small balls that soaks up water.what are they called?
Definitely get rid of the park soil. It could be full of pesticides and parasites. It could do more harm than good. You should use a substrate from your pet store. It is cleaned thoroughly. Since you can't find peat/vermiculite, I would suggest a coconut fiber such as (Bed-a-Beast). It holds moisture well which will give you a decent humidity level. Other than that, just give it some time. Give a few days to adjust and make itself at home. I wouldn't even try to feed it for the first few days. Once it is more relaxed and comfy with it's new surroundings, it should find it's favorite place and be ready to eat.
How long has this been going on? Wait a few days if you already haven't. If she's eating and keeping well, I don't see too much of an issue, but give the soil time to dry I guess.
DO NOT KEEP TARANTULAS ON DIRT OR A MOIST CAGE ... use pebbles and rocks that have been boiled. You need a hot rock. Leave this tarantula alone for awhile. Once again, jusr b/c a pet shop sells it doesn't mean it wants to be your buddy. I cringe when I see pet shops sell exotics to people that don't have a clue how to keep them and neither does the pet shop. I read the previous posters comments. I'm always amazed by people who really believe they know and well..ya don't. Just b/c you keep several doesn't mean you know what your doing. Nothing more annoying than some idiot walking around with their pet tarantula. Thinking they are cool, torturing the scared spider. Get a good tarantula book and read it. Rose hairs are possibly the easiest spider to maintain besides a pink toe. p.s. that's a type of tarantula too and they are tree dwellers that make tube webs and you don't keep those on potting soil either. Potting soil!! what dolts. All of you buy a good tarantula book and read it twice. I'll take it none of you have ever seen a parasite infestation on a tarantula. A slow and horrible death. Brought on by the wrong bedding. You see dirt invites nasty things to closed little warm tanks. Since when is potting soil sterile.
Chiles are really hard to understand, they seem to defy all the rules where tarantulas are concerned, I have four different species and where three are pretty reliable the chile rose is a worry. She may have got used to climbing the sides of her tank at the store, they are not hugely active, mine doesn't do a lot unless she's hungry and that's not that often. The soil could be too damp but it would have to be dripping wet for it to bother her. I wouldn't recommend soil from public places, you never know what's been done to it (or on it). If you are having trouble finding it locally I would suggest you look online or ask the store where you bought the spider where they get it from and if they can order you some, vermiculite is not good for tarantulas as it sticks to them. If you REALLY can't get a good substrate for her get some new clean potting soil from a garden centre and use that, you know it's got nothing nasty in it then, you may have to change it regularly though if it gets mouldy but you have to watch this with any substrate. Give her time to settle in though before you worry, chiles are wonderful beginner spiders but are very temperamental, she may fast for months, not moult for ages and refuse certain bugs as food but as long as she is active and has access to water she should be fine, enjoy her ;-)
