How to Save a Life, or: I rescued three Ts from Petsmart today.

[cold blood]

Maybe....maybe not. But the ONLY way it can be stopped is to not buy them. If you eventually remove the demand, then the supply becomes an overabundant burden.

Here's the biggest issue with this...they do not cater to those "in the know" about t's. Those of us in the know, know why there are better places to buy, reasons to not buy there, we know how these species SHOULD be cared for, but we are definitely not their cliental. They cater to those that just don't know any better, impulse buyers that often never gave a t a consideration till that moment. Spread the word and educate all you want, unfortunately those generally buying won't be listening. The rare occasion one of us buys one from them, is the rare occasion that one of their t's are well cared for.

 

[Poec54]

Not buying tarantulas isn't going to stop them from stocking it.

+1. Hasn't yet in 50 years. Boycotts are pointless. The spider can't help who happens to own it.

 

[Martin1975]

After brunch and before my haircut, Su and I went to Petsmart to look at cute and fuzzy small animals.

We found torture instead.

They had three tarantulas, two G. roseas (Chilean Rosehair) and one A. avic (Pinktoe). They're juvies, maybe about two or three inches tops, kept in TINY containers. Instead of water, they had sponges, which breed mold and death. There were dead crickets as well as live ones. Boluses littered the terrariums.
I bought them all.

We went to Jabberwock straight from Petsmart because Su had the brilliant idea of bringing them inside and being like SHFJHDFSJDHF DIAGNOSE?? They were floored at the conditions but said that they weren't dying or in immediate danger of death. I knew everything to get, but they reaffirmed what I needed. I had to run out to my car to get my wallet, and when I got back in, they had done this to make traveling easier:

View attachment 133247

All three tarantulas, in their terrariums that they were living in and sold in, fit in one of the terrariums I got for one of them.

We got home, and the rehousing process began.

This is one of the G. roseas, named James-or-Oliver, in his tiny terrarium. No hide, sponge in the water bowl, bolus (promise), glued to the wall so he wouldn't have to touch his substrate.

View attachment 133249

His new terrarium I set up:

View attachment 133250

I rehoused in a big bin that I used to keep yarn in. I had a catch tupperware and piece of cardboard in case as well, but since these guys are bigger than my two most recent Ts, I wanted to be super safe. The comparison again between the old home and the new one.

View attachment 133251

Successfully installed!! Despite what I've heard about G. roseas, there was no flicking or anything. James-or-Oliver moved pretty easily with minimal prodding with a small, soft paintbrush. I used a plastic cup to move him with no troubles.

View attachment 133252

Hello
I think it is hard for some to pass situations like these,I am one of them. I won't stop people like these,but maybe I can help one or two. We have no legislation protecting exotic animals,and I mean 0%. I can't mention pet shop names at the moment,wouldn't matter anyway they are in South Africa.

I am busy with something I thought I'd never see,betting on tarantulas for fights. I mean,some might now say oh a mad man you're overdoing it. Anyway, I will get to the bottom of it since it is inhumane no matter what the animal is. So far,I have heard a lot but will try and enter into this do called group.

I can't believe you have this oversees,but if you did I bet there would be loads like me extremely disgusted by this. They actually sell the tarantulas as future fighters,this I'd just one thing of pet stores that truly make me mad. To them it is a money making machine,nothing more nothing less.

So in the end,I'm glad to see posts like this. Just goes to show,still good hearted people out there. Have an awesome new year !

With so little forward Thinkers,is why we live so much in the past...

If scientists and knowledgeable people are always right,I'd still be travelling cautiously not to fall off at world's end...

 

[tonypace2009]

Corporate understands profit and appearance. A petition with thousands of signed names, Labeled potential customers inviting corporate to the AB and literature to the proper care of tarantulas might be a better approach. Maybe even if they change there care policies invite them in to captive breeding projects which could help them get more variety of tarantulas. If corporate changes there care policies then every store can be turned into corporate if caught not following policies of care. To me it seems they would want to appease the majority of there customers. This is just my thought on a option. To the OP great save. I too find it hard to let them suffer and would do the same thing.

