PetChain, Getting things changed.

[Untide]

How many people here have never been to a PetChain and has paid witness to poor baby Leos in sand, with crickets bigger then they are, and crowded living spaces?

Angry many of us have sent a single letter, have made a phone call..Just to have the same things repeated to us.

Some of us have asked to speak to a store manager. Only to have us told to contact corp.

Don't you think it's time to stop the cruelty? Don't you think instead of asking for change, it's time to demand change?

My suggestions are we start out at our individual store level. Talking to managers and asking the POLITELY to change it. Please do not yell, scream, cuss, or cause any damages to the store. This would not help get things changed.

I doubt this will change anything but it will give us a proper base to contact corp. First start out by sending a letter, email, or phone call. If you call remember to keep your cool and to ask to speak to someone who can help you make this change. You may have to make an appointment in order to speak to someone, this is okay. Don't demand, this will just prove to them that your just another consumer who thinks they know more then they do.

Remember now...Your position isn't to take down the store, but to help them provide a healthier living for their leos.

Many of this have already done up to this point. Of course there is not yet to be a change. Why? Because maybe this isn't important to them.

So now what? We continue. Continue your emails and phone calls. Continue in a proper manner.

Now time to talk about the other side, the consumer. Many people IMPULSE buy. "Pretty little cute baby gecko awwww....only 12.99? WoW I can def afford that...let me just find a store clerk and find out what I need." How often do you think that happens? Alot. Otherwise the store would not offer "Care" sheets if people had to research first. I wish I knew a way to educate the consumers.

I hope one day corp will see how badly they treat some animals.

other suggestions welcome.

 

[havbrecis]

Recently we visited a pet store chain in a bigger city and we always look at all the reptiles they carry our son whos 9 likes to check every thing out.We were looking at the leapord geckos that were housed in a 10*10 (lucky if it was that big).There were 4 geckos in there only 1 out of 4 looked to be somewhat healthy.The other 3 were so skiny it was sickning there tails were so skiny about half the thickness of a pencil.When the girl in charge of the section come over started talking how nice these little guys were they had good appites.So we played along acting like we know nothing about them until we heard enough.We informed the girl that 3 of the 4 were so sick that they problely won`t make the weekend and should be seen by a vet asap and remove the only healthy looking immediatly.She said they going to the vet on the monday and this was saturday noon.It just goes to to show you that you don`t need to know anything about reptiles to work in some of these pet stores.When you go looking for a pet no matter what it might be you should be able to trust the person thats trying sell it to you and has enough knowlage to know about it.After we told the girl that we had 30 leapord geckos and 2 bearded dragons she turned and walked away.I`m new at this and learning alot off this forum but it dosen`t take a rocket sientist to tell those geckos were deathly ill.We havent gone back there since its been just over a week willing to bet (and i don`t gamble) that 3 of the 4 are gone.I just hope noboby got suckerd in. Not sure if i did enough or if i should have raised a stink about it.

 

[2bacop]

I know im probably going to get some back lash for this but I would like to point out that not every store in a pet chain is the same, let me explain. I work for a major pet chain and I can tell you from visiting many other stores in my chain that ours is far different. I can also tell you that our baby leopard geckos come into us from the breeder soooooo small and young that we have to feed them medicine with a dropper and feed them with tongs. Now I know that the breeders should not be sending us geckos this small but that is corporate who is unwilling to change. The people in my store are not there to make money just so they can pay bills, we are there to take care of the animals that have unfairly been sold off to early. I have been like many of you and seen stores even in my own change that try and sell sick and underweight animals, but I can tell you that in my store we do not sell these animals even if people ask us to. We take care of them until they can eat and gain weight and are healthy. Just look at my gecko, he was one that came in a baby and refused to eat and now I should update the pic because her tail is getting soooo fat. I agree that corporate needs to change for sure but when you complain please make sure that it is a store that deserves the complaint. Like I said I can only speak for my store (not my chain) but I can tell you that we have a vet on stand by 24/7 and we dont wait to see if the animal may get better, they go to the vet immediantly!!!!! Anyway thought I would put in my two cents.

P.S. we also dont keep our leos on sand they are on reptile carpet when we sell them and paper towels while we are caring for them when they come in.

 

[Geck-O]

I know im probably going to get some back lash for this but I would like to point out that not every store in a pet chain is the same, let me explain. I work for a major pet chain and I can tell you from visiting many other stores in my chain that ours is far different. I can also tell you that our baby leopard geckos come into us from the breeder soooooo small and young that we have to feed them medicine with a dropper and feed them with tongs. Now I know that the breeders should not be sending us geckos this small but that is corporate who is unwilling to change. The people in my store are not there to make money just so they can pay bills, we are there to take care of the animals that have unfairly been sold off to early. I have been like many of you and seen stores even in my own change that try and sell sick and underweight animals, but I can tell you that in my store we do not sell these animals even if people ask us to. We take care of them until they can eat and gain weight and are healthy. Just look at my gecko, he was one that came in a baby and refused to eat and now I should update the pic because her tail is getting soooo fat. I agree that corporate needs to change for sure but when you complain please make sure that it is a store that deserves the complaint. Like I said I can only speak for my store (not my chain) but I can tell you that we have a vet on stand by 24/7 and we dont wait to see if the animal may get better, they go to the vet immediantly!!!!! Anyway thought I would put in my two cents.

