false information on SOME pet shops & other stuff

[mikemike118]

Hi, firstly i would like to say that this thread is aimed at ANYONE!...

About Me:
Im am an average 17 year old, which is interested in tarantulas and other related inverts, Currently living in south-east London/Kent (well around the corner of me is Kent. Have a passion for cooking, and starting catering in September at college, and would hope that people aren't yet bored of this thread!...

So you may be asking why did i post this thread?
Well today, i went to the local pet shop near me which specialises on snaked, sticks, dragons, lizards, dogs, cats, fishing!, and other stuff. And all i went there for was a combination lock for my red knee which is EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE! (i will explain why i think so later). so when i went into the nice and furnished basement to see the tarantulas as well, they had no water!, viv was covered in lime scale, substrate is vermiculite, water bowl had sponge in it, and deceased/carcases of crickets left everywhere! Then i asked the owner some stupid questions like: "do you recommend a tarantula sponge?"...reply was: yes certainly! stops crickets from drowning.. Another question was "why is vermiculite so good then?"...replied with..."its hygienic, cheap, looks fantastic, don't harbour any mites or mould"..

what's the other problem you got with pet shops then?:
Well basically, i have noticed that quite a few pet shops that sells tarantulas are way overpriced!...£50 for pink toe, NOTHING ELSE APART FROM PINK TOE!...Also i have found that pet shops don't have the dedicated time for cleaning out/watering/feeding/and so forth...(just worried about there profit).

And why do you think that your red knee is aggressive?
I personally think this because the pet shop owner use to pick it up with the restraining technique, and never use to hold properly...

If your saying to me that SOME pet shops don't know what they are talking about and other stuff, then what do you recommend?

*I personally would buy from a dedicated on line store such as "exotic-pets.co.uk" and: "the spider shop" OR buy from people on forums such as this great one! (you may not get to see some peoples pictures BUT 9 times out of 10 you will, OR you can request some!, same with the on line pet shops!)

*I personally don't just use Vermiculite and never will!..reasons: don't look real, not comfortable for tarantula (especially the burrowing type)...so why not coir (basically coconut husk fibre and it comes in a house brick type of block) and add some vermiculite, i use ratio of about 9:1...but experiment!

*don't always listen to what pet shop people suggest, read on line, THIS FORUM IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES TO FIND OUT!

*Pet shops can sometimes be far too expensive, like i have mentioned!

*I RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT! USE SPONGE....believe it or not, some tarantulas love lying in water and bathing!

note:Im NOT suggesting that ALL pet shops are the same, but always check on line! Im pretty sure that there are some pet shops that tick all the boxes.


mike

thank you!

[mikemike118]

bump bump

[haunted-havoc]

i agree, i find pets at home fit the bill of bad pet shop 9 times out of 10. my local only sells small mammals and fish at the moment and the are crap at taking care of them.

just as a random thing, has anyone ever been in to pets at home and not seem a dead fish. not on 1 occasion where they actually dont have any dead fish (which i find to be rare) but as a whole.

pink toes scare me i saw 1 at a zoo once, kinda creepy looking. also my girlfriend is petrified of spiders and wouldnt want one in my room

[mikemike118]

Originally Posted by haunted-havoc

i agree, i find pets at home fit the bill of bad pet shop 9 times out of 10. my local only sells small mammals and fish at the moment and the are crap at taking care of them.

just as a random thing, has anyone ever been in to pets at home and not seem a dead fish. not on 1 occasion where they actually dont have any dead fish (which i find to be rare) but as a whole.

pink toes scare me i saw 1 at a zoo once, kinda creepy looking. also my girlfriend is petrified of spiders and wouldnt want one in my room

lol, when i was reading the first line i was thinking about the dead fish i ALWAYS SEE in time 4 pets in Bromley, i can tell they have been there for ages because....they are floating (this happens after a certain amount of time once the fish is dead, gases build up and then make it float)...and sometimes these floaters have bits hanging off of them and fish eating them (suggest to me that they arent fed properly...Then when i tell the pet shop people that they have a dead fish, they get rude and say like "can't you see we are busy doing stuff?". and then it shows to you how much consideration they have for animals/pets...

and then i read your comment about the fish and i thought to myself BINGO!

[kirstyink]

hey not an expert on tarantulas but lots of people put a sponge soaked in water in as it stops crickets from drowning and i know a load of people who use vermiculite.

i dont see anything you said being a problem except the lime scale and bad advice.

[mikemike118]

well, vermiculite can have problems because it isnt comfortable for the tarantulas, and it dosent exactly look professional, coir is better...

tarantula sponges are pointless because they can harbour mites and mold which is VERY deadly for tarantulas, and can harm crickets, crickets wont exactly drown because the will hop out of the water quickly, unless you take off the legs and put them in the water...

[Marcia]

Originally Posted by haunted-havoc

i agree, i find pets at home fit the bill of bad pet shop 9 times out of 10. my local only sells small mammals and fish at the moment and the are crap at taking care of them.

I agree with you on that.

[glitchIA]

I totally agree on this subject mate. I have 9 years experience with Tarantulas and when I went into a pet shop in Hackney (East London) I saw that they had an OBT for a rather cheap price (£30) and because I didnt know much about the species apart from them being known for thier aggressiveness and potent venom, I asked what they are like to keep? (this question was aimed to find out the environment...) the guy answers me "OH haha, these beauties are docile, you can just handle them like any other species and are very interesting to watch when they hunt for thier prey..." now I'm standing there with my jaw hitting the floor and thinkin to myself "what a twat" lol...

The pet shops need to do more research upon buying and/or dealing with animals, not specifically invertebrates, which they are not familiar with...

Mike

[RepoUK]

Originally Posted by mikemike118

well, vermiculite can have problems because it isnt comfortable for the tarantulas, and it dosent exactly look professional, coir is better...

tarantula sponges are pointless because they can harbour mites and mold which is VERY deadly for tarantulas, and can harm crickets, crickets wont exactly drown because the will hop out of the water quickly, unless you take off the legs and put them in the water...

Vermiculite is used a lot as a mixer with peat free soil for T's. I've certainly been using it for 9 years without any problems. It should never been used as the sole substrate.

Secondly, crickets do drown, all the time in fact and this is why people use sponges or synthetic cotton wool balls. A fresh synthetic cotton wool ball produces a lot less mould and bacteria than a waterlogged rotting crick.

[Mrs_SpongeBob]

As much as i think pet shops do sometimes bypass over crucial advice i dont find people online to be much better. This forum in particular may have a few "experts" who know alot about the reps/inverts/animals they keep but alot of the time there's people who know very little and post it as gospel. This makes them just as bad as the shops no?

Pet shops are and always will be more expensive than private breeders and online shops. They have premises to pay for and will probably have alot more money out going than private breeders.

Agree with the post above...crix do drown all the time. I use a cotton wool pad in my water bowl and never had any problems. My substrates a mix of vermiculite and eco earth. My spiders dont speak to me but they dont seem to think it's "uncomfortable". And i certainly wouldn't say it looked bad. Everyone to their own opinions though.

Pigeon holing every shop as bad and every forum as good is just as bad.