Man accused of stealing 5 tarantulas

Austell man allegedly sold spiders to pet store.

What has 40 legs, costs $300 and led to an arrest warrant for a Cobb County man? Five hairy tarantulas. An Austell man is accused of taking them after forcing his way into the crawl space of another man’s home, according to his arrest warrant. Inside the crawl space were 18 pet tarantulas, all hibernating in individual containers.

Dwayne Melton told Channel 2 Action News he had recently bought the pet spiders from a pet shop. He was surprised to get a call from AniMart Pets, an exotic pet store on Veterans Memorial Parkway.

“They called me one morning wondering if I could come in and ID some spiders they had,” Melton said. “And when I walked in, they were mine.”

Melton said he rushed home, fearful all of his spiders had been tak- en. But instead, just five were missing, he said. And a man police say was later identified as Brandon Lee Davis, had sold the five spiders to the pet store for $60. Melton said the spiders usually sell for about $60 each.

The spiders were returned to Melton, who has locked up his crawl space and hopes to start a tarantula breeding operation.

“They don’t do anything,” Melton said. “I know they’re big and scary, but they’re completely harmless.”

An arrest warrant was issued for Davis, who has been charged with theft by receiving. Davis told investigators he bought the spiders from a friend whose name he didn’t know, the warrant states. He then claimed he got them from a “Mexican” person, according to police.

By Tuesday afternoon, Davis had not been arrested, according to Cobb County jail records.

Except for a painful bite, tarantulas are harmless to humans, according to National Geographic. Their mild venom is weaker than that of a typical bee.