P.S. we also dont keep our leos on sand they are on reptile carpet when we sell them and paper towels while we are caring for them when they come in.

Well, I hope that the chains in my area have more people like you bacause when I went to a pet chain to purchase my gecko, I saw that all the gecko's were kept on sand. Most of them are skinny. The poo probably only gets cleaned once a week and when the person working at the store took my gecko out of it's cage, he obviously handled it very roughly and dropped it from about 3 feet. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. After that, the guy grabbed him and didn't even let him squirm. I'm surprised my gecko didn't drop his tail.

 

[Libby15]

Mine was in with three others. One had dropped his tail and the other had one growing back. The woman who helped me wouldn't touch them and asked me to pick one out and pick it up. She said they hissed and would try and bite. I put my hand in front of all of their faces and no one hissed.

I took Herman and his skinny tail home. He's up to about eight crickets a day now.

 

[Haligren]

As I've said in other posts, I work at a pet store myself, and right now we have a batch of sickly geckos that will probably be euthanized by the end of the week. I felt bad that people had to look at them and I was afraid that we would be judged that we weren't caring for our geckos, but my supervisor wouldn't let me put up anything in front of the tank so that wouldn't happen.

To make matters worse when I asked her if there was anyway I could get a refund or something because I was sure my gecko died of salmonella which he must have contracted from the other geckos, she told me that that was just too bad and there was nothing she could do.

Don't get me wrong, my super does know a lot about animals and takes good care of all of the other ones when I'm not working, but sometimes she does come across as greedy or lazy. I'm still upset that nothing could be done about compensation regarding my Fafnir.

In the meantime, I'm looking at purchasing a gecko from another chain store in town. Their geckos are kept in a small enclosure on sand, but they are big and fat and very healthy looking. About the only complaint I have about that experience was that the girl working in the section acted as though she had no interest in helping me. Also her knowledge of reptiles in general seemed limited. :\

 

[2bacop]

Well, I hope that the chains in my area have more people like you bacause when I went to a pet chain to purchase my gecko, I saw that all the gecko's were kept on sand. Most of them are skinny. The poo probably only gets cleaned once a week and when the person working at the store took my gecko out of it's cage, he obviously handled it very roughly and dropped it from about 3 feet. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. After that, the guy grabbed him and didn't even let him squirm. I'm surprised my gecko didn't drop his tail.

I really do wish more stores were not like mine including other stores in my chain. I think we were just very lucky, we have been together since the store opened 10 months ago and when we were hired they made sure that everyone in the department was an expert on one type of animal, for instances I was hired as the small animal expert. Over the first month or so we taught each other everything and weren't afraid to ask for help if we needed it. I think if more stores were like ours the geckos and all other animals would benifit!

 

[Spooki]

i work for a large chain pet store myself, the department manager really puts a huge emphasis on providing accurate care information. when i was being trained i wasn't allowed to care for the reptiles alone until i was reptile certified. she actually breeds leopard geckos herself, she's the one who got me into them. our animal set ups are designed by corporate so we don't have much of a say in how they look... but everything is cleaned at least once daily and all animals that look ill or injured are immediately isolated. many people think of the "back room" as a dumping ground for dying animals, but it is a place where animals are medicated and cared for according to a vet's instruction- at least in my store.

where i live it's not so much the chains but the independent stores that are the issue. there is one in the mall where the reptile set ups have nothing in them except substrate, no water, no shelter, no humidity or heat. the employees don't care at all either.

it's hard to "be the expert" on the thousands of different animals that fall under our care. we always encourage people to do research on their own and not rely on us to be the be-all-end-all of animal care. i can't speak for my coworkers but i am always researching the animals outside of work. the training we get is good and takes forever to get through but it's not species specific.

i guess we do pretty good because yesterday we had a vet refer people to us.

care sheets are NOT pet care bibles. they are there to provide more information on the animal and give you an idea about what it needs. they are there to help people decide if the animal is the right choice for them. they are merely guides and not a substitute for research. if people don't know that it's on them and not the chain, sorry.

corporate is all about constancy and giving the best animal care and advice possible but i have seen first hand just how hard it is to hire people who care, are willing to learn and willing to work. to me the job isn't all about the paycheck, it's about making sure the animals are taken care of. i'm sure this is the major problem for all pet stores, chain or independent.

