Tarantula Rescue

[shatteredpast7]

There is this Hamorii at a local pet shop and the poor thing is not well taken care of, they don't have it at a proper temp, its balding and just overall lethargic. Im considering buying it and giving it a proper home. I never hear about hobbyists rescuing T's and wasn't sure if there was any reason why. I just want some opinions on if this is even a good idea or not.

 

[Konstantin]

Hi
while it is always good to help a creature in trouble if you buy it(rescue it) you will encourage the pet shop to get more tarantulas in in order to make profits and chances are those will be kept in the same poor conditions.
I will personally wont be buying from a place like this in order to discourage them of stocking more in.
Regards Konstantin

 

[Enn49]

Most of us would find it hard to walk away and leave a T that is kept in bad conditions. The best course of action would be to try to educate the pet shop on the correct way to keep it but if that doesn't work offer to take it off their hands for a nominal price.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Sounds like its in premolt.

I rescue about 5 tarantulas a year from our local animal shelters. Every once in a while ill grab one from a pet store thats ill or bad off.

 

[Oursapoil]

I will side with Konstantin on this one. I once myself made this mistake, tried to educate the kids behind the counter (who couldn't care less) and argued with the store manager (a threat of a bad Yelp review did the trick). In the end they handed me the T "at cost". She was in very poor condition but was nurtured back to health. I felt good about it until I realized the following week that a new T had replaced her on the store shelf. All I did was remove a dying and unattractive T the store would have likely not sell, allowing them to get a fresh one to replace it. I understand and agree with both points of view but in the end for a large majority of these pet stores it is just about the money and nothing else. If nobody buys Ts from them, even if it means the ones in the store won't likely make it, at the end they will stop getting them as they'll be loosing money on them. It is sad but unfortunately, in my experience, it is the only way. I prefer to focus on recuing local Ts from owners that are overwhelmed or no longer able to take care of them. I place an add (it's free) on craigslist in my city, letting people know that regardless of the health/age/sex/species of their invertebrates, if they can no longer take care of them we would gladly adopt them and offer them a decent home and the TLC they'll need. My two cents
Have a nice day everyone.

 

[WolfSpider]

Concur.....it's like buying a dog from a puppy mill. Saving one threatens a thousand more....but it is heartbreaking

 

[Jeremy-psychonaut]

I’d have a hard time walking away without buying it, but a very good point was made that buying it only continues the horrible cycle