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

[Kamikaze]

I visited a local petshop here near my area where I found a small enclosure filled with webs. I took a look at it and there was a dead C. crawshayi. The sales people told me that it had been there for quite sometime and they were wondering why it died.

I took a look at the substrate and it was nothing but a layer of dried Sphagnum moss. It even had plastic tree branches and plastic plants.
The enclosure has web all over and a dead spider in the middle in a death curl pose

The people there even said that those "baboon spiders" are short lived and that they won't survive in the Philippines because of our weather.

 

[ryan2_2cool]

Also, i'm not sure who said it earlier, but in 2 years, when i turn 16, i'm definately going to work in a pet store for just the reasons i've seen here.

Me too i just want to see the other employees say funny stuff about Tarantulas to people and then i would like push the employee out of the way and tell the person he knos nothing and help them out . =]

 

[-Exotic]

christ.. i wish people in stores noe what they were talknig about the ''cobalt blue is the most docile creaute ever'' pffft ya right give me a break

 

[Aurelia]

I think many people think that ALL tarantulas are docile and nice. I know that's what I used to think before I started reading about them and got into the hobby. I had no idea there were so many different species and that they could be a rainbow of different colors!

 

[SkyeSpider]

Great thread! I found it tonight while search for something else and had to read the whole thing

In 12 years in the hobby, I have more stories than I'd like to admit. I'll keep this brief, though.

First, I worked in a pet store when I was 19. I wasn't allowed to change ANYTHING about the care of the animals, and was written up (and eventually fired) over this. The worst was a two foot long Nile monitor lizard who they insisted needed to eat only two crickets a day and be kept in a 10 gallon tank. I snuck in mice to the poor guy. If they didn't grow to around 4-6', I would have taken him home. Unfortunately, these stores can't even be changed from the inside sometimes.

On the plus side, I can count on two hands the number of times I've bought B. smithi adult females and one male all labeled as "rose hair" for under $10 each. Can't beat that, eh?

 

[vvx]

So I almost fully understand if petstores don't just by default listen to the customers unless they can kinda varify what they are saying.

Yeah, I'll vouch for that. I do phone support for a tax preparation software (sold to "professional" prepares, not something you'd buy to do your own taxes.) And a lot of the customers in addition to offering flat out incorrect program corrections get upset when you don't immediately assume they are correct. Tell them you're pulling up the form instructions and they have a heart attack, how dare you doubt their expertise!

In fact even though there are reports of pet stores listening to our suggestions & making changes based on them I worry about that. If they are so easily swayed what happens when the heat lamp & fine sand expert customer tells them how to care for a T? Be sure in addition to telling them what to improve you give them a source for more information so they can verify what you said is correct.

 

[Tcollector]

Well this is not about a T but they kept the T's the same way. I went to go pick up a scorpion from the pet store and they said that I needed a light for it. I told them that they should not have lights and I got some weird looks.

 

[J.huff23]

Ok, I have two pretty good ones:

First I bought an a.seemani off pet supplies plus, and just to mess with them i go "do you know the species name" and the guy says
"its just a smaller version of that rose hair" I just smiled and said thank-you. What else can I do?


My personal favorite pet store story takes places in the same store. I saw a 2.5-3" H.gigas for 8$ and had to jump on the deal. I guesse the guy thought all Ts have the same temper and was used to handleing avics, so he reaches his hand in the KK in grabs that gigas. I was to shocked and amused to say anything. I just kinda looked at him curiously. The gigas kinda did the same thing: It was still for a second then WAM. The guy gets tagged on the finger and flings the T to the floor. The T was fine but the guy was in a bad state of panic. His initial reaction was " aww F***! Is it posinous?!?! " so i explained what he would probably be feeling. By the time I left, his finger was swollen and very purple. I left the store purple in the face from laughing so hard.

And let me tell you, this little gigas is unlike anything I have ever encountered. Its more agrresive than my Lividum Or my OBT's.

 

[oblivion22]

The wierdest advise I have ever gotten is that I need to mist the tank every day, because spiders breathe through their skin like frogs do, and if they dry out, they will suffocate.

