1. Acceptance of these terms
This site is operated by Jurassic Tarantulas ("we", "us", "our"). By browsing the site, contacting us through it, or placing an order, you agree to these Terms & Conditions. If you do not agree, please do not use the site or order from us.
These terms apply to every order unless we have agreed something different with you in writing.
2. Who may order
You must be at least 18 years old, or have the consent and supervision of a parent or legal guardian who accepts these terms on your behalf, to order live animals from us.
You must give a complete and accurate name, address, phone number and email address. The name on your order must match a valid government-issued photo ID: live animals are held at a FedEx location for pickup, and FedEx will not release the package without it. We are not responsible for delays, losses or deaths caused by a name, address or contact detail entered incorrectly.
3. Animals, listings and photographs
- Most listings are for a specific individual animal. Once it sells it is gone — the listing comes down rather than being restocked.
- Where a listing covers a group rather than one animal, it says so on the listing itself and the photograph is marked as representative — you will receive a similar animal of that species and size, not the exact one photographed.
- Live animals grow, molt and change color, so appearance at delivery may differ from the photograph even where the photograph is of the animal you are buying.
- Size is given as diagonal leg span and is approximate. Molt dates are recorded from our own observation and are given in good faith. Sex is not guaranteed unless a listing states the animal is confirmed sexed and says how it was confirmed.
- Species and common names follow the naming in general use among keepers. Taxonomy changes; a later reclassification is not a defect in what you bought.
- We work to keep availability, descriptions and prices accurate, and we reserve the right to correct errors and to cancel and refund an order placed against an obvious pricing or availability mistake.
4. Prices and payment
Prices are in U.S. dollars and exclude shipping, which is calculated at checkout from the delivery ZIP code you enter and shown to you before you pay. Prices may change at any time before you place an order.
Payment is taken at checkout through Stripe, our third-party payment processor. Card details are entered on Stripe's own secure pages — we never receive or store your full card number. Your order is not confirmed until payment is authorized.
5. Orders, reservations and cancellation
Adding an animal to your cart places a short, temporary hold so that two people cannot buy the same animal at once. The hold expires on its own if you do not complete checkout, and the animal returns to general availability.
Your order is an offer to buy. We accept it when we confirm it by email. We may decline or cancel an order — before or after payment — if the animal is no longer in suitable condition to travel, if we cannot ship legally or safely to your location, if the listing contained an error, or if we suspect fraud. If we cancel, we refund you in full.
All sales are final. Once your order is paid it cannot be cancelled for a refund, including before it ships. Where we choose to make good on a problem, we may offer a replacement animal of equal value from our available stock instead. We refund a paid order only when:
- we cancel it ourselves, for any reason in the paragraph above — in full;
- we place it on a weather hold and you would rather not wait — in full, less shipping if a FedEx label had already been created; or
- you make a valid live arrival claim — as set out in section 7.
Except where we cancel an order ourselves, once a FedEx shipping label has been created for your order, shipping is considered initiated and the shipping charge is non-refundable.
6. Shipping live animals
We ship within the lower 48 United States only. Live animals ship Tuesday and Wednesday only, via FedEx Priority Overnight, so that a package is never sitting in a facility over a weekend or a holiday. Orders placed during a given week go out on the Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week.
- FedEx location pickup only. We do not deliver live animals to your door. We choose the FedEx location nearest the address you give at checkout and ship your order there, held for pickup. When it ships we email you the location and the tracking number.
- Photo ID. To collect the package you must show valid government-issued photo ID, and the name on it must match the name on the shipping label — the name you gave at checkout.
- Pick up the day it arrives. Collect the package on the day it arrives at the FedEx location. The live arrival guarantee depends on it.
- Weather holds. Shipments may be delayed at our discretion when forecast temperatures at the origin, the destination or a transit hub fall outside the safe range for the animal. We hold the order and ship on the next safe date at no extra cost. If you would rather not wait, you may cancel a held order for a full refund, less shipping if a FedEx label had already been created.
- Shipping cost. Shipping is quoted from the ZIP code you enter. If the address you finally give at checkout is materially farther than the one you quoted, we may contact you for the difference before shipping.
- Delays. Once a package is with the carrier, transit is outside our control. Carrier delays, weather events and misrouting are not something we can prevent, though we will help you trace a package and will honor the live arrival guarantee where it applies.
Supplies ordered on their own are not live animals: they ship to the address you give at checkout and are covered by section 11, not by the pickup rules above.
7. Live arrival guarantee
We guarantee that your animal will arrive alive when it is collected from the FedEx location under the conditions below. This guarantee is the sole remedy for an animal that does not survive shipping. Home delivery is not offered for live animals and is not covered.
To claim, all of the following must be true:
- You collected the package from the FedEx location on the day it arrived there.
- You contacted us within 2 hours of pickup, as shown by FedEx tracking, at the email address in section 21.
- You sent a clear photo or video of the animal on top of our shipping box.
- The name and address you gave at checkout were correct and complete, and the shipment was not refused, rerouted or redirected at your request.
- The animal was not a free or gift animal. Free and gift animals are not covered.
