Silliest T advice you've ever heard at a pet store

I think those are exo-terra "breeder boxes". I don't have any but they look great for smaller spideys.

I have a few of those breeder boxes and they are awesome. Right now I have my H. hottentotta in one with her babies. There's even a small door on side of the lid (not the big main hatch on the top) that you can put food through for minimal disturbance.

Stupid Stores

KJE said:

I try to stear clear of petstore t's, but I did notice this A. seemani at a store once. She was missing a leg and it was laying in the enclosure with her. I asked what happened to her and was told, "She was accidentally knocked off the counter a couple of times." Ugh! Wasn't once too much. No, they had to leave her there to let her get knocked off the counter again!

I get WAY too upset with petstore's know-it-all attitudes.

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Thats just stupid. When you drop a tarantula, their abdomen bursts. My freind had a pink-toe with 7 legs. She bought it like that. 2 sheddings later it grew back.

how i got educated the hard way

i was told a 5" rosea was 6 months old, good thing i got her when i did, cause 1 month later after taking her home i got an eggsac, funny thing is the manager said he was sure of the age of the tarantula because that is how long they had had her for.....clearly impossible that the spider could have existed before then...along with the rest of my collection i kept 3 of the babies though so that was cool

I was looking at ornaments in the fish section, like leaves, etc. when a pet shop employee came and asked me if I keep fish. I said that no, I have tarantulas and I like to look at the ornaments to consider ideas for their cages.

The pet shop employee first of all replied "Oooh, we keep spiders here but I try to stay as far away from them as possible". But the real funny thing was when she asked me if I got my tarantulas declawed! Lol, I should have told her "yes, and they are litter boxed trained as well".

She admitted to not knowing much about them, so I just told her that they don't have claws. I told her that they are venomous, but since I don't take them out of their cages, they aren't a threat to me, and even if I did, most likely they wouldn't bite me (because I educate myself about them). I don't think she was aware that they are venomous either. I'm glad I could teach her something.

I wasn't too annoyed though. She seemed sincerely interested and was otherwise wanting to be helpful.

This thread is EXACTLY why I joined this board! I've been LPS for 13 years now, and HATE the idea of being so stupid that the "bug people" talk about me behind my back! Luckily what I DO know about T's and scorps. I learned from an actual spider-guy who I used to work with, so nothing as stupid as "my t's are de-fanged" or "It must be dead if it's on it's back" has EVER left my mouth! I don't know very much about spiders, so I like to learn from my customers. There a few people on here (Bob, being one of them) that have put up with me for years and have NO IDEA how appreciative I am of that! While I'll admit that my store T's are not in ideal enclosures (16 oz. deli cups for most of them... I started feeling bad for my arboreals, though, so will start putting them in the really tall solo deli cups), at least they are not on sand or bark chips, their enclosures get the sides misted a couple times a week, and I feed appropriately.

I AM surprised at how many people think that T's and scorpions are all "de-fanged" or "de-venomed with the stingers removed" in the pet trade! I had a guy just yesterday tell his girl-friend he wanted a tarantula and she re-coiled at the thought. When he told her they were "de-fanged", and I promptly told him they need the fangs to eat, he came back with "then why would I want one??". I mean, holy crap, people! I wish I could start a thread entitled "What's the stupidest thing you've ever heard from a CUSTOMER"!

I have to admit I'm alarmed at the number of my co-workers over the years who have thought something was dead because it was on it's back so they shook it around to make sure. They all get the same response from me, and it's NOT pretty!

arachna-nono said:

When he told her they were "de-fanged", and I promptly told him they need the fangs to eat, he came back with "then why would I want one??". I mean, holy crap, people! I wish I could start a thread entitled "What's the stupidest thing you've ever heard from a CUSTOMER"!

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good idea

start one, i guess you people get a lot of dumbass questions

i guess that there are enough pet store employees who dont know a thing about what they are selling, but at least there seems to be a change (well at least here in germany). they get lessons and get taught what they need to know. not everywhere but its getting more and more.

