She Bought An Exotic Spider At Petco, Spotting A Hidden Clue Under The Price Tag That Exposed A Major Problem

Rubeus Hagrid from Harry Potter once said, "Seriously misunderstood creatures, spiders are. It's the eyes, I reckon. They unnerve some folk."

Yet in the modern exotic pet trade, the real discomfort can stem from discovering where a spider comes from, not just their eyes.

People often assume that big-box pet retailers don't take animals from the wild and fill their stores with them, but after a woman who goes by @walkinginspiderwebs on TikTok brought home her eight-legged pet from Petco, she uncovered a clue that it was indeed taken from the wild.

After leaving Petco and purchasing a velvet spider @walkinginspiderwebs named Harriet, she found an egg sac sitting behind the sticker she peeled off the enclosure.

She then went right back to the store with the spider and told the employees at Petco that the spider was wild-caught because of the egg sac, and she was pointing it out as a teaching moment.

The manager of the store asked @walkinginspiderwebs what she wanted to do with her, and @walkinginspiderwebs replied that she was going to keep the spider, but if the spider had been purchased by someone who didn't know anything about arachnids, it would be a big problem.

Apparently, spiders can be eaten by their babies, which would be devastating for an unsuspecting owner. The manager couldn't believe what @walkinginspiderwebs was saying.

"The babies will eat the mom. She regurgitates her food to the babies. When they hatch, they come out, and then when she runs out of food, she becomes the food. It's the circle of life, and there's nothing that can be done about it," @walkinginspiderwebs explained in her video.

She went on to tell the manager she hoped they weren't aware that they were selling wild-caught spiders. The manager had no idea that was happening and went to grab another spider in the store while asking @walkinginspiderwebs if she could see an egg sac.

Armen - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person - pictured above is a velvet spider

There was an egg sac along with that spider, so the manager took it off the floor and put the spider in her office. Next, the manager emailed her boss and the highest-up person she could contact at Petco.

The higher-ups confirmed that it can occur, with spiders being taken from the wild and given to them to sell. Petco said they had to make a change to prevent this from continuing.

The manager really did care so much and called @walkinginspiderwebs later on to inform her that a policy change has been put in place: any spider that comes in with an egg sac or babies with them has to be returned to the vendor so the vendor can care for the spider and the babies.

The babies are allowed to be resold to Petco when they are ready. And that is how @walkinginspiderwebs made an impact and got a change made to help spiders.

You can view the video on TikTok here.