New Tarantula and possibly sick frogs!

[Animalnstinct]

Thought I would share my newest addition to our T family, Dodoma Baboon. It was actually a birthday gift that the hubby picked out. We just call her mommy right now, but hopefully soon we will decide on a better name.

The pictures don't do her justice in showing the true size of her butt, but this gal has one gigantic booty! I'm hoping she might possibly be gravid, however I have seen another one of the same species with a pretty large back end and it turned out she wasn't. Though both in comparison to her carapace and the other T we seen hers still is really big in comparison.

We got her from Exotic Pets LV and I've been anxiously awaiting to finally stop in at their actual physical shop and pick out some critters. However, I was seriously disappointed!

First thing, I don't mean to be bashing on the place but I do have to mention a few things. They had tons of pets and supplies, but the conditions of the pets were really bothersome. A few things were just different opinions on the way you take care of the animals, such as feeding tarantulas pinkies. The thing that really bothered me is seeing lots of sick pets in dirty habitats.

Sadly beyond just having really dirty homes lots of the turtles had shell rot, salamanders with chunks of flesh missing, wallabies were in little spaces with poop everywhere ( including poop filled water dishes), dead frogs left in tanks, and just tons of general sick animals. I know I'm far from being an expert, but you didn't need to be an expert to know the animals weren't doing to well. It was super sad.

I did go to another exotic pet shop down there called Pet Kingdom USA and it was completely a different story! All the pets looked vibrant, healthy, and in super clean conditions.

Maybe you guys can help me decide on this one. I'm planning to go down soon and hopefully pick up some frogs, but I'm debating on whether I should just get healthy frogs from pet kingdom or save some frogs from the other place.

I'm nervous about taking care of sick frogs, but I would love to try and save a few from the conditions they are in. Unlike where they are at right now, I would at least try super hard in getting them back to healthy conditions. I'm thinking I might go with that option, because I might not have tons of knowledge but I will at least try my hardest to give them a better life.

Btw, here is a few pictures of my New Tarantula. Which I did buy from exotic pets and she is doing good. That was another thing, they had her species wrong too and were selling her as a Togo Starburst and the kritter keeper she was in had about 10 dead crickets in it.

Anyway, lol! Here is my new beauty!

[xdartfrogx]

That is a very healthy tarantula! Did she end up being cheaper since she was mislabeled? i.e cheaper than what her price tag would have been for her true specie?

As for the sick frogs, I feel the same way about rescuing in my gut. BUT if you are to buy these sick, battered, unhealthy animals from the shop it would not encourage them to take responsibility for the animals they have and care for them. It would only encourage them to bring more animals into the shop, which in turn would be most likely neglected just as much or more. In situations like this, it is better to contact animal control. They will go down to the shop and inspect the premises without notifying the shop first. Kinda a surprise slap on the hand for the shop. And if the conditions are deemed bad enough, animal law enforcement will seek out penalties and punishment. I know it doesn't do enough justice for the animals who are suffering or have died because of this, but legally, is the best thing you can do without setting yourself up for disappointment with an ill frog. Please support the shops/dealers who properly care for and about their animals, not just collect them like dolls n dust. Also, try posting on craigslist a rant about how unsanitary the shop is. If enough people become aware, they will be checking up on the place themselves and contacting animal control as well. I know how tempting it is to try to save a life in need, but in cases like this, you are better off setting what seems right in your heart aside and go with the law. But thank you for being such a caring concerned person! I hope this matter is resolved quickly for the animals and you. Please keep us updated, or at least me!

[peeka]

That is a very healthy tarantula! Did she end up being cheaper since she was mislabeled? i.e cheaper than what her price tag would have been for her true specie?

