Pet Store Experience feat. Unreasonable Father

[SoulSpiegel12]

Recently been having a lot of arguments with my father over the feeding of my tarantula. He keeps thinking I need to feed it every day to every other day which I have explained to him is not good. So about three weeks ago we went to the pet store to buy some crickets for my wonderful T. I got some crickets and went to the counter with my cash and was about to purchase them when my dad walked up to the counter and asked the lady how often they feed their Ts at the store. The lady said every two to three days and then he told her I've only been feeding mine every two weeks. I got hounded by both the pet store lady and my father for apparently "starving" my T which I knew was not true because at that time my T had a large abdomen and as I found out a week later was preparing to molt. Then on the ride home I was yelled at for not listening to the pet store and that I should take their advice because they know more than I do. This same pet store that has Avic.avics in a terrestrial enclosure and have little substrate in terrestrial T enclosures with hides so tiny they can't even fit in who also have the big sin of sponge in the water dish, are the ones he wants me to listen to for tarantula care advice. He has asked this pet store before about feeding advice but this time I was actually there. He refuses to listen to me and we have been arguing for quite a long time. Just wanted to share this experience I had. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[Karmaz]

Why not just direct your father here, so we can give him a good scolding. Or just buy him the Tarantula keeper's guide and make him read it. Lol... But yes, I've been there.. Just keep doing what you know is right, your T will thank you.

 

[Arachnomaniac19]

Show your father all the spiders I have (in my account area) and tell him I feed them every 2-3 weeks. You should show him this thread too, if he doesn't believe you.

 

[windscorpions1]

Tell him that many of us dont even have a feeding schedule and mostly go on abdomen size

 

[mmfh]

I have an A. sp. new river rust rump that had such a large abdomen I went 4 months without feeding her until she molted. +1 on showing your dad this site and this thread!

 

[PRE66 6TART]

Perhaps your dad is trying to prepare you for a possible future career in corporate America by teaching you the essential skill of putting up with people in positions of authority who tell you what to do despite not knowing what they're talking about.

 

[SoulSpiegel12]

I've actually attempted to show him the forums but he'd rather believe a pet store than you know hobbyists who actually know what they're doing! He thinks pet stores are trained to know everything about the animals they sell which is totally untrue as we all know. I've even attempted to explain why the pet store is wrong and especially why their Ts are in such poor conditions but as I said he totally dismisses what I say. On a slightly unrelated note and I know this goes without saying but I've seen some Ts pretty piss poor conditions at other places such as PetSmart & Petco. My local Petsmart had a g.rosea in a tiny enclosure where it had barely any room with again little to no substrate and no hide at all. Of course the big sin of the sponge in the water dish as well. Places just seem to not care to do a little research on these fantastic creatures and just leave them in very poor shape. Even though I'm still a newbie to the hobby it irks me every time I see them in unsuitable conditions. Yea unrelated rant but that's really been bugging me lately.

---------- Post added 08-18-2015 at 04:19 AM ----------

Perhaps your dad is trying to prepare you for a possible future career in corporate America by teaching you the essential skill of putting up with people in positions of authority who tell you what to do despite not knowing what they're talking about.

Lol Maybe. This is my favorite comment I've ever gotten on any of my posts! Excellent!

 

[SoulSpiegel12]

Why not just direct your father here, so we can give him a good scolding. Or just buy him the Tarantula keeper's guide and make him read it. Lol... But yes, I've been there.. Just keep doing what you know is right, your T will thank you.

Thank you I really appreciate that. Every now and again being told you don't know what you're doing makes me doubt myself, but at the end of the day as long as my T is healthy I must be doing it right lol.

 

[Karmaz]

Thank you I really appreciate that. Every now and again being told you don't know what you're doing makes me doubt myself, but at the end of the day as long as my T is healthy I must be doing it right lol.

T's would eat every day if they could, it's natural instinct "eat to survive" they don't know when their next meal will be. In the wild T's may very well eat every day, or every other day for a few months, but then when the seasons change they could go months without eating at all. I've had Tarantulas not eat at all for close to 8 months, which is nothing compared to the ones you hear about fasting for years. I've also had obese T's that I chose not to feed for months. Rest assured, as long as your T's abdomen is larger than its carapace and it has a source of water it's not going to starve any time soon. My only exception to my rule of feeding based on the size of the butt, is my little slings and my crippled OBT (rushing his next molt)

 

[leaveittoweaver]

I've actually attempted to show him the forums but he'd rather believe a pet store than you know hobbyists who actually know what they're doing! He thinks pet stores are trained to know everything about the animals they sell which is totally untrue as we all know. I've even attempted to explain why the pet store is wrong and especially why their Ts are in such poor conditions but as I said he totally dismisses what I say. On a slightly unrelated note and I know this goes without saying but I've seen some Ts pretty piss poor conditions at other places such as PetSmart & Petco. My local Petsmart had a g.rosea in a tiny enclosure where it had barely any room with again little to no substrate and no hide at all. Of course the big sin of the sponge in the water dish as well. Places just seem to not care to do a little research on these fantastic creatures and just leave them in very poor shape. Even though I'm still a newbie to the hobby it irks me every time I see them in unsuitable conditions. Yea unrelated rant but that's really been bugging me lately.

