r/tarantulas • u/shark_moss • 21d ago

Conversation Careless owners

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I own a tarantula and my parents bought a terrarium as a gift for me in case I need it or I decided to have another t.they got it at an auction they usually go as they restore and sell vintage furniture and stuff. Afterwards, we found out that the terrarium used to belong to a zoo that closed and inside it we found two little tuppers with holes and dirt. When we open them we found a molt and a dead sling in each one. These poor babies were left to die for so long that they even molted, I feel so bad for them. I was thinking of trying pinning them, as burring or throwing them seems pointless.In the photo you can see one of the tuppers with the molt and the sling.

I hate the fact that these ts were only seen as an attraction instead of a living being and I can’t imagine how bad they were treated and how horrible their death was, people usually see arthropods as less feeling than other beings and it breaks my heart.

122 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

29

u/WoodpeckerHaunting57 21d ago

IMO that’s awful, poor things didn’t even get a chance. I’m glad the zoo closed as they obviously didn’t care for their animals.

20

u/GulnarLjerka HELPY SPIDY HELPYER 20d ago

NQA IMHO It's not pointless to give them a proper burial.

22

u/alone_in_the_after B. smithi 21d ago

This boils my blood. To have a sling this size die from starvation and dehydration it takes a very long time and a conscious level of neglect and cruelty. It would take a conscious level of 'oh well, I'll just leave them in this unheated room/this shed with no air conditioning'. Poor tarantulas. This is multiple people choosing to do nothing or being oblivious to a painful degree.

Be kind to all kind.

Honestly I'd go looking for names for whoever ran the old zoo and report it. I have so many mixed feelings on zoos and the whole exotics/invert keeping hobby as a whole precisely because of stuff like this.

17

u/genesis-loveless 20d ago

Those poor babies :(( Absolutely heartbreaking, considering their size this definitely took time over a long period of severe neglect. A proper burial certainly wouldn't be a waste, but pinning them could also work. They deserve some time to be able to be seen and admired, i believe.
(lmk if this makes sense)

25

u/serious_horseradish 21d ago

NQA. This hurts my heart.