Help, help, help, this has got to be a joke?

[Anita Pile]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/adult-female-c...1%7C240%3A1318

I don't care how this looks techy wise.....please read the detailed description for this 'item' for sale.....and please tell me the seller has become confused between Christmas and April 1st??

Sale is still current...has over a day to run

[Craig Mackay]

I just reported this to ebay although its only listed as being sold for food because thats the only way to sell livestock on ebay. Nevertheless, I've reported it as it's not an appropriate way to sell a spider and what if some kid decides it's a good idea to feed it to his snake! Well spotted.

[Craig Mackay]

Oh, and almost forgot to wish you a merry Christmas!! Have a great one Anita

[Anita Pile]

Listing's been removed

Thank you Craig.

[Anita Pile]

Oh, and almost forgot to wish you a merry Christmas!! Have a great one Anita

And you matey

[Alexander Abrams]

I missed it, what was it?
Happy Christmas.

[Craig Mackay]

It was a curly hair tarantula. The item was listed as being live food for reptiles.

[matthew spooner]

they have to list them as live food, its the only way you can advertise live stock for sale on ebay. i have bought many things myself from there before. admittedly there should be restrictions in place with regards to purchasing but some i have bought have been from reputable breeders

[Anita Pile]

I think what panicked me was the fact that the seller had actually written in the blurb 'selling my curly hair, she's a good feeder, about 3 years old, am selling her as food for other reptiles' and I just thought WHAT????!!!!!
If it had just been listed under the catagory live food/treats etc I would have figured that he was probably using it as a loophole!

Thanks again Craig, if I hadn't have had as much mulled wine/snowballs then I would have realised that reporting it to ebay was the most sensible thing to do!

[Craig Mackay]

No probs Anita

[Chris Sainsbury]

Ebay police out on force again!

I seriously don't see the problem with seklling spiders on ebay even if they are ment for live food, although as Mr Spooner says this is the only way you can sell them on ebay.
I personally see a snake or reptile eating a spider no different than it eating a cricket or scolopendra but I expect I am in the minorty with this.
In regards to an inappropriate way to sell a spider what is an appropriate way? And if it was truely being sold as a form of live food then I guess it was an appropriate way to sell it, or at least it would have been if the Ebay Police hadn't had shown their displeasure first.

There was a thread a while back damming people who sold or tried to sell their spiders on ebay and to this day I will never understand this, as in reality this is no different than the sales section on any tarantule forum accept that it is an auction on ebay. Does it really matter that the live food loop hole on ebay gets taken advange off?

Sorry if this upsets people......then again no Im not.
All the best
Chris

[Craig Mackay]

Ebay police out on force again!

I seriously don't see the problem with seklling spiders on ebay even if they are ment for live food, although as Mr Spooner says this is the only way you can sell them on ebay.
I personally see a snake or reptile eating a spider no different than it eating a cricket or scolopendra but I expect I am in the minorty with this.
In regards to an inappropriate way to sell a spider what is an appropriate way? And if it was truely being sold as a form of live food then I guess it was an appropriate way to sell it, or at least it would have been if the Ebay Police hadn't had shown their displeasure first.

There was a thread a while back damming people who sold or tried to sell their spiders on ebay and to this day I will never understand this, as in reality this is no different than the sales section on any tarantule forum accept that it is an auction on ebay. Does it really matter that the live food loop hole on ebay gets taken advange off?

Sorry if this upsets people......then again no Im not.
All the best
Chris

If it's universally seen as a loophole then your absolutely right Chris. However, theoretically, maybe someone sees the advert and thinks it'd be really cool to feed a spider to his/her snake/lizard, it get's bitten and dies and the spider injured/killed in the struggle. I bet that guy/gal would be annoyed that no one told him it would be potentially dangerous for the reptile. Maybe he/she shouldn't have been so naive though and should have expected the risks. It's an unlikely scenario and maybe I'm just blowing it out of proportion but with so many places to sell Spiders without having to use loopholes it just doesn't seem necessary to use ebay and risk misleading people about what the spider is for. There are plenty people that wouldn't think twice about putting a spider in with a snake just to watch them struggle for survival (have a look on youtube, you won't have to look far) and these people don't need any encouragement by seeing spiders as food.

[Anita Pile]

Hi Chris,

Yeah, I totally see what you're saying, and I do believe that everyone is entitled to their opinions.

I think for me it was a little bit of a shock......exaggerated slightly by Christmas drink.

I wasn't saying I disagree with Ebay selling tarantulas, if someone wants to pay over the odds for one then let them....my sheer concern was seeing one going as a food item. I understand why they list them as food but that is why they have a listings section. This guy had actually put the food statement in his selling blurb. Why repeat it when it was already listed as such unless that was really the purpose you intended it to be used for?

To me it would have been a shame to see a beautiful creature that has taken so long to reach that size just go to be fed to something else and be gone in minutes.

