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Is my Rose Hair happy or unhappy?

OraisteEthereal

New Member
3 Year Member
Messages
4
I adopted my rose hair tarantula, Sharlo, on 6/11/2014 off of craigslist. I have no idea what gender Sharlo is but I'm pretty sure it's a she, so that's what I've been going with. The guy I adopted her from said that he saw her in a pet store not doing well at all. He said she was sluggish with a tiny abdomen that she was dragging on the ground. He bought her out of pity and fattened her up. Said he fed her pinkies. I brought her home on the 11th. She ate 2 crickets on the 20th of June and hasn't eaten since. She barely moves at all. I have her in a 5 gallon tank with peat moss, water dish, hide, and lid. I have handled her many times and she is quite docile. Her abdomen looks fine and she doesn't seem sick, but like I said, she barely moves at all. Sometimes she moves about the tank every once in a while but she mostly just picks a corner and stays there. I've caught her grooming on 2 occasions and she can groom for hours. She's not one to stay in her hide which surprises me. She doesn't make any webbing at all really. She made a web bed twice the first week and of course webbed over her food when she was eating on the 20th of June, but after that, nada. She worries me. I have a window ac unit in the bedroom where she stays and when I'm in the bedroom during the day, it can get to be about 72-74 degrees in her tank (via thermometer). I try to feed her a cricket every few days but she normally wants nothing to do with it. She even gets upset with them touching her and she moves away. I would normally put the crickets in there with her but they seem to bother her and they would drown in her water bowl. I have changed her setup around a few times, could this be upsetting her? She doesn't seem to be in pre-molt, her colors are great. I can't figure out what's wrong. I'm posting pics of her on here. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I've read about some tarantulas being like pet rocks so maybe I'm worrying over nothing.


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novakdesigns

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
279
I wouldnt worry much, after eating the mice from other owner shes prob still quite full, rosies are funny things and go for months without eating at a time and as for her not moving around much that ok, you will often hear this breed referred to as a pet rock as they just sit still for long periods of time. Its great that shes docile and lets you handle her, if she was unhappy and p'd off theres no way she would let you handle her. Enjoy your new baby she looks beautiful
 

OraisteEthereal

New Member
3 Year Member
Messages
4
Thanks. Your response was really fast and puts me at ease. I'm lucky, that's for sure. I've been around some not so docile spiders and she is like a puppy dog compared to them. I'm still very careful, though. I've read all about the sometimes bipolar rosies :p
 

novakdesigns

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
279
Oh yh you can get some psycho rosies lol ive been really lucky with my rosies, they are friendly like yours but i do have a grumpy red knee that throws massive diva fits if i so much as look in her direction
 

Sabeth

Moderator
3 Year Member
Messages
816
Location
USA
Her living conditions sound perfect and she looks healthy. She might be approaching a molt, that would explain her not eating.
 

Neoza

New Member
3 Year Member
Messages
4
Location
Belgium
Tarantulas just dont move much. She looks perfectly normal. And happy? That you never can tell. One thing that will make her happier is less handling her. Tarantulas are no dogs! They dont want to be handled, and its dangerous (i mean for the T) he can fall or he can bite you and you will throw him accidently on the ground and he could be dead! In the beginnig of having T's i also handled them much bevause i wanted to adore him like my dog but when i more started to observe him i realize they dont like it. :)
 

Tgirl1010

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
274
Location
My burrow
She looks great to me. I would only offer her a cricket every couple of weeks if she isn't eating. Keep her water dish full. It's perfectly normal for her to not move around much. I've had some of my ts sit for days in the same exact spot in the same exact position. A couple of times in the colder months, our G rosea has burrowed, sealed the burrow and not come out at all for several months. That means no eating, or wandering around at all for that whole time. No molt either..just burrowed. She looks plenty fat so I wouldn't worry one bit about her not eating. Too much prey running around in there when she isn't hungry could stress her also.
 

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