Sad-Angry

[mygabriella]

Going to my local pet store drives me crazy.
They have a blue tongue skink and he is SO skinny. You can see his entire back bone and his sides are sunken in. He doesnt move.
LIKE HELLO!!! FEED HIM!!!

Their rats all have respiratory infections and bunched up fur.

Their ball python has pieces of shed everywhere and they dont remove his stuck shed. HELLO!! RAISE HIS HUMIDITY!!! So stupid.

If I had $200 I would over pay for that skink just to save him :mad:
So upset!

And listening to them talk about the care of the reptiles with the customers is ridiculous and usually 99% false information.
They are scared of snakes and use a snake hook to remove a little worm sized milk snake from the tank...

Omg ridiculous.... Done venting..

[smy_749]

Don't go to the pet store. If you have to, don't look at the animals. Even reptile specialty shops don't do a great job.

[KORBIN5895]

I am not getting why you're upset. That sounds par for the course.

[Mark Taylor]

There is nothing you can do if you buy the skink they would just replace.

[Lankyrob]

Either speak to the manager and respectfully and constructively point out the errors or just report them to local authorities or ignore it and dont go back

[Little Wise Owl]

Either speak to the manager and respectfully and constructively point out the errors or just report them to local authorities or ignore it and dont go back

This.

This and I would encourage other people not to go there as well.

[stephanbakir]

Having worked in a few pet shops, I found an alternative...
You don't like the care there...? Get a job there and fix the problem.

[lady_bug87]

The only time I get really irritated is when I see them selling neonates that are waaaay too tiny

[smy_749]

The only time I get really irritated is when I see them selling neonates that are waaaay too tiny

I'd rather see them sell a young neonate which may be in good health, just a bit young than see them sell neglected / suffering / dying animals for too much money.

Surely you didn;t mean that its the only time you get irritated.

[Aaron_S]

This goes on all the time, in a lot of stores. Who cares? Don't give them your business (any of it) and hope others agree and they end up losing the store.

Don't save animals. With the profit they make they will just replace it with 5 more to kill. Essentially you save one to kill five. You have a net total of negative 4. Congratulations you just helped everything you complained about.

[lady_bug87]

I'd rather see them sell a young neonate which may be in good health, just a bit young than see them sell neglected / suffering / dying animals for too much money.

Surely you didn;t mean that its the only time you get irritated.

I don't care how they keep them. My animals are all well taken care of. Selling very young neonates puts the keeper (often new, often inexperienced) in a situation they are usually unprepared for since most exceptionally young animals are no where near established.

It can turn people off of owning reptiles which can and does effect our hobby.

[smy_749]

I don't care how they keep them. My animals are all well taken care of. Selling very young neonates puts the keeper (often new, often inexperienced) in a situation they are usually unprepared for since most exceptionally young animals are no where near established.

It can turn people off of owning reptiles which can and does effect our hobby.

I don't disagree about selling very young animals....I'm just saying it cant be the ONLY thing that irritates you. Dying reptiles surely irritates you as well and also gives the hobby a bad name / turns people off when they bring home an animal and it dies.

[Aaron_S]

I don't disagree about selling very young animals....I'm just saying it cant be the ONLY thing that irritates you. Dying reptiles surely irritates you as well and also gives the hobby a bad name / turns people off when they bring home an animal and it dies.

I don't know about Lady_Bug but it doesn't bother me anymore. All you can do is ensure all your animals are well cared for. I can't spend my time worrying about some animals who unfortunately ended up in a bad situation.

I do think lady_bug is trying to say that reptiles who are otherwise healthy that are undersized to be sold is what really irritates her. It isn't a simple situation to be in for a new keeper and most likely the keeper will kill the animal with undue stress.

[smy_749]

To each his own I guess. I'm always irritated to see an unhealthy animal, whether its in the wild, or in a cage it usually bothers me, even if its just nature taking its course. That being said, I have never bought an animal because it was sick, or to 'rescue' it, in my life. And I've also never interfered with nature taking its course. Then again, I am easily irritated....;)

[lady_bug87]

I don't disagree about selling very young animals....I'm just saying it cant be the ONLY thing that irritates you. Dying reptiles surely irritates you as well and also gives the hobby a bad name / turns people off when they bring home an animal and it dies.

It would be a waste of energy to get irritated. Proper husbandry can be expensive, and companies looove their money. They usually don't like being separated from their money, makes them sad.

That's life big daddy, get used to it.

