like! It was funny Ermac kept putting his legs up and he almost went on his hand once. I have seen Spiders mating, and fighting to think of it on Discovery channel, and they use their legs and kind of pet eachother back and forth with their legs. Its real neat, and I'm sure somebody knows what I am talking about! Well Greg thought he was making a friend this way and Jeff insisted he was being aggressive. Needless to say Jeff closed the lid, and locked him away from an all to anxious Greg! It makes me wonder though??


We also got to see the coolest thing last night. Most of the time when Ermac eats, he grabs the cricket before it can even hit the ground, or stalks it, or just sits and waits. We have never been able to see him inject though. Well last night we threw a cricket in and he smashed it against the front wall, and injected it right in front of us!! It was awesome!!! I didn't really get a good look at the fangs though. Do they inject those huge black fangs in, or do little pin needles come out of the fangs? Ok, Ermac is an adult. I know this much, he fits over Jeff's entire hand. I am just worried about the pinkie being dead. Also we have him a larger cricket keeper until we can get him moved up to a 5 and a half gallon here in a few months. We have been feeding him through the hole in the lid that snaps shut. The bigger tank though isn't going to have that. Like Snakes if we feed him in the tank will he attack when we put our hand in the tank thinking were food? I think he can differentiate now. The two lids sound different. Thats all of my questions for now. Thank You!

For the pinkies you can try to use a set of tongs to stimulate moving. The pinkies was just a suggestion, the meal worms will have the same effect, but you will need to feed it more often. The venom of the rose hair also acts as a preservant. So that should not be a problem.

Two ways to tell if the tarantula is being aggressive is by the display and the location of the fangs. When you reach to touch your Rose Hair and it lifts its front legs up that is one sign. If the fangs are spread that is another. A tarantula can not bite you if the fangs are closed. I am including a pic of a taratnula that we have that is showing both.

With feeding in the same tank for the Tarantulas we have not had a problem with mistaken identity yet.

The inclosed pic is a ticked off tarantula.

Ok, Thank you very much for that info. I am going off my Reptile knowledge here, and making guesses until you reply and educate me here. We are going to feed him a pinkie tonight. One more question, ok I'm lying I'll have more, but one for tonite. How long can we leave the pinkie in there?? We are woried about bacteria, but there venom is preservant. Thank You!

Just be careful as raising front legs can mean many things as in the post before where we see a P. murinus in a threat posture ready to deliver a nasty bite [9 out of 10 times these guys will bite].
My suggestion would be do not handle as they will also use the fangs to hold on on a unsure situation and giving you a dry bite that could turn into something worse if you try and 'panic' the spider off. Look at it like this...do ya want an elephant picking up you.
Being a rose hair and a rather 'tame' tarantula means really nothing but I would rather get bit by a rosie than an OBT [orange bitey thing ]

lets just say I have learned my lesson here

Originally Posted by Leighanne

Ok, Thank you very much for that info. I am going off my Reptile knowledge here, and making guesses until you reply and educate me here. We are going to feed him a pinkie tonight. One more question, ok I'm lying I'll have more, but one for tonite. How long can we leave the pinkie in there?? We are woried about bacteria, but there venom is preservant. Thank You!

Feeding dead pinks is like this..while it is eating a cricket set the dead warm pink under the fangs in the web mat with the crix and most likely she will take it up as she webs the crix to hold them together, try and not disturb her much when doing this