I can't Believe this....!

[jennuhkins]

So today i wanted to go to a craft shop to build a basking spot for my bp, and i seen a pet store( i guess i should leave it untitled) right next store so i enter the pet store to check out their reptile section and this is what i seen.

first of all its about the reptile section was about 3 feet across and 6 feet in length, to house 10 cages. so you can imagine all these cages are about a foot (maybe) in width and length.. 3 cages across and 3 cages down plus only one big enough cage to house turtles on the bottom..

in the first cage on top was a shriveled up Crested Gecko DEAD priced at 50$

beside that was housing for Corn snakes, i get very excited to just watch them but when i looked i saw ONLY 1 shed that was probably from a 2 year old corn, in a 1" by 1" foot cage!(i believe it was even smaller than a foot) i didn't see the snake hopefully someone bought the poor thing....

below that containment was a leopard gecko looking skinnier than a twig..


i was furious , but my bf went to talk to them( he knew i would blow up on them) about the dead gecko ..

the lady took out the one tank with the gecko and went to the back...
did not even say one word to us
.. i want to buy them all but their prices are crazy and i do not have room for those poor things... i am very sad today...

i guess I will just stick to my petstore i cant handle watching them die at that place..
i wish i can send those people to jail...

[Aaron_S]

I believe we have a sticky thread about this stuff...

Anyway, call local animal whatever and make a complaint. Only way it works.

Don't buy anything from them. It just allows them to restock their tanks with double the amount.

[jennuhkins]

oh sorry i was trying to find a thread for this..

and i don't know really what to call,,

[EmbraceCalamity]

oh sorry i was trying to find a thread for this..

and i don't know really what to call,,Google search. If that doesn't help, call your local animal shelter or police station, and they should be able to direct you.

EDIT: Also, I'd suggest starting a petition and passing it around as many people as you know, having them vow to never shop at that store. The above tactic may be useless, as animal welfare laws aren't very strict and some of the people who work for the animal welfare agencies are kind of moronic.

~Maggot

[marvelfreak]

This is why i never go to Petco. It was a Petco wasn't it?

[StudentoReptile]

Here it is: http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-discussion/94256-how-deal-bad-pet-shops-zoos-etc.html

[StudentoReptile]

BTW, petitions are next to useless. I'm not trying to attack anyone personally. Just saying...they are basically a waste of time and totally ineffective. It will do very little to changing anything at that store.

[EmbraceCalamity]

BTW, petitions are next to useless. I'm not trying to attack anyone personally. Just saying...they are basically a waste of time and totally ineffective. It will do very little to changing anything at that store.Depends on how it's done. If you get enough people to agree to not spend a cent at their store, it might actually be helpful. They care about how much money they make above all else.

~Maggot

[Pareeeee]

Depends on how it's done. If you get enough people to agree to not spend a cent at their store, it might actually be helpful. They care about how much money they make above all else.

~Maggot

Yes, a p boycott would work better than just a petition alone, but it's really very hard to shut down some of these places.

[EmbraceCalamity]

Yes, a p boycott would work better than just a petition alone, but it's really very hard to shut down some of these places.Yeah, it would be more reasonable to attempt to find a new manager. How good a pet store is really is up to the manager, so if a petition is formed of enough people refusing to spend money there until the issues are fixed and the manager is replaced and then sent to the head of everything (presuming this is a chain store), they might either get a new manager or, at the very least, will be forced to improve the conditions. Taking lots of pics documenting the neglect would be helpful too.

~Maggot

[StudentoReptile]

I was merely just pointing out that most of the time, people think they are doing good by getting this piece of paper with lots of signatures on it. At the end, no one does anything with it. It just makes a lot of misguided people feel good like they actually accomplished something when they didn't.

Say you take the petition to the store management. They will likely scoff and ignore. My suggestion is to talk to them and try to help them first. The goal is to help the animals and educate, not necessarily shut the place down. Let's face it; the latter is a very unrealistic goal.

LOL...I see petitions pop up online all the time for people trying to shut down Petco or Petsmart for this that or the other. It will never happen.

[EmbraceCalamity]

I was merely just pointing out that most of the time, people think they are doing good by getting this piece of paper with lots of signatures on it. At the end, no one does anything with it. It just makes a lot of misguided people feel good like they actually accomplished something when they didn't.

Say you take the petition to the store management. They will likely scoff and ignore. My suggestion is to talk to them and try to help them first. The goal is to help the animals and educate, not necessarily shut the place down. Let's face it; the latter is a very unrealistic goal.

LOL...I see petitions pop up online all the time for people trying to shut down Petco or Petsmart for this that or the other. It will never happen.You're misunderstanding my suggestion entirely. I'm not suggesting to just have a piece of paper with a bunch of signatures. I'm saying have a piece of paper with a bunch of signatures saying they won't spend a cent there. Without that last part, it's useless. You walk into a store with a bunch of signatures just saying they're doing bad, they'll just kick your *** out - but that's not what I'm suggesting at all.

And of course they won't ever get shut down. Why? Because they want to make profits, which again goes back to my suggestion. Depriving them of their profits is the likely only way to get them to do something.

