Just bought some M. balfouri from a friendly couple when they told me about their very aggressive G. pulchra. They let me have a look and a fully grown Haplopelma minax bolted at me like crazy. They bought her at a local pet store.
I worked for that chain for a number of years and educated the customers, even quizzed them after the fact. And I have flat out refused the sale of animals if I didn't feel they were going to be taken care of accordingly. But it does depend on the store and the employees. I wouldn't take it out on the lower workers, it's a corporate issue. I've had a lot of issues with how the corporate side handles habitats in the store and such.
It's mostly corporate, true. But a motivated employee could also read up on things. Or talk to others, or print a care sheet for the species they offer and get it if a customer asks for details about an animal. Every little thing helps
the girl at my local one told me she wouldn't sell me a leapord gecko unless i bought a 20 gallon tank.. i told her how does she know i dont have one at home.. and i went home with him and a 10 gallon tank.. and he is doing fine. i also bought a pink toe. and she said she knew what she was talking about because she had one at home.. then later said it hadn't molted yet. so yeah she was pretty new at it as well.. i cannot stand a pseudo-intellectual
@@Tater4200 Why are you bragging to us about how you disregarded good information simply because she was new to keeping her pink toe (which she probably researched)? Please keep in mind that as your gecko grows, he will have very little room to move around considering his hides and bowls. It's also impossible to have a proper temperature gradient in a smaller sized tank. Put your ego aside for the sake of your pet.
Everything I learned about tarantulas before having them myself, I learned from Dark Den, Tarantula Kat, Exotics Lair, and internet forums who were all very helpful. Pretty much the advice from all my sources were: don't trust most pet shops to know how to care for your chosen animal. So glad that the side effect of my cheapness is being really thorough about research lol.
They won't pay for it. Anyway, it is a time-consuming work and they don't care if they have right or wrong information. All what they care is if they have it. That's all.
That was my thought why bother the animal ? Why would you do that to them unnecessarily? It makes no sense.. of course the answer is money PetSmart just wants more money :-(
Petsmart has been telling customers crappy care for so long now. They have always been a disappointment in the entire pet community. Especially when it comes to their aquatic species. They always have dead fish floating in tanks and huge amounts of betta fish that need to be solitary yet have no room to house said solitary species.
I went to buy fruit flies for my phidippus audax baby and they refused very rudely to give me the empty containers that they were throwing out. . The people don't know crap about animals. They just want stupid peoples money. I actually call them stupid pets. If I need something I go out of my way to go to petco
Thank you for taking the time to go over this. I don't even own a tarantula but from watching you and others even I felt a little stupid reading along to their suggestions. 😂 Also big thumbs up to sashenka for being a wonderful assistant 👏 💐
Honestly that was a little worse than I was expecting - Just shows quite a lack of basic knowledge of what exactly the animal Is. As someone who has kept tarantulas and scorpions for many many MANY years now and tries to keep up to date on care that was shocking! Great video highlighting It!
*Sees Petsmart in thumbnail* *Hears they have a care sheet for arachnids* Well...this oughtta be good.. Wish I could save all the babies in the pet stores.
That's exactly what you shouldn't do. Saving them saves one animal but will lead to sales and more animals being bred for sale, raising the amount of mistreated animals in the long run
@@rebel4466 Yeah I'm aware thanks, I'm definitely not going to spend money on an overpriced tarantula for them to only continue getting more in stock. *My point was more of how sad it is and I wish I could save them, but I can't. Hence it being a wish.*
I'm so glad I found your channel, I've learned so much. You've helped me get into the hobby. I have 3 cuties and I hope to have more soon 🥰 I appreciate all your hard work!
THANK YOU! I get soooo frustrated walking into PetSmart, honestly, it’s hard to find an employee there who has a clue...but then, the turnover with employees is high, as the pay is minimal..
I learnt along time ago that the words "pet shop" and "knows what they are talking about", doesn't always go together. There are of course people that know, it can just be a minefield finding them.
Rip it to em petko!! It's like going to a doctor and them giving you potentially lethal advice.. I once had a very young employee from a large pet store chain told me I needed a infrared globe and run it 24/7 for my new young bearded dragon, with not knowing any better I purchased it and run it 24/7 for about a week, wondering why my poor little dragon look like crap.. luckily I contacted another bearded dragon owner to be told to throw the infrared glob away.. and set me straight on the necessary lighting my little girl needed. That was many years ago for me, but I bet that sort of stuff still happens regularly.
Petco is still prettyyyyyy baddd. Unfortunately most if not all big corporations are. They don’t care about the animals, they care about the money alone. No matter if their care is “kinda better than petsmart”
Thanks for the tip about heat & temperatures! I was kind of worried about that before getting a tarantula and didn't really know what to do concerning this part of tarantula care. Nice video btw!!! :)) ;)
Are you sure it’s the store selling sick animals and not the owners’ negligence and/or lack of knowledge that led to sickness? Seems more likely to me. ...or at least the suppliers/breeders should be held up to scrutiny. I don’t think the employees are exactly veterinarians either, so what are they supposed to do when the vet isn’t available or they don’t recognize that something is wrong? Listen, I’m just saying I think there’s blame to share among multiple parties rather than just the company itself. Besides, I think it’s unrealistic that *every location* is like that, right?
They definitely do sell animals that are already sick. Maybe they got them like that from the breeder,but that’s no excuse, they have a duty to BE informed if they are handling live animals. It’s not fair to the potential purchaser or the poor animals. People will go to these places and think the information is correct. If they are sick from the breeder then they should not be buying them, but they do very little by way of checking. Everyone has responsibility of course, in an ideal world, but the onus is on the seller to be informed and also to correctly educate buyers.
@@Deoxys_Used_Mimic in the end they are selling said pets. If they didnt know of the animals were sick, they need to hire people that actually has knowledge on animal health. I myself never recieved a sick animal from them but have seen dozens of sick and injured animals being sold.
@@Deoxys_Used_Mimic they might not be sick when they get them but the people who work at these places know nothing and rely on the company to tell then what they need to do. The companies dont care and dont care to know. They starve bearded dragons because they have no idea of their dietary needs and they let tarantulas dehydrate regularly because they dont know they cant use the sponges. I know because I used to work at stores like this. They dont care. The employees might. But the companies dont.
