to help or not to help?

[Lrptls]

this pet store i go to sometimes has always been quite crappy. sometimes there not so bad, sometimes i leave madder than hell. i go there usually only to buy certain things because they are much cheaper than other pet stores. i have never bought an animal there. they have been selling all of their reptiles for cheap trying to get rid of them even though they keep geting more too. the newest ones there are 2 iguanas. a male in a big wire cage and a female in a very tiny aquarium. neither have heat, i dont remember seeing food or water and oh yeah, the female is extremly pregnant. theres some bark in her cage and there is one egg out but i'm worried she wont lay them because she cant dig into any thing to lay them.

i left and a while later i called them and asked for the manager, i said i was consernd about the female iguana but she kept telling me there was none. i told her i was just there and there was a pregnant iguana there, she kept saying there was none. so finally after a while she said shed go look but she hung up on me.

so now all i'm thinking is i want to get that ig out of there as soon as i can. i plan on calling back and just asking how much they would sell her for so i can go up and get her because if i have to be in that store and argue with those people i think i'm going to flip out and have the cops called on me. but is it really worth it? do you think i should spend my money on an ig that may probably die or is there a good chance i could save her? i obviously need some answers ASAP. thanks

[lonewulf]

It sucks .. pet stores like that care only about turning a buck and care nothing for the reptiles and even worse know nothing about them , by purchasing the reptiles it will only promote purchases at the store and they are just going to get more in and someone else will buy out of pity and they will make their buck .. whether you purchase or not ultimately is your decision but in my opnion do not purshase reptiles from a placel ike that you are only supporting their poor ethics even thought you are doing it for the best of intentions. it sucks for the reptiles as they did not ask for their horrible subpar living conditions but in the end it is not worth supporting a store who doens't care about their reptiles

I was in a store near me just outside of my town and they brought in a baby savannah for me .. well the baby was nearly 2 feet , not a baby and it had either ticks or mites on the underside of the tail base and another sav in clear view on display that had not eaten since they brought it in and it was clearly near death but they were more worried about who was buying what then answering any questions I had and when I said I did not know if I was interested in the sav due to its health they did not evne pay me anymore attentions .. neadless to say that was the last time I am ever going there.
the ever powerful dollar rules the world ...

but that is my opnion ..

[tHeGiNo]

That's all up to you. If you're willing to do the research, and understand the time and money required to properly care for an iguana, not to mention the cage size, then definitely go for it. Not to mention potential vet bills involved in getting this iguana back to good health.

Understand though, we cannot save every reptile on this planet that is mistreated, unfortunately. You would be doing a GREAT thing by helping, but keep in mind that this iguana is just going to be replaced with another sick animal, or one that will soon be sick.

[Lrptls]

i totally agree about not supporting them, i have had to do that hundreds of times, pass up buying one sick animal to save others. but oddly they take very well care of their mammals, birds, fish, just not reptiles which they say they arnt geting any more. and i just feel so horrible for her. i have seen alot of reptiles in poor conditions but this may be the worst, if not its definetly up there. i have a real strong feeling i need to save her and i can save all her babies and i dont care about selling them or giving them away as long as they find good homes.

[peterm15]

my suggestion would be to go in there and have a dicussion.... or one better.. anomously tip off peta.. lol... maybe get some red paint thrown on them... lol...

you never know.. maybe we could trick that group into helping the repyile industry

[beth wallbank]

Call the SPCA......plain and simple. As much as some of us don't support what they do, they DO follow up on all complaints and will pay them a visit. I know people who do and who have worked for animal controls and the SPCA, and there are those who DO care. I wouldn't even give it a second thought. If you think there is an animal there in need of help, call.

[Lrptls]

i tried calling the local animal control but i couldn't get a hold of them so i sent them an email. i have thought about this all day and i would buy her and try to save her and her babies but i simply can not afford it. i hope something happens, i dont know what but i really hope she lives and theres a strong feeling i have that she wont.

[improvius]

It's tough to let it go, but if they sell her to you, they will just replace her with another one. I think it would be best to not buy her, and tell your friends to avoid the place. If they don't sell the reptiles, they won't stock them.

Also, and I'm not trying to be a jerk here, you do realize that you are helping this place stay in business every time you buy something there - even if it isn't an animal.

-Imp