 

[miss moxie]

Not buying tarantulas isn't going to stop them from stocking it.

I agree. I read a great short story that is relevant to this topic.

"There once was an old man who took long walks on the beach every morning. One day he saw a young man dancing in the distance. As he got closer he realised he wasn’t dancing at all, but reaching down and throwing small crabs into the sea. "Young man, what are you doing?" he asked. "Throwing crabs back into the sea" he replied, "they’ll die if I don’t help them." The old man looked down at the hundreds of small crabs scattered on the beach for miles. "But there must be millions of them," the old man told him aghast. "You can’t possibly make a difference." The young man bent down, picked up another crab and threw it into the ocean. "It made a difference to that one."

 

[Sydney A]

With petitions and calls and fussing we got Meijer to stop selling live animals. In the mean time petsmart does do a lot of good. They are just ignorant to small animals. Like the old saying with the little girl throwing back star fish and people making fun of her, she said she made a difference for ONE. Congrats on your new friends, be they eight legged.

---------- Post added 01-04-2015 at 01:38 AM ----------

Cross posted with starfish/crab story

 

[annanlove19]

Okay wow I have a ton to say! First, Matthew has been moved to a much more ventilated area and is nowhere near an air conditioner. Quick note: when it's 18F outside, I tend to forget air conditioners exist I would have remembered as soon as summer came about and moved him then. But now he's in the living room, so bonus points for being able to see him when I'm downstairs!





He's also happily moved into his plant; the lighting is really bad because it's 2:10am, but you can see a toe or two:



I have a question: I was reading about humidity levels, and it seems that lightly misting the substrate and/or any webbing he makes a few times a week is the way to go. Does that sound right? Would you recommend getting some peat moss to help hold moisture? I know he can't get too humid, I'm just trying to find the right balance. The plant is silk, if it wasn't clear, so there won't be any oxygen/humidity coming from it. That I can't change; I'm super good with animals and immediately kill plants. It's a gift.

Then just quick, about Petsmart:

I do not shop there ever.

The only reason I was there was to kill time because it's too cold to hang out outside and we didn't have enough time to go home in between. I had absolutely zero plans for buying anything, let alone adopting. All spiders and supplies come from my local reptile shop, and cat care comes from Trader Joe's. I totally agree that not supporting them is the thing to do, but since I saw these poor guys, I couldn't just leave them there. Believe me though, I won't be going back. No more rescue missions. I'm at T capacity for now (six total: one baby sling, one sling-juvie, four juvies; plus money and space and stuff), and like you guys have said, they'll just keep restocking. My mom and I are going to write to them and see if there's anything we can do to change their policies, but I don't have high hopes. My mom also suggested contacting the Better Business Bureau, so we'll see.

But today I have done all I can do. There are always going to be abused animals kept in horrible conditions, but I have made a dent, even if only by three Ts. They are good, lovely, wonderful Ts, and I am blessed to have them in my life :love:

 

[14pokies]

Buying from these guys only makes them buy more...you did no good except for the individual ts that you rescued, you may in fact be contributeing to the "corporate cause"... Next time maybe steal the ts and toss a brick through the window with a menacing note attached???
Just jokeing... Maybe....
Nice ts BTW! Score for all involved...

 

[annanlove19]

Buying from these guys only makes them buy more...you did no good except for the individual ts that you rescued, you may in fact be contributeing to the "corporate cause"... Next time maybe steal the ts and toss a brick through the window with a menacing note attached???
Just jokeing... Maybe....
Nice ts BTW! Score for all involved...

Haha well it is tempting, but right now I'm focused on the three individual lives. Like I said, I'll be working with my mom to see if we can make change happen, but I'm not very hopefully. And hey, three lives is way better than no lives!

