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Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
So while looking for ever more information about G. rosea I came across this http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html.
A lot of the info (captive breeding, care guide) there seems to counter most of my other sources. I assume it's just outdate, given the website looks like its from the 90s.

Also could anyone here post a picture of their current G. rosea tanks? It'd be really nice to see if I got the right picture from the text sources.

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Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
After some research and preparation I've finally got a 2" G. rosea (she's such a pretty little thing). I got her last Thursday and put her in a 40x25x30cm tank with peat substrate, 2 pieces of bark, and a coconut shell.

I used a dried peat block (ReptiCraft seems to be the brand name), to use it you put the brick in 4l of luke warm water and wait till it expands so you can mix it. That done I squeezed hand for hand and put it into the tank, creating a lower and a higher area so I could create the start of a burrow for her. The substrate was still slightly damp when I was done and now 5 days later it still hasn't fully dried up. This morning I discovered what appears to be mould, it appeared at 4 spots in the same area on top of the substrate.

So what am I gonna do from here on? Should I remove the T asap, even if it means I have to house her in a tupperware with newspaper/towel bedding. Then redo the tank, this time baking the substrate to make sure it dries out?

Edit: Found the source of the mould, one of the bark pieces got to damp (because of the substrate being damp?) and developed a lot of mould below it. I took the everything except the waterdish out of there for now, she'll have to be in the open while I prepare new substrate. This time I am gonna put it in the oven to dry it out.

Tahirovic fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Mar 24, 2013

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
Yeah I removed it, but I don't have a proper place for her. Right now she's sitting in a small tupperware while I am busy baking and drying the new peat. The only reason she was on slightly damp substrate in the first place was because I figured it would dry rather quick. Schultz' guide says to not obssess too much over it if it's not dry enough when you put it in :(

Even the new patch isn't fully dry after baking. I put a bit less of an inch of it into the tank with a heatmat below, no clue how long it will take to completly dry. (the rest of it is spread on newspapers)

Edit: How long could I leave her in that tupperware (it has small holes for air) till the new substrate is 100% dried out?

Tahirovic fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Mar 24, 2013

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
That is good to know, I've added her a small hide (it's a mini cardboard box without paint or anything on it) and a jar lid with some water. I do feel terrible for having hosed up already tough, I think she's trying to make it worse by being nice to me as well. She seems so compliant when I need her to move (using a soft brush), she's not raised her legs in that aggro-pose once so far.

Hopefully I can put her back in her big tank tomorrow after work and get her some crickets on tues or weds. Buying her some crickets tomorrow and feeding her once she's back in the tank is too soon, right?


Fakeedit: 20 years after letting a ballpython die due to bad care by 10 year old me, I still got a trauma :(

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
My G. rosea (I named her Nessa) is doing well, I put her into the newly made tank yesterday and she seems to enjoy it. She adopted the tube shaped clay hide and rarely leaves it. When I put 3 crickets into the tank she waited patiently for them to come close then pulled them into her hide.

I do have two more questions tough, first I know I should remove her food left overs but they are in her hide. Will she put them out of there once she's done? Do I really have to chase her out of there so I can remove them?
Second problem is the humidity, it's only at 40% (my room is 34%). I now covered the ventilation slit at the top with a towel, there should still be enough ventilation trough the front bottom slit. Schultz says to not mist tanks for this species at all as they hate it, but how am I gonna get the humidity up without misting?

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
Finally managed to catch Nessa outside of her hide, so I figured I'd share.

unknown age, female G. rosea (info from LPS not sexed myself, but I don't see any hooks)



I don't know if she is a generic or a color morph. All I know is she a very clean spider, she pushed a bit of leftovers from the crickets outside of her hide, will she always do that?

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
If I want a bit of light to better see my T while she is active at night, my best option would be some kind of red light I only turn on when I want to watch?

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe

anotherblownsave posted:

That's a beautiful spider you've got there. Thanks for the reassurance on the choice. I'll definitely post back when it molts. I'm amazed at how chill this spider is, I've had it out and just let it crawl up and down my arm for 10 minutes or so, and then it just wanted to sit on my hand and hang out.

I've not noticed that my G. rosea (got her 4 weeks ago) is super lazy and calm. When I feed her she'll wait in her hide till those stupid crickets run to her. Why move for food if it comes to you?
She is an awesome eater so far, I've gotten her 4-5 crickets every week and she ate them all, except the last one this week, which she only killed.

On the topic of food, at my LPS I can get crickets, roaches and several kinds of worms. So far I've fed her crickets, but I hear roaches are healthier? What are the pros and cons of varying her diet a bit?

And am I right in thinking, it's impossible to overfeed a T?

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
So summer is approaching and the temps in my apartment are rising, A/C is not really a thing in Europe, so my G. rosea will soon have to suffer the 30ish degrees. I read that higher temperatures affect the spider's metabolism, does this mean I'll have to feed her more or more often?

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
I am not sure if you can find it online, but in Schultz' Tarantula Keeper's guide there is at least one picture of a spider missing part of a leg.

Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
That sounds very cheap, I am looking into getting a juvie G. pulchripes as my second T and they seem to cost around 40-60$ here.
Setups and care sheets make it sound like G. pulchripes and G. rosea have about the same requirements, or is there much of a difference?

Fake edit: my G. rosea seems to be doing well, other than putting substrate into her water dish every now and then.

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Tahirovic
Feb 25, 2009
Fun Shoe
Is there any risk in feeding my G. rosea bugs I find in my apartment? Stuff like these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphimallon_solstitiale or Ectobius lapponicus. I've also found some other bugs that I figured might make a nice meal for her, but wasn't sure if it's safe.

What I am thinking is that I could just toss them into her tank instead of putting them outside after catching them.

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