Petco... Now offering 25 species of tarantulas. Thoughts and rants

Thistles

Arachnobroad
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Mar 21, 2012
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624
Well I got an update from PetCo. I'll be doing a conference call with "Management" to address my concerns. Yay.
Talk about the inadequacy of their housing, their caresheets and their training. Refer them to this forum for better information on bite toxicity. The tarantula market is growing, so of course they are going to want in on it. Maybe we can get them to limit their offerings to species more suitable to beginners.
 

Toxoderidae

Arachnoprince
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Nov 16, 2015
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Talk about the inadequacy of their housing, their caresheets and their training. Refer them to this forum for better information on bite toxicity. The tarantula market is growing, so of course they are going to want in on it. Maybe we can get them to limit their offerings to species more suitable to beginners.
One can hope...
 

Walter1

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Joined
Dec 8, 2013
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102
They don't care if they the t ends up the hand of a child, they don't care about the animals full stop ..Petco I'm guessing is a franchise.
They care about one thing...money of course..

A few emails and calls isn't going to change a thing..

And even if they did sort this....its still not hard to find ways around aka bullsh
You are incorrect. A lawsuit will end it immediately and will set off a chain reaction of sorts.
 

BobBarley

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Sep 16, 2015
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Y'all need to take some deep breaths and screw your heads back on.

It's bad that Petco is selling these spiders, but look at this as rationally as possible.

Petco sold WC adult Cyriopagopus lividus as recently as last year to my knowledge. You have to be at least 18 to buy the animals from them. At least now they are selling CB, and the fact that the spiders are slings makes them less appealing. The caresheets have actually improved with this rollout, which, I know, seems barely possible given how bad they still are. I'm sure that untold hundreds of slings will die in those atrocious containers, and untold hundreds more will die once their ignorant owners bring them home, but given how many times I've heard of people throwing away WC rosies that dared to flip on their backs to molt, I doubt the overall death toll will rise any and at least these aren't taken from the wild.

I've been to plenty of expos and seen vendors sell hot Ts to newbies. Some of the big reptile chains will sell anything to anybody, and at an expo your average leo keeper is as apt (if not more so) to fall prey to the impulse purchase as your average dog owner is at Petco. Anyone can already order these animals online, although I agree that the intention required there eliminates many (but obviously not all! Look at any thread started by a newbie about the care of their new LV or OBT or poec for proof) of the impulse purchases by the inexperienced.

Please don't lose your heads and go to the media. All that will do is create an even bigger amount of publicity for Petco, get more daredevil boneheads interested in these "dangerous" animals (since that's what you're all complaining about) and bring a ton of negative attention to the hobby. Talk to Petco, reason with their corporate office if you can get through, boycott them, and KEEP YOUR HEADS DOWN.

Talking to the media was a really bad move. Stop freaking out like a bunch of roaches when the lid to the bin is removed.
C'mon, now, people. Jesus Christ :angelic:

The fact that Pet-Dumb and such IMO shouldn't sell T's (every T's, no matter) is a thing, a sort of "Nightmare" scenario now, for the US hobby is another thing... seriously?

Those P-Dumb people here and there (according to what i've read here during time, so i'm basing with what others said now) sold lots of OW's prior. And nothing happened, no?

A "nice" (way of saying) collection of OW's bites involving E.R, hence Docs etc (just read some of the Bite Reports here) and nothing happened, no? While a single, again, a single of those here would had start the (another) "war" against Spiders, lol.

I'm with you, but i think you people are worrying too much, now. Or... does P-Dumb and Co. found the St.Patrick's Well of OW's Theraphosidae? :)
I understand your trains of thought and they are very rational. I'm also starting to think I overreacted...:sorry:
 

Walter1

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
102
Stopped in at the local Petco today. They have 6 "misc tarantula spiderlings $19.99". They were in what looked like bulk spice jars, squarish, plastic, with the black flip-back lid. Each one had 2 silk ivy leaves and a gray foam bottom. I could only see one of the baby Ts, it was small, less than 1/2 inch, and gray in color.

