Nurse Ratchet
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 304
- Location
- South Carolina
I impulse/emotionally-driven bought a tarantula....or two...
I started researching It's in late August and bought my first in the beginning of November. I put a juvenile T. Vagans from a local breeder and got hooked with plans to wait a month between adding another with full intent to purchase local (to avoid shipping) and CB only. There are only three more I was currently hoping to obtain; a T. albopilosus, A. avicularia, and a GBB. While at pet store chain I came across an A. avicularia for $25 in world's smallest cricket keeper. She's (I assume female until proven otherwise) is just over 1.25 inches. They couldn't tell me where she came from, when she molted, when she ate, just that she a "pink toe" so I brought her home to love and breaking my CB only rule since they didn't know.
Six days later at a different pet chain store while picking up some really tiny crickets I came across a 3 inch GBB on a 1/2 inch of substrate, a log cave, no water dish with no webbing. I asked the clerk if it was new since no web. Nope, been there a few months. They knock down any webbing daily so customers can see the tarantula. I asked about the substrate. Nope, can't add any more, the tarantula might burrow then people couldn't see it. They did not share my point of view that the treatment of the T was far from ideal. Said they were following managements orders. They also did not know age,ast molt, gender, last meal, or if CB vs WC. So instead of boycotting the place right then and leaving the poor thing there to be miserable, I kinda bought it too. And a 12x12x15 enclosure... I will start my boycott now.
I wasn't planning on another until January. Was it wrong to buy it? I'm not going back, but in my attempt to "rescue" this baby, I essentially contributed to the problem! Put me down or tell me it's ok. No one I know thinks a tarantula should even be a pet, so they don't get the frustration I felt at the poor husbandry and daily web destruction...
I started researching It's in late August and bought my first in the beginning of November. I put a juvenile T. Vagans from a local breeder and got hooked with plans to wait a month between adding another with full intent to purchase local (to avoid shipping) and CB only. There are only three more I was currently hoping to obtain; a T. albopilosus, A. avicularia, and a GBB. While at pet store chain I came across an A. avicularia for $25 in world's smallest cricket keeper. She's (I assume female until proven otherwise) is just over 1.25 inches. They couldn't tell me where she came from, when she molted, when she ate, just that she a "pink toe" so I brought her home to love and breaking my CB only rule since they didn't know.
Six days later at a different pet chain store while picking up some really tiny crickets I came across a 3 inch GBB on a 1/2 inch of substrate, a log cave, no water dish with no webbing. I asked the clerk if it was new since no web. Nope, been there a few months. They knock down any webbing daily so customers can see the tarantula. I asked about the substrate. Nope, can't add any more, the tarantula might burrow then people couldn't see it. They did not share my point of view that the treatment of the T was far from ideal. Said they were following managements orders. They also did not know age,ast molt, gender, last meal, or if CB vs WC. So instead of boycotting the place right then and leaving the poor thing there to be miserable, I kinda bought it too. And a 12x12x15 enclosure... I will start my boycott now.
I wasn't planning on another until January. Was it wrong to buy it? I'm not going back, but in my attempt to "rescue" this baby, I essentially contributed to the problem! Put me down or tell me it's ok. No one I know thinks a tarantula should even be a pet, so they don't get the frustration I felt at the poor husbandry and daily web destruction...