We may ask for any additional information related to your order before deciding a claim.
A tarantula that arrives limp, curled or barely moving is very often only cold or stressed rather than dead, and frequently recovers within a day. Contact us with a photo or video before assuming the worst — but do it inside the window above.
Where a valid claim is made we will, at our option, send a replacement of equal value on the next safe ship date or refund the price of the animal. Shipping charges are not refundable under this guarantee. The guarantee covers the animal's condition on arrival only. It does not cover a molt in transit, a molt shortly after arrival, or anything that happens after the 2-hour window, since husbandry after pickup is out of our hands.
8. Returns and refunds
All sales are final, and live animals cannot be returned. This is standard practice in the hobby: an animal that has left our care and travelled twice cannot be safely resold, and re-shipping is a serious risk to the animal. We refund a paid order only in the cases listed in section 5; instead of a refund, we may offer a replacement animal of equal value from our available stock.
Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method. Depending on your bank, funds usually appear within 5–10 business days.
9. Care, handling and assumption of risk
Tarantulas and other invertebrates are not domesticated pets. All tarantulas are venomous. Many New World species flick urticating hairs that cause skin, eye and airway irritation. Old World species are typically faster, more defensive and have significantly more potent venom. Bites, hair exposure and allergic reactions — including, rarely, severe ones — are possible.
By ordering you confirm that you understand these risks, that you have researched the species you are buying, that you have a suitable enclosure ready before it arrives, and that you accept full responsibility for the animal's housing, security and care from the moment it is delivered.
Care information on this site is general hobby guidance offered in good faith. It is not veterinary or medical advice. If you are bitten or have a reaction, seek medical attention.
Keep animals secured and away from children and other pets. We are not responsible for injury, illness, property damage or loss arising from your keeping or handling of an animal, or its escape, after delivery.
10. Your legal responsibilities
Exotic-animal law varies by state, county and city, and it changes. It is your responsibility, not ours, to confirm before ordering that you may lawfully receive and keep the species you are buying where you live, and to hold any permit or license your jurisdiction requires.
We ship only where we can do so lawfully, and we may decline or cancel an order on that basis. Placing an order is your representation that receiving it is legal for you. We do not ship internationally; some species are subject to CITES or other trade controls.
11. Merchandise and supplies
Non-living goods — enclosures, substrate, apparel and other supplies — are sold on the same basis as our animals: all sales are final. We do not accept returns or exchanges on supplies because you have changed your mind.
Supplies ordered on their own ship to the address you give at checkout; supplies ordered with a live animal travel in the same box to the FedEx location. If an item arrives damaged, or is not what you ordered, tell us within 2 hours of delivery (or of pickup, if it travelled with a live animal) with clear photographs of the item and its packaging, and we will replace or refund it at our option.
Feeder insects are live animals and are covered by the live arrival guarantee, not by this section.
12. Use of this website
You agree not to use this site to break the law, to interfere with its operation or security, to scrape or bulk-copy its content, to submit false order or contact information, or to attempt access to any administrative area you are not authorized to use. We may suspend or refuse service to anyone who does.
13. Intellectual property
All content on this site — photographs, text, layout, logos and design — belongs to Jurassic Tarantulas or its licensors and is protected by copyright and trademark law. You may not reproduce, republish or use it commercially without our written permission. Our animal photographs in particular are our own work and are not free stock; please ask before using one.
14. Third-party services
We rely on third parties for payment processing, hosting, shipping and email. Their own terms and privacy policies govern what they do, and we are not responsible for their acts or omissions. Links from this site to other sites are offered for convenience and are not an endorsement.
15. Privacy
To fulfil your order and answer your questions we collect your name, contact details, delivery address, order history and any message you send us. We share those with our payment processor, our carrier and our hosting provider strictly so they can do their part of the job. We also use Google Analytics, including its advertising features, to see how the site is used and to advertise the shop; you can opt out of that ad sharing at any time. We do not sell your information for money.
Our Privacy Policy sets all of this out in full — what we collect, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and how to ask for a copy or a deletion. It forms part of these terms.
16. Disclaimer of warranties
Except for the live arrival guarantee and any warranty that cannot legally be excluded, this site and everything sold through it are provided "as is", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the site will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that any animal will live for any particular length of time after delivery.
17. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, Jurassic Tarantulas and its owners, employees and agents are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, arising out of your use of this site or any product bought through it.
Our total liability for any claim relating to an order is limited to the amount you actually paid for that order.
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
18. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold Jurassic Tarantulas harmless from any claim, loss or expense — including reasonable legal fees — arising from your breach of these terms, your violation of any law, or your keeping or handling of an animal after delivery.
19. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms at any time. The version posted here when you place an order is the version that governs that order, so please check the effective date above before you buy.
20. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Florida, and you and we consent to that venue.
Please contact us first. Nearly every problem is faster to fix by email than by anything else.
If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force.
21. How to reach us
Questions about these terms, a live arrival claim, or an order:
Jurassic Tarantulas
jurassictarantulas@gmail.com
You can also use our contact form. For a live arrival claim, email is faster and lets you attach photographs.