a potential debate...

[Turtle Matt]

I personally do not see the big deal with buying animals from petstores... They can get alot of interesting and rare species (thinking of turtles) and sell for decent prices (for example also,adult specimens,how many breeders sell adults??). If it is for health reasons of the animal,why not buy it and save it? and the animals out on display are typically healthy anyways. Some people on here seem to disagree with buying from them..Why exactly??
Matt

"saving" an animal gets their profit, do you think they care why you buy it as long as it sells and they can get more to sell?

[Bartman]

Maybe from the petstore you buy your things at but most of the, non reptile specific, stores near me are pretty terrible. Unfed animals in small cages and POOR conditions..not ALL but most imo

just my $0.02

[johnnym1972]

Hello Matt, all of the breeders that I deal with sell adults all the time, myself included. You just have to contact people like us and let us know what you're looking for. I do it all the time, and it still took me 7 years to get some really nice Indian Stars. It was totally worth the wait though, and after that, I got another trio 6 months later. I have some adult breeder Russians coming in this weekend, with some adult breeder Desert Ornates, and some adult breeder Hermann's. They are all perfect, super healthy, and proven!!!

By the way, I posted about the confrontation that we had in another thread, to try to convince people to rethink what they are typing BEFORE they hit the submit key. I'm going to PM you with the enrire text, since I think that the thread was deleted due to 5 pages of people attacking each other.

As far as the pet store thing... pet stores buy from wholesalers, importers, and dealers... not breeders. I don't know of any ETHICAL Tortoise breeders that sell Tortoises to pet stores, and I know most of the ETHICAL Tortoise breeders in Canada.

Take care, Johnny.

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Who in their right mind would ever purchase a sick animal? Trying to save it would not be all that wise, concidering you pay for it which gives money to the bad shop and more than likely will still die....no point in making the trouble to be "the good guy."
Petshops are generally more expensive, most employees do not know the first thing about herps, animals tend to be in bad shape and with incorrect husbandry....so on and so forth.

And what about rare and interesting species? I can assure you, what you find in any petshop will be available through a much better breeder (where do you think petstores get animals?) and would be in better condition and price would be a lot better for what you get. There are some breeders that have no clue what they are doing, as well as some pretty damn good petshops out there as well, but generally it is the other way around. That is why most folks with herp experience go through breeders and other herpers they know and trust. Someone with experience, cheaper and better animals; over vica verca.

[gfisher2002]

Matt, I don't disagree with buying from petstores. I disagree with buying from petstores that don't properly care for their animals. For instance, the A-1 Aquarium I used to work for here never sold herps. Now they sell iguanas. You know, trying to get a peice of the reptile profit pie. They buy them from a breeder for 15 bucks and sell them for 59.99. They have 4 babies in a 10 gallon tank fed only that commercial iguana pellets and 2 fich tank bulbs(incandesent). They sell retile stuff now, but only have Zoomed heat lamps. No reptisun 5.0 or reptiglow 8.0 or iguana lite 5.0 you say. Thats right. How can you sell and keep an animal when you don't even stock the proper lighting. Not to mention they don't tell anyone that their iguana will get 6 feet long and that 10 gallon they're buying won't last. It's bullshit!!
However, World of Pets is owned by Curtis Wagner who has been selling all kinds of exotic birds, fish and reptiles since he was 20(now 45 ish). He is however very selective with his customers when it comes to more delicate species and is very informative. "Your Female Red-ear will need a 100 gallon tank and an extensive filter setup with UVB lighting that needs to be replaced every 6 months." is what he would tell you. He's awsome and he loves all his animals. A true petstore owner/operator. Not in it for the profit but the love of dealing with animals everyday.

There are only 2 kinds of Petstores. Period.

That's my 2 cents.

[Turtle Matt]

Lol..Ok,you've all opened up my eyes..I actually do not know why the he|| I posted that in the first place now that i think of it...I work at a petstore as well so I have seen what goes on behind the scenes obviously and I am against the petstore scene 100% (but income is income)....On the other hand,ive picked up quite a few cool animals through it. Once again,I laugh at myself and thanks all for the very good points.
Matt

[gfisher2002]

Where do ya work matt?

[Dozer]

Matt, you're a moron

From your friend Mike

Mike

[Siretsap]

I bought my first geckos from pet stores. I would still buy from a petstore if the price would be right and the animal in good health. There are pet stores who do give proper care to their reptiles.
And imagine if no pet store sold reptiles, there wouln't be that many people who would buy reptiles, and prices would always stay quite high (if you look at it money wise). I see it as having an impact on the population, the more they see reptiles, the more they open to them.
You have to look at the 2 sides of the coin

[casacrow]

Not all pet stores are as great as the one that you work at Matt. I think yours is the best I have ever seen! Others quite often have dying animals and it turns my stomach.

[gfisher2002]

Originally posted by Siretsap
And imagine if no pet store sold reptiles, there wouln't be that many people who would buy reptiles,

What are you talking about? Do you even know? If no petstores sold reptiles, then the only people that would have them would be breeders and retile lovers that buy them like us. They wouldn't be more expensive either. The wholesalers would be out of business, which they should be. If someone really wanted a reptile they could go online and find a local breeder and get one. Every reptile would be sold by someone who would inform them of the animals needs. There would be no more half dead suffering turtles, iguanas, etc. that some stupid kid bought at the pet store because it was on sale. No spontanious purchases by incompetant owners. It would almost eliminate tortured animals with too small of enclosures and inadequate lighting.
What exactly was your point? Because I strongly disagree.

[Turtle Matt]

I work at Animalia in Peterborough..Thanks Mike..lol..Casacrow, I think the animals on display are all in good health, but we still have animals in the back that aren't so good..Have you been down since we moved last winter??
Matt

[casacrow]

I have not had the chance to see it since the move. Everytime I try to pop by it is closed. Ben has shown me some of the other animals in the past and you guys are definately a step ahead of the rest.