"It's not an Avic it's a Pinktoe"

[Shell]

Ok so I had to share this with everyone as it just blew my mind. I may be a total newbie to the hobby but at least I have done my research.

I was at an exotic LPS near our house picking up some feeder mice for our 2 Ball Pythons and I stopped to look at the T's. I noticed a cute little A.avic in a small KK, with NOTHING in it but a tiny layer of substrate. The poor thing was sitting on the bottom.

The woman working has always rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn't help but say "You do realize that this is an arboreal T don't you?" her reply was simply "No its not". I said "actually yes, Avics are arboreal" and then her reply was "It's not an Avic its a Pinktoe, I would know I have a rosehair at home and look after the Tarantulas here."
At this point I was so disgusted at her that I simply said "well I feel for the T's then, maybe you should do some research" and left.

If I had had an extra $35 I would have rescued the poor little thing right then and there, although I know they just would have replaced him or her with another.

 

[Teal]

:wall: I hate most people at LPSs and their complete lack of knowledge!

Though people who think they know what they are talking about, whether they work at a pet store or not, get to me. A friend I hadn't seen in awhile came over, and wanted to see my T collection. I have them all organized by species and genus, and I was showin' her my Avics.. she said, "Oh, they are so cute and fuzzy! I saw some Pinktoes once at a pet store, you should get some of those" when I explained to her that "pinktoes" ARE avics... she argued that they weren't, because none of mine "were the right colour".. so then I had to try to explain that they CHANGE colour as they mature... she just looked at me like I was stupid

 

[Redneck]

There aint no point in trying to teach stupid people..

 

[ArachnoYak]

As sad as it may seem, you must fight the urge to "rescue" neglected spiders in any LPS. By "rescuing" it you are encouraging their husbandry practices and they will just replace it without changing their set-up because it sold. The ideal thing to do would be(and don't hate me for saying this) to let it die in their hands. They would see that keeping T's in their store is unprofitable and would stop ordering them. I know this kind of defeats the purpose of growing the hobby, but it is better than the LPS offering a wide variety of species that are improperly cared for.

 

[rasputin]

hahahahaha, that's how I got my A. avic over the summer - but there was no money exchanging hands. I went in, saw it, identified it past the "pink toe" tag on the mini kk, and told the girl managing the shop that if it didn't sell in a wk that I'd be back to rescue it and then came in the next day and told her I was taking it and walked out with the kk in hand. Of course, I know the girl managing that particular store and when I say I'm taking something she doesn't stop me unless, of course, I'm gonna try and take something, well, more noticeable. This shop though, is the lowest rung of lps I've ever set foot in in the 18+yrs since I started studying herpetology as a child - this is the kind of shop autonomous groups like the ALF would have a field day in and uncle scam wouldn't make note.

P.S. I just got a chance to sex "Duckie" last night and it's a girl, only a molt or 2 to go.

 

[Redneck]

As sad as it may seem, you must fight the urge to "rescue" neglected spiders in any LPS. By "rescuing" it you are encouraging their husbandry practices and they will just replace it without changing their set-up because it sold. The ideal thing to do would be(and don't hate me for saying this) to let it die in their hands. They would see that keeping T's in their store is unprofitable and would stop ordering them. I know this kind of defeats the purpose of growing the hobby, but it is better than the LPS offering a wide variety of species that are improperly cared for.

I agree with this but just because they die dont mean they will stop buying and selling T's... I seen at my LPS 3 G. roseas dead and I seen a T. blondi die... All they do is go and but more and some of them die.. Very sad to watch... On the plus side.. When I was in their and seen that they had the G. roseas sitting on WET (swamp like wet) substrate I told them they have their setups all wrong.. They did ask what the right way to do it so I sat there for almost 45 minutes telling them about them and explaining how they should be.. I went back a couple days later and they are on bark.. Not completely right but it has to be better than swamp like substrate..

 

[rasputin]

They did ask what the right way to do it so I sat there for almost 45 minutes telling them about them and explaining how they should be.. I went back a couple days later and they are on bark.. Not completely right but it has to be better than swamp like substrate..

I went into the lps I was talking about last month because the owner was out of town for a couple wks and redid all the reptile and invert enclosures with substrate I donated instead of the garbage they have and got a feeding and molting response out of all of them. The box turtles all had upper respiratory infections and vitamin A deficiencies and I took care of all that (2 turtles died from their illnesses within the first 2 days of treatment but the other 10-13 were well after 2wks). Unfortunately, when he got back he reduced the substrate in all the enclosures by 50% or more and I haven't gone back. The girl managing let me do all that work and I did it all for free out of compassion for the animals. Everyone at that store is dumber than a box of hair, it's pains me to see such ignorance and neglect.

