Patti is turning people into tarantula lovers. "She's become our ambassador tarantula," said reptile manager Chris Lim, at Clark's Pet Emporium in Albuquerque (4914 Lomas NE). "Not only is she getting a lot of attention because she's from 'Breaking Bad,' but she's the only fully-trained tarantula here."
Whenever a customer is interested in handling a tarantula, Patti's the one they test drive.
via Kayla Sawyer
"When there's a family that's interested in adopting a tarantula, Patti is the tarantula they end up holding and getting familiar with," said Lim. "That way they know that these are animals you can train, and that they can be docile."
via Kayla Sawyer
Tarantulas typically retail between $30-$40, but Patti, a Chilean rose hair tarantula, is not for sale.
"She's actually my pet tarantula," said Lim. "The only reason she lives here in the store is my wife's afraid of her."
via Kayla Sawyer
Lim has received monetary offers in the hundreds for Patti and anticipates even more interest in the coming weeks.
"Word is starting to get out that she's here," he said. "Every day we're seeing more people come in with the intention of taking photos of her, and also taking photos of the store's tunnel because it was featured in the show."
via Kayla Sawyer
Every time you saw an animal on "Breaking Bad," there was a handler off-screen. Lim was Patti's. He was by her side throughout the entire process of training and on-camera action.
"Now that we've worked with the prop director of 'Breaking Bad,' we're a part of their network, so a lot of other TV shows and movies have been contacting us about doing animal wrangling, which we're open to, but ultimately it's the care of these animals that's most important."
