Went to Petco...

Hellblazer

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 13, 2016
Messages
134
if they were offering b.smithi slings for 20 bucks... I would have bought one. Regardless if I am feeding the beast. I could buy 1 pair socks from some hipster on etsy that is cruelty free or I can buy a dozen for under 10 bucks made from crying and bleeding child labor from Walmart.

I am glad that Petco is no longer selling old worlds. They are a few threads about this.

I hate the enclosures so much, I don't think people are actually keeping them in them though. You don't keep a beta fish in its cup for its entire life. Petco employees will looooooove to tell you about the 20 gallon enclosure, heat pad, heat lamp, sand, sponge, calcium, and the 2 dozen crickets you need to keep the spider alive though.

I do think it is cool that Petco is selling T's and offering a variety...even if they are doing it wrong. The hobby needs more hobbyists and I love how it is slowly getting bigger. Irrational fear of spiders just may not be that common one day.

Proper care for most species is STUPID EASY. the problem is getting the accurate information though.
The one near where I work had 2 B. smithi and a B. vagans when I stopped there to get a few crickets yesterday.
 

JAFUENTES

Arachnodragon
Joined
Nov 26, 2014
Messages
218
Personally I hate petco. Back in 2011 when the southern tier of NY had a major flooding they left the animals in the building to drown, minus the cats and dogs.
 

Scolopendra1989

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
54
the petco I go to is managed by an acquaintance/friend of mine that is very conscientious of animal care. He's a local snake breeder and although tarantulas are not exactly his "thing" he doesn't mind them and has, I think, 2 members of his staff that are tarantula hobbyists. They set their cages up properly there and are very knowledgeable about spiders. I'm very lucky. :)
Man, I wish I had it like your petco. I think I'm gonna buy a T from there just to try and give it a better life; and hey, maybe I'll get a cheap T.
 

Scolopendra1989

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
54
Personally I hate petco. Back in 2011 when the southern tier of NY had a major flooding they left the animals in the building to drown, minus the cats and dogs.
They are the corporate monsters of tarantula keeping, they are desperately trying to benefit from a market that they have no care or knowledge in. It's like walmart trying to sell cars, they could do it cheaply, but would they be well made?!
 

Garth Vader

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 25, 2016
Messages
427
I go by 2 different Petcos to buy crickets, depending on where I'm running errands, and I haven't seen any Ts. I'm glad to see that. If I do see one then I am going to chat with them. I would be tempted to buy a $20 B smithi, I have to say.
 

magicmed

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
404
Personally I hate petco. Back in 2011 when the southern tier of NY had a major flooding they left the animals in the building to drown, minus the cats and dogs.
They did something similar here, they closed down a store due to competition and left all the animals in the building when they locked it, but told no one they were there. From what I hear weeks later when people entered the building the animals were all dead.
 

Garth Vader

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 25, 2016
Messages
427
They did something similar here, they closed down a store due to competition and left all the animals in the building when they locked it, but told no one they were there. From what I hear weeks later when people entered the building the animals were all dead.
WHAT?! That's just too sickening. Ugh.
 

magicmed

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
404
WHAT?! That's just too sickening. Ugh.
Agreed, I know a couple people that sent angry emails but I doubt it did anything. Just sucks if people would have known the animals were there I'm sure many could have been relocated and saved, but that wouldn't get petco any money. So they sent their employees home, locked up and sold the building to a shoe carnival. Killing the animals of starvation.

That was...man nearly 10 years ago, and they still haven't tried opening another store here. Whether that's from competition of petsway and petsmart, or if they figure the town remembers that, I dunno
 

magicmed

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
404
Also, we're not talking about a small store, this store was huge, big enough to have a huge salt water tank with some rays, they carries tons of fish, reptiles, small mammals, and avia. Not sure if they had any inverts to be honest, but thousands and thousands of animals died when you account fish as well
 

Crone Returns

Arachnoangel
Joined
Mar 22, 2016
Messages
990
They did something similar here, they closed down a store due to competition and left all the animals in the building when they locked it, but told no one they were there. From what I hear weeks later when people entered the building the animals were all dead.
Are you serious? If they did that - and I wouldn't put it past them - then is anybody taking them to court.
 

magicmed

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
404
Are you serious? If they did that - and I wouldn't put it past them - then is anybody taking them to court.
It was years ago, I'm sure peta or some other organization got wind of it and made some kind of attempt, I've no clue about any of that though.
 

Goodlukwitthat

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
178
My gf and I went to Pet Supply Plus (just like a pet co) Anywho, we were there to see about 2 "Emperor" scorpions they told my gf on the phone they had in (at $14 a pop I would have been on that like white on rice but they were asian forest scorpions sadly) We looked at the tarantulas they had in (normally this pet place carries your average rose hair and pink toe) They had a stirmi there..was maybe 6inches give or take...$140ish for it... My gf noticed it had an injury on the top of its abdomen.it looked like the equivelant of getting the hide rubbed raw on the top of your hand...the tarantula didn't look in good shape..its legs were folded inward... she let the employees know that it probably woudnt live very long the way they had it.. you guys know the usual crap set ups..the wood chips, filthy sponge in the water dish....they even had a big slab of corkbark tilted against the side of the glass like you would for an arboreal species. Although, first time I've ever seen a stirmi in a pet shop....They even had the Cobalt Blue (I'm not familiar with the scientific name.. H. lividium or something like that?) it was maybe 3 inches DLS in a small kritter keeper for over $100... the poor thing I felt so bad for it.
 

