Pet Store Atrocity

[Metal_Gecko]

So I went into *a pet store* last night, and took the usual gander inside all the gecko terrariums, and spotted a newbie..... Mack Snow Leopard, and I mean super white too!

I asked to see him, since he was hiding under a log, and when the log was flipped over, the most appauling thing was revealed...
He was literally skin and bones, pencil tail, black swollen liver, horrible "L" shaped bend in his back(like it was broken), and part of his abdomen was sunken in!!!!!

...I was like, "*What* is wrong with you guys!!!??? Can't you see this guys is deathly sick? He need IMMEDIATE vet care, and his tank needs to be sterilized, and the other Leos NEED to be quarantined A.S.A.P!!!"

I couldn't believe he was in that bad of shape, much less alive! * sad really.... poor guy. :cry:


-Wes

 

[Bbugs]

*snip* I went to *a pet store* and they had 8 males and females in a ten gallon. Poop everywhere, dead crickets filled the water, and only one looked healthy.

 

[shiftygecko]

Not every ******** is like that!!!! I have one around the corner from me and the pet care people take really good care of their animals including the reptiles. They have even taken them to the vet if needed. I personally think that its the Managers and pet care peoples fault at that specific location.

They have all their geckos on reptile carpet and the cages are always clean. All their animals look good and healthy. So I can Say Its NOT every ********!!!!!!

 

[Dog Shrink]

What I don't get then is if all these franchise stores are suppose to run off the same corporate manifestos then why should the standard of care be so variable from one location to another?

 

[Theinfidel]

Not every Petsmart is like that!!!! I have one around the corner from me and the pet care people take really good care of their animals including the reptiles. They have even taken them to the vet if needed. I personally think that its the Managers and petcare peoples fault at that specific location.

They have all their geckos on reptile carpet and the cages are always clean. All their animals look good and healthy. So I can Say Its NOT every Petsmart!!!!!!

Same with the petsmart over here. Their giants look as they should be and the baby's look fine as well as the frogs in there they look fantastic in their very maintained enclosure.

 

[JordanAng420]

You might want to censor the naughty word a little further...maybe stars for all the letters? You'll still get warned/infractions from mods as long as one is able to tell what the word is. Trust me, i've gotten nailed for it before myself.

 

[shiftygecko]

What I don't get then is if all these franchise stores are suppose to run off the same corporate manifestos then why should the standard of care be so variable from one location to another?

I know its confusing... But I think each are owned by a sole owner not the corporation. They pay the corporation to use the name. So the pet care at each store depends on if the owner is in it for the money, or, actually cares about the animals and does take care of them to their needs.

 

[clemsonguy1125]

I agree its terrible. Some pet stores will adopt them out to you, Its worth asking if you think your up to it.

 

[M_surinamensis]

I know its confusing... But I think each are owned by a sole owner not the corporation. They pay the corporation to use the name. So the pet care at each store depends on if the owner is in it for the money, or, actually cares about the animals and does take care of them to their needs.

No. Petsmart and Petco are not franchise companies, there are no local owners paying to use the name. Every individual store has the same corporate ownership (either Petco or Petsmart) and is part of a corporate structure.

Deviations are a result of variable levels of competence and interest among the staff. Corporate policy for both companies mandates veterinary care for any animals which need it but that requires having an employee that is competent enough to recognize when it is needed and store management who are willing to arrange for it, rather than trying to hide that need from those higher up the chain.

There's also variability in the condition that the animals arrive in. Both big chain stores deal with wholesalers and the quality of individual shipments can be pretty dramatically different from week to week, supplier to supplier and species to species. The condition an animal arrives in have a lot to do with how it does from that point forward, there is an enormous difference between keeping a healthy animal healthy and bringing an unhealthy animal back up to good condition. Before anyone starts swinging blind at wholesalers the way some people are inclined to do at petstores, it should be noted that for some common species (leopard geckos, bearded dragons, corn snakes) the companies dealing in wholesale numbers are the exact same companies who breed the most of them and are hailed as being the experts and progenitors of most the captive color morphs.

There are practical thresholds after a certain volume of business is done where animals will succumb to various risks or which will represent failure to thrive. Individual mass breeders have their own internal numbers that they rarely are inclined to make public, but some of the corporate guidelines from the big box companies has been leaked over the years. The sets I have read were from 1998, but they indicated that an in-store and customer return inside the guarantee period death rate of about five percent was anticipated. Lower was better and stores would receive internal accolades for maintaining it below that point, higher over a period of time was a cause for concern and more extensive corporate oversight of standards and practices. That is right about in line with every other business dealing with live animals past a certain volume that I have ever been able to get answers out of or who ever made their records available to me.

 

[Mel&Keith]

You might want to censor the naughty word a little further...maybe stars for all the letters? You'll still get warned/infractions from mods as long as one is able to tell what the word is. Trust me, i've gotten nailed for it before myself.

Thank you, Maia. Lets just go ahead and not use ANY profanity. That way we don't have to be sneaky about it and get warned anyway.

 

[Phish999]

i went to a petsmart for a gander one day and noticed an emerald swift which was there was gone so i talked to the reptile guy there (20 plus dif herps at home) he said it wasen't sold but went to the vet because its behavior was off. i was very impressed with this. a week later he was back. although the selection was small they were cared for, although still a little miffed about the lack of CGD in store :X?!?!

