Oh I hate pet stores. >.<

[Kiialy]

Yesterday I went to the local pet store in search of a tank that will hold my 2 20L tanks. (We have some SMALL rooms in this house, and the 2 tanks really take up the space! ) So, I go there, ask the guy about the stands, and he says that they won't have them in until next week. Then he asked me what I had. I told him I had hermit crabs and I was gonna get a leopard gecko. WELL. He started telling me what I "needed". Haha! So I remembered that I hadn't got moss yet, and I said "Oh yea! I need to get moss." He said "Why?" I said "...For shedding. ...It helps them, apparently." and he said "No, no. They just say that to make you buy more stuff. I don't have any moss, but I have this other bedding that you can use for the geckos." Then he said "Oh you can use sand too! But not regular sand. You have to use Calci Sand." :main_lipsrsealed: Lordy. Then he started talking about heat. "You'll want to use a hot rock and build a cave around the hot rock so it distributes heat." :main_rolleyes: Uh-huh. And then, of course, he told me I can't feed mealworms as the main food because once they eat a mealie, they'll never eat anything else. Then he told me I couldn't use the Repti Hammock that I bought because the gecko will just pee on it. Really, Mr? He actually said to me "There's lots of pet stores out there who will just sell you anything you want to buy. I won't do that. I don't want you to have problems down the road. So many pet stores don't know what they're talking about." ...I had to suppress a giggle.

This is the new store here. There's a nice, reliable, knowledgeable one a few towns over... they're crazy expensive sometimes, but at least they tell you the truth. :main_yes:

Oh! I have a question too. This guy had about 5 baby geckos at his store. He had 3 normals and 2...Ohh, I'm not sure what type they are, but they're yellow and have white stripes when they're young. Anyway, they were only $29.00. ....Is that normal? Aren't morphs normally expensive?

*sigh* Sorry. Had to rant. ...It was my first time experiencing the whole "pet stores suck" thing.

 

[T&KBrouse]

Wow... Sounds like he completely contradicted everything every gecko keeper recommends. Amazing...

I was at a big chain store a while back and saw a woman with a sales person gathering up supplies for her new leo. Cypress mulch, calci-sand, a heat rock, a UV light and canned gecko food. It made my hair hurt...

 

[LizMarie]

Reminds me when I went looking for Moss and the guy was like their desert animals. I told him I need it for the humid hide, then he got nasty. "Desert animals don't need to humidity they shed when they shed". I just walked away. Then another time when I went to buy mealies another guy told me I should use wax worms because mealies will eat right through her stomach. I just walked away..

But if I was you have the experiences I've had I just would have looked at him and called him an IDIOT!!! I even asked one of the guys like do you get formal training and information on each of the animals? And he told me NO they just hire you and tell you what clean and where to throw it out.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Unfortunately, most pet store owners and employees are not reptile specialists . I don't think that many of them are trying to deceive you but they just don't know any better. If a pet store isn't sure what products are best they call the pet supply distributor and asks, "What do people use for Leopard Geckos?", and the distributor refers to the information they've received from the product manufacturers about why certain products are great. It's sort of a chain reactions. While I was working for one supply distributor, a major herp supply manufacturer was taken over by Zilla who started recommending Reptile Carpet instead of sand and actually puts a chart of which supplies are best on the packaging. It's going to take a while for all of the old product recommendations to go away but I thing it will happen eventually. For the most part people are just ignorant but we're doing our best to change that on geckoforums.net!

 

[packs_fan]

Yea I would have to agree with what everyone else had said on here about pet stores. Most of them just work there and dont have a clue how to care for the animals there and instead just assume what they think they should have. About the whole morph thing I cant honestly tell you what morph that is without a pic and I cant say I would still be able to with one :main_laugh:. Morphs are usually cost more then normals. Now I wouldnt call all morphs expensive. Like for example you can get a Tremper Albino for 45$ or even less I am sure in some places. Then there are other morphs that can be hundrends of dollars. It just really depends on what you want.

 

[thestack510]

The thing that bothers me most about pet stores (aside from outrageous pricing) is when I see Leopard Geckos under bright lights. Since they are nocturnal that must be torture. There is one reptile specific store in my area that has dead animals in some of their cages on a pretty consistent basis. I've brought it to their attention several times with no action having been taken. Needless to say, I don't buy so much as a cricket from them anymore. Once I told the owner, "That must be great for business." I was so frustrated. What kind of fool doesn't realize that rotting corpses spread sickness? Then again, these are the same guys who "allegedly" burned down their previous store to collect an insurance pay out. Scumballs.

