Has anyone ordered from these?

[Kurt Baird]

So I'm looking to add to my sling collection, and I have come across two online shops selling what I want.

Tarantula Shop
Tarantula Barn

What I would like to know is how quickly they dispatch and how well packed the spiders are when you receive them. Any other bits of info you can give would be much appreciated.

[Peter-Armstrong]

Yes iv bought stuff from tarantula Barn ,

Good . Interesting livestock they sell

[gary dye]

i have brought from the tarantula shop, and sling came well packed.By 1 o' clock the next day. have you had a look at www.thespidershop.co.uk

[Peter Lacey]

thespidershop is recommended by many because Lee is very helpful, he has a large selection which continually changes, his site is very up to date and he replaces DOA.
I've not heard a bad word about tarantula barn, apart from the above which perhaps isnt the fault of the supplier. If you're really concerned perhaps you could ask the suppliers directly but I think you'll find most of them provide RMSD and therefore your purchase isn't likely to be in the postal system for more than 24hrs.

You might also wish to check the classifieds in BTS and For Sale sections in other forums as there's always people offering a variety of Ts. Perhaps if you mention within this forum what you're after you may get a response from individuals too.

[mary walters]

I would reccomend Lee,(thespidershop.co.uk) he always replaces DOA. I get most of my spiders from him at shows, but a few through the post, always top quality too. (have to say that don't I?) hehe

I usually have a few slings for sale too, but won't til after BTS now I'm afraid.

[Craig Neal]

Yeah i would go with lee at thespidershop.co.uk me and my step brother have bought 10 of him and they have all been fine, don't have a bad word to say about him!

[Peter-Armstrong]

Well the tarantulabarn get good stuff in i just got a Scolopendra Gigantea and A scolopendra Heros from them .

[Vicky W]

I have bought from the Tarantula Shop, Tarantula Barn and Spider shop a few times each and always have had a excellent experience with all of them and will use all again sometime I am sure. Although the Spidershop has to be my favorite and most used because of all the stock Lee has in constantly absolutely great for those impulse buying days!

[James Box]

i've bought from the tarantula shop a few times, and always been pleased with Dan's service. i had a DOA and he replaced it and then some.
i have a feeling he's selling off stock as not seen anything new on his site for ages. the prices are fairly reasonable, and you're likely to see him at shows.

the spider shop is great too, i've been pleased with both the service and the speed of service. also, Lee's prices are hard to beat. he gets alot of great species in and provides good info. Lee attends nearly every show he can.

another i personally like buying from is Martin Goss (www.martingoss.co.uk), who should now be paying me commission for all the advertising i do for him! lol
besides tarantulas, he gets some fascinating insects and other invertebrates in on a regular basis, and his true spiders on offer are often very unusual. he also gets some great scorpions in. at the moment, he is focusing on Heterometrus sp. it seems, for example, including what seems to be the biggest scorpion in the world potentially, H swammerdami.
he's another good one for going to shows.

I've also been pleased with the animals i've purchased from Virginia Cheeseman (www.virginiacheeseman.co.uk). she focuses on insects, from what i can tell, but has a good selection of tarantulas, scorpions and true spiders as well.

i know Martin and Lee will both be at Kettering, and i am sure i remember seeing Dan last year there as well, but not sure about this year.

one thing i'd just caution you or anyone on, from any seller, it's not 100% guaranteed they'll get the taxonomy bang on...so get what you like, but don't be too upset if you find it's something else later on. i am sure they all try though, but some focus more on certain groups of animals, and some focus on others, and even the experts (who resolutely refuse to be called that!) aren't always 100% sure.
i just mention this because some get upset when an ID is not 100% right...but i've had a few pleasant surprises, ie spiders turning out to be something perhaps more rare and interesting then initially thought!

also, hardly any dealer guarantees a sexing, though some will replace or trade you if you're not happy, and it's reasonable.

it's a gamble...perhaps less so if you know a bit and buy at shows, but even then it's a gamble. but these dealers do their best.

[Tim Stimson]

So I'm looking to add to my sling collection, and I have come across two online shops selling what I want.

Tarantula Shop
Tarantula Barn

What I would like to know is how quickly they dispatch and how well packed the spiders are when you receive them. Any other bits of info you can give would be much appreciated.