Let's face it, crickets. mice, rats (usual prey items) reproduce more often and their offspring mature much quicker and because of that they are much more affordable.......which leads me to say that if I'd had my wits about me a bit more and had thought about it, why would someone pay at least £15 to feed another pet when for a few quid you can buy a bag of mice?

But then my mind works overdrive sometimes and I'd also pictured the T starring in another episode of 'Tarantula vs scorpion/mouse/centipede/what other sick combination can my baseball cap donning 'brain' come up with dude'.

And yes, before another debate is started, I realise they have to eat....that it happens in nature etc (and that Ts will also themselves be prey).......BUT when you own these animals you have a responsibility to that animal (seriously the size of the mouse I watched fed to one T was huge) and to an extent the prey animal. In the wild they have a chance. In a tank they don't. And you can't equate a cricket's perception of threat to a mouse's.

Your question on an appropriate way to sell is a good one, forums like this are great, but not everyone would think of looking....places like the Spidershop again also perfect, but not necessarily that well known? But there will always be exotic pet shops that you could ask or put an ad up in. To me using Ebay just shows a lack of common sense/imagination? I personally would want any T I sell to go to someone who had at least a vague idea what they were doing, not someone who bought it on a whim and thought it was a 'cool' pet.

That's all I have to say about that......for now

[Chris Sainsbury]

Hi

Maybe he/she shouldn't have been so naive though and should have expected the risks.

Thats the way I see it.

doesn't seem necessary to use ebay and risk misleading people about what the spider is for

With all the places to buy bread why go to a Bakery? Lots of things are unecessary but it dosn't make it wrong.
Also the spider can be used for live food which is all legal so its not a misleading advert either. The same as many cockroaches many are kept as pets yet many more are used as live food. If the seller was selling madagaskar hissing cockroaches as live food would this also be worthie of a report, after all many keep these as pets.

There are plenty people that wouldn't think twice about putting a spider in with a snake just to watch them struggle for survival (have a look on youtube, you won't have to look far) and these people don't need any encouragement by seeing spiders as food.

I do not have any problem what so ever seeing spiders as food. Many cultures around the world eat them as I expect the same can be said of many lizerds, snakes, birds etc etc. I would not be at all suprised it there were species of snake or reptile that specializes on tarantula spiders (are there any known?) and if this was the case and I kept such an animal, tarantula spiders are what it would be fed.

To me it would have been a shame to see a beautiful creature that has taken so long to reach that size just go to be fed to something else and be gone in minutes.

I understand the sentlement because you are a spider keeper and to you they are nice pets, but I can't help but look at it in a different way. I like spiders proberly just as much as you do (ok maybe not that much) but I still can not see the difference between eating a cricket or eating a spider. For me its like saying eat the cow but not the sheep because I like them.

Let's face it, crickets. mice, rats (usual prey items) reproduce more often and their offspring mature much quicker and because of that they are much more affordable.......which leads me to say that if I'd had my wits about me a bit more and had thought about it, why would someone pay at least £15 to feed another pet when for a few quid you can buy a bag of mice?

L. parabana can produce 2000+ slings that could be a nice size in just a few months. Ok maybe not quite as many or quick as some other animals but with a little breeding stock you could run a small live food farm.
A good friend of mine brought quite an expensive scolopendra and fed it to his pigmy rattle snakes because in the wild they are part of their main diat. Now a scolopendra enthuiast would probably be up in arms about this but for the snake keeper this is another point of interest to see how the snakes takes a more natural food source for a change. You have to also remember there are people who have money to burn so an expensive food source doesn't make much difference to them anyway.

But then my mind works overdrive sometimes and I'd also pictured the T starring in another episode of 'Tarantula vs scorpion/mouse/centipede/what other sick combination can my baseball cap donning 'brain' come up with dude'.

This is no new entertainment it been going on for thousands of years. If you go to many places in the world you can see this at a street sport level with people placeing bets on it like we place bets on a boxing match. Again the cuddly pet image is something I can not associate with these animals.

BUT when you own these animals you have a responsibility to that animal

yep I agree so if feeding a live tarantula to say a snake then I would maybe remove the spiders fangs first just to insure my prized snake doesn't get hurt. Much like if I am going to feed a large locust to a prized tarantula I would be inclinded to pull off its back legs just incase.

To me using Ebay just shows a lack of common sense/imagination?

Not sure I get that.

I personally would want any T I sell to go to someone who had at least a vague idea what they were doing, not someone who bought it on a whim and thought it was a 'cool' pet.

Thats an ideal world but unfortunatly not this one. Count the posts on this and every other forum that run along the lines of "I just brought this spider now tell me how to look after it".

All the best
Chris

[Anita Pile]

I think one thing we can probably all agree on is that this could go for ever, and because of people's differing opinions there will never be a right or a wrong answer.

I feel I have said all I can, all I would be doing is repeating or rephrasing my views.

I'm sure Chris wants to no more appear a troll than I wish to appear a fwuffy bunny wuvving vegetarian PETA member.