Tuesday, June 30, 2015

#26 - THE "NEW" SPIDERSHOPPE & THE FINAL MEMORY LANE

Not too many people have read #25 yet, but you'll need to read that first before this makes sense. Go now, my child.

In a nutshell, the shopping cart is gone and www.spidershoppe.com now redirects to a SPIDERSHOPPE subpage of my master site, ExoticFauna.com. I did this quickly yesterday so it is still in development. I have loads of spider work today as I have more houseguest arriving Thursday so I can't work on it more or spend much time on today's blog entry.

If you visit the new SpiderShoppe page you will see a list of species I am working with in the right sidebar. The center lists what species I have available and what species I have incubating. You will notice that there are no prices. Email me and based on quantity, order size, my mood and whether you've bought before I will quote price. Shipping fee will be based on zip code. But I only ship via FedEx Priority Overnight.

So, during my last "memory lane" installment (see Blog #19B) I covered my closing of my operations in Nashville, my union with Tarantulas.com and stint as General Manager of Northwest Zoological Supply and my February 2013 return to the Chicago area after the tragic, sudden death of my dear mother. I came back to the Midwest with a moving van towing the little Toyota my mom had given me when I returned from Suriname. I went from a small one bedroom apartment to a 1600 sq. foot three level townhouse that my sister and bonus dad found for me and I made a cash bid on while driving across Montana on my way back home. But my only live partners on the trip were my dearly departed Taylor, who died only days after my return from Sri Lanka this past December crushing my soul forever, and my 25-year-old dusky Pionus parrot Jesse. I had not a single spider.

Sometimes I wish I would have kept it that way, to be very honest. But now settled in a rural town an hour west of Chicago near where my sister Lisa and her boys and their wives/fiancés live, I had to find something to do. So my spare bedroom became my "SPIDERSHOPPE" and I began to import spiderlings from Lee Ardern at The Spider Shop in Wales, UK. For those of you who are unaware, there are actually three "spider shops". Mine, which has operated under that name since 2001, and two copycats ;) - Lee Ardern's Welsh thespidershop.co.uk and Jakob Skowronek's Polish Spider Shop.

I also bought wholesale from some American dealers and breeders, but my plan from the beginning was to import species I wanted for myself along with some others to sell to pay for my new projects. I relaunched SPIDERSHOPPE with a fancy shopping cart website and started advertising and vending at the Tinley Park NARBC. I knew all along that the retail business was temporary. But I wasn't going to share that information. I had to make a go at paying my bills and financing my own "keeper spiders". So, SPIDERSHOPPE was really only relaunched to get to where I am today. I have spent many hours feeding spiderlings twice a week to get to where I am finally not only breeding, but have produced FIVE AMERICAN FIRSTS since November. I went from zero spiders and an empty room to a large reproductive collection in two short years.

I realize it is a shock to some that I have stopped buying spiders for resale and am only offering my own offspring. But those "some" must not have been paying close attention. I've hinted from the beginning that I am "semi-retired", a "reluctant seller" who only "sells on his own terms". I've kept up advertising and trying to keep an income flow, but my focus has been on breeding the spiders that have matured and getting those who hadn't to maturity. Now I am seeing my efforts pay off. But I knew from the beginning that I had no intention of being a retailer of tarantulas especially in today's climate of so many pseudo dealers and weekend warriors (see Blog #10 ). There are so many jokers out there right now. I can name six dealers that I'd recommend (but I won't) and all the others are pretenders that soon will be gone. Many are complete asshats. I'm not getting into price wars and number of species listed wars and how many reviews can I solicit  - popularity contest wars (this one a fucking joke in itself, I've never solicited a review ... sounds like a future rant possibility). 33 years I've sold tarantulas and herps. Only Kelly Swift can also say that. I am not playing games. I've got other interests and am looking for work in one other industry in particular. And field trips, photography and education is where my heart is at. I will blog. I will produce a complete tarantula book. I will travel and share my adventures through articles, photos and films. But I won't chase after tarantula hobbyist sales. Quite frankly, the American tarantula hobby is not strong enough to make selling tarantulas worth the effort and the average American tarantula hobbyist does not have much to spend. I'm sure you'll see a few of the "six dealers" I'd recommend but won't name drop out in the next year or two. That's reality. And I'll be on the sidelines. I'll be breeding some cool spiders as long as it holds my attention and I have the time. But travel is my true passion so it won't be for too many years. I long for travel, cameras, guitars and guns, not spiders and crickets.

All the best, MJ

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