pet stores arrrr!

[bluesox_68]

I can't belive what I saw today. I try not to say anything bad but what would you guys say if you saw this? a 5 Inch golden gecko was in the same tank
with emperor scorpions!!! That can't be right! They don't mix! I am still learning but there was nothing in this store that was clean or healthy looking its so sad. I know there are some other stories like this out there so lets hear them. You never know who reads this mabey someone can lean somthing from this thred!

[peterm15]

now thats one if the worst ive heard.. dont go there for anything AT ALL.. every little bit supports idiots like that...

[Capital_Dragons]

OMG!!!! I have to agree with Peter, this has got to be the worst situation I have heard of - totally disgusting........avoid the place like the plague. They obviously don't know what they're doing and/ or don't care.

Wow, does this kind of thing make me angry!!!!

[spotnick]

by the way quick question u know how when u read posts everybody has there little picture? how do i get mine to be seen by others?

[leolvr]

I am so shocked to read this. I own a Pet Food store and we recently started to sell crickets as we had several customers asking for them. I have always wanted a beardie myself so we carry a couple of lizards at a time also. I cannot imagine anyone having such a disregard for life. We only have captive bred lizards and the breeder I am dealing with is amazing. He comes to the store 2x a week with crickets and to make sure we are doing ok with the lizards. right now we have an adorable beardie and 2 chamelons. My staffs favorite so far have been the water dragons. they were so funny.
I had to make a reply to this as it just angers me when animals are bought in bulk like this. I never thought I would ever sell any live animals in my store. We are looking after our guys well ( I hope) I joined this list to learn more about the lizards and ways to make life good for them in our store and support our potential lizard owners.

[Linds]

Please do not forget the posting rules...

No "naming names". This is not the C/BOI, please refrain from mentioning individuals or business names in negative light.

Thanks.

[M_surinamensis]

I'm just going to briefly play devil's advocate here (Me, arguing for the sake of the debate? Who'd have thunk it?)...

Were both species labeled on the enclosure they were in? Meaning... was there a price on the enclosure for both species to indicate that they were deliberately placed together?

What kind of enclosure was it? I've walked into a few pet related retail places once or twice... and kept a good number of animals in my home. Arboreal geckos can be zippy and it's not unusual for the oddball animal to get loose. Once they are loose, they sometimes will make their way into other enclosures if there's a crack big enough to wiggle through.

Basically what I'm saying here... there are some bad retail establishments with terrible practices that should be shut down. There are plenty of absolutely GREAT retail places with healthy, well cared for animals and this whole slew of mediocre but acceptable places. You put several thousand animals in a building... some of them will not make it, some will choose the second after an employee checks and walks away to fill their water dish with feces and some will potentially get loose- if you become hypercritical and take *one* instance that's not ideal or wrong and call an entire establishment a bad place... Well, you're a little on the slow side and should look to your own collection before criticizing others.

If the golden gecko and scorps were both labeled... there's a problem and it's a bad place. If there were multiple issues which cummulatively led to the conclusion that it was a bad place and the gecko/scorp thing was simply an extreme example... that's fine too (as the original poster indicated it was). But this site tends to do a LOT of unwarranted pet store bashing that borders on animal rights extremism without looking at anything in perspective or making reasonable allowances.

[peterm15]

ok.. i somewhat agree.. when you gave alot of animals in a store you cant always give them the room they need.. you cant always have EVERYTHING clean... ect ect.. like one pet store just got 12 small ball pythons in.. all the ppl there are knowledgable and most breed or own ALOT of herps.. now they have 6 balls in each enclosure.. there really small and the enclosure is about 20 gal each... now in that kind of a situation there isnt much you can do.. and they do keep proper care of each and dont feed in that container.. i see no prob with this..

but someone should notice a gecko in with scorps.. even if he did just sneak in most pet stores feed and clean in the morn... now having him in there for 10 15 min i could see it as an escapee.. but otherwise its just not acceptable

[Topaz]

If you point something out like that and indicate the gecko can get injured and needs its own enclosure they may get someone to move it if it was an accident. You can always suggest even a kritter keeper set-up is better than having it live with scorpians and they may agree.
It never hurts to ask to speak with the manager and politly mention what they could do to fix a noticable problem. Sometimes they just don't know or trust in someone they hired who may not know.

[peterm15]

exactly topaz

[bluesox_68]

It was no accident. They were both priced. I told the worker and he said oh no its fine! they live together in the wild I said I don't think that is true then he went to help a customer. I do know some great pet stores to buy from I just wanted to vent about this praticulal case. Thanks for all you replies

[Linds]

I often wonder just how such a lagre percentage of pet store employees really can be so ignorant sometimes. And I mean, if you really don't want to learn about what you are doing, then at least just say you don't know. Even IF some two animals share the same geographic location, doesn't mean they share the same micro-habitat, much less the same personal space :P Maybe I should try and share my bedroom with that raccoon I heard fighting outside last night? :p:rolleyes:

[Artemis]

Whats TRULY scary is that it goes beyond that in the larger chains. Some of the conditions I have seen in these establishments are decisions that were made on a CORPORATE level, and the ignorant employees actually think that is whats right because thats what they were taught when they started working there, most of them not really having a wide variety of experience on their own with a broad spectrum of species. The stores are actually set up for failure, and when they are all like that, its a corporate issue, not the employees, that are the problem.