Spiders!

[Showal]

I have been ordering crickets online to feed my bearded dragon for a bit now. They come in bundles of 1000. It sounds like a lot, but when you consider she eats about 60-80+ a day, you can see they don't last too long. It also comes in helpful because petco charges about 5 times as much for them and I can never rely on them having any (I swear people must take days off work to buy crickets because even at 5 on days when they come in they can be all sold out). Ok, but here's to the point of this post.

The most recent batch had a spider in it. I found the spider immediately after opening it and killed it, so I thought my problem was over. Yesterday, I opened the container and about 150 were dead. Today, I found another big spider in it. I took him out and killed him. I believe the spider had to come from the place I ordered them because I have never seen this type of spider before and I dont really have any spiders in my house.

I really like this company and have never had/heard of a problem with them. Their crickets are always healthy when I get them and there's always plenty, and the prices are perfect.

Should I let them know of this problem, in case it's potentially a larger problem that they might not know of yet? Should I just ignore it and say something if it happens again?

Even if I do let them know about it, how do I write something like that without sounding like a whiney asshole?

Any suggestions?

[peam]

You don't sound like an asshole, bro.

They're sending you crickets that're being massacred by spiders.

Just let them know.

[AnticorRifling]

Let them know. At the very least they owe you some bugs. And see if you can speak to a person vice putting it in writing. Also take pictures of the dead bugs and spider(s) in question.

[HarmNone]

If you paid for crickets and got spiders, resulting in the death of some of your crickets, you didn't get what you paid for and have every right to contact the provider about the problem. I'd say let them know what happened. It might be something they'll want to look into to keep them from losing business.

[Burnt out Priestess]

Contact them,cause who knows who else is having that problem and they should reimburse you bugs or something for the ones the spiders munched on.

[Amaron]

Also if you have never seen that kind of spider maybe its not supposed to live in your area... I know government is usually pretty big on their critter shipping laws. Maybe the company would be happy to know before they got in any trouble.

We used to have sugargliders but then found out we couldn't ship them where I live.

At any rate they owe ye some bugs.

J

[Showal]

Bah, that's a good idea Anticor. Too bad I'm a bit of an arachnophobe and my first instinct was to remove and kill the spiders. I still have a bunch of dead crickets though! I'm going to write the email now though. Thanks for all the really quick responses. I don't really care if I'm reimbursed as much as I want to be assured the problem is recognized and noted.

[DeV]

Originally posted by Showal
It also comes in helpful because petco charges about 5 times as much for them and I can never rely on them having any (I swear people must take days off work to buy crickets because even at 5 on days when they come in they can be all sold out). I had no idea you could purchase crickets online or I'd have saved myself the trouble of dealing with petco a looooong time ago. I have a toad farm and the meal worms die too damn quick for my tastes and petco charges alot for a little and their crickets aren't always the best. You've saved me a ton of trouble with this post, though I'm sorry to hear of your troubles with the spiders.

You should let them know about this especially since it's happened more than once. Chances are you aren't the only one this has happend to and you may be unwittingly doing others a favor who might be experiencing the same inconvenience but refrain because they don't want to seem whiny. Do it.

[Showal]

I've written the email. This is only the first time it's happened to me, I've just found 2 spiders in with the same batch. Crickets online are an awesome source for your crickets. I pay, I think, $17 for 1000 as opposed to $90 for the same amount from petco. The only problem is you can generally only order in batches of 500-1000+. If you don't want to store that many crickets, it might be worth it just to rely on petco. Keep in mind the littler ones don't make the noise, only the full sized ones do - so it doesn't get noiser, it can just smell. That's why I keep them in the back room.

