Police: Tarantulas stolen from Cobb County home

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — An Austell man said he is happy to get back his five tarantulas after they were stolen from his house.

This is Cobb County’s first case involving stolen spiders.

Dwayne Melton told Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt someone had stolen five of his 18 pet tarantulas from the crawl space under his home.

Melton said in the wintertime, the spiders live underneath the house in individual containers where they hibernate until the spring.

Melton did not know his spiders were missing until he got a phone call from AniMart Pets, an exotic pet store on Veterans Memorial Parkway.

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.

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.

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,” said Melton.

WSBTV