As for the sick frogs, I feel the same way about rescuing in my gut. BUT if you are to buy these sick, battered, unhealthy animals from the shop it would not encourage them to take responsibility for the animals they have and care for them. It would only encourage them to bring more animals into the shop, which in turn would be most likely neglected just as much or more. In situations like this, it is better to contact animal control. They will go down to the shop and inspect the premises without notifying the shop first. Kinda a surprise slap on the hand for the shop. And if the conditions are deemed bad enough, animal law enforcement will seek out penalties and punishment. I know it doesn't do enough justice for the animals who are suffering or have died because of this, but legally, is the best thing you can do without setting yourself up for disappointment with an ill frog. Please support the shops/dealers who properly care for and about their animals, not just collect them like dolls n dust. Also, try posting on craigslist a rant about how unsanitary the shop is. If enough people become aware, they will be checking up on the place themselves and contacting animal control as well. I know how tempting it is to try to save a life in need, but in cases like this, you are better off setting what seems right in your heart aside and go with the law. But thank you for being such a caring concerned person! I hope this matter is resolved quickly for the animals and you. Please keep us updated, or at least me!

Agree with this great post

As much as it hurts you simply are not rescuing animals by buying them. In fact you would just be encouraging them to keep more animals in unhealthy conditions. Remember they don't care what you think of their husbandry practices once money has exchanged hands. If they are willing to keep animals that way they are obviously not in it for the love of the animals but the bottom line. They will only stop selling unhealthy animals when it becomes no longer profitable so don't give them a reason to keep doing what they are doing.

Another place you can voice your displeasure is Faunaclassified on their board of inquiry page. They have a forum dedicated to these sorts of issues.

Please keep us updated

Ally

[peeka]

Is this the place you are talking about?

http://www.exoticpetslv.com/

I wonder if there is any way you can go back and discretely take some pictures as evidence.

Ally

[bshmerlie]

I've been to both places several times and I agree with your assessment about each. The sad thing is Exotic Pets LV has a better Business Model and as a result is probably more profitable. Imagine what they could be if they only took more time into keeping their cages clean. They are well stocked with pets and supplies that's the only reason they are hard to beat in the LV area. Although Pet Kingdom definately has them beat on husbandry and quality...that's were I'd buy my pets from. Don't encourage shops to continue with bad practices. Write a letter to the owner maybe they'll pay more attention to their pets.

[kiwibaby]

I agree with the other members here. I thank you for your care and concern towards the sick animals but it is best not to support bad business practices, especially those that hurt animals. My friend tells me about a similar pet shop in her area: one that is well stocked with good prices but bad animal environments. She said it is not uncommon to find the frogs squished by the water bowls the "care takers" put in the tanks. I always urge her not to shop there. I think I may start to urge her to call animal control as this had never crossed my mind until reading xdartfrogx's post. Thanks.

[poison beauties]

If your looking for anything I would suggest getting in touch with the breeders or placing want ads. This way the business's have to work for you if they want to sell something. They check the classifieds and reply to them. Start speaking up at the shops ad tell them you are displeased with the quality or care of their setups. The people deal herps and are supposed to be able to lead by experience. If you need help finding any herp or arachnid I would be happy to help you out if you need it. There are breeders through out the hobby that consistently produce a better quality critter than these shops sell. They wont learn unless we make them.

Michael

[Animalnstinct]

Hey Everyone,

Thank you for all your replies! I really appreciate it!

I'm glad I asked on here because I was really struggling with trying not to just walk in and just buy all their pets and bring them home, lol! I completely understand what your saying about not supporting a place like that. It just breaks my heart to see all those poor animals living like that, but your right, If I was too go in and buy all the pets they would just get a new shipment of pets in right away.

I wish I could turn them in or something but I know that wouldn't do any good. Animal control and the SPCA down in vegas don't seem to care much about the animals down there. If you have ever been to the Zoo in Vegas you know what I mean. That place is horrible and it's been like that since I was a little tater tot!

Also, the problem with turning a business in like this is it ends up hurting the rest of us. That's what happened up in BC. Tons of people were turning in pets shops and now pretty much any pet that could fall under being "exotic" is illegal to even own.

I'm going to be either getting my frogs from Pet Kingdom or most likely just ordering them from online. Oh, and also that is the website for the business that you linked to Ally. They are also all over kingsnake.com