G. rosea

[csshepherdgirl]

Hey! Back in March, I got a rosie from the pet store. Took her to the vet (since I didn't know anything about tarantulas and wanted to know if it was healthy) and the vet who owns several dozen tarantulas himself sexed her as female. He weighed her and it was 16g. She went into premolt and molted at the end of May.

Well, I was curious to how much they weigh. Fast forward to today. I've since acquired another rosie a couple of weeks after the first. I bought a food scale today that measures in grams. I weighed her (the oldest tarantula, Charlotte) and she weighed 12g. I weighed the newest tarantula, Valentina, and she weighs 10g. Now I'm wondering if I'm feeding them enough. I feed one large cricket weekly, on Mondays. But apparently Charlotte last lost 4g.

Their abdomens seem plump, and they are always eager to eat. They attack the cricket the moment it hits. If they ever stopped eating, I would suspect premolt - that's how much like clockwork they are.

I've included some pictures.
Charlotte

Valentina

 

[csshepherdgirl]

Sorry if the pictures are screwed up. I'm using Tapatalk, and can't see the pics to edit them.

 

[2G33K4U]

They look health to me.

 

[Sabeth]

They both look good. A cricket a week means 4 crickets a month...The Tarantula Keeper's Guide recommends 6-8 crickets a month but cutting back slightly will by no means harm the T, much less a G. rosea. These spiders go through fasts frequently in the wild. In fact, it's recommended that during the colder months you feed them just 1-2 crickets a month to help them guage what season it is. Rosies seem to go through some confusion when they come in from Chile. My Rosie was also a very ravenous eater and got 8 or so crickets monthly. Interestingly, she never became significantly plump, just a pleasant round shape.

 

[csshepherdgirl]

Ok, thanks. I plan to keep weekly measurements on them. To be fair, the previous weight was in premolt when her abdomen look like it was going to burst.

I also didn't realize about the winter season thing. I think I will adopt that practice. I have their enclosures in proximity of a window , out of direct sunlight, where they get some sunlight and are able to gauge the length of days.

 

[bestco]

Looks healthy

 

[2G33K4U]

Bugging them every week to weigh them may stress them just a thought

 

[2G33K4U]

perhaps just weigh them after a molt.