Damaged spider collection

[DylanScully009]

so I went to a reptile show today and a seller had 15-20 “striped knee” tarantulas. They were cheaply priced, and seemed damaged to me. One had liquid by its mouth while it was on the side of the deli cup, it looked like pure water but there wasn’t any other water sources. I’m not sure if they gave it some or if that’s something else someone may know something about? (By this, I mean there wasn’t liquid by his mouth and no where else in the cage and the others weren’t doing this). another seemed to be missing one spinneret. The one I bought is definitely missing a leg. I want to try to make it healthy again over time. I plan on keeping it separate from the rest of my tarantulas. I asked the man if he had had an egg sac or where he got them and he said he bought them all as small juveniles.

I mentioned a couple questions earlier in this post but my main question is how does an entire collection become injured? How on earth does someone end up with 20 tarantulas all injured? They are medium to large subadults now. Any insights or opinions would be appreciated!

PS: I’m especially worried about parasites and infections. Any information on the risks of my other T’s getting anything bad would be appreciated. I also bought a OBT at this reptile show and it is in the car w the injured tarantula for a couple hours.

 

[Greasylake]

Could be that they were all wild caught and were handled roughly before coming to a vendors collection, or he had them all set up badly and they were injured in the enclosures.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Without pictures is next to impossible to give an insight. And, yep, I know that is asking too much, now... let alone for so much specimens.

When in doubt, never purchase, is always a wise motto to follow. After all, there's a lot for sale in the classifieds here etc

 

[fleetwoodmcc]

One had liquid by its mouth while it was on the side of the deli cup, it looked like pure water but there wasn’t any other water sources.

Sounds like backwash, fairly common after a spider eats. Don't know the technical term or whatever.

 

[Enrgy]

Sounds like backwash, fairly common after a spider eats. Don't know the technical term or whatever.

Probably water. Inverts can store small amounts of water to hydrate during drier times. When I got my obt sling it did this
Edit: didn’t mean to directly reply to u lol

 

[Teal]

Sounds like a bunch of wild caughts ): I hate vendors like that. They don't put in any effort to produce their own stock... they get WC specimens and immediately flip them.

 

[Andrea82]

Pictures please.
In the meantime, keep them absolutely separate from the others as much as you can until you know more about what is wrong with them.

The seller might have been playing on your feelings, 'oh look how they are in bad shape, poor animals' and tricking people into buying them. Petstores do this as well. For future reference, please don't buy from this kind of people or places. They do not deserve your money. For the ones you bought, he will just get others.

 

[PidderPeets]

If he had that many subadult and adult "stripe knees" (which I'm assuming are A. seemani), all missing appendages, and he's selling them for cheap, I'd be willing to bet that they were wild caught and that he lied to you. You don't sell a slow-growing species you raised yourself for cheap, and they certainly don't all end up in such bad shape. I personally wouldn't have even bought from the seller

 

[lazarus]

I'm almost certain those were wild caught A. seemani. A missing leg is no big deal it will grow back, but you should keep it in quarantine for some time

 

[Liquifin]

I assume it was a reptile dealer since it was a reptile show?? If that's the case, its a normal thing to see. There's always that one dealer/seller who does bad practices. I know, I hate it a lot. But to them it's about selling in quantity not quality. That seller sounds lazy and retarded. Not gonna lie, clueless sellers/dealers that sell inverts are always a winner to me. While I hate wild caught specimens, the clear containers that most clueless seller/dealer keeps the inverts in usually has no substrate, since they are lazy. So basically, it's free ventral sexing for a female. So see it as opportunity to save a specimen from the hands of a poor seller.

 

[Teal]

I assume it was a reptile dealer since it was a reptile show?? If that's the case, its a normal thing to see. There's always that one dealer/seller who does bad practices. I know, I hate it a lot. But to them it's about selling in quantity not quality. That seller sounds lazy and retarded. Not gonna lie, clueless sellers/dealers that sell inverts are always a winner to me. While I hate wild caught specimens, the clear containers that most clueless seller/dealer keeps the inverts in usually has no substrate, since they are lazy. So basically, it's free ventral sexing for a female. So see it as opportunity to save a specimen from the hands of a poor seller.

Please don't use "retarded."

Also, you aren't "saving" anything... you are putting money into the hands of a terrible seller, thereby encouraging them to continue doing what they're doing.

 

[Liquifin]

Please don't use "retarded."

Also, you aren't "saving" anything... you are putting money into the hands of a terrible seller, thereby encouraging them to continue doing what they're doing.

