Silliest T advice you've ever heard at a pet store

[Driller64]

she said her bf has been wanting one but it has to be defanged and be leash trained

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb...es_this_look_unsure_to_you_Squidward_talk.jpg

WHAT?!

I think this reaches a new level of stupidity. I mean, defanging is understandable, because it is frequently said to be a legitimate method of "neutralizing" Ts so to speak, but LEASH TRAINING?! I cringe up with disgust just reading it. Would this woman and her BF happen to failed subjects in an experiment testing new forms of brain surgery? Cause it would not surprise me in the least if they were.

 

[pyro fiend]

oh a coworker just told me something [within 5mins of this being posted]... so not personally been told. but iv been labled as the workplaces' Dr. Dolittle so if anything comes up with any animal im asked...

apparently my T addiction has rubbed off on someone [have a P. sp purple i drew along with a M. belfouri on desk everyone asks about lol] and somone talked to me about what they think they can handle in a T and what they want. i wrote down a few with their ups and downs [ups being large size calm good eater etc downs being skittish. fast and pet hole etc] and they started a lil google image search. they decided they wanted a chaco. they visited a few stores looking for it not wanting to pay shipping and they was told by a petstore to always keep fresh veg in the enclosure tarantulas are opportunistic herbivores... STOP LAUGHING THE STORIES NOT OVER YET lol... apparently the choco golden knee [G. Pulchripes for those of you who dont know] is an arboreal which originates from a tropical island somewhere in the Indian ocean near south america where it lives in the cocoa trees[which is apparently where we get choco], eating its fruits along with insects that may run by and bananas.. its from a family of birdeater genus but only gets about 5inches....


now.. after youv stopped scratching your head and laughing.. and just plain wondering where the sam flip these facts came from...id like to state i ended up giving this young lady every piece of information i could think of about this sp. along with this sites address and she was sooo happy. shes going to have me inspect the T before purchase as well as make sure its home adequate. tho i am a beginner myself im sure once i give a few tips on the 5 or 10g the 4" Grammostola will be as happy as can be for the rest of his/her days

still trying to find out what islands in the indian ocean near south america that has cocoa and banana trees thats got a birdeating pulchripes LMAO some pet store people.. just..wow...

---------- Post added 07-22-2014 at 05:52 AM ----------

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb...es_this_look_unsure_to_you_Squidward_talk.jpg

WHAT?!

I think this reaches a new level of stupidity. I mean, defanging is understandable, because it is frequently said to be a legitimate method of "neutralizing" Ts so to speak, but LEASH TRAINING?! I cringe up with disgust just reading it. Would this woman and her BF happen to failed subjects in an experiment testing new forms of brain surgery? Cause it would not surprise me in the least if they were.

oh yea.. i told her the fangs will just grow back and it cant eat properly she just replied "well keep cutting them off" thats when i hit them with the animal crualty line [which it should be imho but idiots dont know better] she told me of the leash training.. *facepalm*

 

[Gpappy31]

Asked a local Petco employee why there were large cricketS inside of the pink toe's terrarium but a small crickeT inside of the Burgandy Birdeater Cage (which they had labeled wrong by the way) The employee said, oh that's how they eat.

I felt so bad for the Burgandy I purchased him. And I know I shouldn't feed into it and support them but I got the T for a great price after they had it marked for $150 :biggrin:

 

[remainpositive]

Putting dozens of crickets in a T's enclosure and making them live together is basically like making a human sleep next to a couple anthills. Not going to be pretty sight.

 

[lagomorphette]

This is so embarrassing... years ago (2007), back when I was a brand-new pet store employee (who was afraid of spiders, mind you), I remember a particular customer coming in to buy a G. rosea. She wanted to house him in KK or something similar, and I was SO concerned for "the poor thing." She said she'd done her research, & that roseas should not have a 10 gallon tank, which was what I was recommending. I was sincerely so worried & so uncomfortable about sending an animal into a home that was "too small..." I called the animals manager over to back me up (which she did). Clearly, a 10 gallon tank was the appropriate housing. *palmface* I was ready to refuse the sale because the customer wasn't going to house the tarantula "properly," but the frustrated customer politely left. I honestly thought I had saved the tarantula from a miserable life. Although Ts freaked me out back then, I didn't want any animal to suffer because someone didn't want to care for them right. The irony is truly sickening.

Seven years later, in some ways, I'm still trying to make amends for my former mistakes. I work in a different pet shop part time, and I make a point to educate customers & my coworkers about the tarantulas (we only get rosies & A. avics), scorps, hermit crabs, etc. I make sure ppl understand what inverts need & why... Sometimes it can be tough to do it in a way that sounds friendly--especially with customers that are stubborn or defensive. At least now I can refuse a sale for the right reasons... I wish I'd had someone to teach me about inverts years ago!! The more polite educating we can do, the better!!

 

[vespers]

Putting dozens of crickets in a T's enclosure and making them live together is basically like making a human sleep next to a couple anthills. Not going to be pretty sight.

Do you eat ants? ::

 

[Twentytwenty]

This isn't about Ts, but it is still great advice.
My mom and I were going to pick up rats and mice for my brother's snakes. I was telling her how I'll put it in the bag to eat, when this one idiot worker came up to us to tell us that you can feed snakes in their tank every time. He said it was just a myth that they'll associate your hand with food.
Oddly enough, this is coming from a worker at one of the best pet stores (afaik) on Long Island.
And by the way, he won't be there long, everyone else wants to fire him.