~Maggot

[alexknott]

It sounds like a Petsmart. The only thing I buy from them is food for my bloodhound. Theyre unknowlegeable and do not take very good care of there animals. I got my bp from them and called as soon as i got her home because she was very skinny and said she just ate the day before and was acting very hungry and ate 2 f/t fuzzzies as soon as i put her in her enclosure. mom and pop pet stores are best but at the very least pet supplies plus

[reptileexperts]

It's an unfortunate circumstance that happens far too often. As others have said do not assume you are rescuing the animal by purchasing it and taking it home to a better place. That does nothing but give the store the ability to put more animals on display and treat them poorly. Talking to management has to be done very carefully. If you indirectly insult the manager you are likely to find yourself getting kicked out, and accomplishing nothing. . . There's not much you can do. Contacting HSUS will honestly only give them fuel for their anti-reptile campagns that are pushing so hard with right now. Contacting animal shelters or the police will not result in anything since reptiles are not considered under any kind of fair treatment act that I'm aware up. Shoot, consider the rattle snake round ups . . . nothing happens there and these people openly abuse, and then slaughter these amazing animals for the sake of entertainment when it use to be all about respect and control for a species that was becoming too over populated. To the OP - I'm sorry that this is something you walked in on, and I'm sorry that it's not a straight forward solution for a fix. Sometimes you just have to walk away. We can't all save every reptile on craigs list. Or every over priced anole being sold by a sleeze for a quick buck. We have to realize the limitations of what we can do, and strive to better educate those around us.

[EmbraceCalamity]

It sounds like a Petsmart. The only thing I buy from them is food for my bloodhound. Theyre unknowlegeable and do not take very good care of there animals. I got my bp from them and called as soon as i got her home because she was very skinny and said she just ate the day before and was acting very hungry and ate 2 f/t fuzzzies as soon as i put her in her enclosure. mom and pop pet stores are best but at the very least pet supplies plusYou can't possibly know which store it was based on one story in one store of hundreds/thousands across the country. These kinds of things happen in both PetCo and PetSmart, and then there are some of them that take great care of their animals and are very knowledgeable. It all depends on who's running that particular store.

~Maggot

[alexknott]

You can't possibly know which store it was based on one story in one store of hundreds/thousands across the country. These kinds of things happen in both PetCo and PetSmart, and then there are some of them that take great care of their animals and are very knowledgeable. It all depends on who's running that particular store.

~Maggot

very true, but both of the ones ive been to here in MI have been the same way. I can imagine that some stores would be better i just havnt experienced one. I was going by the cage setup to assume the store

[EmbraceCalamity]

very true, but both of the ones ive been to here in MI have been the same way. I can imagine that some stores would be better i just havnt experienced one. I was going by the cage setup to assume the storeYou've been to two. You realise what a tiny percentage of all the stores that is? You can't make any assumptions based on just that.

~Maggot

[reptileexperts]

There is the saying "Petco where the pets die . . " but that's from a very big PETA pusher company. Truth be told the reptiles section at the local petco is definite crap here. However, the petsmart actually does a fine job of maintaining their collection, and they typically have a higher price tag as a result. Their animals are healthy, optimal weight, and they generally only sell sub-aduilts or adults to avoid complications with hatchling stuff (only exception I've ever noticed was bearded dragons).

[KORBIN5895]

The real answer is to build a relationship with the manager or whoever makes the husbandry decisions. If they know you are really knowledgeable and care about helping them and the animals they will listen. My local chain pet store calls me for herp advice. Also if I am ina and see anything all I have to do is make a recommendation and they are pretty good to fix it.

[StudentoReptile]

You can't possibly know which store it was based on one story in one store of hundreds/thousands across the country. These kinds of things happen in both PetCo and PetSmart, and then there are some of them that take great care of their animals and are very knowledgeable. It all depends on who's running that particular store.

~Maggot

Indeed. I have worked at Petsmart myself and know a few others who have. Surprisingly, I actually liked them a lot more than most other pet stores, big chain and mom/pop shops alike.

[StudentoReptile]

The real answer is to build a relationship with the manager or whoever makes the husbandry decisions. If they know you are really knowledgeable and care about helping them and the animals they will listen. My local chain pet store calls me for herp advice. Also if I am ina and see anything all I have to do is make a recommendation and they are pretty good to fix it.

Indeed. I hope people take the time to read the thread I linked to. Many want to jump straight to boycotting and slandering the business when these things. I prefer to use those as a absolute last resort, if all attempts to work with the establisment management and improving the care for the animals has failed.

[jennuhkins]

This is why i never go to Petco. It was a Petco wasn't it?

The petco here is wanderful, some people actually no their stuff and the head of the reptile divisions has a ton of snakes at home..

It was petsmart!!! Everything their is overlyover priced and their reptile section is horrible small, that gecko looked dead for a couple days before i even came in and seen it, their horrible!!

[reptileexperts]

full disclosure - I have found a dead Pueblan Milk Snake at petco . . . I asked for the body to preserve for my herpetology class . . . sad day none the less

[Little Wise Owl]

It's crazy how much one PetSmart or Petco contrasts another.

Any PetSmart I've been to, the animals were always extremely well taken care of. We don't have Petco in Canada but the ones I visited in Florida weren't to shabby either.

You'd figure that there would be strict, consistent animal care/management guide lines throughout ALL the stores. I guess it has to do with whose in charge though...

[EmbraceCalamity]

It's crazy how much one PetSmart or Petco contrasts another.

Any PetSmart I've been to, the animals were always extremely well taken care of. We don't have Petco in Canada but the ones I visited in Florida weren't to shabby either.

You'd figure that there would be strict, consistent animal care/management guide lines throughout ALL the stores. I guess it has to do with whose in charge though...I've heard some horror stories from PetSmart too. And I've heard of PetCos that were excellent (the one near-ish me isn't bad; never any dead or obviously ill reptiles, though they don't give the best info). It really is all up to the manager. You're right though. You'd think there'd be really strict guidelines, but obviously not.

~Maggot