---------- Post added 08-18-2015 at 04:19 AM ----------

Lol Maybe. This is my favorite comment I've ever gotten on any of my posts! Excellent!

Your Petsmart has T's? I thought Petsmarts didn't carry T's. I never see them there. I see them at Petco though.

A friend of mine got a T from their once(B.Vagans) and I watched in horror as the employee PICKED IT UP and the thing ran up his arm and he continued to tell us how if we handled it every day, it would become used to us handling it. Oh oh and that his tarantula Maxine actually gets upset when she isn't handled!

That was quite the experience.

 

[alexcta]

Why not just tell your father that the T is your responsability and that you will take care of it how you see fit? I mean it's yours after all and i don'nt think your dad would enjoy it if you started telling him he is doing a crappy job with his passions. Or maybe you could start doing it so that he can experience what he is doing to you.

 

[Thistles]

Leaveit, PetSmart started carrying Ts in a few of their stores about 3 years ago. Not all stores have them, but a few carry pink toes and rosies. The corporate standards call for them to be in the smallest kritter keeper with only a small water dish with a sponge. Associates are not allowed to handle the spiders at all, customers must sign a waiver when they purchase a T, and the animals go home in the KKs instead of risking an associate transferring the spider to the usual deli cup.

Made me roll my eyes big time, but I did get my beautiful true rosea when she came in. No porteri nonsense for me.

 

[ThePuzzlerOfRid]

That sounds awful. I hope he eventually learns what the proper amount of food is.

 

[horanjp]

Tell him to get his own spider and to leave yours to your care. Sounds like he wants one.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Such a lot of damage those franchising pet store make, man. Here T's and scorpions are banned, now, since 2003. But prior, all the exotic animals shops who sold T's, scorpions, scolopendra etc were owned only by advanced and serious T's keepers, like if Poec54, cold blood, Stan Schultz and others run a T shop.
No one was so damn ignorant. They are the culprits, because they fool people who know little about T's in believing their oop:

 

[TsunamiSpike]

Tell him to get his own spider and to leave yours to your care. Sounds like he wants one.

I wouldn't. Sounds like he wouldn't care for it all that well.

 

[El Consciente]

I'm sorry to hear about the dispute, my friend - it must be astronomically frustrating, especially knowing you're in the right and are backed by an entire community of fellow tarantula keepers...

My question to your father is, on exactly what basis does he so militantly assert daily feedings as being necessary? It seems rather arbitrary and presumptuous considering how he clearly doesn't have experience keeping tarantulas. In my own experience, I've gotten the sense that most non-keepers who form opinions on ethical tarantula keeping do so assuming that arachnid care is analogous to common cat/dog/gerbil care (a dreadfully false equivalency). To my amusement, these folks often seem to be the same ones who tell me I need to take my T's out once in a while because "it's cruel to keep them locked up in that cage all the time". Sure - brb gotta to take my poecilotheria for a walk around the yard because it's good for your dog too :wall:

Insofar as pet store expertise, it's important to note two things. 1. Commercial pet stores' main objective is to make a profit, not provide a sanctuary and education center. They train their employees to provide basic upkeep and to keep operations running smoothly around the store, not to be authorities on the particulars of the keeping of an uncommon type of animal. 2. Tarantulas are an exotic pet, meaning that by nature it is a "niche" hobby that incorporates details that are irrelevant or unknown to someone who isn't a hobbyist. Unless the employee is also a keeper, they are likely going to echo whatever care methods they use in the store which, if the first statement is true, is highly prone to error. This is painfully evident in how often they'll label their Ts with outlandish and arbitrary common names, place obligate arboreals in terrestrial enclosures with scant substrate, use sponges as a means of moisture, throw in live prey after a molt, assure you tarantulas are safe to handle, the list of egregious violations goes on. Ask the employee what the signs of pre-molt are, and that will likely prove my point.

 

[cold blood]

EVERYONE in the know, knows for a fact that the #1 worst place on the planet to get tarantula advice from is....anyone?????


THE PET STORE!!!! The only advice you get there, is bad advice.

---------- Post added 08-18-2015 at 05:11 PM ----------

A friend of mine got a T from their once(B.Vagans) and I watched in horror as the employee PICKED IT UP and the thing ran up his arm and he continued to tell us how if we handled it every day, it would become used to us handling it. Oh oh and that his tarantula Maxine actually gets upset when she isn't handled!

:wall::wall:

---------- Post added 08-18-2015 at 05:13 PM ----------

So how big is your spider op?

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

EVERYONE in the know, knows for a fact that the #1 worst place on the planet to get tarantula advice from is....anyone?????


THE PET STORE!!!! The only advice you get there, is bad advice.

Yeah, that was the advice I got from the guy at the pet-store. Now I'm having an existential crisis, a paradoxical conflict that would make Schrodinger's Cat say "Aw, c'mon!"

 

[cold blood]

Yeah, that was the advice I got from the guy at the pet-store. Now I'm having an existential crisis, a paradoxical conflict that would make Schrodinger's Cat say "Aw, c'mon!"

There's an exception to every rule, and your pet store guy was aware that he was indeed that exception.