 

[ARPotts]

TwentyTwenty - Completely unrelated to Ts, and hate to steal the thread. But do you even own snakes? Ive had them for 5+ years and ALWAYS fed in the tank with no problems whatso ever. Not even been bit. Its down to preference if you want to feed in enclosure or not, but no negative effects come from them in my enclosures!
You make this sound like its a frowned upon practice among rep keepers. Infact. I would say it is prefered as you dont need to handle them or stress them moving from enclosure to enclosure during meal times

 

[remainpositive]

Do you eat ants? ::

Obviously, formic acid is vital to my health didn't you know? T'was a metaphor my friend (or a simile I guess you can say).

 

[vespers]

T'was a metaphor my friend (or a simile I guess you can say).

I know what your intentions were.:laugh: I was just jokingly poking a hole in your comparison.

 

[laurenkane]

hmmm how about to mist a G. rosea container daily lol
she said you can tell they like it because they dance and do head stands lol

Hahaha! Are you kidding me? All these stories are hilarious by the way!

 

[pyro fiend]

TwentyTwenty - Completely unrelated to Ts, and hate to steal the thread. But do you even own snakes? Ive had them for 5+ years and ALWAYS fed in the tank with no problems whatso ever. Not even been bit. Its down to preference if you want to feed in enclosure or not, but no negative effects come from them in my enclosures!
You make this sound like its a frowned upon practice among rep keepers. Infact. I would say it is prefered as you dont need to handle them or stress them moving from enclosure to enclosure during meal times

I must agree here the only times iv been bit is by very hungry and defensive rescues.. one of the 20+ft burms i work with is a WILD CAUGHT[field collected at aprox 3mons] and is always fed in cage and shes about as friendly as they get. shell even gently grab the rabbit from your hand and wait for you to drop it.. never been bit by a snake on feed day excluding starved rescues (6ft girl pushing 800g and a 4ft girl whos ribs i could count both from teenagers-adults wanting a scary pet and cant afford to feed)

 

[cold blood]

I felt so bad for the Burgandy I purchased him. And I know I shouldn't feed into it and support them but I got the T for a great price after they had it marked for $150 :biggrin:

Nice rescue, glad he now has a good home, but $150 is not a "great price", in fact that's about 50-70 bucks more than I generally see them sold for. My LPS had a real dandy for $80 last time I was in.


@lagomorphette....mad props to you for educating yourself as well as admitting your past shortcomings. I don't know how many would be willing to tell that story on a forum. Thanks for correcting your past mistakes as well as your compassion, even if it were misplaced at the time. Glad to hear you're passing that education to other LPS employees.

Entertaining stories people, keep em coming.

 

[laurenkane]

OK I know this is about tarantulas, but here's one about pedes. i went into a petstore which had a giant centipede which was labeled as a giant millipede. I was informed that they were entirely perfect to be handled.

Oh wow. Another potential threat to the hobby!

 

[Kron]

These stories are sickening they need to be sorted out

 

[Tasp]

Hi, I live in Finland, and I have never seen any Ts that have been kept incorrectly (I haven't been to so many, but anyway). My local pet store has about 5 Ts. All of them have a decent amount of substrate, hide, water dish with a rock, and they are not under- or over fed. One of the people who are working there has over 50 Ts himself, and he is very helpful, and always interested in my own spiders (I have 3). We often have a nice 10 minute talk about tarantulas every time I go buy some crickets from them. All the spiders there have a light (don't know if it's a heat lamp, or not) and their B. boehmei (ls about 13cm or so) likes to stand on top of his/her hide and bask in the light. :biggrin: They also have a very nice B. vagans, which has dug an impressive hide for himself, and webbed the hole place up. But, as always, their Ts cost about 70-150€... (ls= 8cm-15cm)

 

[ForeverTHC]

Yeah I think the real problem here are the large franchise pet shops. I go to a local one that is pretty small and they do amazing business. I have never seen a dead fish in any of their aquariums and they always have a variety of exotics. All of their animals seem healthy and the woman who sold me my first tarantula fed me all good advice really. She even made sure to overemphasize the fact that they molt and to just leave them alone when they do and told me the feeding schedule she has them on and how many crickets they usually eat. But forget about advice and healthy animals from petco or petsmart.

 

[ratluvr76]

I'm actually lucky enough to have an awesome herper guy as the assistant manager at my local Petco. He's the one that does all the stuff in the store and calls all the shots, the actual manager doesn't come in very much and generally leaves it to my friend. Not all Petco's are bad.

 

[pyro fiend]

I'm actually lucky enough to have an awesome herper guy as the assistant manager at my local Petco. He's the one that does all the stuff in the store and calls all the shots, the actual manager doesn't come in very much and generally leaves it to my friend. Not all Petco's are bad.

but those care sheets they give out are my local petco has a great fish guy he'll talk with you about nitrates nitrites amonia etc etc.. their reptile guy as well as small animals.. forget about it. their reptile guy told me to keep my leos with my ausy pythons "because their from about the same area"

 

[ForeverTHC]

Not all Petco's are bad.

That is true, there are some good ones, but in my experience, any store that labels inverts as reptiles is probably pretty worthless.