G. Porteri always hungry

[sasspants]

Owned my G. Porteri for a few months now and he's doing great! But...he's started to want feeding a lot more lately. When we first bought him he only ate 2-4 crickets a week, and sometimes he'd leave them and we'd remove them from his enclosure soon after. This last month he has shown slight aggression due to hunger we think, and seems to go only a day or two without food before he's hungry again. Then will be very docile and welcoming after he's fed. The pet shop we bought him from hadn't kept him well, he was on wood chips for substrate and when I moved him into his home now there were tons of dead crickets in the small box they kept him in. They advised us to feed him every other day which people had said was crazy and way too much for a T!!
Of course we don't want to feed him too much and make him unwell, but his agression is unsettling us. Any suggestions or advice?

 

[spidey noob]

i used to find my Ts were all ways hungry when i feed crickets, try giveing him one of these instead locust/superworm/roach should fill the little fella up a bit more.

 

[sasspants]

Okay will try that, thank you

 

[Poec54]

Rosea's/porteri's are famous for mood swings. Calm ones can molt and be defensive for the rest of their lives. Many stories of them being unpredictable, and defensive without warning. They're popular in the hobby because they're the cheapest of w/c adult tarantulas, and they're very hardy. Not because of their easy going temperaments.

I've got hundreds of tarantulas and none of them are welcoming They're wild animals, intruders often kill them. I wouldn't expect any tarantula to welcome a large intruder. I much prefer them to act naturally. Tarantulas are never 'aggressive.' They're territorial. In the wild their lives revolve a few square feet of soil. At times they defend that with their lives. In captivity, that cages is theirs, not yours. At times they will defend it, regardless of your good intentions. Don't be surprised when that happens. They also leap on food when they're hungry, and may not realize what they've bitten until after the fact. I certainly wouldn't trust them around my fingers.

 

[sasspants]

I respect they are wild animals, hence why we don't handle our T's. I guess we're just stuck with a temperamental Porteri who is comfortable in his own home.

 

[Poec54]

I respect they are wild animals, hence why we don't handle our T's. I guess we're just stuck with a temperamental Porteri who is comfortable in his own home.

You and thousands of others. They're moody little things.

 

[sasspants]

Still beautiful haha