Doomed Hobby

[Eurypterid]

Here's yet another example of what is sure to be the death of this hobby. Below is a pic of my recently purchased new "desert hairy".

 

[Gsc]

You're right... one crappy pet store selling some 12 year old an androctonus scorpion, death stalker, etc. as a "desert Hairy" and him/her getting stung.... whammo... new laws regulating ownership, importation, transportation and purchasing even further than it already is.... Thats scary...

 

[Eurypterid]

The scary part is that of all the hot scorps I've picked up as mislabelled harmless or at least less dangerous species, this is the least hot so far

 

[Melmoth]

Yes,this sort of negligence and ignorance on the part of pet stores may lead to legislation similar to that which pertains in the UK,where buthids may only be kept by those holding a DWA licence,which can be costly.

 

[ThatGuy]

wow selling a Parabuthis under the name hairy scorpion, they really messed up on there part big time!

 

[Eurypterid]

wow selling a Parabuthis under the name hairy scorpion, they really messed up on there part big time!

It's not as bad as this guy I got last year, similarly mislabelled.

 

[ThatGuy]

wow that looks like a female Androctonus Australis !....MAN BIG TIME MESS UP THERE !!!!!!!!!!!....good god !....i cant even imagine what theys pet stores are thinking ! :wall:

 

[Eurypterid]

They're not thinking at all. They usually have no clue about scorpions. They just sell what their distributors sell them, and trust them to be right. I don't even really like the hots so much, but I buy them whenever I see one, just to keep it from ending up where it doesn't belong.

 

[galeogirl]

There's a local chain of petstores that regularly sells hot scorpions as "great pets", even to my novice eye for scorpions, they're often obviously mislabelled. I've written letters to the corporate office and talked to the staff on-site, they're stubbornly adhering to their claim and I've even seen staff handling them to show them off to customers.

Makes me want to buy them all up and redistribute them who don't have such apparent craniorectal dysfunction.

 

[carpe scorpio]

They're not thinking at all. They usually have no clue about scorpions. They just sell what their distributors sell them, and trust them to be right. I don't even really like the hots so much, but I buy them whenever I see one, just to keep it from ending up where it doesn't belong.

When I first entered the hobby in 1984, this sort of thing was understandable. At that time there were very few reliable sources of information for dealers/sellers to utilize. But, now with the internet, there is really no excuse whatsoever. If they try to ban them, I will just keep doing what I have always done.

 

[pandinus]

YEA! the MAN is just trying to keep us down! stupid narcs! lol
but seriously, this is dangerous, especially because IMHO most owners would say to someone trying to correct them, "what'd you know about it? you think just because you have a few bugs your smarter than me?" or some such response, which is typical whenever someone tries to help out a pet shop owner.

 

[Brian S]

This isn't the first time I have seen this happen. The root cause isn't only the pet stores but the ones who sell them to pet stores mis labeled. Most Pet Store people aren't gonna know the difference but chances are their suppliers DO know.

 

[carpe scorpio]

YEA! the MAN is just trying to keep us down! stupid narcs! lol
but seriously, this is dangerous, especially because IMHO most owners would say to someone trying to correct them, "what'd you know about it? you think just because you have a few bugs your smarter than me?" or some such response, which is typical whenever someone tries to help out a pet shop owner.

I seem to have a way of quickly letting them know what I know and what they ought to know.

 

[DeadIrishD]

you know i do have two petco shirts from when i used to work there, it'd be funny if I went in and actually gave people correct information

 

[TheNothing]

There's a local chain of petstores that regularly sells hot scorpions as "great pets", even to my novice eye for scorpions, they're often obviously mislabelled. I've written letters to the corporate office and talked to the staff on-site, they're stubbornly adhering to their claim and I've even seen staff handling them to show them off to customers.

Makes me want to buy them all up and redistribute them who don't have such apparent craniorectal dysfunction.

Where is this?
scamps?

 

[skinheaddave]

I had a rather nice experience the other week. About a month ago, I went into a shop and found an A.australis labeled as a "gold desert scorpion" with the information that it was a good starter scorpion because of its good disposition. I told the people there what it was and left. Came back a week or so later and found it was still there, same information. Found the manager and told them. The guy's eyes got wider as I explained the situation and he removed the sign in my presence. I haven't been back to see again, but he either took me seriously or was good at pretending that he did.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[fusion121]

I'm not sure how long the scorpion hobby has existed (10+ years ) but I assume these species mix ups have been happening throughout it (A. bicolor for emp seems to be a particular favourite) and the hobby seems to have weathered it so far. I can see it being more of a problem in the US due to the lack of any regulation of dangerous scorpions, whereas here in the UK we have the DWA act which makes pet stores a bit more careful about what the sell.

 

[Ark]

unbelivable..cant imagine this would happen here tbh, dangerous genus in our shops are very expensive and you wont get one if youre not 18+ so basically they are not interested in selling an A.bicolor as an Emp its more the other way around if you go for profit hehe...

 

[Eurypterid]

I'm not sure how long the scorpion hobby has existed (10+ years ) but I assume these species mix ups have been happening throughout it (A. bicolor for emp seems to be a particular favourite) and the hobby seems to have weathered it so far. I can see it being more of a problem in the US due to the lack of any regulation of dangerous scorpions, whereas here in the UK we have the DWA act which makes pet stores a bit more careful about what the sell.

Definitely a problem in the US. All it will take is one high-profile case of a kid getting seriously envenomated - especially now that the media has become nothing but a tool of mass deception - and we'll have the most restrictive laws of any country - probably a complete ban.

 

[fusion121]

If hobbyists are worried about it, it might be sensible to lobby for pre-emptive regulation of dangerous scorpions rather then risk overly harsh measures in the event of a media attack.