Pet shop stupidity

OK, so visited my local supposed 'exotic' pet store today. When arriving I noticed an unlabelled sling, being curious I asked the 16-18 year old kid who worked there what exactly it was, to which I got the most fantastic reply, "a red blue tarantula". Not being able to decipher this, I asked for the Latin name. With a look of condescension, I was told that "we only use PROPER names hear, not Latin".

Anybody else have any funny/infuriating stories of pet shop stupidity

That's why I don't buy from pet shops. People who work there don't even know what they're selling half the time.

They usually don't do a lot of training for their employees, and have an assortment of animals, so you can't expect much. Pet stores have been carrying tarantulas for 50 years, so boycotting them won't stop that, nor will the spiders dying, as w/c adults are cheap to replace. The upside for them is that big, hairy spiders bring in a lot of foot traffic, that usually buy something else. As long as they make a sale from the exposure, they're happy. I hate to see poorly kept animals, especially spiders. They deserve to live, regardless of where they ended up. You can, in a non-confrontational way, offer advice (use what you learn here!). Most of the time they'll be open-minded, and you can also refer them to this site. If they're not interested, remember that they have high turnover, and next month they could be a new employee or two with a better attitude.

BobGrill said:

That's why I don't buy from pet shops. People who work there don't even know what they're selling half the time.

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Which is sometimes a good way to get a nice (i.e., rare) T really cheap.

Yeah and half the time it's an MM or a WC specimen in poor condition. Not worth it to me.

BobGrill said:

Yeah and half the time it's an MM or a WC specimen in poor condition. Not worth it to me.

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But if you buy the other half of the time it is not an MM or a WC specimen in poor condition it is all good. I have grabbed some healthy captive bred females at crazy cheap prices...

That's not the norm for most people I'm afraid.

BobGrill said:

That's not the norm for most people I'm afraid.

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Of course it is not the norm for most people. It is rare. I am just saying that sometimes pet stores have healthy captive bred females at crazy cheap prices...because of their own ignorance. When this is the case, I grab um up.

MrCrackerpants said:

Which is sometimes a good way to get a nice (i.e., rare) T really cheap.

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Exactly, if I go in and see something mislabled and much cheaper than it should be, i will buy it. This is only good if you are 100% sure of the species though.

i agree with MrCrackerpants, with luck you can get really good deals at a LPS..some spiders i got for cheap was an AF GBB for $80, 7 inch AF P.regalis for also $80, and 2 AF H. lividum for $25 each..

Oumriel said:

Exactly, if I go in and see something mislabled and much cheaper than it should be, i will buy it. This is only good if you are 100% sure of the species though.

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I run into this all the time. Basically, the "buyer beware" rule applies. I see ones I'll gladly pass on, but once in a while, you strike a good find. For instance, I found a E. murinus MF a while back for $50. She was healthy, well fed, and kept well enough for LPS standards. Only had a dozen or so at the time and I found her to be gorgeous, so how could I say no?

Damon

I don't buy from petco usually, but rarely they have a somewhat gravid looking female of some sort that I just HAVE to get. Doesn't always end up laying eggs but hey, it worked with my G. Rosea of course!

DamonVikki said:

I run into this all the time. Basically, the "buyer beware" rule applies. I see ones I'll gladly pass on, but once in a while, you strike a good find. For instance, I found a E. murinus MF a while back for $50. She was healthy, well fed, and kept well enough for LPS standards. Only had a dozen or so at the time and I found her to be gorgeous, so how could I say no?

Damon

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I paid $30 for my MF. E.murinus I bought online

BobGrill said:

I paid $30 for my MF. E.murinus I bought online

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Dang it! I done been had! She was still worth it.[emoji3]. I hear about them being pet holes, but my girl is out a good bit. Has a nice burrow goin on.

I work at a pet store, it gets a little depressing actually. 90% of the people that come into the store are idiots. They can't even pronounce the common name and are hopeless with latin. I always say the latin name first and if I need to (I always do) say the common name and get the "Oh! I've heard of that! the crazy ones that eat puppies right?" when I use latin my manager and coworkers get mad at me because nobody knows what I'm talking about and it just makes them upset. Once a in a blue moon somebody will ask me for the latin name and my face lights up. After having a conversation with a person who knows the latin names I feel like a million bucks! but that only seems to happen once every 3 months or so maybe less. I go at of my way to make sure I give people the proper info for each species of tarantula we sell, I tell them were they can find rare ones that there looking for or where they can get much cheaper. I don't show aquariums like a car sales man either I usually tell them to head over to the dollar store and get some nice tupperware containers and soldering iron from kent or home depot. I'm not saying everybody at every pet store is smart or knows there stuff in fact the majority aren't. But there are a few amongst those people that do care. That care about the animals and were they go, that don't care about the money, That will talk to one customer for hours even if they have no intention of making a purchase. We are few but we are out there.

These threads always bum me out, makes me feel like what I do is isn't enough to make a difference, makes me wonder why I bother.

My LPS is great! The owner is a tarantula enthusiast so I've done well there. But they tend to carry the more common species to sell. At least those are kept appropriately.

I was in my LPS the other day and they have G. rosea that looks to be about 3 1/2''.

My problem with it is he/shes in a small kritter keeper... with no substrate... and no hide... and a water dish with a sponge in it, which takes up a little over half of the enclosure.

it looks so sad, I've returned to the store a few times since then and I've only observed the spider huddled in a corner...

:cry:

I've almost bought it out of pity

They have an adult female H.lividum for $50 at one by me. I'm seriously considering rescuing the poor thing.

The only tarantulas I've bought from pet stores have been out of sympathy for the spiders welfare. My P. Murinus was bought from a store after I pointed out to the staff that the other one they had was actually dead, which appeared to be from extreme dehydration. I also rescued an A. Avic and B. Smithi, which appeared to be in not very good shape. It's a catch 22 though, as buying out their stock most likely encourages them to get even more in.

sublimejimbob said:

OK, so visited my local supposed 'exotic' pet store today. When arriving I noticed an unlabelled sling, being curious I asked the 16-18 year old kid who worked there what exactly it was, to which I got the most fantastic reply, "a red blue tarantula". Not being able to decipher this, I asked for the Latin name. With a look of condescension, I was told that "we only use PROPER names hear, not Latin".

Anybody else have any funny/infuriating stories of pet shop stupidity

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Get used to it, they don't often hire people who can do the job either. Those people usually never get a call back lol. I wont even apply to LPS , they stopped keeping Ts also.