I've heard terrible reptile advice. But since I don't have arachnids, I'll just say that I believe every thing you guys have written. Why do they employ those fools? I'm glad to say tarantulas are the spiders I'm least afraid of

Most of the shops I use have very knowledgeable staff.
You can normally tell if they know their stuff by just looking at the set ups.
For every good one there are probably a few bad ones out there,run by idiots though.

S. Blondi said:

so I just told her that they don't have claws.

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:? whaaat?

LeilaNami said:

I think the silliest thing I ever heard (and the pet store did) was at the Petco down the street from the one I work at.

"Oh, well rosehairs can be put together in one tank. I know what I'm talking about. I'm the reptile specialist."

I'll tell ya now, just because the people at Petco have reptile specialist titles means absolutely NOTHING! Of course the GM at that store didn't give a crap either way and GUESS WHAT!! She's going to be the temporary GM at my store for a month or so...I think I might have to kill myself :wall:

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You shouldn't be shopping at Petco anyway.

Honestly, the PetCo where my sibling got his "Miss Charolette" was decent. The T's had a water dish, were not on bark or anything bad, and had a hide, and a cricket supply.

The only thing I could see is that they were being over-fed.

But someone did offer me a hampster ball on the way to the checkout for his T.

I might add: This was before I had my own, which I got through AB. Not from a Pet store.

The first T I ever got was an Aphonopelma seemanni for my 9th birthday.
Under the pet shops recommendation, My mother set up a tank with sand, a water dish filled with polyfil, and a caramic skull.

afer a few months it molted, a few more months and it escaped for a couple more months living in the basement (and probably found plenty to eat)

Finally, about a year after the first molt, it stopped eating.....

I asked the pet store what to do, they said to offer it a baby (pinkie) mouse and that will fix it right up.

Needless to say it was tragic watching the tiny mouse die on the sandy tank bottom. But the spider was not interested.

The pet store aggreed to buy the spider back at half-price. Several weeks later I saw the spider for sale at full price again, eating well, and more colorful.

"hmm," I thought, "these guys must really know what they are doing."

Just today, I saw a Superpetz selling a Haplopema sp. (more than likely a Thai Tiger) being sold as "friendly, furry fun for the whole family!"

It didn't help when I asked the employee, she said she missed the Chilean Roses!

Originally Posted by S. Blondi
so I just told her that they don't have claws.

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Originally Posted by Widowman10
whaaat?

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To get her to stop going on about how I should have my tarantulas declawed!

LeilaNami said:

I think the silliest thing I ever heard (and the pet store did) was at the Petco down the street from the one I work at.

"Oh, well rosehairs can be put together in one tank. I know what I'm talking about. I'm the reptile specialist."

I'll tell ya now, just because the people at Petco have reptile specialist titles means absolutely NOTHING! Of course the GM at that store didn't give a crap either way and GUESS WHAT!! She's going to be the temporary GM at my store for a month or so...I think I might have to kill myself :wall:

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lmao. i laughed sooo hard at this one....

Things like this make me want to work in evey single pet shop just so they are kept correctly.

S. Blondi said:

To get her to stop going on about how I should have my tarantulas declawed!

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haha, thanks for clarifying that.

but now, that employee is going to tell everyone that the "T expert" said they didn't have claws... hahaha

Meaningless End said:

not that its not fun to rip on pet stores and stuff (most of them diserve it) but you guys have such a problom with it then why dont you get a part time job at one?

just grabing the tarantulas they have and splitting to never go back there again dosent solve much of a problom... talking to interested employees and asking if they want to learn a thing or two is probrably a better route

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Still doesn't work. TRUST ME. Nobody cares... why? Because it's a business. If you think you're going to get the owner to change their ways as a customer or employee you're wrong.

I'm still waiting to visit a 100% GOOD PET STORE. As far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think so.

Overheard an employee talking to a mother and her daughter about the 5" rosea on his hand:
"...and their bite is no more painful than a mosquito!"

God help us if mosquito bites hurt like a Ts