 

[tonypace2009]

About humidity I wouldn't worry about it. As long as there is a water dish in which there appears to be one In enclosure you should be fine. The important thing with avics is cross ventilation. When your avic starts webbing you can spritz a little water at the entrance of the web and they will sometimes drink from that otherwise they will come down to water to drink to stay hydrated. Humid stale air will kill a avic in a hurry there enclosure needs air movement more than humidity in the wild they live in trees where they are exposed to plenty of air movement. I do not own one of those enclosures but I believe there are vents right under the doors. Make sure they are open and the top has a screen top so air should circulate from lower vents up through the top which you partially closed up with packing tape. This set up should be fine it seems to be settling in behind the leaves. Avics are cool

 

[HungryGhost]

Maybe....maybe not. But the ONLY way it can be stopped is to not buy them. If you eventually remove the demand, then the supply becomes an overabundant burden. I'm not saying it will happen overnight. It will take the efforts of many and much time. Regardless, these places have no business selling animals they can't properly take care of. I don't know how it is in Australia with these types of places, but here retail places have inventory turn calculations and when inventory does not turn.....guess what? They pull the items from inventory and no longer carry them......usually attempting to replace this item (and they view it as an item.....don't kid yourself) with something that WILL sell.


And Tim, I said she did a good thing.....twice. I am not negating that fact nor am I a cynic. I'm looking at the big picture. I mean, hey, if you guys wanna run right out and support these places then by all means help yourselves. I won't be and I will encourage others to do the same. I have rescued a few myself just to go back and see the new ones in the same dire situation.

I agree 100%. No demand eliminates the need for a supply. The reason "boycotts" haven't worked is there are still people buying them. Buy one and it's replaced with another.

 

[Poec54]

But the ONLY way it can be stopped is to not buy them. If you eventually remove the demand, then the supply becomes an overabundant burden. I'm not saying it will happen overnight. It will take the efforts of many and much time. Regardless, these places have no business selling animals they can't properly take care of. I don't know how it is in Australia with these types of places, but here retail places have inventory turn calculations and when inventory does not turn.....guess what? They pull the items from inventory and no longer carry them......usually attempting to replace this item (and they view it as an item.....don't kid yourself) with something that WILL sell

Unfortunately you're wrong. Tarantulas draw curious people into pet stores, and once in, those people tend to buy something, even if it's not spider-related. At the wholesale level w/c tarantulas are very cheap, just a few dollars, so whether they live or die, or are sold or not, doesn't matter. They pay for themselves. And they will be replaced. This has been going on for 50 years and shows no sign of stopping.

We should do whatever we can to help spiders in poor conditions, it's not fair to that they die in captivity. Whether that's educating employees or the public, buying those spiders, etc. 'Boycotts' of buying those spiders is totally pointless and accomplishes absolutely nothing.

 

[jigalojey]

What we need to do is stop the wild collection of G. rosea, there is zero need for them to still be collected and also they're clearly not appreciated.

 

[annanlove19]

We should do whatever we can to help spiders in poor conditions, it's not fair to that they die in captivity. Whether that's educating employees or the public, buying those spiders, etc. 'Boycotts' of buying those spiders is totally pointless and accomplishes absolutely nothing.

That's what I was thinking when I rescued them, though not as knowledgeably as you said. I had no idea about the wholesale and stuff, I was just needing to help.

 

[Poec54]

What we need to do is stop the wild collection of G. rosea, there is zero need for them to still be collected and also they're clearly not appreciated.

Absolutely. They don't need to be collected in the wild anymore. But once they're here, it's wrong to let them die. They're extremely cheap wholesale, so losses don't matter to stores. The imports need to be stopped legally for conservation reasons.

---------- Post added 01-04-2015 at 08:49 AM ----------

That's what I was thinking when I rescued them, though not as knowledgeably as you said. I had no idea about the wholesale and stuff, I was just needing to help.

You did the right thing. Letting them die changes nothing. The animals need help and we're the ones who know about caring for them. We shouldn't stand by and do or say nothing.

 

[DVMT]

I understand and agree with a lot of what you guys are saying. They are going to continue selling these T's. What I would like to see, and I have tried recently and before, is to be able to educate them about the care of these animals....update care sheets properly.....ect. But, my problem with these companies is that they simply will not listen, do not care, will not budge.