Tarantula barn failed to deliver my 2nd order from them which i paid via paypal 19 dec 2009.

2 Brazillian Fire Red £7.95p £15.90p
2 Auboise Bedding £3.50p £7.00p
1 Calcium Block x 8 £4.00p £4.00p
2 Hempcore Substrate £3.50p £7.00p
2 Redigrass £3.95p £7.90p
Sub-Total: £48.08p
Royal Mail Special Delivery (): £8.51p
VAT @ Rate D (15%): £7.38p
Total: £56.59p

the delivery was held up due to the bad weather as there were slings included in the order.
the last email 14th feb 2010 just reads "sorry for the delay in replying, that order was sent 3 days after completing, which is some time ago now, please leave it with me and i will look into it" ... i have emails regarding delays in posting from tarantula barn well after this stated delivery date.
i have not been given the postal details. so i have no way of following this "delivery" up with the royal mail despite paying £8.51 for Royal Mail Special Delivery.
i do not get replies to my emails now and the paypal 45 day dispute window is long gone
feel free to draw your own conclusions as they did and do come highly recommended .... and my first order was spot on and the slings were well packed and in rude health

[Chris Barnard]

Hi Tim

Just to add my own thoughts on Tarantulabarn.
I used them for the first time on Friday 26th Feb after checking feedback on various forums - all seemed fine. I only bought a P regalis sling with RMSD. Their website went down for maintenance the following day, and is still down. Took some searching to find contact details for them as there is no way to get phone numbers on the website at the moment.
Sent a pm via the rfuk forum. Got a reply to say that 3 other people had reported problems and they would get back to me the same day. Also emailed them twice via tarantulabarn@aol.com - no response. Called their van driver (as they also have a live animal courier service) who said they were looking into it - but was not called back. Finally joined their own forum 'reptilicious' yesterday and sent another pm to 'tarantulabarn'. No reponse but that afternoon received a notification that my Paypal payment had been refunded. So at least I am not out of pocket.
Maybe just a temporary hitch - hope so as I am sure other paople will have ordered tarantulas from them. I will not use again though.

[Alexander Ramsey]

Spidershop is a safe bet, you can see from this thread and other feedback that there reputation is earned. They are good with coms and their stock is excellent.
I have probably ordered over 100 T's from them and have no complaint.

I placed a small order with tarantula barn a couple of years ago and was very satisfied. I placed another one more recently and was sent the wrong stock.
I suggested I would keep the stock at their cost less the return post cost they would have to pay. They were quite blunt about not accepting my offer lol. Not in a nasty way, and of course I kept the stock anyway, they were there with me, how could I post them back? lol.

Anyway, I decided then not to use tarantulabarn again.

I believe the web site is run by people who work full time jobs (not 100% on that) where as Lee and his staff at spidershop, their website is the full time job.

I can also recommend though, networking through this and similar sites is a very agreeable practise, I recently drove to Cardiff with a MM for breeding and ended up buying a new T and swapping several others. My MM is on route to its second female and a third lined up and I/my better half are already negotiating swaps / sales / purchases. Meeting the owner of a potential new addition goes a long way with me as you can see how well the T's are being kept etc.

If you post on this website what you are looking for / selling etc, the response is allways pretty good in my experience.

[Richard Wong]

I also give thumbs up to spidershop.co.uk.

I've had problems with tarantulabarn in the past, and have decided to not buy from them again.

[Kelly Battman]

wont use tarantula barn again first order was for a H . lividum recieved 10 C.crawshayi .second order was for a B. smithi, B.boehmei, G.pulchripes instead of the G.pulchripes got a L.parahybana have been in contact with them a few times on the way to resolve the mistake had emails saying they hadnt had L.parahybana in stock for x amount of months now the replys have stopped not going to use again but Tim thinks "sammy " is great as its huge !! pity we have four others who are growing just as fast

[steve wilkins]

i too had a problem with taantulabarn- i ordered a subadult female a. geniculata, what i got was a full adult n. chromatus- & it died after a few days! they don't seem to have much selection either, especially if you want large juvs/subadults. spidershop on the other hand, is ace! lee will sex any spider he can, if you want- he will tell you if he can't guarantee the sex & he's pretty up to date with the taxonomy too- whatever you buy from him is what he says it is, he rarely makes mistakes.