Airing my frustrations.

[AshS]

Last week I had a phonecall from my mother, and told me one of her friends has got herself a Tarantula after seeing pictures of mine on Instagram. "Oh what did she get?" I asked. To which my mother replied "she said it was called a P.Metalica"
She preceded to send me a picture that was sent from her friend. Of this maybe inch and a half P.met there was a couple of things I noticed...

1. She is keeping it in a terrestrial enclosure
2. IT'S ON HER ARM!!

Not only that she has a 4 year old kid and a 7 month old baby. So now all I can think is that the T is going to escape during one of her handling sessions and put her kids at risk.

I have messaged her myself and explained about the Poecilotheria genus, about their venom strength and their speed. To which she replied " Is there somwhere I can take it to have it's venom removed?"

I'm so disappointed in my LPS for selling an inexperienced keeper an old world spider. They're usually good with that

 

[Dennis Nedry]

You tell her that a tarantula without fangs or venom is a dead tarantula? Please convince her to get a GBB if she wants something blue for my own sanity

 

[HOPE OF ALL]

呃，那女的真是呵呵。为了炫耀，不去了解危害性，迟早要出事的...

Well, that woman is ho ho. In order to show off, not to understand the harm, sooner or later something will happen...

 

[AshS]

You tell her that a tarantula without fangs or venom is a dead tarantula? Please convince her to get a GBB if she wants something blue for my own sanity

Yeah I told her that. I'm seriously considering asking her if she would swap for one of my adult new worlds.

 

[PidderPeets]

That really is so frustrating to see and hear about. One of my local pet stores used to have quite a few Ts, and all were kept exactly the same, despite the fact that they were all very different species. The husbandry is all wrong and I don't doubt that they'd sell the Ts to just anyone.

My biggest concern there was that they had a Haplopelma/Cyriopagopus sp. with no more than the common name, the scientific name (I can't remember exactly what it was though), and an "Aggressive" label on the enclosure. This thing was set up in a probably 1 gallon glass enclosure with less than an inch of substrate. A new owner would have thought to set it up exactly the same. I very often considered taking that in as my first OW because I at least knew the correct setup they needed, knew exactly what I'd be getting myself into, and didn't want an unknowledgeable person buying such an advanced species. Most of the Ts were gone when I went to the store about a week ago, and I'm quite concerned with what happened to them and where they ended up.

Yeah I told her that. I'm seriously considering asking her if she would swap for one of my adult new worlds.

As much as it sucks to have to trade from your own collection, if there's any that she wants and you're willing to part with, I would definitely try and coax her to swap with you. With her lack of knowledge, experience, and with small children around, she probably shouldn't have an OW. I would just try to make a condition with her that she doesn't handle your spider if you negotiate a trade.

 

[Ungoliant]

Yeah I told her that. I'm seriously considering asking her if she would swap for one of my adult new worlds.

If it helps persuade her (and you're OK with it), offer to let her come over and see the Pokie at your place, help you care for it, etc.

 

[Zymotic]

I have had to deal with a lot of ignorance from my own family and friends. Either someone has an irrational fear that my tarantulas will escape and bite them, or they want to hold them. Luckily, most of my friends and family trust my judgment and knowledge on the subject. So when I tell them that holding a tarantula puts not only myself at risk of being bitten but also the tarantula at risk of injury they understand why I don't hold them. And when I tell them I take precautions to prevent escapees and show them my enclosures they feel more at ease.

I would agree though that a pet shop should be more upfront about the dangers of having a Poecilotheria. At the same time, she should also learn about any pet she is interested in before she makes a purchase. Most petshop sales are impulse buys so I'm afraid this is more normal than it should be.

Anyways, I hope she heeds your warning and takes your advice. If she's receptive to your warning maybe she'll even take the Poeci back and get something else.

 

[Bigme213]

You play with fire long enough you're going to get burned. I wouldn't hold a poec for any reason. I don't handle at all and haven't since I was 12. But I hope you can make her understand that venom is very serious. Show her some bite reports or rob c's video where he's almost in tears after being tagged by his ornata.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Whats with beginners and handling their poecilotheria lol...

