Good pet stores in Jacksonville?

Where are any good pet stores in Jacksonville? The kind that have tarantulas and other arachnids? Here in Gainesville all I have found is a Petco that carries rosehairs and a reptile store that has a few scorpions, some rosehairs, and an occasional wild caught adult that looks miserable. I hate going in there, I want to take them all home and put them in decent cages. Anyway...any leads? You might also include what kind of things they usually have. Thanks.

This is the reason, why I started the Jax Community
If you find some tarantulas, they will be overpriced, so you would have to spend a little fortune.
Easy way out:
I bought my Spiders from the ATSHQ.org forum.
Some of them will ship overnight for as low as $20.
I got 5 Slings + overnight for $65
Other good deals are available, like ther was also a adult female H.lividum for $50 can't beat that

I got my last tarantula at kenthebugguy.com. I got a 1/2" L. parahybana for $10 and a tailless whipscorpion for $20 but shipping was another $30. Its not bad, but I was hoping I could find somewhere I could get decent slings without the shipping costs.

Unfortunally at the time this is the only way to aquiere decend priced Slings.
When I got here I was shocked how expenssive the Slings here are and how little choice you have.
This is why I decided it is time that we have our own community to bring the costs down.
ATSHQ board is a good source since most of the sellers are private and the cost of shipping vary from person to person, if you buy more it brings down your cost dramaticly.
You are still lower in cost if you only buy one Sling.
For example, in a conventional petshop a B.smithi will cost you about $85 with shipping you will pay around $40 to $50 from a private person at the ATSHQ board.

Well, I did pretty good on my B. smithi. I got a 1-1.5" sling at a pet shop in High Springs for about $55 a little less than a year ago. Only problem is, they haven't had any slings since. I've been tempted with some of their adults, but I'm really out of space for the time being for large tarantula cages. I need to get a house so I can have a full tarantula room. An apartment closet is just too small to accommodate my growing habit. At this point, I have 7 tarantulas in there, most adult, plus my clothes, etc. I have the L. parahybana at work.

WOW !
That's a very very good price.
Na you won't find that here in Jax, there are only two petshops who sometimes have Slings, but the price is alittle bit to much for my taste.
Why don't you start with a bookshelve ?
From what I know you can place around 90 tarantula tanks on 3 meters (around 8 feet) lenght.
I had 20 adult and 10 subadult spiders in my apartment in austria.
(They used up 3 feet (a single high steady shelve) of my wall.

What kind of tanks are you using ?

Mostly 5 and 10 gallon aquariums. I have a few things in those plastic kritter keepers, but I prefer the glass because they don't scratch and makes them easier to see.

I startet to with an aquarium tank.
Prob is I can't find a tarantula tank, I might try to build them myself.
For my tree spiders I realy need one.

Does anybody build tarantula tanks here in Florida ?

I don't know exactly what you mean by tarantula tank. What's different from a reptile tank? I'm no expert on Florida either. I've only been here for 3 years. Originally from Texas.

They are made of glass.
Standart size is 12x14x12 inches for ground dwelling spiders and 12x12x14 for tree spiders.
Both of these habe metal mesh for good air circulation and a trap door.
Only the tank for the ground spiders have realy deep floor so you can fill it with 5 inches with soil.

I live here in Jax now for 3.5 years and I think I am getting better in knowing where certain things are, but it is still tricky

Don't think I've seen anything like that. Closest thing I have is an Exo-terra reptile cage 12x12x18 that I keep my A. avicularia in. Its glass, has a removable screen top and has two locking front glass doors. It works really well for arboreals, but it wasn't cheap. I think I paid something like $60 for it, but it looks so much better than something else stood on end. Have you asked around on ATS or Arachnoboards?

Na never thought of that
Maybe they know how to build one.
I never cut glass before.

$60 is a lot of money !

I only know one guy who buils tanks for spiders, but they are made of plastic and I don't like that, also his stuff is realy expensive.

For my tarantula tanks I never paid more than 15 Euros.
I never thought that it will be that hard to get started again.

But ya I will ask the ATS what they know.

So what T's do you have?

Right now I have:
Brachypelma smithi
Lasiodora parahybana
Nhandu chromatus
Psalmopoeus cambridgei
Psalmopoeus irminia

And you ?

I just purchased 2 Poecilotheria ornata From Robc on aracnoboards for 33 dollars each plus shipping and packing was top notch...they are 3rd instar and feeding well. I also have a P. Regalis female that is 6 inches as well as a chaco golden Knee and a death staker and a Morracan black Scorpion all bought of aracnoboards.

That's a pretty good price !
My Slings are doing great, got them from the secretary of the ATS.
With any luck some of them are females.

I'm on the tarantula tank project, let's see what I can come up with.
Still searching for some realy good instructions on how to cut glass.
I have plans and the right measurements, only thing missing is the cutting part.

Let's see...I have:

3 Grammastola rosea - 1 mature male, 1 mature female, 1 immature female
1 Lasiodorides striatus female
1 Avicularia avicularia female
1 Brachypelma smithi female
1 Aphonopelma hentzi female
1 Lasiodora parahybana sling

Also:
1 Florida tailless whipscorpion with eggs
various native millipedes
3 giant waterbugs
1 Bess beetle

When it warms up, I hope to collect a native scorpion and centipede.

As for cutting glass, Lowe's or Home Depot won't do that for you?

I didn't know that home depo or lowes cut glass.
If they do that and have an affordable rate it might help.

Native centipede and scorpio would be awesome, I always look and find nothing, maybe my area is not a good habitat ?
Even better would be the catch of a B.vagans here in Florida, should be near waterbeds, probably more south of Florida.

I'm not sure if they do or not, but it would sure be worth a call to find out. Most of the stuff I've read on cutting glass just involves scoring it and then breaking it. With the tools costing between 5 and 30 dollars.

I've found native centipedes previously under fallen trees and such but never had any containers. I've yet to see a FL scorpion but I bought a UV flashlight to help my search this summer. As for B. vagans, I think they're down near St. Lucie in an orange grove. I don't know what the policy on collecting those is, but I get the idea that its a no-no.

greetings,
I just joined the site here and noticed the discussion going on,I believe home depot or lowes no longer cuts glass. I have found a web site that makes very nice but very pricey T cages, www.tarantulacages.com, the owner Adam does a top quality job but as I previously, very pricey.

Looking at the cages Adam makes they made from a 3/16 acrylic. Would there be any con's to using this as opposed to glass?
Secondly, I have also found a website the sells the acrylic sheets, the clear hinges and hasps.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=21314&product_id=10477

Hope some of this helps.

Also, as far as glass goes, how where you going to smooth or cover the ends, glass can very sharp and cut like razor, so be careful. the only way I know to cut glass is to scor it, and then snap it. Sometimes depending upon the thickness of the glass, you can use a wet saw.

Ok, Lowes and Home Depot do not cut glass.
>Pro is that glass is more hygienic than acryl, also you dont have probs with stains or dullness.
>Con glass is a pain to cut, because the fine dust is very very unhealthy.

But it is ok, I will build a terrarium myself with acryl, since it is lighter and lower in cost.

Adams cages are awesome !
They look sleek and neat.

be sure to check out the link, tons of good ideas.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=48951