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

parthicus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
23
I wander who the breeder or supplier is that would sell petco all of these tarantulas. I can just imagine now that a rep would be trying to sell a mysore ornamental as a first "friendly" tarantula to some poor kid. I do not think that they should carry old world species especially when alot of their tarantulas are wild caught, at least in my area. I believe that this may bring alot of negative attention towards the hobby. Just my two cents on the matter.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Kind thanks to both of you.



How did you thaw it? Did you use warm water, just leave it sitting out, or something else? I would just let mine soak in warm water for a few minutes to thaw out, then I'd towel them off. There was never a smell.
I did what someone told me to do at the time: take frozen mouse, drop into ziplock back thaw in warm/hot water. After that one attempt, I moved onto pre-killed, much easier and faster to me.
 

parthicus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
23
Rather than rant here, rant to petco. Call, send emails, do everything to annoy them to the point where they will have to change.
I only wish it were that simple. At the end of the day, they will do what they want to do to increase profit margins and worship charts over the genuine care of the animals.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
I wander who the breeder or supplier is that would sell petco all of these tarantulas. I can just imagine now that a rep would be trying to sell a mysore ornamental as a first "friendly" tarantula to some poor kid. I do not think that they should carry old world species especially when alot of their tarantulas are wild caught, at least in my area. I believe that this may bring alot of negative attention towards the hobby. Just my two cents on the matter.
I see you are late to the party haha. Read here for your concerns mentioned above, this info is the result of my conference call with Petco corporate

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

parthicus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
23
I see you are late to the party haha. Read here for your concerns mentioned above, this info is the result of my conference call with Petco corporate

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/petco-conference-call-info.282783/
Your post was very informative. I personally hope that they include detailed care sheets for each of the tarantulas. I am still leaning towards them not selling the old world species, but I understand why they would want. I have to say though, I really appreciate the fact that they are taking the time to get feedback from people in the hobby, and conduct research into the care requirements of these T's. Hopefully through this venture, Petco will help educate many more people out there would would not know any better regardless.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Your post was very informative. I personally hope that they include detailed care sheets for each of the tarantulas. I am still leaning towards them not selling the old world species, but I understand why they would want. I have to say though, I really appreciate the fact that they are taking the time to get feedback from people in the hobby, and conduct research into the care requirements of these T's. Hopefully through this venture, Petco will help educate many more people out there would would not know any better regardless.
They are not selling OW Ts. After speaking with me they decided not to.

The care sheet issue is next trust me.
 

Toxoderidae

Arachnoprince
Joined
Nov 16, 2015
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1,008
They informed me aswell that all OW would be pulled from shelves and only stuff we and their supplier recommended that were NW would be supplied, and they'd be almost exclusively terrestrial.
 

grimmjowls

Arachnoknight
Joined
May 1, 2016
Messages
204
Can't expect people to go through 14+ pages plus numerous other threads regarding Petco and updates on their situation. Have a little patience.

Either way, this is a step in the right direction, I suppose.
 

KingBaboon1023

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 30, 2016
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0
Maybe, just maybe, they'll hire staff members that are actually qualified and have years of expirence with husbandry to teach people about the speed, venom potency etc. it seems like a slim chance though

Just a thought though.
To be honest, the petco I went to had a qualified tarantula keeper. The only thing she dealt with in the store was T's. I went in there expecting, much like the others on this thread, to find some idiot who could tell the difference between a P. Muticus and a B. Vagans, but instead I found a well versed keeper of over 30 T's. I was glad enough with the service that I bought a B. Vagans sling and it is doing very well currently. I can only hope the other Petco stores are doing as well with their spiders as this one.
 

KingBaboon1023

Arachnopeon
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May 30, 2016
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To be honest, the petco I went to had a qualified tarantula keeper. The only thing she dealt with in the store was T's. I went in there expecting, much like the others on this thread, to find some idiot who could tell the difference between a P. Muticus and a B. Vagans, but instead I found a well versed keeper of over 30 T's. I was glad enough with the service that I bought a B. Vagans sling and it is doing very well currently. I can only hope the other Petco stores are doing as well with their spiders as this one.
"Couldn't" tell the difference. My bad.
 

Walter1

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
102
One week ago, visited the nearby Petco I SC Pennsylvania. The Ts were in a locked glass cabinet. I asked to look at them to see which species they had. The guy told me that all were Brachpelma vagans.
 

KingBaboon1023

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 30, 2016
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One week ago, visited the nearby Petco I SC Pennsylvania. The Ts were in a locked glass cabinet. I asked to look at them to see which species they had. The guy told me that all were Brachpelma vagans.
S
One week ago, visited the nearby Petco I SC Pennsylvania. The Ts were in a locked glass cabinet. I asked to look at them to see which species they had. The guy told me that all were Brachpelma vagans.
Interesting, I ran into the exact same situation. She said that is all they had sent her, and she had hoped for at least one other variety. She also said the last shipment was Haplopelma Lividum (Cobalt Blue). I had a good long conversation with her and was impressed by her knowledge. She may have been a volunteer, I never asked. They were locked in glass inside individual plastic containers. Im assuming that was your situation as well? Only two slings were there when I went. There was also a B. Smithi of medium size below in a seperate glass compartment.
 

Tar

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
61
Here in the Philippines we don't really have Petco and or petsmart but I think that they should not sell ANY OW tarantulas to kids or inexperienced buyers, I mean come on what if a kid looked for a tarantula and asked their parents to buy it for him/her. Then the kid is most oftenly going to pick the brighter and more vibrant ones of course. For example what if the kid liked the poecilotherias and the baboons and decided to buy it,in about a month or two it would like to handle it and stuff and then boom the kid got tagged . Worst case scenario is ER and what if the kid is still young ? Petco/petsmart should really stop this or they should just hire employees who ACTUALLY now about T's.
 

KingBaboon1023

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
0
Here in the Philippines we don't really have Petco and or petsmart but I think that they should not sell ANY OW tarantulas to kids or inexperienced buyers, I mean come on what if a kid looked for a tarantula and asked their parents to buy it for him/her. Then the kid is most oftenly going to pick the brighter and more vibrant ones of course. For example what if the kid liked the poecilotherias and the baboons and decided to buy it,in about a month or two it would like to handle it and stuff and then boom the kid got tagged . Worst case scenario is ER and what if the kid is still young ? Petco/petsmart should really stop this or they should just hire employees who ACTUALLY now about T's.
That was kind of my point, perhaps they DID hire someone who knew what they were doing, given I have not been to enough Petco stores to test all of their staff's knowledge. The lady I spoke to said she would undoubtedly advise those who she did not feel had enough experience against buying the more challenging species. It would indeed be a tragedy if a kid was bitten due to the lack of knowledge of a better choice of T, but at the same time I would hope that the childs parent had enough sense to do research on whatever it was they were allowing their child to have. On top of that, a T is not a pet for a child. It is a pet for someone with enough life experience and research to make an educated decision, not a spontaneous buy. Don't you think?
 
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