I'm really really happy to see this video. It's not just petsmart, almost all pet stores will try to sell you on extra things you don't need, or will just spit out random "facts" without any real knowledge. I always encourage friends of mine to check out online shops like jamies tarantulas when they're interested in getting one.
that guide is written for reptiles...they adapted it for arachnids.... have a look to see if they use the same guide for other animals with minor changes
Definitely can vouch for individual tarantulas having differing personalities. I bought a Hondurian Curly Hair tarantula _(Tliltocatl albopilosum)_ in part because I heard they were calm and even-tempered. Now guess who has a fuzzy little devil on her hands? Most of the time when I try to feed her she ignores the prey at first and tries to bite into my tongs (thankfully not in a way that hurts her fangs!) like Sorry hon you can't pierce stainless steel, you got the spirit tho try actually biting the mealworm
you'd be surprised how many normal pet info is wrong in pet shops! a lot of the time their hamster information is WAY less than they actually need (both enrichment-wise and enclosure-wise)
The PetSmart I work at totally agrees with your video!! We actually do print off our own customized care guides, because we know that the corporation provided one isn't adequate and gives bad advice. We also have a season tarantula keeper that works here too so he's pretty knowledgeable and helps everyone know the correct way to care for them! This is one thing that unfortunately the associates and managers cannot control and its all run by the home office on a case by case basis :( I am hoping in the future this corporation decides to change their current information with new and correct information. And its not just the tarantulas that have incorrect info in their care guides :(
One of the past couple of times I went to Petsmart, an employee straight up told me that Petsmart was only recently starting to sell tarantulas and tarantula related things. So I'm not surprised they're not well versed with tarantulas. They didn't even carry roaches.
I got a "Rose hair" at a petsmart because it was on sale or something for $8. It's actually an avicularia which doesn't even look similar to a rose hair and requires completely different setup.
The problem with under tank heatings is not, that they dont feel the heat, its even worse- tarantulas tend to dig when theyre to warm, cuz the underground tends to be cooler (like if you dig in your garden in summer, the dirt will feel cooler under the surface). So they dig deeper and deeper trying to get cooler but will only get warmer
one more comment for the algorythms to push this video out there. absolutely quality content that any potential pet owner should see, not just t or scorpion owners. this is a great example of corporate ignorance and a reinforcement to find independant sources of information to learn about your potential pet.
Thank you for sharing this! I had a brachypelma hamorii years ago, my very first (and last, for now) tarantula and I did everything that the guy at the pet shop told me. Of course, she died 7 months after I got her. I had no idea what I did wrong back then cause I did everything he told me. :-/ Now, thanks to you I know better and I want to get another tarantula next year in spring. Already super excited about that and from now on I will only listen to people who have been in the hobby for years Your videos really help a lot! Thank you
Then when your kid freaks out, drops the poor thing and it dies, come back so we can sell you another one. Cuz if I've learned one thing about people who love to buy animals from places like petsmart, its that they'll replace them lickity split 😔🥺
We have a similar one called Pets at Home here in the UK and they are SO bad to a point that in a lot of cases you can't even rescue the animals because they are so unwell and uncared for :/
Last time I was in there really is going to be the Last time. I haven't been able to get to a pet shop since all of this business started, but had an essential errand into town one day about a month ago.... So I thought I'd get me some endler guppies for my fish tank. They had around fifty guppies in this one tank - kinda normal, but looking closer I spotted around six females in with all the males. I asked for two males, and the rest to be the females. Staff told me that wasn't possible, I replied: "You realize those few females are going to die from the stress, right?". Their answer: "Yeah, well, we're not allowed to sell them that way." Alrighty then. Nice one. Way to care. I would have been happy to wait for them to serve other customers. This particular shop has stopped selling reptiles at least though, and I don't think they ever kept inverts. Only sell feeders and fish, but they also have small rodents and rabbits.
100% guilty of that one!! Lol I capture wolf spiders or hunters watch them for a while and then let them go.. I don't molest them or poke them or anything like that I'm just fascinated by them and when my cuteness desire is lower I let them go on their business.. ♥️
@@gailwagner8115 I caught a pregnant wolf spider before or.... Not pregnant but she had a sac under her abdomen. I put her in tall grass so no birds could snatch her because she was sitting out in the open and there were a couple of birds chilling in the backyard.
The same people that sell the bedding, heat pads, night vision bulbs also sell the tarantula. If you kill it with their advice they will sell you another one and tell you how you must have done X Y and Z wrong... but if you buy A B and C product it won't happen to this one. 6 months later the cycle repeats.
I work in a pet store (not Petsmart), and I always enjoy talking about tarantulas with customers who also have them. It even gives me a warm fuzzy when I get to give advice about caring for them properly, rare a chance it may be.
You're the one in a million employee. Best thing I've seen was a reptile guy working there who somewhat understood the tarantulas as well. But pet stores here don't often offer spiders at all. If they do, they're Avicularia/Caribena, G. rosea and B. hamori. For anything else you have to go to a breeder
I use a 10 gallon enclosure for my massive E.murinus and she webbed the floor and she created a massive burrow. Well She also POOPS ON THE CEILING so I have to clean her droppings because it stays on the ceiling molding.
My boys and I have been following you for over three years. My oldest son is 9 and now wants a pet tarantula. This video is perfect for beginners. I appreciate you taking the time to break it down. Thank you Petko!
No reason to fear them. They dislike you more than you dislike them. Tarantula keepers are somewhat masochistic. We care for the animal and get hate in return lol
Before I watched dark den, my friend wanted a tarantula and I went to the pet shop to get a chilian rose hair, he got the full works, a Huge tank, heat mats, mosses, temperature reader, fake plants, etc everything that list want you to buy
I hated seeing these in my local petsmart. Ive been caring for these animals for my whole life and was livid when the employees outright lied to me. Ive gotten good info either through arachnoboards or through exotic petstores nearby, though. I hope they pull them from stores
It's always best to learn from a person who has ACTUAL EXPERIENCE with such animals... just like you! :-) I'd always put your advise (and your "How to make enclosure" or "How to keep a tarantula") over ANY written or printed guide. It's just more useful and better to learn this stuff from a living, breathing person and... someone who is a passionate keeper or collector. You have also faced ups and downs... made good and bad experiences... and this is just precious information!
