Throwing away herps?

[Cruciform]

Two more problems that lead to abandonment:

Gifting: People seeing an animal and thinking that it would be "perfect!" for their friend/family member. People should realize pets should never be given as gifts unless there recipient wants the animal and can care for it.

Pet store irresponsibility: It's not just the buyers being irresponsible. Why don't pet stores have display cards on cages with the requirements and adult size of the animals. How many people have bought a cute little water monitor on impulse, and not one person in the store mentioned that they could have a lizard comparable to a medium sized dog in less than two years. Sure, the buyers bear the responsibility of learning, but it's also the pet stores responsibility to not send an innocent animal to its death.

But we're all just preaching to the choir. Most people reading these posts already have strong feelings about these problems.

[nita]

On the pet store inadequacy my friends brother bought an iguana years ago and asked the pet store employee many questions and thought the guy was giving him proper information to care for his new pet. 2 months later when his iguana was showing signs of being very ill he took it to the vet and found that he was not taking care of it right and from the vet he found out what he needed for the animal. After months getting his iguana back on the healthy road he went back to the pet store and gave the staff a piece of his mind on why on earth they are giving out information when they don't know what they are talking about, and how it almost cost his iguana its life. They simply responded that he should have researched it before buying it. His response was that if he is spending time talking to them before buying it and asking about its husbandry than he assumed he had done the research. If they don't know what the animals require they should refer the potential owner to a book or others with the knowledge not make stuff up. He still has his Iguana and he also has turtles wich were originally his parents when he was still a child, since he took the turtles when he moved his sister is still looking for a turtle now for her family as she grew up with them and misses them as well her son wants a snake and her DH is phobic of snakes, she figures turtles would be a compromise, and she already knows how to care for them.