 

[Greyscale_Geckos]

As a pet store employee, I get so angered by noticing other pet store employees who are so misinformed. I guess my store has always been the odd one out, we are all well informed reptile lovers. I think it's unfair how most pet store employees see animals as simply a sale... Animals are living creatures that need proper care to thrive.

Again, most people are mis-informed and don't know any better. They go to their "expert" and then start handing out their advice. Many customers feel they should trust an employee, and then in the end they get ripped off the majority of the time.

You have no idea how much it breaks my heart to know that some stores are so terrible... I blame the store way more than I blame the employees though. They simply don't know any better.

 

[LizMarie]

The thing that bothers me most about pet stores (aside from outrageous pricing) is when I see Leopard Geckos under bright lights. Since they are nocturnal that must be torture. There is one reptile specific store in my area that has dead animals in some of their cages on a pretty consistent basis. I've brought it to their attention several times with no action having been taken. Needless to say, I don't buy so much as a cricket from them anymore. Once I told the owner, "That must be great for business." I was so frustrated. What kind of fool doesn't realize that rotting corpses spread sickness? Then again, these are the same guys who "allegedly" burned down their previous store to collect an insurance pay out. Scumballs.

I hate seeing Leopard Geckos, Day Gecko, Crested geckos, tokay geckos and anything ending in gecko in all small 10gallon tank! With HUGE crickets hoping around and like 3inches of sand.

They also tend to have a lot of dead animals in the pet store around me. Wouldn't that tell you something, Mr. Manager!? I went a few weeks ago to visit a friend that works at the store (he only deals with the fish and register) and I pasted a cage that had an Albino Leopard gecko for Sale for $75! I look in and I see nothing. i ask and found out that he died that morning! IDIOT!

 

[T&KBrouse]

I was at one of the more local large chain stores to find they had a baby hognose snake in with a HUGE toad. The hognose was emaciated and lethargic and had a $150 price tag on it. Found out 2 days later that it had died. I mentioned it to the staff and the manager and they all just shrugged it off. I raised a big enough stink that they can no longer carry reptiles. I'm no longer allowed in that store, but hey, no skin off my teeth, ya know?

 

[thestack510]

I was at one of the more local large chain stores to find they had a baby hognose snake in with a HUGE toad. The hognose was emaciated and lethargic and had a $150 price tag on it. Found out 2 days later that it had died. I mentioned it to the staff and the manager and they all just shrugged it off. I raised a big enough stink that they can no longer carry reptiles. I'm no longer allowed in that store, but hey, no skin off my teeth, ya know?

Good for you. I'm sure the ghosts of reptiles passed are smiling down upon you.

 

[rhino43grr]

As a pet store employee, I get so angered by noticing other pet store employees who are so misinformed. I guess my store has always been the odd one out, we are all well informed reptile lovers. I think it's unfair how most pet store employees see animals as simply a sale... Animals are living creatures that need proper care to thrive.

Again, most people are mis-informed and don't know any better. They go to their "expert" and then start handing out their advice. Many customers feel they should trust an employee, and then in the end they get ripped off the majority of the time.

You have no idea how much it breaks my heart to know that some stores are so terrible... I blame the store way more than I blame the employees though. They simply don't know any better.

that's why i try to wander past the reptile section at my store as much as i can throughout the day. i'm not even in the pet care department, but i know more about reptiles than anyone over there. for instance, they insist on putting that stupid "leopard gecko diet" of dead dried fruit flies in a bowl in the leopard gecko tank every single morning.

you have to realize that the average "pet care specialist" is making minimum wage, and they're really just expected to be able to: clean up poop, read and feed, fill water bowls and notice if anything is visibly wrong with the animals.

when they suggest leopard gecko products chances are they take the following steps:
1. believe whatever the customer is looking for is right (uv bulb, sand, heat rock)
2. look for stuff with pictures of leopard geckos on it
3. look for anything that says it's recommended for leopard geckos or desert lizards
4. look at the store approved care guide or in the leopard gecko enclosure