Dwayne Melton has a crawl space for 18 tarantuals under his home. The spiders hibernate in individual containers during the winter and come out during spring, but a few of them got out early.
Melton did not know his spiders were missing until he got a phone call from AniMart Pets, an exotic pet store near his house. They called to tell him someone just sold them five tarantulas that they believed belonged to Melton. Melton recently bought the spiders from the pet store.
“They called me one morning wondering if I could come in and ID some spiders they had,” said Melton. “And when I walked in, they were mine.”
Melton rushed home to check on his other spiders, worried they were all gone.
“But when I opened the door and went under it was just those five that he had taken to the store,” said Melton. He has now locked up his crawl space and hopes to turn his 18 spiders into a breeding operation.
“They don’t do anything. I know they’re big and scary, but they’re completely harmless,” Melton said.
Police issued an arrest warrant for Brandon L. Davis for possessing the stolen spiders. The store gave him $60 for all five. Melton said the spiders usually sell for $60 each.
This is the county's first known case of spider theft.
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