local petstores just dont care

[spook80]

this is just a somthing i had to get off my chest. the local pet stores here just don't listen, they just dont care about the health and well being of reptiles. i have talked with their managment time and time again. mostly on leopard gecko's. they house their leopard gecko's on calci sand.the baby leo's dont last but a couple of months.evan the adults are affected. i go in to these stores and just watch them weather away.how difficult would it be to change the substrate to turff, or evan cypress mulch. last month the managers of a local petshop PS just aked me if i wanted to buy their leo' they were now half price. that set me off. i told them, that their leo's were sick and about to die. and thats cleaning it up quite a bit.their are two other stores here that still have not changed their substrate. but one store i got through to. they now use astrro turff. they will be the only ones i sell my babies to this year. i am just tired of seeing leopard gecko's look like crap and
not being able to get through to these people. i mean come on u might as well just sell a decapatated parrot to a blind kid ! if u are going to sell a sick leopard gecko.

 

[ariana]

agreed.
the managers actually tell the employees what to use, there is a woman who was working at ***** who CRIED when i asked her about it because she had just taken 2 dead hatchlings out of the tank..she had repeatedly asked the manager to let her change the substrate but he wont budge. i cant and wont go back to that pet store.

 

[Lpac]

i dont know where you guys go to but its different everywhere. ive gone to pet shops where they pile in a bunch of adult and juvi geckos with calci-sand and its horrible but i went to a ******** and they have them in repti carpet, with crickets and mealworms so i think it depends on where you go. but most shops do treat them bad

 

[Taquiq]

Yeah, they just don't care. My local ******** keeps the temps over 100 degrees and they have really tiny Leos that have extremely skinny tails. And they charge 70$ for a hatchling Albino that probably has crypto. It's ridiculous.

 

[musick]

Disagree.

My local mom and pop store is stocked w/ knowledgeable employees who arnt afraid to pass you to another employee if your questions are beyond their expertise. Some know frogs, others lizards, a few know a lot about snakes and quite a few are fish specialists. I have overheard conversations where the employee will refuse a sale if the customer does not seem to know what they are getting into (ie Burmese pythons or Iguanas for example).

Some of the prices are a little bit more than a p*tc* or p*tsm*rt, but their business practices are worth any added cost imo.

Vote with your dollars and shop stores that support good animal husbandry.

 

[Eric1969]

this is just a somthing i had to get off my chest. the local pet stores here just don't listen, they just dont care about the health and well being of reptiles. i have talked with their managment time and time again. mostly on leopard gecko's. they house their leopard gecko's on calci sand.the baby leo's dont last but a couple of months.evan the adults are affected. i go in to these stores and just watch them weather away.how difficult would it be to change the substrate to turff, or evan cypress mulch. last month the managers of a local petshop PS just aked me if i wanted to buy their leo' they were now half price. that set me off. i told them, that their leo's were sick and about to die. and thats cleaning it up quite a bit.their are two other stores here that still have not changed their substrate. but one store i got through to. they now use astrro turff. they will be the only ones i sell my babies to this year. i am just tired of seeing leopard gecko's look like crap and
not being able to get through to these people. i mean come on u might as well just sell a decapatated parrot to a blind kid ! if u are going to sell a sick leopard gecko.

I was at one of our Pet stores here and they had 3 baby geckos on what looked like sand and I questioned the worker who was supposably good with lizards, he said it was crushed walnut and was okay for them. I said then why does majority says to keep babies on paper towel. They seem to be on sale alot too. Very sad.

 

[spook80]

we have had our *pet store A* For a long time. we just got our *pet store B* built late last year. ever scince they have been up and running. i have been in their telling them that i would like to see their leo's kept on somthing other than sand. they had a really nice group of purple leo's, {blizzards} they were all juvies about 5 of them and they wer nice and fat. i was going to try and save some money to get them. when i did have money to buy them they were already loosing weight. one of them was missing a tail and was starting to regenerate the tail.i decided to hold off. and a few weeks later they all looked so bad.
every month or so they get in a new batch of babies. this last feb. they had about 15 hatchlings. half were patternless. they all looked healthy and so cool looking.the babies are now all gone. about a week after they got more babies in. i wanted to see them. so they opened up enclosure and moved the exoterra cave. and their was a baby patternless leo from their last batch dried up,flat and bones showing."looks like a bunch of dead crickets puked up" said the employee!