 

[Shell]

That is exactly why I didnt rescue the poor thing, even if I had the $ I would have resisted. I am (or was up until recently, quit to be home with my kids) a vet tech and I would never buy a puppy from a LPS as alot of them come from puppy mills. Same principles with the T's and anything else being sold there.

It really shouldn't surprise me that there are that many ignorant people out there, but every once in a while a real whopper comes along I would be a tiny bit more understanding if this was someone who didnt own any T's at all and was in charge of the care of even more, but hey it is an LPS after all, that should say it all right there lol

 

[satanslilhelper]

My bestfriend has recently bought an A. avic from a lps. He had taken care of a true spider for maybe 2 months before this. I'm over there last week and mention that the substrate is completely dry and that he should mist it 1-2 a week. The ventilation was fine. He proceeds to tell me that the "vet" at petsmart where he bought some crix told him that all T's are fine on dry substrate and just a sponge. I of course was livid after hearing that a "vet" would tell someone this nonsense. I tried to tell him that she was wrong and he wouldn't listen. He kept saying how she was a licensed vet and that I'm just me... a hobbyist with over 50+ T's. I laid off of him since he's stubborn as a rock. I'll try again next time I see him.

As for the crock of a vet they have at this petsmart I will make sure to say something to her if I'm ever in there store. I get petstore employees being clueless, but this is a veterinarian for christ's sake.:wall:

 

[Kaimetsu]

My local petco also has no idea what they are doing and i've been trying to figure out how to correct them for the sake of their arachnids. They currently have a G rosea mislabeled as G cola which doesnt exist, they probably meant G cala which doesnt exist anymore. It's clearly a G rosea, it's being kept on wood chips, and it's either gravid or massively overfed. I've never seen a rosea with an abdomen this massive, and theres always crickets running around. It's clearly being overfed. They also have three emperor scorpions, kept on wood chips. Theres a humidity gauge in there with them, it reads 45%!!!

I'm not sure how to approach the problem, but i'm currently a fulltime college student looking for a parttime job and i'd be fine with a min wage retail job for a little while. If i decide to apply at petco what are the chances that i'd be able to save these animals and teach this petco the right way to care for these animals?

 

[Ariel]

My local petco also has no idea what they are doing and i've been trying to figure out how to correct them for the sake of their arachnids. They currently have a G rosea mislabeled as G cola which doesnt exist, they probably meant G cala which doesnt exist anymore. It's clearly a G rosea, it's being kept on wood chips, and it's either gravid or massively overfed. I've never seen a rosea with an abdomen this massive, and theres always crickets running around. It's clearly being overfed. They also have three emperor scorpions, kept on wood chips. Theres a humidity gauge in there with them, it reads 45%!!!

I'm not sure how to approach the problem, but i'm currently a fulltime college student looking for a parttime job and i'd be fine with a min wage retail job for a little while. If i decide to apply at petco what are the chances that i'd be able to save these animals and teach this petco the right way to care for these animals?

I've been wondering the same, I know my local petco is looking for a new repti specialist.

 

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[Kaimetsu]

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It's unfortunate that people are so ignorant on the subject of tarantula's that all these threads exist. I could understand this kind of stupidity a few decades ago before the information age but when this basic information is only a google search away theres really no excuse for it. Also it's one thing when someone who isnt responsible for tarantulas is spreading misinformation like "is it defanged?" and it's another thing when pet stores don't know what they are doing and end up killing their animals or teaching other people to kill theirs.

 

[Ariel]

I just remembered, theres this LPS not to far from where i live called To many Feathers and most of their T enclosures have woodchips for substrate, and usually there are sponges in the waterbowl. (their OBTs enclosure was a freaking SWAMP!). One of the times I was there I was talking to my grandma as we were checking out and I was saying "Two of mine are in premolt, one for two or three weeks and another for almost a week," and the lady at the counter interupted and said. "you should mist them, that will help them molt", so I went ahead and replied, "well you really shouldn't mist them directly, its better to over flow the waterdish or moisten the substrate, depending one species, besides, i think you're referring to once they start the process, mine hasn't flipped on its back yet" she replied "well then its not in premolt" so I proceed to explain that premolt is the time before the molt when they refuse feed and turn dark as the new skin forms, and she just gives me this "you don't know what your talking about" look.

I also have ignorant family members and friends. and for whatever reason my grandma is obsceses with my OBT, when ever I say anything about one of my tarantulas, (and mind you I have 9) she always says "Oh is that the OBT" I don't get this strange fascination, she HATES them, refuses to learn about them, or listen to what I talk about, she re-asks the same stupid questions all the time. :wall: :wall: :wall: She also won't touch a snake cause she thinks they're "slimey"

 

[robertcarst]

There aint no point in trying to teach stupid people..