[sarah22992]

I work in a pet store and I am proud to say we have a good deal. I dont know how petsmarts across the country work but our.individual store takes great care of our animals. We can refuse sale to those not willing to put what is necessary into the pet they want and we are contracted with a vet so that any animal that does end up sick or injured gets treated.as soon as its noticed.
I pride myself in my job and my ability to enlighten people about what could be their perfect pet.
That being said we are a chain store who can afford to do that. Small pet stores cant do what we do nor can they offer warranties.like ours.nor.can they afford our number of employees. What bothers me is that I am cleaning up the local pet stores messes.all the time. The lack of information given to customers is ridiculous. I have ended up with I dont know how many turtles due to them being sold cheaply to someone and then that someone comes to petsmart wondering why their turtle wont eat. and the said someone has no heat source or uvb/uva lighting. The.tank is tiny and unfiltered. And when I tell them what it needs they just go "well I dont want to pay that. what do i do just leave it in there to die." and I tell them I will take them.
Its ridiculous and small pet stores are in it for.profit. they may love their pets but in the end they view the animals in stock as simple merchandise. Their.snakes (including some of their venemous display animals) hace mouth rot, the lizards are wastig away, the guinea pigs have ringworm or respiratory issues, the monkeys cages are nasty and the birds have mites.
They also know most people walking into.their store are ignorant of some of these smaller ailments and wont catch on untik their animals a

[sarah22992]

Re dead and out of warranty.
Its frustrating but its their living so if they can help it thats how its going.to be.

I only hope other petsmarts are as dedicated to their animals as mine is. I love my job and I know my co.workers also enjoy theirs. Many have animal families that resemble mine and use our experience and.love of.our pets to educate others.

[sarah22992]

(sorry about split post. im on my phone and it was being jinky.)

[Aaron_S]

I work in a pet store and I am proud to say we have a good deal. I dont know how petsmarts across the country work but our.individual store takes great care of our animals. We can refuse sale to those not willing to put what is necessary into the pet they want and we are contracted with a vet so that any animal that does end up sick or injured gets treated.as soon as its noticed.
I pride myself in my job and my ability to enlighten people about what could be their perfect pet.
That being said we are a chain store who can afford to do that. Small pet stores cant do what we do nor can they offer warranties.like ours.nor.can they afford our number of employees. What bothers me is that I am cleaning up the local pet stores messes.all the time. The lack of information given to customers is ridiculous. I have ended up with I dont know how many turtles due to them being sold cheaply to someone and then that someone comes to petsmart wondering why their turtle wont eat. and the said someone has no heat source or uvb/uva lighting. The.tank is tiny and unfiltered. And when I tell them what it needs they just go "well I dont want to pay that. what do i do just leave it in there to die." and I tell them I will take them.
Its ridiculous and small pet stores are in it for.profit. they may love their pets but in the end they view the animals in stock as simple merchandise. Their.snakes (including some of their venemous display animals) hace mouth rot, the lizards are wastig away, the guinea pigs have ringworm or respiratory issues, the monkeys cages are nasty and the birds have mites.
They also know most people walking into.their store are ignorant of some of these smaller ailments and wont catch on untik their animals a


I'd like to point out your general blanket statement of independent stores to be rather false.

I worked in both chain and independent stores at one point in time and in both I was allowed to refuse sale to anyone who wasn't fit to care for the animal. It was my job to educate and to sell everything they needed.

You've just shot down all the specialty shops who probably do pretty well on their own, that includes NERD and Ben Siegel. I'm sure they'd like to hear how you're somehow better than they are.

[sarah22992]

While independent they also have followings nationwide if not worldwide. They have built themselves up . I was referencing my experience at the small local shops you walk into all over the US The ones whohave.little to no following outside of.the town they sell in. I have walked into better small shops than others but never a good one. One in our town is contracted with a vet but not for.their exotics but for.their puppies and kittens alone. Im sure the guys at NERD can and will afford.to keep.their.animals in tip top shape. But there is a reason they have the following they do. Theres not a huge number of local pet stores across america who can claim it. And those are usually where youve seen the issues.

[smy_749]

I have to disagree too, because your pet smart is the exception to pet smarts. The number of specialty stores giving proper care is higher than those chain stores without a doubt. Again, not all of them, but if you are going to include exceptions to the bad husbandry, mom and pop stores have far more exceptions to the bad husbandry blanket than petco and petsmart. That being said, keep up the good work.

[sarah22992]

I have to disagree too, because your pet smart is the exception to pet smarts. The number of specialty stores giving proper care is higher than those chain stores without a doubt. Again, not all of them, but if you are going to include exceptions to the bad husbandry, mom and pop stores have far more exceptions to the bad husbandry blanket than petco and petsmart. That being said, keep up the good work.

That makes me sad honestly. Regardless of chain or small place I feel like it should be any pet shops job to provide not only care for the live animals they have in stock but also for.the people interested in theae animals because ensuring that the new owner is well informed means youre doing your best to ensure the animal recieves.life long care. And when you help your customers feel good about what theyre doing to create a.proper environment for.their pet they seem much more satisfied with their purchase. I guess I just take great pride in the job I do and the jobs.of my co workers. I think its sad that others always dont.

[h3h]

Typical pet store. There is one here that sucks just as much as the one you described, but to make it worse they charge $2 to walk in the door and browse - non refundable unless you buy something...Hilarious right? I'd be afraid to buy from them; a majority of the people there are just Joe Blow off the street... and the $8.00/hr they are getting paid isn't enough to motivate the employees to give a hoot.

- h3

[StudentoReptile]

Don't buy it. You're only enabling.

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

[mygabriella]

your right, if I was able to save this one lizard they would just get more to kill. Just upsets me is all. Im going to try to stay away from pet stores.... :'(