Scolopendra1989

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
54
My gf and I went to Pet Supply Plus (just like a pet co) Anywho, we were there to see about 2 "Emperor" scorpions they told my gf on the phone they had in (at $14 a pop I would have been on that like white on rice but they were asian forest scorpions sadly) We looked at the tarantulas they had in (normally this pet place carries your average rose hair and pink toe) They had a stirmi there..was maybe 6inches give or take...$140ish for it... My gf noticed it had an injury on the top of its abdomen.it looked like the equivelant of getting the hide rubbed raw on the top of your hand...the tarantula didn't look in good shape..its legs were folded inward... she let the employees know that it probably woudnt live very long the way they had it.. you guys know the usual crap set ups..the wood chips, filthy sponge in the water dish....they even had a big slab of corkbark tilted against the side of the glass like you would for an arboreal species. Although, first time I've ever seen a stirmi in a pet shop....They even had the Cobalt Blue (I'm not familiar with the scientific name.. H. lividium or something like that?) it was maybe 3 inches DLS in a small kritter keeper for over $100... the poor thing I felt so bad for it.
Talk them into lowering the price for their severely mistreated/damaged animals if you're interested in getting one. That sucks to hear. Will be visiting my local pet shop tomorrow to see what they have for Ts and what shape they're in.
 

sschind

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
May 27, 2005
Messages
358
Went to pick up some hoppers for B, and saw their spiders... :banghead:
View attachment 217516
All B. vagans and B. smithis.... I wanted to buy them all and save them, but my dad said all I would be doing is feeding the beast. I know he is right, but it drives me insane...:rolleyes:
If you went in to purchase something you are already feeding the beast. It has always been my belief that if you wouldn't buy a live animal from a store you shouldn't buy anything from them. I know that sometimes its the easiest option but when I hear people complain about the way a particular store cares for their animals but they still buy feeders or dry goods from them in anything other than a severe emergency I have a hard time taking them seriously. It especially irks me when they say something like "I hate the way they care for their animals but it was so cheap I couldn't pass it up"

When I had my shop I had a customer give me about $500.00 worth of animals because he was moving to an area where the only reasonable option for him to obtain feeders was a petco and he refused to support them. This was before mail order and the internet was such an easy alternative.

I'm not saying this all applies to you its just a pet peeve of mine in general.
 

Goodlukwitthat

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
178
Talk them into lowering the price for their severely mistreated/damaged animals if you're interested in getting one. That sucks to hear. Will be visiting my local pet shop tomorrow to see what they have for Ts and what shape they're in.
(sorry for the long reply time with work and getting our vehicle broken into things have been hectic lol)
We tried to talk them into lowering the price but they said no, because they are selling the enclosure with it. I told them it would be there a very long time if they didn't lower the price but he wouldn't. I told him (the guy helping us (his first day in the exotic section)) $95.00 (from the original $125.00) and I would even get it out and put it in a catch cup and I get the enclosure (I don't like transporting in enclosures especially if they have large/heavy objects in it.). I told him there were no caution signs on the enclosure or any type of "precautionary" equipment, signs, markings, or anything and none of the employees we spoke to even hinted at a warning, they just said it would be a pretty tarantula when it got its full coloration.... I told him it was irresponsible and dangerous to not have some type of warning sign for a species like that. He supposedly relayed the message to his higher up, still nothing.... We ended up getting a G. rosea that I had to catch (the guy was afraid of it) and leaving.

I few weeks later we went back and they still had both the T. stirmi and the H. lividium. The strimi looked a little better (not much) and the lividium was still $125.00. We were there to get mealworms (which they quit carrying... so nowhere near us carries them now...), so we changed to small crickets.... they were out.... getting irritated at this point from them telling me they have true emps and there asian forest scorps, to them still not having any type of warning for the lividium, to a worker getting the stirmi out to "show it off" to some rednecks that were trying to scare one of their party members with it..... She almost dropped it..... After that she was putting it back in the tank she lifted the corkbark and it fell on the T....As far as I know the T wasn't injured, but come on....

They had a OBT (probably about 2in DLS) they sold with the enclosure to a woman a few months ago (it had escaped on them and that's why they sold the enclosure with it). They said that she was getting it because her son wanted a pet tarantula. She said it was pretty and she thinks her son would like it. Come to find out her son was 9... Now i'm not saying he is incapable of caring for it, or OBTs can't make a first T, it just shocks me that they didn't try to sell her a G. rosea or A. seemanni (the two they normally have in stock).. Knowing it was for a child I would have offered a different species, given her a full run down of the OBT, try to dissuade her from such an aggressive T for such a young child as a first.

Honestly I don't know how much more buisness I will be doing with these guys.
 

JumpingSpiderLady

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
342
They are the corporate monsters of tarantula keeping, they are desperately trying to benefit from a market that they have no care or knowledge in. It's like walmart trying to sell cars, they could do it cheaply, but would they be well made?!
Or like Walmart selling fish..... It hurts me to look at. So much death.... So much ich..... So much overcrowding...... So much blissful ignorance from the buyers.
 
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