I would like to apologize to the OP. I didn't mean to hijack your thread. That was not my intention. I hold your rescue in the highest esteem and value the fact that there are people like you on this Earth.....we need more. This is just one of those situations in life that I feel fairly powerless to fight. It makes my blood boil whether it be tarantulas, snakes, poodles, or whatever being mistreated. I feel they need to be accountable for the care of ALL animals they sell, not just the cute and fluffy ones.

Again annanlove19, my apologies and congrats on making these 3 live a better life.

Damon

 

[Martin1975]

I understand and agree with a lot of what you guys are saying. They are going to continue selling these T's. What I would like to see, and I have tried recently and before, is to be able to educate them about the care of these animals....update care sheets properly.....ect. But, my problem with these companies is that they simply will not listen, do not care, will not budge.

I would like to apologize to the OP. I didn't mean to hijack your thread. That was not my intention. I hold your rescue in the highest esteem and value the fact that there are people like you on this Earth.....we need more. This is just one of those situations in life that I feel fairly powerless to fight. It makes my blood boil whether it be tarantulas, snakes, poodles, or whatever being mistreated. I feel they need to be accountable for the care of ALL animals they sell, not just the cute and fluffy ones.

Again annanlove19, my apologies and congrats on making these 3 live a better life.

Damon

Wow,now that is mature and honest. May I just say,I respect that fully takes a lot to step up. In the end,doesn't matter how we disagree on how we do get to the same view but we all do agree about how this disgusts us. Just imagine we worked all together,that would be awesome.

 

[MrsHaas]

petco and petsmart both are on my naughty list to put it lightly. While i do appreciate rescuing t's from the horrid conditions in which they are kept in these establishments (thank you for that), it only fuels them to buy more and replace the ones that were rescued with brand new victims of the blistering ignorance that is corporate retail. I went in right after xmas to a local petco and found a g. Rosea clinging to the top metal screen mesh trying to avoid the overly dampened substrate with every ounce of strength it could muster. To my horror, it fell right before my eyes, over 12" and landed on a decorative rock. Angry? Yes. About to lose my cool? Absolutely. Just wait, it gets better........then to my wandering eyes i see what is labeled as a t. Stirmi....but who could tell? Know why you couldn't tell? The dimwitted employee had actually just got done misting all of the t's and had misted this poor stirmi directly so badly that it was covered in water droplets. My phone was at home, so i couldn't get a pic, unfortunately. I rushed to find an employee and asked them what is going on with the care of these tarantulas. I was met with a look like "...oh, not this again...." (well, what do they expect?). I explained that rose hairs don't need misting....ever, and a tarantula.....no matter what species, is never to be misted directly. These two guys explained to me that the care sheets they are provided says to mist daily and that is what they have to do. They apologized for the direct misting of the stirmi(?) and said that was not the policy. I have contacted corporate about changing the care sheets and they couldn't appear to care any less.........so, my point is......please, please, please.....do not purchase a single thing, even dog food, from these 2 places. I know the heart is in the right place (again i commend you on your rescue op), but we simply can't condone or support this kind of treatment any longer.

Damon

my goodness i could not ahve put it better myself

 

[Poec54]

I hold your rescue in the highest esteem and value the fact that there are people like you on this Earth.....we need more. It makes my blood boil whether it be tarantulas, snakes, poodles, or whatever being mistreated.

I help animals whenever I can. I've recused dozens of turtles and tortoises on the roads, and had 15 local outside cats spayed/neutered so they wouldn't keep reproducing and starving (and years later I'm still feeding them). If we don't step up and save a life, many times no one will. Whatever else, it certainly makes all the difference in the world to the animal we save.

 

[DVMT]

I help animals whenever I can. I've recused dozens of turtles and tortoises on the roads, and had 15 local outside cats spayed/neutered so they wouldn't keep reproducing and starving (and years later I'm still feeding them). If we don't step up and save a life, many times no one will. Whatever else, it certainly makes all the difference in the world to the animal we save.

I agree 100%. I lived in Tampa a while back for a year and there is no shortage of animals around to rescue out of the roads and such.....plenty of stray cats too. Used to bug me driving around the backroads worrying I was gonna run something over. I also rescued a greyhound from there years back before I moved to the area. He was an awesome dog!