I'm really surprised that a large pet retailer like PetSmart is posting bad info like that. I hope it's not to get people to come back and buy more animals because they die off from poor care.
Yes the emperor scorpion needs the same humidity as Asian forest! I have both! Love your videos man I started collecting because of you! I have 40 tarantulas, 4 scorpions and a vinegaroon now 😆
@@rissamarie1280 That's pretty pathetic, and so frustrating! I've learned to not go look at the animals in a pet store. Just get my crickets and leave!
My theory on the "swallen joints" in the diseases part : the paragraph was too short and someone said like "let's write swallen joints cuz It sounds good"
Hey petco hoping all is well your way ...loving your channel I have my two son's watching your channel as well we all love you and all your AMAZIN animals....thanks for helping me be not afrade of spiders anymore....I've learned a lot watching your channel....THANKS FOR THAT...GIVE MY DEEPEST REGARDS TO YOUR WIFE...BLESSING TO YOU BOTH....HOW BLESS YOU IN ALL YOU DO...
Just found your channel 2 days ago after looking around for regal jumping spider mine arrives in 2 days and would just like to say i think your amazing with all your animals you have kept me entertained for hours and hours weather its a spider on the loose or haba haba time keep up the great work your doing. Also felt so bad for you when Despacito was having them fits really looked so bad, But once again you done an amazing job with him and soooo glad he's back fighting it. Once again keep up the great work your doing sending best wishes from the UK.
Svaka cast na svakom videu,zbog tebe sam zavolio ovu "drugu stranu" zivotinjskog svijeta. Zavolio sam jako puno reptile i na tvojim video zapisima stvarno naucim jako puno o tome.Nabavio sam terrarium i sad pravim poseban enclosure za bearded dragona. Svaka cast na svemu and keep it up.
You’re actually really on point about scorpions. Emperors or say Malaysian forest scorpion will need more humidity than species such as the androctonus or death stalker which are desert species. I really enjoy how actually informative you are. WATCH THE DARK DEN AND YOU WILL LEARN THE RIGHT WAYS TO KEEP AND HANDLE YOU’RE ANIMALS!!
I just wanted to correct something you said regarding tarantula venom liquefying their prey - it doesn't, they use digestive enzymes from their gut to prepare their food for ingestion. The venom is just used to incapacitate their prey. "However, spider venom has none of the required enzymes needed to break down proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids or other materials. Spider venom plays an insignificant role in digestion. " "We know that spiders regurgitate all required enzymes from the mouth and onto the prey (in those that tear up the prey) or into the prey (for the rest). With tarantulas and others that shred the prey, these enzymes are poured onto the prey bolus, then “licked” back into the foregut. " PDF www.atshq.org/articles/Digestion.pdf
I have gone there with a good friend of mine and she educates the staff (especially the new hires) on the proper way to take care of each and every "pet". She's gone to school, owns her own vet hospital and she treats everything. But watching her teach about tarantulas, snakes, geckos, etc. I felt really emotional 😭. Just to see so many people work there and not have a single clue how to care for these creatures. She opened a cage with a leopard gecko and it had no fat in its tail with stuck shead all over its body. It was heartbreaking
So true, got my bearded dragon there n they were trying to sell me abunch of crap... I laughed in the dudes face infront of other customers and called them out on their bs.
@@patrickmcglonejr8163 , yeah... screw those losers for trying to make a living and keep the lights on... what a bunch of chumps, eh >.>; I'm sure everyone stood and clapped afterwards too because you so chad.
Considering I've seen first hand how they treat the animals in their care, I'm not surprised they have completely wrong information on their site. My partner lives in America and I used to visit them often (Before Covid), anytime we went to a Petsmart I'd always see Betta fish stressed in tiny tubs, some of them already belly up. Birds plucking in overcrowded cages, numerous hamsters crammed together in cages smaller than they should have for one of them. My partner keeps hermit crabs and the ones in their stores are always in painted shells, the enclosure's humidity is always really low and there is always at least four dead ones or some sort of mould. I stayed with them for three weeks last year, the first week we went because I wanted to get a gift for a friend, we checked out the crabs and saw several dead ones and mould in the enclosure. We pointed it out, my partner said about the humidity being too low as well. The guy just took the dead ones out and said he'd "deal with the mould later". We went back the following week, new crabs, some of which looked ill, several dead ones and the mould had now spread and was growing mushrooms. Pointed it out to another person and a manager that was on the floor, they removed the dead and sick looking ones, once again said they'll deal with the mould and let my partner take three crabs home as a "sign of good will". They didn't deal with the mould. Those crabs are thriving now though, when offered new shells they changed almost immediately.
This was invaluable information for me, thankyou... I don't plan to keep a spider but I do know who's video information id be following should I ever decide to!!..
When it comes to getting information from pet stores, there is only one I trust, and that is the local pet store. When my country finally accepted reptiles (but only 19 species) as pets 3 years ago, the owner of the store sent his employees on a course with a reptile expert so they could learn how to keep reptiles good. They even do not want to sell you hamsters if you do not want them in the right type of cage or have several hamsters (if I remember correctly, the mother would like to buy 3-5 dwarf hamsters) in one and the same small cage.
our terra shop we always buy food and equipment recently sold us a sling labeled "Grammostola pulchripes" but was kinda suspicious since we do had/have the species and didnt look or behave like the species so we asked reddit, instagram & arachnoboard what they think and all agree it aint a Chaco, actually it seems to be a OW (most likely M. balfouri) thankfully we are experianced with OW keeping but imagine they sold it to a beginner. already got suspicious when the employee said she likes the species cuz that species likes to web a lot 🧐
Unfortunately chains like petsmart are mostly employed with kids just trying to get a pay cheque.. But what a shame that even if there happens to be an employee that is passionate, they might be misinformed directly from the chain that employs them..
we can't even buy tarantulas in shops here in Ireland. You'll be lucky to see one in a pet store once a year and there's only ever leopard geckos or bearded dragons sometimes which both cost over a hundred euros.