Had my kids with me who are both very young, so I did not ask any questions of the staff. I do not like the label of "misc tarantula" the shopper does not even know what kind it is!! I do not own any Ts, but just from lurking in these T forums, I know this is a bad idea...
Very, very dangerous.
 

Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
Old Timer
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Apr 4, 2004
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Y'all need to take some deep breaths and screw your heads back on.

It's bad that Petco is selling these spiders, but look at this as rationally as possible.

Petco sold WC adult Cyriopagopus lividus as recently as last year to my knowledge. You have to be at least 18 to buy the animals from them. At least now they are selling CB, and the fact that the spiders are slings makes them less appealing. The caresheets have actually improved with this rollout, which, I know, seems barely possible given how bad they still are. I'm sure that untold hundreds of slings will die in those atrocious containers, and untold hundreds more will die once their ignorant owners bring them home, but given how many times I've heard of people throwing away WC rosies that dared to flip on their backs to molt, I doubt the overall death toll will rise any and at least these aren't taken from the wild.

I've been to plenty of expos and seen vendors sell hot Ts to newbies. Some of the big reptile chains will sell anything to anybody, and at an expo your average leo keeper is as apt (if not more so) to fall prey to the impulse purchase as your average dog owner is at Petco. Anyone can already order these animals online, although I agree that the intention required there eliminates many (but obviously not all! Look at any thread started by a newbie about the care of their new LV or OBT or poec for proof) of the impulse purchases by the inexperienced.

Please don't lose your heads and go to the media. All that will do is create an even bigger amount of publicity for Petco, get more daredevil boneheads interested in these "dangerous" animals (since that's what you're all complaining about) and bring a ton of negative attention to the hobby. Talk to Petco, reason with their corporate office if you can get through, boycott them, and KEEP YOUR HEADS DOWN.

Talking to the media was a really bad move. Stop freaking out like a bunch of roaches when the lid to the bin is removed.
Yeah, I think you are right. This is starting to become a bit of over-reaction and clutching of pearls. the news media? Yeah, they don't have a reputation of using scare tactics. "If it bleeds it leads", is the motto. They are only gonna hear what they want to hear. Children endangered" dangerous spiders" "venomous"" etc.
I don't want to sound harsh, but this is the sort of fervor-pitch that the PETA people work themselves into. They don't want to fix anything, they want to abolish. only lawmakers don't pay too much attention to their "Meat is murder!" spiel, far too many people enjoy meat, and would not like to it taken off the menu. But a lot of people don't care whether somepody can keep "unorthodox" pets and might be likely push to agree with not just preventing pet-shops from selling them, but to prevent people from keeping them after they see a news-bite explaining that some tarantulas can land a person, or gawd forbid, a child in the emergency room. But they will figure "all tarantulas" not just some.

I've preached before on how the "do-gooders" can influence exotic pet bans, it has happened. Why paint a big bulls-eye on the hobby? (I'm not crazy about the term "hobby" when it comes to living critters either, but I don't know if their is a better word. Enthusiasts, maybe?)
Sure, maybe the result will be Pet stores not selling them, but the result could also be NOBODY being able to sell them. You might not be influencing a policy change, but a law change. Stick with the basics instead of sensationalizing.

Or maybe nothing will come of it either way. I'm not trying to be an alarmist.
 
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Chris LXXIX

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Dec 25, 2014
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5,845
I understand your trains of thought and they are very rational. I'm also starting to think I overreacted...:sorry:
Wait, maybe you are right, uh :)

I don't know, i mean... one of the statements i love to use, in real life, is (and here i use that against my prior statement about Pet-Dumb and OW's that those sold prior) "What didn't happened in 5/10 etc years, could happen now in 5 minutes"
true.

But what i have not understand well, is: those (Petco) won the OW's "lottery", or we are talking about a limited, time limited, special, or what else assortment?

No, i mean, lol... because if they start to replace, all of a sudden, all the 'Grammo' and 'Brachys' with certain OW's now that would be fun? Not :p
 

Exoskeleton Invertebrates

Arachnoprince
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1,101
On those containers that the spiderlings are in are actually labeled. The label has a check mark of what species is.

