Visited a herp shop today

[PDXErik]

Rose City Reptiles.

Have you ever walked into a Scamp's and seen all of the dead fish in the tanks and thought to yourself, "OMFG"

Yeah, that was this place, but a bit worse. Chameleons with dead and dry plants, tiny holding quarters, everything looked dry as a B O N E.

Quite sad. Messy in general, poorly organized, snakes in small (1 quart) plastic containers.

I was aghast. I had been looking forward to seeing a new herp shop, instead I was treated to the Inquisition.

When I came in, the owner was busy yahoo emailing someone, the register is next to his laptop. (I'm assuming) His daughter was misting the chameleons, but wasn't bothering to clean or replace the dead plants in EVERY ONE OF THE CAGES.

House of Reptiles ROCKs!

[Herpkid101x]

omg!!!!! its living reptile hell

[Deej85]

I often wonder about the ethics at shopping at such a place.


If you buy a reptile at a bad pet store, aren't you in essence rescuing that reptile from poor living conditions?


I understand that you may end up with a less healthy pet then If you were to shop somewhere else, but I'm sure the reptile itself appreciates being rescued.

[redtails]

There were a couple shops like that here in Phoenix that recently closed down. I know someone that went to one to see about the out-of-business prices on lights and such and ended up rescuing all the remaining reptiles for $20 since none had water or clean cages & nobody had looked in on them in at least a week!

[RIBBIT]

sound like somthin id do

[BlueClover]

I often wonder about the ethics at shopping at such a place.


If you buy a reptile at a bad pet store, aren't you in essence rescuing that reptile from poor living conditions?


I understand that you may end up with a less healthy pet then If you were to shop somewhere else, but I'm sure the reptile itself appreciates being rescued.

Yes, you are potentially saving that animal, but the money you gave the store for it will just go out and buy more. You'd essentially be encouraging their extremely bad habits.

[Deej85]

Yes, you are potentially saving that animal, but the money you gave the store for it will just go out and buy more. You'd essentially be encouraging their extremely bad habits.



that is a good point.

I wonder if a possible alternative would be to offer to teach the store workers how to properly care for the animals. Too bad there is no organization that can monitor certain stores and advise if it is good to buy from there or not.


Whenever I see reptiles at a pet store I get an itch wishing I could work there.

[PDXErik]

I will never ever ever ever buy an animal from a place like that. The life of one animal, pitiful as it may be, may be sacrificed in order to shut the place down.

In the big picture, a single life is worth many. (I'm NOT a big Star Trek fan, but it applies here).

[BlueClover]

that is a good point.

I wonder if a possible alternative would be to offer to teach the store workers how to properly care for the animals. Too bad there is no organization that can monitor certain stores and advise if it is good to buy from there or not.


Whenever I see reptiles at a pet store I get an itch wishing I could work there.

You could definitely try it, but they may not listen to you. The ONLY pet store where I live is usually pretty good, but I've noticed lately that it seems their snakes NEVER have any water. At least one of them is severely dehydrated. Their leopard geckos always look horrible also. They've got babies in with adults and even giants. And then they wonder aloud about how the little ones are losing their tales . . . I'd really like to stop shopping there, but there's no where else for me to get crickets (have already stopped buying mice from them.)

[Deej85]

Could you perhaps go to the police or animal control officers about suspicions of animal cruelty?


Or do they only care about mammals?

[redtails]

They care about any animals. Could be a good idea, but I'd rather not involve any legalities personally, maybe you could go to a local herp society and inform them.

[RIBBIT]

Ive used to go to a place I dont know the name it closed a while back but they had a alligator around 18-30 inches big in a 40-50 g tank and a baby savanna monitor in a 5 g tank ill try and remember a few more things bout it srry bout the -s and if it dosnt make sence it was a while ago 5 -6 years ago and I dont know about the gator it was just about outside the tank it almost broke because of its size

[oxquo]

I often wonder about the ethics at shopping at such a place.


If you buy a reptile at a bad pet store, aren't you in essence rescuing that reptile from poor living conditions?


I understand that you may end up with a less healthy pet then If you were to shop somewhere else, but I'm sure the reptile itself appreciates being rescued.


I disagree here, it's like buying betta's because you feel sorry for them in their little jars, the more You buy, the more these people sell and will bring in. The best way is to spend money only in respected shops and keep them alive and well. People often fall for the "doing a good deed and saving a critter," but in fact it is only rewarding the owners who keep such horrible conditions. Also, why would they take better care of their herps if they sell better on the pity factor. Don't even buy food for Your herps there, if the conditions are anything like the store here, the cricket cages are never clean the bottom is filled with dead rotters and they only carry one size, usually too big for the size of herps that they sell. You would have to gutload these guys for a week just to get a belly on them as they are nutritionally worthless. Let alone the fact that these kind of shops are often responsible for selling pets under the wrong name making everyones lives miserable since the herp You thought You had is now getting the wrong care entirely, let alone the chance of breeding them. As for breeders, You are better off scrambling a few eggs than supplying these type of shops. As for calling the humane society, it takes awhile but they do get around to it and will make changes if they see it necessary. The store in Yorkton still isn't much better but atleast they will be or be shut down.

Your best bet always when buying any herp, fish or even furry critter is to buy from those who care for them, breed them and cull the unwanteds. This ensures a brighter healthier tomorrow for each species and for the pets we purchase in general.