I have a pretty big fear of spiders, but your videos help me understand them a lot better. But like any exotic animal, research and knowledge is crucial for the safety of your self and the animal...money grabbing pet smart, great video as always!
13:16 of course they are going to tell you to over feed your T .so they can get rich off you buying food from them .pet food companies for dogs and cats food have been doing that for years the recommended amount is double what you really need for your animal.
17:38 I'm pretty sure chaco golden knee's are considered to be one of the more relaxed T's but mine was NOT. She grew into this massive, pissed off tarantula that would charge the door and start throwing up threat postures everytime you even look in the direction of the enclosure haha She also ripped everything apart in there, cork bark, plants, you name it, she tore it all up. She was super sweet and chill until around 2 molts before maturity. Then she just got nasty! I think she might have been bipolar. haha
I’m glad I got my crested gecko from our local giant pet store which also sells tarantulas. They are very strict and everyone who works with the animals is very well educated and they like to make sure their animals are going to good owners!
I find it funny that they advise to contact a vet if you think there’s something wrong. Even if the vet you contact knows about Ts (and that’s a big if), there’s nothing that they can really do to help it.
I totally agree. They also are selling B Emilias as B Smithis. I wrote them, My daughter is an assistant manager of one of their stores. I doubt they will change anything.
100% agree man. Pet stores no nothing about inverts and such. There needs to be a complete overhaul of all the care info for not only employees but the customers as well. This is a care guide for reptiles. Not tarantulas.
Hey Petko, I'm Chilean and... did you know that in my country it's forbidden to catch or breed Grammastola rosea? It's considered a felony. So I was wondering how they obtained that tarantula species?
It's funny because my father used to keep T's. Years on, I've started collecting and my mother is convinced that they need (heat bulb, certain enclosure, certain prey, will drown in waterdish etc.) and is convinced they'll die otherwise. I've tried to educate her and tell her that LPS only want to sell you these things to make money, as so much more is known about T's and their needs than what was available even just 10 or so years ago. Funny how such a small amount of time can change things, but I guess we have the Internet to thank for that!
Petsmart is renowned for not knowing anything. You use them to get cheap supplies, and move on. If you ask for help or information from them, your asking for trouble. Keeping emperor scorpions in a desert set up to telling people that chameleons can be kept in pairs, or that two males can get along are just some of the gems ive encountered
Dude they use you in class rooms. You’re a professional keeper.
Is this true? That’s awesome; he deserves it!
My sister thought she bought a Rose Hair at PetSmart but then it developed a horn. Come to find out she got a Horned Baboon.
Thats a BIG difference holy hell.
Wow!!! Scary
Just bought some M. balfouri from a friendly couple when they told me about their very aggressive G. pulchra.
They let me have a look and a fully grown Haplopelma minax bolted at me like crazy. They bought her at a local pet store.
Lol
It makes me very mad when companies like petsmart gives false information to try and sell you things that you do not need for tarantulas
It is so sad 😞
I worked for that chain for a number of years and educated the customers, even quizzed them after the fact. And I have flat out refused the sale of animals if I didn't feel they were going to be taken care of accordingly. But it does depend on the store and the employees. I wouldn't take it out on the lower workers, it's a corporate issue. I've had a lot of issues with how the corporate side handles habitats in the store and such.
It's mostly corporate, true. But a motivated employee could also read up on things. Or talk to others, or print a care sheet for the species they offer and get it if a customer asks for details about an animal. Every little thing helps
@@rebel4466 I always did research, those care guides were a joke
the girl at my local one told me she wouldn't sell me a leapord gecko unless i bought a 20 gallon tank.. i told her how does she know i dont have one at home.. and i went home with him and a 10 gallon tank.. and he is doing fine. i also bought a pink toe. and she said she knew what she was talking about because she had one at home.. then later said it hadn't molted yet. so yeah she was pretty new at it as well.. i cannot stand a pseudo-intellectual
@@Tater4200 10GALLON. your gecko is miserable poor thing
@@Tater4200 Why are you bragging to us about how you disregarded good information simply because she was new to keeping her pink toe (which she probably researched)? Please keep in mind that as your gecko grows, he will have very little room to move around considering his hides and bowls. It's also impossible to have a proper temperature gradient in a smaller sized tank. Put your ego aside for the sake of your pet.
The one person that disliked this video must be a PetSmart store manager.
Aww come on there "trying there best"😂😂😂
26 petsmart managers now.
You are correct!
dislikes still help the algorithm tho so they're only increasing the outreach of this video ;)
do they dislike the video for the reason that they dont like what petsmart did? or did they disliked the video because they hate darkden?
Everything I learned about tarantulas before having them myself, I learned from Dark Den, Tarantula Kat, Exotics Lair, and internet forums who were all very helpful. Pretty much the advice from all my sources were: don't trust most pet shops to know how to care for your chosen animal.
So glad that the side effect of my cheapness is being really thorough about research lol.
Write a good care guide and send it to them. They use my “Language of Dogs” DVD to train their trainers now!
Uhhhh I hope you know dogs then
I already have a full beginner care guide video ^^
@@TheDarkDen maybe send it to the head office of petsmart?
They won't pay for it. Anyway, it is a time-consuming work and they don't care if they have right or wrong information. All what they care is if they have it. That's all.
I would not support those stores. They have a lot of money and destroying the business of professional people who working hard for there business
Imagine the stress of the tarantula with someone changing every month the substrate
And how angry they will get, when you destroy theyr web every month...
That was my thought why bother the animal ? Why would you do that to them unnecessarily? It makes no sense.. of course the answer is money PetSmart just wants more money :-(
Owner: Let's change substrate.
Old world's: So you have chosen death!
Yeah imagine thinking light is a problem but not the complete destruction of their home once a month
@@kommerk 😑😑😑🤣🤣🤣
Petsmart has been telling customers crappy care for so long now. They have always been a disappointment in the entire pet community.