Also Petco has a 30 day guarantee so if the spider dies within the 30 days you can and will have your money back.
 

Exoskeleton Invertebrates

Arachnoprince
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Why in the world would anyone would want to contact the media? I posted a phone number and an email address of who you need to reach and state your concerns too.
The media likes to twist stories and words around. :arghh::arghh::arghh::arghh::arghh:
 

Lander9021

Arachnosquire
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Apr 6, 2016
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Best of luck everyone! I'll be here to say I told you so in a year's time when there offering even more species to younger people :D
 

BorisTheSpider

No this is Patrick
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28w2hpt.jpg

Well here's good sign , they have them on the wrong kind of substrate . I realize that they are in little enclosures but I'm not very optimistic about the chances that any of these guys might have .
 

8Legs8Eyes

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May 8, 2014
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I wanted to visit my local Petco before I wrote/called so I could get an idea of what was going on first so I could address those things when I contact them. Itty bitty spiderlings being kept with LIVE crickets that are bigger than the spiders. I tried snapping some pics on my phone but they didn't come out very well through the glass. When I asked to speak to an associate he was hesitant to open up the drawer with the slings. I asked him to show me the backs of the containers so that I could see what species they were carrying. He showed me the containers (looks like my store had new worlds only so far) but he would not let me take any close up pictures. I asked him if that is what he was told to say and he said "It's Petco's policy to not allow any pictures of the habitats."

Figured. I did tell him I knew he has to follow corporate's instructions but if he could maybe squish the heads of the crickets it would be better for the spiders since they were so small. One of the enclosures had at least 3 crickets in it, all of which were larger than the spider.

There's a guy that usually helps me when I go to get crickets and I am fairly certain THAT employee would let me get some better pictures. I asked the employee that was helping me if they had sold any of the spiderlings yet and he said he didn't know because it was his first day.

I will go back in when I have more time to try to speak to a manager as well about the cricket thing but I was short on time today due to needing to go to work.

Anyone else have any progress yet?
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Dec 8, 2006
Messages
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I wanted to visit my local Petco before I wrote/called so I could get an idea of what was going on first so I could address those things when I contact them. Itty bitty spiderlings being kept with LIVE crickets that are bigger than the spiders. I tried snapping some pics on my phone but they didn't come out very well through the glass. When I asked to speak to an associate he was hesitant to open up the drawer with the slings. I asked him to show me the backs of the containers so that I could see what species they were carrying. He showed me the containers (looks like my store had new worlds only so far) but he would not let me take any close up pictures. I asked him if that is what he was told to say and he said "It's Petco's policy to not allow any pictures of the habitats."

Figured. I did tell him I knew he has to follow corporate's instructions but if he could maybe squish the heads of the crickets it would be better for the spiders since they were so small. One of the enclosures had at least 3 crickets in it, all of which were larger than the spider.

There's a guy that usually helps me when I go to get crickets and I am fairly certain THAT employee would let me get some better pictures. I asked the employee that was helping me if they had sold any of the spiderlings yet and he said he didn't know because it was his first day.

I will go back in when I have more time to try to speak to a manager as well about the cricket thing but I was short on time today due to needing to go to work.

Anyone else have any progress yet?
They have not shipped out any OW species anywhere in the USA.


See the results/thoughts of my conference call w/Petco corp here

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/petco-conference-call-info.282783/
 

BorisTheSpider

No this is Patrick
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but he would not let me take any close up pictures [because] "It's Petco's policy to not allow any pictures of the habitats." . . . . . he said he didn't know because it was his first day
They aren't trained to know about the animals . They are trained to protect Petco's interests . It's his first day and he already knows that . I am certain the little training videos he was told to watch covered this issue . Be wary of anyone wanting to take pictures . They are either from PETA or worse they are going to go home and order it online and then we don't get the sale . Both are bad in Petco's mind .
 

BobBarley

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Messages
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I was just at the local PetCo, and if what they say is true, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. They stated that they can't and won't receive any OW species, though they did say that some PetCo's do.
 
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