Then basically you're contradicting yourself. It's an equivalent of letting it die in that isolated, consolidated, container. If you don't know any sellers that sells anything in reptile/invert shows, then you must not know How bad it is. It's not like by the end of the day, those that don't sell are put into an enclosure and then awaited for the next show to put them back in a container. They are left in a container for the "REST OF THEIR LIFE" for the next show. Trust me, I know dealers/sellers who do this. So basically, you took the chance of recovering an injured, abused, and stressed T. away from it. Even if no one buys from a terrible seller, it doesn't change the fact that it stuck in there forever since it's been imported away from home. Don't be mad when you see a near death T. or a dead one, and asked to yourself. "Could have been treated better".

 

[antinous]

Then basically you're contradicting yourself. It's an equivalent of letting it die in that isolated, consolidated, container. If you don't know any sellers that sells anything in reptile/invert shows, then you must not know How bad it is. It's not like by the end of the day, those that don't sell are put into an enclosure and then awaited for the next show to put them back in a container. They are left in a container for the "REST OF THEIR LIFE" for the next show. Trust me, I know dealers/sellers who do this. So basically, you took the chance of recovering an injured, abused, and stressed T. away from it. Even if no one buys from a terrible seller, it doesn't change the fact that it stuck in there forever since it's been imported away from home. Don't be mad when you see a near death T. or a dead one, and asked to yourself. "Could have been treated better".

Sure you’re saving one animal, but if you keep purchasing animals from that one vendor, they’re going to keep getting more and those will be kept in similar conditions. If they’re not able to sell the one animal, then they’re likely to not buy any more. So in reality, you’re just going to be fueling a never ending cycle if you keep purchasing from them. I know that vendors will usually stop buying a certain animal if it doesn’t sell, so I’m sure that what @Teal was meaning.

 

[Teal]

Then basically you're contradicting yourself. It's an equivalent of letting it die in that isolated, consolidated, container. If you don't know any sellers that sells anything in reptile/invert shows, then you must not know How bad it is. It's not like by the end of the day, those that don't sell are put into an enclosure and then awaited for the next show to put them back in a container. They are left in a container for the "REST OF THEIR LIFE" for the next show. Trust me, I know dealers/sellers who do this. So basically, you took the chance of recovering an injured, abused, and stressed T. away from it. Even if no one buys from a terrible seller, it doesn't change the fact that it stuck in there forever since it's been imported away from home. Don't be mad when you see a near death T. or a dead one, and asked to yourself. "Could have been treated better".

I'm not contradicting myself in the slightest. If those Ts don't sell, the vendor won't buy more. I have walked away from vendors exactly as the OP described. I refuse to purchase from them. At the last expo I went to, a big name online seller had 30+ emaciated Ts that weren't even labeled (and when I asked what they were, the vendor had no answer)... 20$ each. I was disgusted.

 

[FrmDaLeftCoast]

I'm not contradicting myself in the slightest. If those Ts don't sell, the vendor won't buy more. I have walked away from vendors exactly as the OP described. I refuse to purchase from them. At the last expo I went to, a big name online seller had 30+ emaciated Ts that weren't even labeled (and when I asked what they were, the vendor had no answer)... 20$ each. I was disgusted.

So sacrifice a few in order to stop the seller? Sounds like the righteous thing to do. Yet it would be extremely difficult for me to walk away from a suffering creature.

 

[antinous]

So sacrifice a few in order to stop the seller? Sounds like the righteous thing to do. Yet it would be extremely difficult for me to walk away from a suffering creature.

It’s hard, but knowing not buying them will stop them from buying more and more, it makes it easier. You can always try educating the dealer, telling them how easy it is to keep them properly and how much money they’ll save in the long run, but it’s always a toss up whether they’ll take it or not

 

[FrmDaLeftCoast]

It’s hard, but knowing not buying them will stop them from buying more and more, it makes it easier.

Couldn't i just kick the sellers booty? Would be alot easier than walking away from those that need help.

 

[Teal]

So sacrifice a few in order to stop the seller? Sounds like the righteous thing to do. Yet it would be extremely difficult for me to walk away from a suffering creature.

You can't save them all. As a young teen, I worked at my county's animal shelter and after that I ran a rescue for several years... you have to pick your battles and weigh your choices based on many factors. Is it easy? No. But you have to be logical, not a bleeding heart.

 

[FrmDaLeftCoast]

You can't save them all. As a young teen, I worked at my county's animal shelter and after that I ran a rescue for several years.

The State of California made me "volunteer" at an animal shelter. I made sure to hook up the animals on my days there...just in case they weren't they the following day. Nothing worse then bonding with an animal, only to find him in the freezer (where they keep the dead bodies).