 

[Sunset]

Well, I work at petsmart as a petcare associate and we have some amazing people that work there and know what their doing. I know, not all have good associates that know what their doing, and its sad that petsmart hires incompetent people.

Some of our leopard geckos come in sickly and pathetic looking. And I agree with Surina….its hard to recover an animal who’s already pretty much gone. We try, but usually it ends in the animal passing when they already come in bone thin and dehydrated and parasite infested. I don’t agree with the facilities we get our animals in, as they are mass breeders who don’t really pay attention to every single individual animal.

Like one of the baby leo’s we got is a skeleton. I’ve been fighting as hard as I can for the little guy but I don’t think he’s going to pull through. The day we got him he was skinny and wouldn’t eat. I’m soaking him twice a day to try and keep him hydrated along with giving him a mix of repti-aid, anti-parasitical meal, and calcium and syringe feeding him.

It’s not necessarily the fact that we don’t know what we’re doing or aren’t doing anything for them…it’s that a lot of the time the animals already sick when they come in. Granite, that pet store should have moved him back to a sick room, which is what we do with our sickly animals. We also bring them to the vet but theirs not much you can do for an animal that weighs .5 grams, with baby bearded dragons and leopard geckos what their going to tell you or give you might be some anti-parasite meds. Which, if we catch the animal early and it gets sick while its in OUR care, then usually it works. However, if the animal is already ill and pretty much past the point of no return, its hard. Because even if you get meds in them, they usually don’t make it.

So you cant always blame the people or associates…even though some associates are incompentent.

 

[Phish999]

i personally thank you for caring for the animals at your store

 

[Sunset]

i personally thank you for caring for the animals at your store

I wish it was like that everywhere but I know it isnt ):

Our stores lucky though. Im going to school for wildlife biology, we have a guy who graduated already with a degree in zoology though he specializes in reptile genetics and is going for his masters, then we have a self taught "fish expert" (or thats what I call him LOL) and he knows quite a bit about reptiles too! But our other two associates dont know anything. ):

The problem also lies with the managers. I've been BEGGING my manager to take out the basking bulb from our leo's tank because I told him it stresses them out. And you know what he says? ....Its not "the petsmart way".

And I was like...well petsmarts wrong and maybe they should hire scientists that know what their talking about lol. I always get yelled at for not doing it "the petsmart way."

So stupid!

 

[Phish999]

i know! i have trouble not saying anything when i see reptiles being kept on sand in the store in dirty enclosures but you can't do anything until it is regulated properly by some form of authority, but until then we can only bite our tongues and deal with it

 

[fl_orchidslave]

If it bothers people to see the big-box reptile practices, don't go there. Don't give them any of your business, any of your money, any of your time. Shop on-line or at expos. It is against the terms of service everyone agreed to upon joining this forum to bash any businesses.

 

[Bbugs]

I agree with you when you talk about the TOS, but I see no bashing here. We were pointing out some of the bad things in big pet stores. We weren't saying "oh my I hate *big store here*. It's so bad. No body shop there ever, ok?" we were just talking about our experiences with certain stores.

 

[Jordan]

I agree with you when you talk about the TOS, but I see no bashing here. We were pointing out some of the bad things in big pet stores. We weren't saying "oh my I hate *big store here*. It's so bad. No body shop there ever, ok?" we were just talking about our experiences with certain stores.

well i think further up the thread there was some bashing, saying their care was bad and stuff...

 

[Keith N]

Well, I work at petsmart as a petcare associate and we have some amazing people that work there and know what their doing. I know, not all have good associates that know what their doing, and its sad that petsmart hires incompetent people.

Some of our leopard geckos come in sickly and pathetic looking. And I agree with Surina….its hard to recover an animal who’s already pretty much gone. We try, but usually it ends in the animal passing when they already come in bone thin and dehydrated and parasite infested. I don’t agree with the facilities we get our animals in, as they are mass breeders who don’t really pay attention to every single individual animal.

Like one of the baby leo’s we got is a skeleton. I’ve been fighting as hard as I can for the little guy but I don’t think he’s going to pull through. The day we got him he was skinny and wouldn’t eat. I’m soaking him twice a day to try and keep him hydrated along with giving him a mix of repti-aid, anti-parasitical meal, and calcium and syringe feeding him.

It’s not necessarily the fact that we don’t know what we’re doing or aren’t doing anything for them…it’s that a lot of the time the animals already sick when they come in. Granite, that pet store should have moved him back to a sick room, which is what we do with our sickly animals. We also bring them to the vet but theirs not much you can do for an animal that weighs .5 grams, with baby bearded dragons and leopard geckos what their going to tell you or give you might be some anti-parasite meds. Which, if we catch the animal early and it gets sick while its in OUR care, then usually it works. However, if the animal is already ill and pretty much past the point of no return, its hard. Because even if you get meds in them, they usually don’t make it.

So you cant always blame the people or associates…even though some associates are incompentent.

Does your store have rooms in the back for animals that come in sick? I know in our pet store we had racks in the back. Animals did come in sick or were stressed from being shipped in but we would isolate them in the back to make sure to provide individual care to the animal. If the big stores do not have them then the employees have no choice but to leave the ones that come in unhealthy out for everyone to see.

 

[Phish999]

I agree with the TOS as well but analyze what was written and you will see there is no bashing just experience and i have never seen any bad stuff at a big box store i see bad conditions at smaller stores but i don't bash them for it. That is the way things are until they change like i said bite our tongues and deal

cheers

cam