Especially when it comes to their aquatic species. They always have dead fish floating in tanks and huge amounts of betta fish that need to be solitary yet have no room to house said solitary species.
I went to buy fruit flies for my phidippus audax baby and they refused very rudely to give me the empty containers that they were throwing out. . The people don't know crap about animals. They just want stupid peoples money. I actually call them stupid pets. If I need something I go out of my way to go to petco
Thank you for taking the time to go over this. I don't even own a tarantula but from watching you and others even I felt a little stupid reading along to their suggestions. 😂
Also big thumbs up to sashenka for being a wonderful assistant 👏 💐
That shows you the level of idiocy in that guide. When even an "amateur" in spider keeping knows they're full of shit lol
Honestly that was a little worse than I was expecting - Just shows quite a lack of basic knowledge of what exactly the animal Is. As someone who has kept tarantulas and scorpions for many many MANY years now and tries to keep up to date on care that was shocking!
Great video highlighting It!
I'm surprised no one is going "didn't expect you here"
Hi Lath :D
*Sees Petsmart in thumbnail*
*Hears they have a care sheet for arachnids*
Well...this oughtta be good..
Wish I could save all the babies in the pet stores.
That's exactly what you shouldn't do. Saving them saves one animal but will lead to sales and more animals being bred for sale, raising the amount of mistreated animals in the long run
@@rebel4466 Yeah I'm aware thanks, I'm definitely not going to spend money on an overpriced tarantula for them to only continue getting more in stock.
*My point was more of how sad it is and I wish I could save them, but I can't. Hence it being a wish.*
I'm so glad I found your channel, I've learned so much. You've helped me get into the hobby. I have 3 cuties and I hope to have more soon 🥰 I appreciate all your hard work!
Coming from the fish hobby with 20 years experience I learned not to trust box pet stores early on.
Same thing with the reptile hobby.
THANK YOU! I get soooo frustrated walking into PetSmart, honestly, it’s hard to find an employee there who has a clue...but then, the turnover with employees is high, as the pay is minimal..
I learnt along time ago that the words "pet shop" and "knows what they are talking about", doesn't always go together. There are of course people that know, it can just be a minefield finding them.
Rip it to em petko!! It's like going to a doctor and them giving you potentially lethal advice..
I once had a very young employee from a large pet store chain told me I needed a infrared globe and run it 24/7 for my new young bearded dragon, with not knowing any better I purchased it and run it 24/7 for about a week, wondering why my poor little dragon look like crap.. luckily I contacted another bearded dragon owner to be told to throw the infrared glob away.. and set me straight on the necessary lighting my little girl needed. That was many years ago for me, but I bet that sort of stuff still happens regularly.
And this is why Petko > PetSmart :)
Not exactly
@@M_u_t_e96024 bro, do u know what/who petko is? its not petco lmao.
@@M_u_t_e96024 lol the dark dens real name is petko
Petco is still prettyyyyyy baddd. Unfortunately most if not all big corporations are. They don’t care about the animals, they care about the money alone. No matter if their care is “kinda better than petsmart”
@@reckbiscuit6214 he said Petko, not Petco. Petco=bad pet store chain. Petko=Marko Petkovic of The Dark Den
Thanks for the tip about heat & temperatures! I was kind of worried about that before getting a tarantula and didn't really know what to do concerning this part of tarantula care. Nice video btw!!! :)) ;)
Ah yes, petsmart. The place were they sell sick and/or dying animals.
:/
Are you sure it’s the store selling sick animals and not the owners’ negligence and/or lack of knowledge that led to sickness?
Seems more likely to me.
...or at least the suppliers/breeders should be held up to scrutiny.
I don’t think the employees are exactly veterinarians either, so what are they supposed to do when the vet isn’t available or they don’t recognize that something is wrong?
Listen, I’m just saying I think there’s blame to share among multiple parties rather than just the company itself.
Besides, I think it’s unrealistic that *every location* is like that, right?
They definitely do sell animals that are already sick. Maybe they got them like that from the breeder,but that’s no excuse, they have a duty to BE informed if they are handling live animals. It’s not fair to the potential purchaser or the poor animals. People will go to these places and think the information is correct. If they are sick from the breeder then they should not be buying them, but they do very little by way of checking. Everyone has responsibility of course, in an ideal world, but the onus is on the seller to be informed and also to correctly educate buyers.
@@Deoxys_Used_Mimic in the end they are selling said pets. If they didnt know of the animals were sick, they need to hire people that actually has knowledge on animal health. I myself never recieved a sick animal from them but have seen dozens of sick and injured animals being sold.
@@Deoxys_Used_Mimic they might not be sick when they get them but the people who work at these places know nothing and rely on the company to tell then what they need to do. The companies dont care and dont care to know. They starve bearded dragons because they have no idea of their dietary needs and they let tarantulas dehydrate regularly because they dont know they cant use the sponges. I know because I used to work at stores like this. They dont care. The employees might. But the companies dont.
I'm really really happy to see this video. It's not just petsmart, almost all pet stores will try to sell you on extra things you don't need, or will just spit out random "facts" without any real knowledge. I always encourage friends of mine to check out online shops like jamies tarantulas when they're interested in getting one.
Where is Jamie's based out of?
that guide is written for reptiles...they adapted it for arachnids.... have a look to see if they use the same guide for other animals with minor changes
With some of the enclosures that I've seen on Facebook, the advice given was better than anticipated
Definitely can vouch for individual tarantulas having differing personalities. I bought a Hondurian Curly Hair tarantula _(Tliltocatl albopilosum)_ in part because I heard they were calm and even-tempered. Now guess who has a fuzzy little devil on her hands?
Most of the time when I try to feed her she ignores the prey at first and tries to bite into my tongs (thankfully not in a way that hurts her fangs!) like Sorry hon you can't pierce stainless steel, you got the spirit tho try actually biting the mealworm
you'd be surprised how many normal pet info is wrong in pet shops! a lot of the time their hamster information is WAY less than they actually need (both enrichment-wise and enclosure-wise)
I agree 👍
That's why this is the real good person to ask for information, he has passion talking about tarantulas and so.
