A few questions regarding Chilean Roses

Hi all, I'm new to these forums and also new to keeping Tarantula's. Last Friday I ended up buying my first Tarantula, a Chilean Rose (Forgive me I'm not familiar with the latin names just yet). I read up a fair amount about them, but had a question I am unsure of. Basically, my Chilean Rose is fairly in-active, I've read this as normal and they're considered "pet rocks" at times. The one thing I was curious of is signs of his positioning/behaviour, sadly I can't provide any pictures currently until I borrow my sisters camera, but the best way to describe it would be, he seems to always hang around the sides/corners of his tank, usually with several legs pressed up against it and in some sort of huddling position with his legs quite close to his body (It's not a death curl or anything resembling one that I can tell) I just wondered if this indicated any problems with him, if it's a sign of discomfort or just nothing at all? The substrate I am using is coconut shavings, I'm actually planning to change that out this weekend if it is indeed a problem.

He has a water dish that is kept topped up though I've only seen him drink from it once which was before his first feed, I understand it could be difficult without pictures but any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Kind of sounds like your substrate is really damp. G. porteri HATE moist substrate and will go on the walls until it dries.

Both mine did the huddling when I first got them and they were fine. They would stay along the bottom edge of their enclosures and corners too but eventually stopped as they got more used to their new home. Months later they are either in their hide or in the middle of their enclosure. The substrate was dry. Mine took longer then a week to adjust to the enclosure and daily routine/noises in our home.

The substrate you're using is fine. Just make sure that it's dry. I recommend checking out the following thread:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...read-how-to-really-take-care-of-your-G.-rosea.

Mine does that. I know she's happy when she's crammed in the corner. Boy she loves her corner.

It can takes weeks for a t to adjust to a new enclosure. In time it will begin wandering at night and laying a little webbing, and in time it will reach a comfort level...I see nothing you described as abnormal, especially considering it was just re-housed a week ago. T's take a lot of patience, and this species takes significantly more patience than most other species as they grow slow and live long, so nothing they do really occurs quickly...they really have a knack for taking their time with everything.

Thanks for the replies guys, I can confirm the substrate is 100% dry, even around the water dish. I'll take a look at the link Shrike posted, also should I be concerned with how long it takes for them to eat? I fed him a locust today and he's basically been holding it every time I've checked on him, I gave him the locust roughly 8 hours ago and he's still got it with his fangs and sitting in the corner.

Sorry if it seems like a silly question to ask, just want to be sure he's all fine and that I'm doing things correct.

The bigger the prey, the longer it takes to eat (and kill). Just yesterday my 3" B. smithi ended up with the largest hopper of the bunch, which was intended for a larger G. pulchripes. It took over 10 hours to consume. That won't eat for a while, and given its feeding schedule (and time) since last molt, it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't molt very soon following that one. I have fed adult t's a few vertebrates, and they took in the 20 hour range...no worries, it knows what to do with its prey.

Drinking is not something to expect to see very often. After 14 years with t's, I still take notice when I see one drink...ironically, I caught a B. albiceps sling and a P. nigricolor sling both taking drinks just yesterday....adults and juveniles drink far less frequently. I catch my G. porteri drinking about once a year, but its a long drink. Yours may not require a drink for a long time unless it was a bit dehydrated when you got it. Sadly 3 of the 4 t's I have bought at an LPS were like this and were at the water instantly and often for a couple days, one was that B. smithi and I literally have not seen it drink since it was 1.5".

And they just sit in weird positions sometimes...what looks uncomfortable to us, seems to be quite comfortable for t's. I don't think you have any worries...the species gets a bad rap due to their quirkiness, but I find their quirks to make them more than interesting enough to own.

Yeah I figured I was just over worrying/caring but I'm glad to know it's natural.

Today a friend of my mothers gave me some new substrate to put inside his tank, considering the other substrate left a lot of room between the roof of the tank and the actual floor I figured it would be best to get rid of it and change it for the new stuff I was given since it had more substance/height. Now since I changed it he has been refusing to walk on it/sticking to the walls, I'm guessing this is also natural and he's just adapting/getting used to the new substrate? My other question was, is mixing substrates okay or a strict no-no? I was wanted to give the floor more height again at some point and wanted to use the coco fibres from before over the current substrate, which I believe is SpiderLife soil.

StateOfMind said:

Yeah I figured I was just over worrying/caring but I'm glad to know it's natural.

Today a friend of my mothers gave me some new substrate to put inside his tank, considering the other substrate left a lot of room between the roof of the tank and the actual floor I figured it would be best to get rid of it and change it for the new stuff I was given since it had more substance/height. Now since I changed it he has been refusing to walk on it/sticking to the walls, I'm guessing this is also natural and he's just adapting/getting used to the new substrate? My other question was, is mixing substrates okay or a strict no-no? I was wanted to give the floor more height again at some point and wanted to use the coco fibres from before over the current substrate, which I believe is SpiderLife soil.

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New sub will cause a period of adjustment for the t. Make sure its pressed down firmly, that's the most important thing you need to worry about, the rest is up to the t. Eventually it will start laying a little webbing, most likely during the night, and the more web it lays, the more comfortable it will become with its surroundings.

People mix substrates all the time, no biggie.