 

[calum]

i've been in a few pet shops that sell inverts, but there aren't that many where I live.

the worst i've seen in a petshop was a pandinus imperator. it was in a tiny KK with a tiny bit of sandy substrate. all it had for a hide was a coconut hide thing. there was a heat pad AND a basking light on the tank, and there were like 10 crickets running around, and the poor little guy was all huddled up in the corner.

 

[EightLeggedFrea]

For me, the worst was when I saw an adult A. avic trapped in a KK that was so small its ceramic water dish took up nearly HALF OF ALL THE SPACE! Worse yet, there was no substrate and the dish had one of those cursed sponges in it!

Breaks my heart to see and hear things like this.

I even tried to get a job at Petco simply because of this. Considering I was a voulonteer (spelling?) at the local zoo at the time I figured they'd at least give some consideration after I submitted the needed papers. Alas, I never heard from them again.

 

[FishermanSteve]

It was my first t. an avic avic. An employee of the store gave me a rose hair care sheet and told me they were same in terms of care. Even as a beginner i knew how wrong they were.

 

[Kris-wIth-a-K]

Volunteer* It's funny how we can talk loads of crap and how dumb some pet store people but when we talk about someone else its a big no no.

 

[BigBryan]

one guy told me the G.rosea was a female because of the hole lookin thing on its carapace... and then argued it with me after i said its a male because of the tibial hooks hahaha

 

[ShellsandScales]

Plus it is not always the store's fault. It could happen to be who ever is unloading such pets does not give them the proper info either.

I know with petco at least even if they know the proper species name they have to sell it as whatever it was shipped to them as. If they get a crested gecko and it came in from their supplier as a bearded dragon, they have to sell it as a bearded dragon. Something about their contract with the supplier. It can be a good or bad thing. Sometimes they get some unusual stuff in that is mislabled and have it out for less than its worth and sometimes they have something common labled as something rare and it costs way too much. Just a roll of the dice I guess!

 

[ShellsandScales]

i went to a petco yesterday to buy crickets, and after talking to the guy about reptiles and arachnids,(i was curious to see how much he accually knew about them) the guy who was giving me crickets told me that petco can get three t's. the rosehair, the costa rican zebra, and the pink toe. he then told me that the costa rican zebra and rosehairs are the same price, but the pink toe tarantula is extremely rare, so it costs more. and to think they say they know what there doing. lol

Our location here in Omaha can get rosie, avic's and B. smithi. 99.99 for smithi!!!!

 

[ShellsandScales]

bah Petco makes us house all the tarantulas the same. Terrestrial setup on reptibark. Sucks don't it? The poor little avic gets all confused but manages. I make double sure to mist them and the A. seemani. Most of the others cut corners and I usually feel like the only one doing my job right.

On another note, one of our rosies had his ultimate molt a couple of weeks ago. He's so cute but I feel bad about selling him to a new family that don't know much about Ts. I make double sure that they know what's gonna happen and how long they should expect them to live even though I'm not supposed to sex animals that don't already come in sexed. I think that's really stupid anyway. I told my boss though that we need to find him a woman. Fat chance ;P

My wife runs the reptile dept at petco here. They had a rosie molt out as male and put it on a $5 managers special. Plus they tell anyone that looks at him what they are getting into. Very different from the petco norm.

 

[Tuwin]

I was told that i could tell the difference between a male and a female by the size of the abdomen vs the carapace. Males have a smaller abdomen and a bigger carapace and females have a large abdomen and a smaller carapace

 

[Bazzgazm]

I think to generalize about the whole industry based on a few experiences is bad

Luckily, the guys here are fairly knowledgable. not perfect by any means.
and instead of being a dickhead to the kids at petco i don't mind telling them a few things. and just casually talking... believe it or not some of them enjoy learning about the animals they don't know.

 

[desertdweller]

I think I've told this one in another thread but here goes, forgive me if it's a re-run.

I was buying an H lividum and asked about the sex. The store MANAGER points to one of his spinnerets and says, "It's a male, see?"