Educating a LPS employee

[paassatt]

This past weekend I went to the LPS down the street from my house to get some crickets and on my way out, I noticed a G. rosea they've had there for a few months on its back. I was thinking to myself, "wow, how often does one see a tarantula molt in a pet store?" Upon closer examination, it was a mature male depositing sperm into its sperm web. Not being a breeder or owning a MM myself, I'd only seen pictures of this; talk about fascinating. I grabbed the clerk nearest me and asked if he knew what the spider was doing. He said he noticed it on its back a few hours earlier and assumed it was molting, but that he'd never seen one "molt with a web on top of it". I told him what was actually happening, and I could tell he was genuinely excited to know more about the process. I guess all hope isn't lost for LPS employees.

 

[Moltar]

Good work! Follow up with another visit and try to chat that employee up again. All it really takes (in some cases at least) is one employee at an LPS becoming genuinely interested in inverts to turn the whole place around. I've seen it happen.

 

[Jacobchinarian]

It'd be really cool if they breed and sell the babys.

 

[jrzyspider]

I actually saw a molting last week at a Petco. A Pinktoe made a hammock type web from the top of it's cage and molted in it. I saw it again yesterday and it was really beautiful. The LPS employee said it's lived there for over 2 years.