#61 - THE JOKERS KEEP COMING

I've distanced myself from the hobby. I obliterated Faffbook and I haven't been one of the Arachnobored for years. I do still post ads on AB and, as I mentioned previously, I do intend to keep my photo thread going there since my mate Chad is showing special interest in the Through the Lens photography sub-forum (EDIT: Just discovered that the photo threads are still in "Tarantula Pictures", which is a sub-forum of a different forum (?!?). OH WELL, I did post some more pix in my photo thread.). (Please note that when I use the term "Arachnobored" I am referring to the people who fill their hours in nonsensical discussions on AB (or FB, etc.). I am not mocking or slagging off Arachnoboards as a forum or resource.)

However, when I pop into AB to post my ads (still have a bit of closeout left) or "bump" them up things do catch my eye. Since it is only the For Sale sub-forum I visit I get my chuckles from seeing "new dealers" and posts by dealers I recommend you avoid. And because I am admittedly 100% OCD nuts, there are things that I see that are like nails on a blackboard to me.

Here's an example: Not to pick on some newbie stranger, but there is someone named "eldondominicano" (cute name) who announced that he is "officially a retailer and wholesaler of invertebrates!!" When did he join Arachnoboards? Only eight months ago. Definitely a serious long-term hobbyist ... lmfao. He claims his website will be up within a few weeks and he will be called Arachno Den. Good fucking luck buddy. I'm sure people will appreciate your wealth of experience. Of course, his starter list has all of the species names capitalized. By all means, SELL BEFORE YOU LEARN! (See my ranty sarcasm hasn't completely disappeared!)

Then I noticed a post by "Widow lover". Been on AB for a whole nine months - one month longer than the Dominican Don. 15 whole posts. Definitely an expert. All specific epithets capitalized and generic names misspelled. This list is comprised mostly of species imported and sold by Frank Somma so I suppose it is a new wholesale customer of Frank's. As long as he is getting the initial sale from his new competitor ;) Here's a tip "Widow lover": leave it to an expert like Frank. Or perhaps the King of Widows himself, John Apple. I'm glad you love them, but with apologies to my bro Apple, they are boring-ass spiders. And I'm not sure you're up to the task of selling "Heterapoda", especially if you misspell them that way. And, yes, there is actually a species "davidbowie". You don't write it like the singer's name. You're definitely not up to the task of selling Ctenids and other spiders with significant venom based on the attention to detail found in your advertising. Take a moment and proofread. Whatever happened to marketing as an art? Make a nice looking, properly spelled and formatted ad to purvey your goods. So many amateurs acting like amateurs ...

The jokers keep coming ...

I could go on if I looked at all the nonsense adverts. You see some from respected dealers. More importantly, you see some from some respected breeders. Chris "syndicate" Allen has a nice list of species HE BRED available, but you have to share his passion for pet cereal containers of dirt to appreciate the whole Asian Theraphosid pet hole thing. It's unfortunate that the serious BREEDERS like Chris are in the minority and surrounded by jokers. The "two biggest" sellers of tarantulas don't do much breeding. That's a damn shame.

But what really pisses me off are the USPS shippers. I've known of Mike Carlton of Inland Sea for years. I met him at some shows I did when I was living in Nashville. He was and is a customer of my former employer NW Zoo. He got into some trouble with FedEx and now only ships and receives ILLEGALLY by USPS. He even states USPS in his ads. Where the hell is a postal inspector when you need one? Can't we get this guy and Jamie's Tarantulas and all the other known USPS shippers in trouble. I know they can't chase after every hobbyist who is shipping ILLEGALLY on the cheap. But the two aforementioned asshats are "dealers" who have shipped USPS with every order for years. Please someone tell me who at the USPS to contact. Mike's a nice guy and I wish him no ill will, but he is breaking the law. PLEASE BOYCOTT SELLERS WHO SHIP USPS - dealers or hobbyists.

Another customer of mine during my tenure at NW Zoo was LLL Reptile. Actually, my customer was their wholesale arm Vista Pet Supply who bought thousands of baby veiled chameleons from me. LLL has become very successful as a reptile retailer with four locations in southern California. They have become the "big box" store of the reptile industry as they sell by the Wal-Mart method of SELL VOLUME WITH MINIMAL MARKUP. They buy dry goods direct from many manufacturers and sell at prices nobody can compete with. Then they earn greater profit by marking up WILD CAUGHT reptiles. Sure, they also sell captive-bred, but they have no qualms about selling wild-caught animals and every single reptile show turns their head at this. Even purportedly CAPTIVE BRED ONLY reptile shows allow LLL Reptile to sell wild-caught specimens. They are so big and buy so much booth space that everyone turns a blind eye. Their tables are covered with their cheapo - sadly disposable - lizards and such marked with the typical retailer price ending in .99. And they sell loads of wild collected arachnids. They are advertising on AB and they sell some captive bred arachnids at mostly ridiculous prices alongside their wild caught inverts. Here's a tip. BUY CAPTIVE BRED and buy captive bred only from those who ONLY sell captive bred. Do you really want CB that has been alongside unquarantined volume-sold wild-caughts? Same holds true, and even more so, for reptiles. Buying a captive bred snake from someone whose employee may have handled a wild caught just before taints the health of your "CB". I love that the LLL ad lists all these wild caught Chilean species with the note that Chile is now closed so get them while you can. Half of their list is going to disappear! And what is that douchebag Gearheart going to sell?

Last night I came home from work and fed my spider collection. For the first time I have more crickets than spiders. I'm about to go dump a few hundred adult crickets by my backyard ponds for the bullfrogs to eat before the weather chills any more. In a couple hours I could feed and water everyone. I am such a hobbyist!!! To be honest, as the collection gets smaller and smaller I become more tempted to move more from the "keeper list" to the "sale list". Eventually the amount of time I spend on arachnoculture will have waned to where I am enjoying other things that I used to do and have sacrificed due to the time of running my own business or that of someone else. Disc golf. Guitar. Reading. I won't even be posting ads on AB. The rant in me will have completely dissipated. All my "Tales from the Field" will have been told. I better come up with some new material.

Until we meet again ... MJ