When you said “pets like cats, dogs and reptiles” I heard “pets like kids, dogs and reptiles”. 😂
Kids are dogs
Same difference
Kids are worst pets of all.
I mean kids are sort of like pets
I have bunch of kids in my basement
The PetSmart I work at totally agrees with your video!! We actually do print off our own customized care guides, because we know that the corporation provided one isn't adequate and gives bad advice. We also have a season tarantula keeper that works here too so he's pretty knowledgeable and helps everyone know the correct way to care for them! This is one thing that unfortunately the associates and managers cannot control and its all run by the home office on a case by case basis :( I am hoping in the future this corporation decides to change their current information with new and correct information. And its not just the tarantulas that have incorrect info in their care guides :(
One of the past couple of times I went to Petsmart, an employee straight up told me that Petsmart was only recently starting to sell tarantulas and tarantula related things. So I'm not surprised they're not well versed with tarantulas. They didn't even carry roaches.
I got a "Rose hair" at a petsmart because it was on sale or something for $8.
It's actually an avicularia which doesn't even look similar to a rose hair and requires completely different setup.
This is why you should do research and decide which one you want to get.
I knew what I was getting. The point is that they didn't know what they had and were keeping it completely wrong in a steamy terrestrial box.
Feel like companies like this just cut and paste things from other pet guides on their website without thinking about it.
is it really hard to edit those information and they chose to copy paste then change some words
The last time i saw Petko this triggered was when Exotics Lair made fun of him. 14:54 Lol
The problem with under tank heatings is not, that they dont feel the heat, its even worse- tarantulas tend to dig when theyre to warm, cuz the underground tends to be cooler (like if you dig in your garden in summer, the dirt will feel cooler under the surface). So they dig deeper and deeper trying to get cooler but will only get warmer
one more comment for the algorythms to push this video out there. absolutely quality content that any potential pet owner should see, not just t or scorpion owners. this is a great example of corporate ignorance and a reinforcement to find independant sources of information to learn about your potential pet.
This sounds more like a try not to slap your forehead challenge
Slap the flie
The Dark Den dropping that knowledge. Thanks for making my day a little bit better Petko.
Thank you for sharing this!
I had a brachypelma hamorii years ago, my very first (and last, for now) tarantula and I did everything that the guy at the pet shop told me.
Of course, she died 7 months after I got her. I had no idea what I did wrong back then cause I did everything he told me. :-/
Now, thanks to you I know better and I want to get another tarantula next year in spring. Already super excited about that and from now on I will only listen to people who have been in the hobby for years
Your videos really help a lot! Thank you
Yeah pick up your spider after 4 days, perfect information.
Then when your kid freaks out, drops the poor thing and it dies, come back so we can sell you another one. Cuz if I've learned one thing about people who love to buy animals from places like petsmart, its that they'll replace them lickity split 😔🥺
@@gh00stie62 yep sad but true
Newfoundland loves you petko!!!
Just got 15+ obt slings to share with my friends for Christmas!!!!
So you hate your friends? Lol
@@rebel4466 hahahahahahahahaha
We have a similar one called Pets at Home here in the UK and they are SO bad to a point that in a lot of cases you can't even rescue the animals because they are so unwell and uncared for :/
Absolutely AWFUL, I agree.
....
Last time I was in there really is going to be the Last time. I haven't been able to get to a pet shop since all of this business started, but had an essential errand into town one day about a month ago.... So I thought I'd get me some endler guppies for my fish tank.
They had around fifty guppies in this one tank - kinda normal, but looking closer I spotted around six females in with all the males. I asked for two males, and the rest to be the females.
Staff told me that wasn't possible, I replied:
"You realize those few females are going to die from the stress, right?".
Their answer:
"Yeah, well, we're not allowed to sell them that way."
Alrighty then. Nice one. Way to care. I would have been happy to wait for them to serve other customers.
This particular shop has stopped selling reptiles at least though, and I don't think they ever kept inverts. Only sell feeders and fish, but they also have small rodents and rabbits.
@wakenbaker-uk this extends through to hamsters/rabbits and even fish :/
I just capture jumping spiders and then let em loose when I feel like I've had enough cuteness.
100% guilty of that one!! Lol I capture wolf spiders or hunters watch them for a while and then let them go.. I don't molest them or poke them or anything like that I'm just fascinated by them and when my cuteness desire is lower I let them go on their business.. ♥️
@@gailwagner8115 I caught a pregnant wolf spider before or.... Not pregnant but she had a sac under her abdomen. I put her in tall grass so no birds could snatch her because she was sitting out in the open and there were a couple of birds chilling in the backyard.
@@slapstickcomedy2.0.18 that totally sounds like something I would do! ♥️👍
same I help warm up the spiders when it's cold outside then I let them go
The same people that sell the bedding, heat pads, night vision bulbs also sell the tarantula. If you kill it with their advice they will sell you another one and tell you how you must have done X Y and Z wrong... but if you buy A B and C product it won't happen to this one. 6 months later the cycle repeats.
I work in a pet store (not Petsmart), and I always enjoy talking about tarantulas with customers who also have them. It even gives me a warm fuzzy when I get to give advice about caring for them properly, rare a chance it may be.
You're the one in a million employee. Best thing I've seen was a reptile guy working there who somewhat understood the tarantulas as well. But pet stores here don't often offer spiders at all. If they do, they're Avicularia/Caribena, G. rosea and B. hamori. For anything else you have to go to a breeder
@@rebel4466 Thank you! (:
I use a 10 gallon enclosure for my massive E.murinus and she webbed the floor and she created a massive burrow. Well She also POOPS ON THE CEILING so I have to clean her droppings because it stays on the ceiling molding.
I bet that looks amazing. You should post pics on the instagram or discord groups.
@@marclytle644 I also had to dig her own burrow. And she poops on the ceiling as a return.
Much love from Australia petko!, my phlogius goliath female just molted last night (about 5 inches in size)
My boys and I have been following you for over three years. My oldest son is 9 and now wants a pet tarantula. This video is perfect for beginners. I appreciate you taking the time to break it down. Thank you Petko!