Very true I'm going to have to quote you on my signature I presume. :clap:

 

[Smitty78]

I had an interesting/funny one happen at a Petco a few weeks ago when I went in to purchase some items for my other animals. On my way out I walked by the reptile/tarantula area just to take a quick look. There was a couple with a child bending over looking at a G. rosea, and they were asking an employee to remove the hide so that they could take a better look as they were interested in purchasing it. I bent over to take a quick look, and just as quickly stood up and told the employee and customers it was dead. This T was in an obvious death curl. They employee which was a young man gave me a smart al$$ comment with a snide tone saying "I highly doubt it sir". He removed the hide and told the customers that T's are known to not move for weeks at a time. I quickly spoke up and told the young man that he better learn what he is talking about before telling customers incorrect information. He proceeded to attempt to move the T with his finger to no avail. I briefly looked at him and said told ya as I proceeded to the check out counter.

 

[rasputin]

This T was in an obvious death curl.

I had a friend from another forum land a free t in much the same way when an employee thought it was dead but it was, in fact, molting - my friend said that he'd take it off their hands and they gladly gave him the "dead" t which was fully molted 6hrs later. The idiots they allow to work with animals is astounding.

 

[Shell]

The idiots they allow to work with animals is astounding.

This is beyond true!
This has nothing to do with T's but I excercise rode Thoroughbred racehorses for years and also managed the training barn. We seemed to have a revolving door of barn help (these horses are not typically super friendsly and easy to deal with, the odd one yes but not as a rule.) My boss hired this girl who had never worked with horses, and she was put on my staff. I asked her why she wanted to work with horses, she told me "because they are pretty."

My reply was "yes they are but I think you would be better off learning at a riding school or trail ride place where the horses might as well be puppy dogs" she informed that she could do it etc etc so I asked her to go water "Cotton" he was young colt, that was a giant suck, not a mean bone in his body. Long story short she cried cuz he woudnt let her in (he wanted her to pet him and I tried to explain that) and she refused to open the door. I then gave her a stern warning, that he is nice, but as a rule theses horses are quite "dangerous" so if she cant handle it she needs to go to a diff. farm. She never came back the next day. I felt like a b@#$% but she was gonna get herself or someone hurt.

Anyways now that I have gone way off topic I am starting to really see just how many morons are in every field of animals. Really sad! It upsets me even more with the T's as they are so much more "delicate" than a dog, cat or horse, usually with those guys your stupidity will get YOU hurt and rarely the animal, but with the T's, well its really just scary!

 

[pouchedrat]

Actually yesterday I saw a H. lividum for sale in a LPS in a mall, in a critter keeper with a thin layer of chipped bark substrate on the bottom, and a water bowl with a HUGE sponge soaking in it. The T's abdomen was extremely shriveled looking, and it was in the corner of the enclosure with a bare bottom underneath it, the pieces of bark obviously dug up where it was sitting.

The T was also labeled as a "stripe knee" and was 20 dollars cheaper than their "cobalt blue", which was actually some other species entirely. I couldn't even tell. I was laughing that they couldn't even label the T's right, despite the very obvious blue color, and lack of stripes on the knee.

I've never bought a T in a LPS and I wasn't about to start, but that H. lividum...... oh man. It seriously needed a drink, but I didn't really want to support the lps. It was only $29 though. They're the first species I ever fell in love with back when I was a kid, and I still have never owned one, heh...

 

[MissChelly]

Actually yesterday I saw a H. lividum for sale in a LPS in a mall, in a critter keeper with a thin layer of chipped bark substrate on the bottom, and a water bowl with a HUGE sponge soaking in it. The T's abdomen was extremely shriveled looking, and it was in the corner of the enclosure with a bare bottom underneath it, the pieces of bark obviously dug up where it was sitting.

The T was also labeled as a "stripe knee" and was 20 dollars cheaper than their "cobalt blue", which was actually some other species entirely. I couldn't even tell. I was laughing that they couldn't even label the T's right, despite the very obvious blue color, and lack of stripes on the knee.

I've never bought a T in a LPS and I wasn't about to start, but that H. lividum...... oh man. It seriously needed a drink, but I didn't really want to support the lps. It was only $29 though. They're the first species I ever fell in love with back when I was a kid, and I still have never owned one, heh...

Awww... oh man... I hate hearing that stuff, but it happens a lot where they're shriveled and dehydrated. Poor thing. Your sense of control in not buying it is highly commendable, just... damn. Poor guy.

To the OP, I'm a newbie too and I've gone through a similar thing about an avic. Oy oy. What irritates me, in regards to anything, not just T-related, is when someone acts like they know it all, then you kindly tell them otherwise and even when there's proof you're correct, they still roll their eyes like you're the stupidest thing since neon spandex pants. There's no reason for people to act that way... if I thought I knew something and someone told me differently and they were indeed correct, I'd thank them for letting ME know so now I've learned more. I'd certainly never be rude about it. Sheesh...