First G. rosea just arrived!

[DVirginiana]

My first G. rosea just arrived, and is settled into her new home! She looked like she might be hungry (sounds ridiculous I know, but she just seemed way too interested in anything moving) so I offered her a cricket, and she actually chased it down so I guess she was ready to eat.
Which brings up a question: How often and how much do you generally feed your G. roseas? I've read everything from one cricket once a week to one cricket every two days.
Also, do you gutload your crickets with anything in particular? I've heard too much calcium can cause them to have trouble molting.

 

[MatthewM1]

They often don't require much time to settle in enough to want to eat. How big is the rosea? One a week is plenty. They will grow a bit faster if fed more often but even then rosea will have slow growth with potentially long periods of fasting before a molt. Very little is known about dietary needs of a tarantula and some argue that gut loading is not even necessary for them. I personally do still anyways. Whatever you gut load feeders with for your amphibians will be just as good for your T's. The calcium thing is a myth with no real evidence behind it.

 

[DVirginiana]

Yeah, it took her all of two minutes to settle in enough to eat.
She's an adult (maybe 4" legspan). I don't dust my crickets' food with anything, but it's good to know they aren't that sensitive to calcium.
About how often should I expect to see an adult molting? I've got to say, the tarantula is looking to be a lot lower-maintenance than I was expecting!

 

[MatthewM1]

They are as low maintenance as they get lol. Most likely around 1x a year for now. And longer in between as she ages. She'll probably still grow a little more for you, im not 100% on average max sizes of rosea. I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of the tarantula keepers guide by Stan Shultz. Its considered by many to be the hobby "bible" it covers the basics of everything from anatomy, behavior, captive care and breeding.

 

[MatthewM1]

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/spiders.html

This is the authors webpage. Lots of info on there as well.

 

[DVirginiana]

Great, thanks for the info!