 

[Eric1969]

we have had our *pet store A* For a long time. we just got our *pet store B* built late last year. ever scince they have been up and running. i have been in their telling them that i would like to see their leo's kept on somthing other than sand. they had a really nice group of purple leo's, {blizzards} they were all juvies about 5 of them and they wer nice and fat. i was going to try and save some money to get them. when i did have money to buy them they were already loosing weight. one of them was missing a tail and was starting to regenerate the tail.i decided to hold off. and a few weeks later they all looked so bad.
every month or so they get in a new batch of babies. this last feb. they had about 15 hatchlings. half were patternless. they all looked healthy and so cool looking.the babies are now all gone. about a week after they got more babies in. i wanted to see them. so they opened up enclosure and moved the exoterra cave. and their was a baby patternless leo from their last batch dried up,flat and bones showing."looks like a bunch of dead crickets puked up" said the employee!

I wonder if there is a place to report this kind of abuse, something in the county maybe.. that is horrible. I am lucky to have a family owned pet store near my work where I can go. Someone actually just dropped off a nice looking leopard gecko there since they did not want it.

 

[Mel&Keith]

*Puts on moderator hat*
Hey guys, please remember that complaints about specific retailers are not allowed. This includes trying to disguise the name like, Pet*o. Please do not be more specific than "pet store" or "pet supply chain", etc.

The GeckoForums.net Administration understands the importance of reputation feedback in the reptile industry, and members are encouraged to utilize the trader rating system to leave feedback for other users on the forum.

Posts and threads commenting on any business or individual with regards to their business and/or reptile husbandry ethics are not allowed on GeckoForums.net. This includes complaints about retail pet stores.



*Takes off moderator hat*
That said, if you see a store that isn't properly caring for their animals complain to the higher ups!! I wrote the corporate office about our local chain several times to tell them about the broken cages, filthy sand, giant crickets, and a Crested gecko and adults housed with babies Leopards. Now their reptiles look GREAT! They house the Leos on repti-carpet, separate adults and babies, have a dish with calcium and mealworms, the tortoises even get salad so fresh I would eat it. The manager's hands a tied. They're supposed to do what the corporate office tells them to. Calling the 1-800 customer service number or email the customer service department CAN make a difference and it's the only way they'll know what they need to change.

 

[Eric1969]

Sorry, I edited my post .... That is a good idea though to write letters to the corporate office, or send one to the Better Business Bureau maybe if nothing changes.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Thank you, Eric. And it's great that you've got a mom and pop pet shop near you. We need to keep places like that in business!!

It's usually not that chains want to mistreat the animals but they've probably got some care sheet from 20 years ago and don't know any better. If you don't complain you're basically saying that there isn't a problem because if we don't say anything they'll never know that there's anything to fix.

 

[CallDr]

Great post Mel! A chain store is only as good as the manager and employee's. Problems should be directed to corporate and let them handle the issue.

I must have 6 Pet chain stores around my area. One has a lady that actually breeds gecko's and has been very helpful. I was in another and the man did everything to NOT sell us a Gecko for my granddaughter.

It's sad to see any animal suffer or be mistreated.

This is exactly why I am here. People who care. Not all have the same opinion. But their heart is in the right place.

Another thing is I am impressed with the moderators. Deleting threads, posts and banning people is part of their job to make sure we have a great place to communicate.

If you can't play in the same sand box without throwing sand....... teacher sends you home....LOL!

 

[chechatonga]

Totaly agree! Most pet stores have dehydrated, sick looking geckos and alot of the time many will have missing tails. The pet store workers usually have no clue about the geckos care and health. Yet every once in a while you will have a great pet shop. One pet store near my house take great care of their geckos(not sure if its just the workers or what). I have personally only seen one worker that handled with great care and thats because she previously worked at a zoo.
You just never really know when it comes to pet stores