It is so weird that i can see you handle spiders without being affraid like before. You are calm and great Petko, dobar tjovek. Thank you
No reason to fear them. They dislike you more than you dislike them. Tarantula keepers are somewhat masochistic. We care for the animal and get hate in return lol
Before I watched dark den, my friend wanted a tarantula and I went to the pet shop to get a chilian rose hair, he got the full works, a Huge tank, heat mats, mosses, temperature reader, fake plants, etc everything that list want you to buy
I hated seeing these in my local petsmart. Ive been caring for these animals for my whole life and was livid when the employees outright lied to me. Ive gotten good info either through arachnoboards or through exotic petstores nearby, though. I hope they pull them from stores
It's always best to learn from a person who has ACTUAL EXPERIENCE with such animals... just like you! :-)
I'd always put your advise (and your "How to make enclosure" or "How to keep a tarantula") over ANY written or printed guide.
It's just more useful and better to learn this stuff from a living, breathing person and... someone who is a passionate keeper or collector. You have also faced ups and downs... made good and bad experiences... and this is just precious information!
I'm really surprised that a large pet retailer like PetSmart is posting bad info like that. I hope it's not to get people to come back and buy more animals because they die off from poor care.
Unrelated but the way you say “wery” instead of “very” makes my heart melt and if you were gay I’d fight entire kingdoms for your precious hand.
Yes the emperor scorpion needs the same humidity as Asian forest! I have both! Love your videos man I started collecting because of you! I have 40 tarantulas, 4 scorpions and a vinegaroon now 😆
You have tarantulas and are humble, true characteristics of a badass.
I was surprised they didnt recommend to provide a sponge in the water dish otherwise the tarantula will drown.... 🤦♀️😅🙈🙈
They have them in the enclosures in their stores 🙄
A salesperson recommended this to me last week. I jumped into his s**t so fast! 🤬
@@CricketsMa I always try to educate but no one ever seems to care. The dude wouldn't even get the T out for me IN THE ENCLOSURE!
@@rissamarie1280 That's pretty pathetic, and so frustrating! I've learned to not go look at the animals in a pet store. Just get my crickets and leave!
I am getting the vibe you aren't supposed to do this, but I don't really know what you're supposed to do instead.
If I die I want to be reincarnated into one of Petkos tarantula or hamster.
But preferably not one of the hissing cockroaches unless it's the one that now has his own enclosure!, Rasputin! Lol
Cappuccino!!!🥰😪
My theory on the "swallen joints" in the diseases part : the paragraph was too short and someone said like "let's write swallen joints cuz It sounds good"
Let's look at it from the positive side... They didn't mention that you 'need' a sponge in your water dish!
Oh god
Hey petco hoping all is well your way ...loving your channel I have my two son's watching your channel as well we all love you and all your AMAZIN animals....thanks for helping me be not afrade of spiders anymore....I've learned a lot watching your channel....THANKS FOR THAT...GIVE MY DEEPEST REGARDS TO YOUR WIFE...BLESSING TO YOU BOTH....HOW BLESS YOU IN ALL YOU DO...
Imagine Petko having to change substrate every month,he would be dead tired XD
I don’t have T’s, but I know more about taking care of them than that guide just by watching you. I think it’s great that you’re trying to help.
8:25 I love it every time when Despisito or Felix interrupt.
Just found your channel 2 days ago after looking around for regal jumping spider mine arrives in 2 days and would just like to say i think your amazing with all your animals you have kept me entertained for hours and hours weather its a spider on the loose or haba haba time keep up the great work your doing.
Also felt so bad for you when Despacito was having them fits really looked so bad, But once again you done an amazing job with him and soooo glad he's back fighting it.
Once again keep up the great work your doing sending best wishes from the UK.
Svaka cast na svakom videu,zbog tebe sam zavolio ovu "drugu stranu" zivotinjskog svijeta. Zavolio sam jako puno reptile i na tvojim video zapisima stvarno naucim jako puno o tome.Nabavio sam terrarium i sad pravim poseban enclosure za bearded dragona. Svaka cast na svemu and keep it up.
You’re actually really on point about scorpions. Emperors or say Malaysian forest scorpion will need more humidity than species such as the androctonus or death stalker which are desert species. I really enjoy how actually informative you are. WATCH THE DARK DEN AND YOU WILL LEARN THE RIGHT WAYS TO KEEP AND HANDLE YOU’RE ANIMALS!!
I just wanted to correct something you said regarding tarantula venom liquefying their prey - it doesn't, they use digestive enzymes from their gut to prepare their food for ingestion. The venom is just used to incapacitate their prey.
"However, spider venom has none of the required enzymes needed to break down proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids or other materials. Spider venom plays an insignificant role in digestion. "
"We know that spiders regurgitate all required enzymes from the mouth and onto the prey (in those that tear up the prey) or into the prey (for the rest). With tarantulas and others that shred the prey, these enzymes are poured onto the prey bolus, then “licked” back into the foregut. "
PDF www.atshq.org/articles/Digestion.pdf
That guide was like "what do i even reading" ..Waiting for your new room :D !!!. As always Petko > PetSmart :D ! Greatings from Poland
I have gone there with a good friend of mine and she educates the staff (especially the new hires) on the proper way to take care of each and every "pet". She's gone to school, owns her own vet hospital and she treats everything. But watching her teach about tarantulas, snakes, geckos, etc. I felt really emotional 😭. Just to see so many people work there and not have a single clue how to care for these creatures. She opened a cage with a leopard gecko and it had no fat in its tail with stuck shead all over its body. It was heartbreaking
They are known far and wide as a load of crap. So sad they continue to profit this way 😢
I got sold a heat mat for my Slings during winter. Then I googled and saw they can dry them out... safe to say said heat mat has never been opened 😄
If you still have it they work good for starting seeds in the spring 🌱 😊
@@aileenbutler121 i do, thanks for the idea
You should check out Petco’s guide. It’s literally just them trying to sell you extra things you don’t need.
I think I read it already but it wasn't as terrible as this one
Don't trust Petco, trust Petko
So true, got my bearded dragon there n they were trying to sell me abunch of crap... I laughed in the dudes face infront of other customers and called them out on their bs.