 

[Andrea82]

You play with fire long enough you're going to get burned. I wouldn't hold a poec for any reason. I don't handle at all and haven't since I was 12. But I hope you can make her understand that venom is very serious. Show her some bite reports or rob c's video where he's almost in tears after being tagged by his ornata.

And send her these bite reports:
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/poecilotheria-metallica.78009/

 

[Mithricat]

I'm at a loss for words... I truly wish you good luck convincing her that no Poecilotheria should be in the hands of a inexperienced keeper, let alone actually being in someone's hands!!!

There are plenty of far less venomous blue and beautiful Tarantulas out there that would be suitable for her. Pokies are NOT one of those. Maybe you should show her our posts here to show her that even people who keep Tarantulas are strongly against this?

 

[Toddydog]

Saw this facebook post "cobalt blue"
It was a P. metallica. There was a video of someone handling it.
Then in the comments some chick posted a video of her handling her P. metallica and she said they weren't venomous at all. I try not to get involved with ignorant people.

 

[Bigme213]

Whats with beginners and handling their poecilotheria lol...

Ignorance of the danger and a false sense of security I assume. It blows my mind.

Saw this facebook post "cobalt blue"
It was a P. metallica. There was a video of someone handling it.
Then in the comments some chick posted a video of her handling her P. metallica and she said they weren't venomous at all. I try not to get involved with ignorant people.

Truly a bizarre phenomenon

Maybe one day these people will understand that they aren't ornamental to be pretty. It's natures warning sign telling you if you mess with me I will knock you on your a$$

 

[Nightstalker47]

Then in the comments some chick posted a video of her handling her P. metallica and she said they weren't venomous at all. I try not to get involved with ignorant people.

She'll learn the hard way, whats worse is when ignorant people like this have kids in the house.

Ignorance of the danger and a false sense of security I assume. It blows my mind.

Exactly, or just plain crazy...stick around the boards long enough and you'll see.

Molts in the mouth, poecs on guitars and a woman who can telepathically communicate with her tarantulas. And thats just breaking the surface.

 

[Bigme213]

She'll learn the hard way, whats worse is when ignorant people like this have kids in the house.

Exactly, or just plain crazy...stick around the boards long enough and you'll see.

Molts in the mouth, poecs on guitars and a woman who can telepathically communicate with her tarantulas. And thats just breaking the surface.

Lmao and smh! Well said.

 

[Garth Vader]

Saw this facebook post "cobalt blue"
It was a P. metallica. There was a video of someone handling it.
Then in the comments some chick posted a video of her handling her P. metallica and she said they weren't venomous at all. I try not to get involved with ignorant people.

I've had several people send me this post too! The comments are pretty horrifying. One of my friends commented that I should get a "pretty blue one like that" so I was able to share info about OWs and venom. I have a toddler and 2 dogs so no OW in mah house!

 

[Bigme213]

They all need a healthy dose of respect for their animals and their capabilities. But I digress.

 

[Venom1080]

She'll learn the hard way, whats worse is when ignorant people like this have kids in the house.

Exactly, or just plain crazy...stick around the boards long enough and you'll see.

Molts in the mouth, poecs on guitars and a woman who can telepathically communicate with her tarantulas. And thats just breaking the surface.

*C versicolor on bass guitar

 

[Mithricat]

Staying away is not good enough I'm afraid. My problem with that is that staying away from ignorant people will only end up causing harm to the hobby when inevitably one gets hurt by attempting to handle a venomous species.

We have enough problems trying to educate the public as it is, sensationalist news headlines like "murder spider bites toddler" won't help.

 

[Bigme213]

Staying away is not good enough I'm afraid. My problem with that is that staying away from ignorant people will only end up causing harm to the hobby when inevitably one gets hurt by attempting to handle a venomous species.

We have enough problems trying to educate the public as it is, sensationalist news headlines like "murder spider bites toddler" won't help.

I agree totally. And I believe in trying to educate people for sure. However, some men you just can't reach