So here's the email I wrote:

<<Let me start out this email saying that I have had nothing but fantastic experiences with your company and plan to keep doing business. I recently ordered a batch of 1000 crickets and, as usual, they arrived healthy. When I emptied them into my container, a spider ran out. I quickly removed and killed the spider. I thought my problem was taken care of, but over the past few days, I have been noticing more and more dead crickets in the batch. Today, I opened the container and found a pretty large spider (large to me is about 1 1/2 inches since I'm an arachnophobe haha). Once again, I removed the spider and killed it. I believe that is it for the spiders but I have lost in total about 200 crickets. I know these spiders did not come from my house because I never see spiders in my house and I have never seen these spiders in my area. They could have come in during the shipping process or they might be from your facility. As I said before, I plan on continuing to order my crickets through you because I have never been unhappy with anything you have done for me. I would just like to bring this to your attention and to alert you of any problems I've encountered. Thanks for your time!>>

Any comments?

[DeV]

Originally posted by Showal
I pay, I think, $17 for 1000 as opposed to $90 for the same amount from petco. The only problem is you can generally only order in batches of 500-1000+. If you don't want to store that many crickets, it might be worth it just to rely on petco.
That is a fucking steal. I can work with 500 because I have a couple toads I have to keep well fed so they don't start acting all crazy with each other. I have a large cricket carrier as well because I usually buy as many as I can from petco considering their restock rate is so disgustingly horrible. Hate the worms so the crickets will work out well. I have a basement so the sound won't be a distraction at all.

The e-mail sounds really good. You aren't being accusatory nor argumentative and you should get some positive results just from the tone of your e-mail and the fact that you aren't asking for anything.

I hope they garner you a worthy response. Good luck.

[Anailea]

Yeah, that is a good first letter. You are just letting them know that there is a problem and that you are a happy customer.

[Burnt out Priestess]

Let us know how it works out! and yea that is definitely a deal my brother buys crickets and they are expensive from petco,whats the web address by chance? i am gonna tell him about this.

[Showal]

Originally posted by DeV

Originally posted by Showal
I pay, I think, $17 for 1000 as opposed to $90 for the same amount from petco. The only problem is you can generally only order in batches of 500-1000+. If you don't want to store that many crickets, it might be worth it just to rely on petco.
That is a fucking steal. I can work with 500 because I have a couple toads I have to keep well fed so they don't start acting all crazy with each other. I have a large cricket carrier as well because I usually buy as many as I can from petco considering their restock rate is so disgustingly horrible. Hate the worms so the crickets will work out well. I have a basement so the sound won't be a distraction at all.

The e-mail sounds really good. You aren't being accusatory nor argumentative and you should get some positive results just from the tone of your e-mail and the fact that you aren't asking for anything.

I hope they garner you a worthy response. Good luck.

They charge about 11 bucks plus S+H for 500 crickets. Check them out. www.bigappleherp.com . You can also check out www.reptilesupply.com .

I'll let you know if I get a response. In my honest assessment of the situation, I'd still recommend big apple. They're fantastic.

[Viridian]

Let them know! I am sure they would be more than willing to give you a refund or something.

You don't sound whiney at all.

[Showal]

I found another damned spider!!

Anyone know what kind this is?

Is it anything to worry about?

[Burnt out Priestess]

Sure they didnt breed in the crickets and those are just babies popping out now? but it dont look dangerous but i could be wrong.

[Showal]

Taking the advice of some friends, I smashed him and smeared his guts on my face and let out a warcry. Then I put a bit of his guts on a toothpick and stuck it in the floor. This will ensure the spiders know I mean business. Thanks Tijay and others.

[Drew]

Hard to tell from the the picture but does that look like a tick to anyone else?

[Showal]

You're right, it does look like a tick. The thing was crushed pretty easily though and i know ticks pretty well.

[Viridian]

Originally posted by Showal
Taking the advice of some friends, I smashed him and smeared his guts on my face and let out a warcry. Then I put a bit of his guts on a toothpick and stuck it in the floor. This will ensure the spiders know I mean business. Thanks Tijay and others.

yyyeah I would call the company....the spiders could put a hurt on their business.

I would have loved to see the warcry....then the toothpick deal.

[Artha]

Today is a day that will live in infamy...