False Things You've Heard From Pet Store Employees

[Nynecho]

I figure we've all heard our share of bologna from uneducated big chain pet store employees, so I've made this thread for people to share ridiculous and untrue things that pet store employees have said or done (neglectfulness and improper care included)

Remember not to include the name of the establishment in which the embarrassment took place. Names of businesses will just be censored.

I'll start with a couple examples:

1.) I asked an employee once why an adult female leopard gecko's toes were all half the size they should be, and she told me "Oh, it is a rare condition where her toes are all short, as far as we know, she was born like that. We've only had her for a year."
She stood by her statement when I asked if it were possible that the lack of a moist hide in their enclosure could have caused her to lose the toes.

2.) Same store as the one above, different location. I brought in my leo when his eyes wouldn't open, knowing perfectly well what was wrong with him, and asked a woman who worked there if she knew anything about leopard geckos and what might be wrong. She proceeded by telling me "Oh, he looks like he has an upper respiratory infection. Give him a bath in pedialite and feed him baby food." I know that chicken baby food can be used in an emergency, and you can put pedialite in a warm bath for them to aid with digestion, but never soak them in pure pedialite!... and neither of those things would have helped with a respiratory infection. All he needed was to shed again to get the skin off of his eyelids, maybe some eye-drops to keep them wet so he can see. With what the lady told me, I could have made my gecko's problem much worse.

3.) A person on another website took a picture of a baby gecko they accidentally brought back with them on their vacation and tagged it as a leopard gecko. The problem was... they went to Arizona. And it wasn't a leopard gecko. I asked them why they thought it was a leopard gecko and they said they took it into a pet store (same as above) and an employee told them, "It's a baby leopard gecko, about 6 days old!" It was a Mediterranean house gecko. Nuf said.

That's all I've got for now. Please post away with your stories!

 

[Poundcake]

When I bought my gecko the pet store employee who sold her to me said that leo's didn't need any vitamin supplementation, that calcium powder with d3 was all they needed

 

[Wheels47130]

I asked how friendly a Leo was at a big shop. I asked if it liked handling? They told me you never want to touch and lizards. They have deceases that will make you sick or worse.
So I understand some of the questions people ask here. I'm glad they ask here so they can get true answers.

 

[GexPex]

I don't know why, but whenever I speak "gecko talk" with a pet store employee, I'm still surprised at what comes out of their mouth. ONCE did I actually meet a small-time breeder at a pet store and we continued to talk....everything she said made me think she was a frequent visitor of this website lol. Loved it!

But I've heard the usual...
-Calci-sand is perfectly safe.
-Sand is perfectly safe.
-They don't need supplements.
-Heat lamp is better.
-Here! This heat rock works great.
-Oh they eat the dead bugs that are in the cage.
-No, they aren't skinny. Their (pencil-thin) tails are fine.
-It's not dead, it's sleeping since they sleep at during the day (once, this was said as the store was closing). (And on different occasions, I've heard "noctanal" "nocties" "nighturnal" "night-time lizards", and "nocturinal"...no joke)
-They only need one hide.
-They're desert creatures so they don't need humidity.
-Don't feed mealworms/superworms as they'll chew their way out of the belly.

Ones I've only heard once...
-They get their water from the insects.
-They can live fine in this tank *points to 2.5 gallon tank*.
-They need sand to digest their food. They're supposed to swallow it. (Think they were confusing BIRDS with the poor geckos).
-Feed 1 mealworm per gecko each night.
-That one was born without the (regrowing) tail.
-They aren't supposed to eat their skin (while the kid was pulling the not-quite-ready skin off the gecko as it was screaming. The manager stopped it right then and there and chewed him out...but the kid continued to work there).
-Those are spots on the toes *pointing to the about-to-fall off toes*.


Honestly, the only reason why I go in is to check on the geckos and call animal control when need-be. Fortunately, animal control actually does do something around here and enforces them to take them to the vet with any problems.

 

[NikkiC223]

I've heard the same thing as stated above about the gecko's sleeping. It was obviously dead since it was incredibly malnourished and there were crickets and 3 other leo's climbing over him and he wasn't even moving. I did end up saying something to the manager and they took care of it. Their excuse "He must have JUST died." Nope...I watched while they took the dead leo out and it smelled HORRIBLE when they opened the cage. Sad, but it happens more than people know. I've also heard the same thing about superworms eating their way out of their bellies and that I should cut their head off. Ummm, nope...never had a problem here!

 

[Wheels47130]

I deal with a local store. They have everything ! I mean that. Bunnies, hedge hogs monkeys all lizards and salt fish. They do know more then chain stores, however I have noticed they know a little about a lot. I spent a month on a bunch of forums before getting my geckos. It comes in good though at times. I bought Nieve as a Mack snow. All the customs are "Mack" they learned that one name. He really seems to be a red eyed albino patternless diablo blanco. It's my buddy. So sweet and loves being handled. He runs to my hand when I place in the tank.

 

[Rainnovice93]

If I ask them anything they say..I dont dont know..im scared of them..But I can get you a care sheet. Which I guess is better than making up BullSh*t...However the care sheets are all wrong as well..I recently bought a fat tail gecko from a chain petstore...cause he was on sale really cheap and he was super sweet ..Has some issues..(something like a skin tag on his neck and his tail was dropped and regrown)..But thats all fine..nothing they did wrong there he just came in like that and hes just a pet..ANYWAYS Lol...They had him in a rainforest like habitat and told me that he needed to be misted several times a day and said he was from..the rainforest in south america...Cause African fat tail gecko just screams South america ya know? lol...I bought my first geckos from chain stores anddd..Ignored everything they told me because I had already done quite a bit of research lol

 

[Rainnovice93]

Oh..also...My boyfriends little sister has a leopard gecko..I was talking about mine one day and she goes OHH I HAVE ONE OF THOSE!!..and she brought me to her room to show me it..She has this horrid green calisand..No heat source what so ever..The heat source she did have was a heat lamp..but she said her friends leopard gecko went blind and its eye was bulging out of its head cause of the lights so she quit using them on hers...its tail was pretty small..not emaciated but not healthy either...She hadnt been using any form of supplements and no moist hide...Because this was what the petstore had told her to do..then a few days later when i got there she ran up to me like OMG MY GECKOS TAIL IS LIKE FALLING OFF...I go look at it..Its got tail rot...told her what to do with it..Told her to get rid of the sand..I had already gotten her one of my old UTH's...Now shes gotten him some repticarpet and some calcium supplements. But..geez these chain stores are like setting these people up to kill their animals....