Tarantula in a museum

Ayuminell

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
7
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the hobby and got my first T a couple weeks back, it's such a wonderful hobby.
Today one of my friend went on a trip to an insect museum and send me a couple pictures of a tarentula, knowing my new founded love for them.
But seeing this T enclosure I started wondering : according to my friend, someone told her it's a grammostola (no idea on the specie, maybe porteri?).

Aren't all grammostolas terrestrial? If so isn't she in danger in such a tall enclosure with so little substrat? Before going there I would like to know your opinion about this, thanks a lot!
 

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TarantulaPhoenix

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 14, 2021
Messages
15
I believe it is dangerous as all types of grammostola are terrestrial, museums shouldnt be allowed to have tarantulas to be honest. The museum closest to me has a adult L parahybana in a very very small enclosure, i don’t know if the museum would do anything about the T you’re talking about but its worth a shot to educate them!
 

Neonblizzard

Arachnomoron
Joined
Mar 3, 2021
Messages
611
Ironically zoos / museums are regular offenders of bad tarantula husbandry, telling them otherwise is like walking into a car workshop and telling them they aren't doing their oil changes correctly.

Best thing you can do is not support them by not going there
 

Ayuminell

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
7
Yeah so as you said I went there and talked to someone who has no clue about keeping tarentulas... It was a pretty sad conversation and basically his reasoning was "it has been in this enclosure for years so it's obviously fine". Tried my best to not be a know it all (which I'm certainly not) but he wouldn't hear my concerns. Anyway it's a bit disheartening considering it's an insect museum made for educational purposes...
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
Yeah so as you said I went there and talked to someone who has no clue about keeping tarentulas... It was a pretty sad conversation and basically his reasoning was "it has been in this enclosure for years so it's obviously fine". Tried my best to not be a know it all (which I'm certainly not) but he wouldn't hear my concerns. Anyway it's a bit disheartening considering it's an insect museum made for educational purposes...
Start spreading the word and maybe print a pamphlet on proper care and give to a manager / owner.
 

Craig73

Arachnoangel
Joined
Jun 2, 2016
Messages
790
If I was a legit curator of that museum I would be mortified. I wonder what information was presented next to the display.
 

YungRasputin

Arachnobaron
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
403
agree with others - zoos and sanctuaries aren’t what people think they are and i personally don’t buy into the argument of “well people pay to see the animals, how can they see an animal that stays hidden 99% of the time” - artificial burrows exist, minicams exist, like, there’s all sorts of ways to make it possible to achieve the goal of sight while keeping the specimen(s) in ethical/proper conditions

all they’re interested in is human entertainment and profit - they don’t care about the animals - look how long SeaWorld has lasted
 

Rigor Mortis

Arachnobaron
Joined
Nov 7, 2018
Messages
498
Yeah unfortunately this is the norm for tarantulas being kept in zoos/museums. I have yet to see a proper setup in any place that houses animals. It sucks, but unless someone really actually cares to listen to you there's nothing you can do. I wrote the zoo here telling them their G. pulchripes enclosure was a death trap, I got a "Thank you for your concern" email, and lo and behold that spider died. (At least, I think she died. She's not on exhibit anymore and the guest services folks gave me the "Oh sometimes we move animals off public view" response when I asked about her.)
 

Arachnophobphile

Arachnoangel
Active Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2018
Messages
806
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the hobby and got my first T a couple weeks back, it's such a wonderful hobby.
Today one of my friend went on a trip to an insect museum and send me a couple pictures of a tarentula, knowing my new founded love for them.
But seeing this T enclosure I started wondering : according to my friend, someone told her it's a grammostola (no idea on the specie, maybe porteri?).

Aren't all grammostolas terrestrial? If so isn't she in danger in such a tall enclosure with so little substrat? Before going there I would like to know your opinion about this, thanks a lot!
Easy.....they do not have an arachnologist on their staff which = wrong tarantula setup.

Hell...there is no one on staff that knows anything about tarantulas at all.
 

thedragonslapper

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 1, 2018
Messages
72
I hate visiting museums and seeing this sort of thing. Had a similar witness at the Smithsonian in DC years ago. Almost kills the experience, wonderful it was otherwise.
 

The Spider House

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
534
Every year I visit the zoo in my home town I point out the flaw in the massive canvas banner they have up. Feedback comments, talking to staff, nothing changes unfortunately.
Bottom line. It takes time and money to change and Zoos/museums etc are usually not awash with money so reluctant to do anything.

20161023_131846.jpg
 
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