200 species of tarantulas? Tacoma pet shop specializes in spiders. It’s got snakes, too
Inside Tacoma’s newest exotic pet store, stacked terrariums offer glimpses of about 200 species of tarantulas, in addition to other spiders, scorpions, centipedes, geckos, lizards and snakes.
Turtles crawl under heat lamps by the front entrance, which is shrouded in fake cobwebs, and floor-to-ceiling shelves offer everything an exotic pet owner would need, from snake bedding and multiple types of leaf litter to reptile humidifiers, heat mats, live plants, crickets and freeze-dried krill.
The Spider Shoppe, 5220 South Tacoma Way, opened in October. Another smaller location in Lakewood at 7304 Lakewood Dr. W. closed at the end of September.
The exotic pet and supply store is a manifestation of owner Tyler Kirk’s love for arachnids. Kirk said he started collecting and breeding tarantulas in his garage eight years ago and sold spiderlings and eggs online. The business got so popular he stopped pursuing his master’s degree in mental health counseling to operate the Spider Shoppe full-time.
Kirk said he does less breeding now and buys more adult spiders. About 75-80% of the Spider Shoppe’s sales happen online. He ships about 100 packages of spiders and reptiles across the country every week in carefully packaged and insulated boxes with overnight shipping.
In the first and second quarters of the year, the Spider Shoppe shipped more than 16,000 tarantulas around the United States. At any given time the shop has between 15,000 and 20,000 spiderlings, or baby spiders, on hand, Kirk said. Upon a visit Tuesday, Kirk showed The News Tribune packages destined for places like Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, New York and New Jersey.
Kirk said he thought operating a physical storefront would lend his business credibility, offer a place for people to explore their options in person and ask questions, as well as give his employees a place to work that wasn’t his insulated garage. Although Kirk is an expert on spiders and tarantulas, he has employees who are experts on reptiles and other species.
The cost of their spiders range from $15 to $300 apiece depending on size, age, species and rarity. Some female spiders can live up to 30 years. Kirk said the shop’s biggest demographic is men between 25 and 35 years old, but women and older people are “definitely” into them, too.
Kirk said he’s only aware of one other specialty spider shop in the United States, in Virginia Beach, making the Spider Shoppe a rare destination.
Breeds from all over the world
As a kid, Kirk said, he enjoyed watching spiders in webs and often would catch bugs for the spiders to eat.
“I also always kind of liked the shock value,” he said. “I think the natural response that people have, [to be] repulsed by a spider, I have related with that at times. Before I was counseling, I was in active addiction and felt almost like people were repulsed by me. So there was really a connection there with the animal that I could relate with.”
Kirk sources his species from all over the world, including China, Korea, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela and Peru. Some reptiles he buys from local breeders.
“It always was a part of my fascination — like oh, this one’s from Vietnam. This one’s from this area in Thailand, or this one’s from South Africa. To have a piece of the world all here on my shelf was cool,” Kirk said. “Pokemon was huge for me when I was a kid, so the collecting thing and then the rarity thing [was appealing]. Like, ‘Oh, I got this one and this one and this one, we’ll do trades.’ And the investment. You get them when they’re young, and you raise them. They’re going to be worth more when they’re bigger.”
For the most part tarantulas are harmless, despite what you might see on TV, Kirk said.
“With my first tarantula, I used to think that when I took the lid [of the terrarium] off, it was going to jump up and out at my face,” Kirk said with a laugh. “And I used to have these big welding gloves. Which is so silly now because it was totally harmless.”
Some spiders at the shop, like the Black Widow or Brown Recluse, are considered venomous. But “barely any” of the hundreds of other tarantulas have “medically significant venom,” Kirk said.
Walking through the shop Tuesday, visitors could scan a chip on the outside of terrariums to pull up pictures of the animals and information about them on their phones. Kirk let an Arizona Blonde Tarantula crawl gently on this news reporter’s arm, to prove its safety.
Overall, spiders make low-maintenance pets, Kirk said. They don’t require a lot of space, they only need to be fed once every week or two, they’re typically comfortable at room temperature, they’re affordable and there’s a huge variety, he said.
If you go
The Spider Shoppe is having a grand opening event Nov. 9 from noon to 5 p.m. which will feature a tortoise race, free $1,000 raffles every hour, tattoos from Homage Tattoo artist Melissa Skulls (@MemeSkulls) and hopefully a pop-up with other exotic-pet vendors.
“It’s not so much a promotional thing that I’m hoping to get paid off from, it’s more of like a celebration that we made it this far,” Kirk said. “I want to celebrate and give thanks to the community.”
The store is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 11:00 AM.