@@patrickmcglonejr8163 , yeah... screw those losers for trying to make a living and keep the lights on... what a bunch of chumps, eh >.>; I'm sure everyone stood and clapped afterwards too because you so chad.
"For the killing of pets" that should be there slogan
I love the way your enclosures open!
Considering I've seen first hand how they treat the animals in their care, I'm not surprised they have completely wrong information on their site. My partner lives in America and I used to visit them often (Before Covid), anytime we went to a Petsmart I'd always see Betta fish stressed in tiny tubs, some of them already belly up. Birds plucking in overcrowded cages, numerous hamsters crammed together in cages smaller than they should have for one of them.
My partner keeps hermit crabs and the ones in their stores are always in painted shells, the enclosure's humidity is always really low and there is always at least four dead ones or some sort of mould. I stayed with them for three weeks last year, the first week we went because I wanted to get a gift for a friend, we checked out the crabs and saw several dead ones and mould in the enclosure. We pointed it out, my partner said about the humidity being too low as well. The guy just took the dead ones out and said he'd "deal with the mould later". We went back the following week, new crabs, some of which looked ill, several dead ones and the mould had now spread and was growing mushrooms. Pointed it out to another person and a manager that was on the floor, they removed the dead and sick looking ones, once again said they'll deal with the mould and let my partner take three crabs home as a "sign of good will". They didn't deal with the mould. Those crabs are thriving now though, when offered new shells they changed almost immediately.
This was invaluable information for me, thankyou... I don't plan to keep a spider but I do know who's video information id be following should I ever decide to!!..
When it comes to getting information from pet stores, there is only one I trust, and that is the local pet store.
When my country finally accepted reptiles (but only 19 species) as pets 3 years ago,
the owner of the store sent his employees on a course with a reptile expert so they could learn how to keep reptiles good.
They even do not want to sell you hamsters if you do not want them in the right type of cage or have several hamsters
(if I remember correctly, the mother would like to buy 3-5 dwarf hamsters)
in one and the same small cage.
our terra shop we always buy food and equipment recently sold us a sling labeled "Grammostola pulchripes" but was kinda suspicious since we do had/have the species and didnt look or behave like the species so we asked reddit, instagram & arachnoboard what they think and all agree it aint a Chaco, actually it seems to be a OW (most likely M. balfouri)
thankfully we are experianced with OW keeping but imagine they sold it to a beginner.
already got suspicious when the employee said she likes the species cuz that species likes to web a lot 🧐
Unfortunately chains like petsmart are mostly employed with kids just trying to get a pay cheque..
But what a shame that even if there happens to be an employee that is passionate, they might be misinformed directly from the chain that employs them..
we can't even buy tarantulas in shops here in Ireland. You'll be lucky to see one in a pet store once a year and there's only ever leopard geckos or bearded dragons sometimes which both cost over a hundred euros.
I have a pretty big fear of spiders, but your videos help me understand them a lot better. But like any exotic animal, research and knowledge is crucial for the safety of your self and the animal...money grabbing pet smart, great video as always!
Thank you for giving us correct information. In the future I will get information from reliable sources.
I have always wanted to get a tarantula, but the area I live in passed an ordinance to where pet stores can't sell them. 😢
13:16 of course they are going to tell you to over feed your T .so they can get rich off you buying food from them .pet food companies for dogs and cats food have been doing that for years the recommended amount is double what you really need for your animal.
Thank you Petko, you are a legend and a professional tarantula keeper in my opinion
17:38 I'm pretty sure chaco golden knee's are considered to be one of the more relaxed T's but mine was NOT. She grew into this massive, pissed off tarantula that would charge the door and start throwing up threat postures everytime you even look in the direction of the enclosure haha She also ripped everything apart in there, cork bark, plants, you name it, she tore it all up. She was super sweet and chill until around 2 molts before maturity. Then she just got nasty! I think she might have been bipolar. haha
Thank You,,,I just removed the fair size rock from my Tilitocati Albopilosum,,,Will replace it with more cork bark.
I’m glad I got my crested gecko from our local giant pet store which also sells tarantulas. They are very strict and everyone who works with the animals is very well educated and they like to make sure their animals are going to good owners!
Thank you for saying that at 10:25 I am always worried when the room is in the mid to upper 80s°F
I find it funny that they advise to contact a vet if you think there’s something wrong. Even if the vet you contact knows about Ts (and that’s a big if), there’s nothing that they can really do to help it.
Love that others are frustrated by the bad info put out by pet stores.
It's called 'autotomy' when spiders (and geckos) do an self-amputation
I totally agree. They also are selling B Emilias as B Smithis. I wrote them, My daughter is an assistant manager of one of their stores. I doubt they will change anything.
100% agree man. Pet stores no nothing about inverts and such. There needs to be a complete overhaul of all the care info for not only employees but the customers as well. This is a care guide for reptiles. Not tarantulas.
Was in pet smart and the care page was for a pink toe tarantula and said the life span is 4 to 8 years and it was in a very small enclosure
Got me at the "Swollen Joints" 😂😂😂
Hey Petko, I'm Chilean and... did you know that in my country it's forbidden to catch or breed Grammastola rosea? It's considered a felony. So I was wondering how they obtained that tarantula species?
It's funny because my father used to keep T's. Years on, I've started collecting and my mother is convinced that they need (heat bulb, certain enclosure, certain prey, will drown in waterdish etc.) and is convinced they'll die otherwise. I've tried to educate her and tell her that LPS only want to sell you these things to make money, as so much more is known about T's and their needs than what was available even just 10 or so years ago. Funny how such a small amount of time can change things, but I guess we have the Internet to thank for that!
Petsmart is renowned for not knowing anything.
You use them to get cheap supplies, and move on. If you ask for help or information from them, your asking for trouble.
Keeping emperor scorpions in a desert set up to telling people that chameleons can be kept in pairs, or that two males can get along are just some of the gems ive encountered
Ur videos r always so cozy to watch! Keep doing ur thing Dark Den!🖤💜
He says I’m not a professional or a scientist just a regular keeper. This guy is too humble.