 

[2bacop]

i work for a large chain pet store myself, the department manager really puts a huge emphasis on providing accurate care information. when i was being trained i wasn't allowed to care for the reptiles alone until i was reptile certified. she actually breeds leopard geckos herself, she's the one who got me into them. our animal set ups are designed by corporate so we don't have much of a say in how they look... but everything is cleaned at least once daily and all animals that look ill or injured are immediately isolated. many people think of the "back room" as a dumping ground for dying animals, but it is a place where animals are medicated and cared for according to a vet's instruction- at least in my store.

where i live it's not so much the chains but the independent stores that are the issue. there is one in the mall where the reptile set ups have nothing in them except substrate, no water, no shelter, no humidity or heat. the employees don't care at all either.

it's hard to "be the expert" on the thousands of different animals that fall under our care. we always encourage people to do research on their own and not rely on us to be the be-all-end-all of animal care. i can't speak for my coworkers but i am always researching the animals outside of work. the training we get is good and takes forever to get through but it's not species specific.

i guess we do pretty good because yesterday we had a vet refer people to us.

care sheets are NOT pet care bibles. they are there to provide more information on the animal and give you an idea about what it needs. they are there to help people decide if the animal is the right choice for them. they are merely guides and not a substitute for research. if people don't know that it's on them and not the chain, sorry.

corporate is all about constancy and giving the best animal care and advice possible but i have seen first hand just how hard it is to hire people who care, are willing to learn and willing to work. to me the job isn't all about the paycheck, it's about making sure the animals are taken care of. i'm sure this is the major problem for all pet stores, chain or independent.

EXACTLY:main_laugh::main_thumbsup::main_yes:

 

[rhino43grr]

******** corporate policy is for baby/juvi leopard geckos to be on repti-carpet with a water dish, a humid hide and a dry hide. baby beardeds get the same, minus the humid hide. all reptile cages are supposed to get completely changed out weekly.

i've seen far, far worse in smaller stores... full-grown water dragon in a 10g tank with nothing but substrate and a knocked over water bowl, adult crested in a 10g with a heat lamp right over the only plant, several juvi green iguanas in a 2x2x2 wire cage... not to mention puppies for sale.

 

[bubblez825]

My petchain by my house used to take horrid care of their animals. Sick leos, no water in the water dishes(even now I go and point out a dry water dish *any reptile* almost every time I go like maybe once a month)but have nowadays improved. The baby leos are healthier, poo cleaned more often, and fed more. I was told that the small animal caretaker had been changed and I could have shouted with joy right there and then lol.

What irritates me is that the corp will NOT allow the chains to feed their snakes live food or keep the adult leos on carpet. The snakes can only be fed frozen pinkies and leos on sand(the babies are on carpet though). I wish they made a reptile expert the corp leader, but what can we really do to change that other than to complain to a brick wall(which is what it seems like to me after reading what a lot of you guys have tried over and over again IMHO)?

Just my .02

I will have more to say on the issue but I have to go somewhere right now so I will be back posting later :main_laugh: make sure you save some room for another post(or 2...) :main_laugh:

Emily


Emily

 

[italipinos8]

I have a large petchain near my house but all there reptiles are healthy. There pet care person does a great job of taking care of the leopard geckos. They all are on repti-carpet and always have water and hides.

 

[sitting_duck]

The snakes can only be fed frozen pinkies

Emily

Snakes don't really need live food.

 

[nats]

I have complained to store managers, sent letters to corp. offices, and posted more complains on forums then I can count.

For the most part, they do improve for a while, then they go right back to
their old ways.

I complained to one store manager once because they had several species
together in one tank (each having different requirements), red heat lamp about
10'' from the floor to cook the animals, and dead rotten crickets everywhere.

A few leos (and anoles) where so skinny, you could see their ribs, and they wouldn't move unless you poked them with something.

You know what the store manager told me (and this is NOT a exaggeration)?

He said, "It doesn't matter, someone ALWAYS buys them before they die"!!!

I was so mad, I was speechless :main_angry:

 

[Spooki]

Snakes don't really need live food.

frozen food is safer... a cornered, terrified food item may attack in a last ditch effort to not die. the snake at my old college almost died when she was attacked by a feeder rat and it got infected. after hearing that the vet bill was over $1000 i don't think i'd ever be comfortable feeding a snake anything live. :main_lipsrsealed:

 

[2bacop]

frozen food is safer... a cornered, terrified food item may attack in a last ditch effort to not die. the snake at my old college almost died when she was attacked by a feeder rat and it got infected. after hearing that the vet bill was over $1000 i don't think i'd ever be comfortable feeding a snake anything live. :main_lipsrsealed:

I agree with that, the snakes at my petchain have always been feed frozen since they were born so they dont know anything different and they dont have trouble eating. The eat the same amount at the same frequency with no risk of injury to them.

 

[Brawler]

our local stores have gotten alot better about proper setups for their animals and good feeding, but still on the crowded side, but i do understand that from a business point. i wish ours was 12.99 lol the cheapest ive ever seen a baby leo around here is $30 for a normal, i've seen as high as $299 for a baby albino already.:main_no:

 

[bubblez825]

Snakes don't really need live food.

ok thanks lol i was thinking about something else. but what i meant was even the sick snakes9the ywont eat or anything) the corp wont allow them to feed live food to.

frozen food is safer... a cornered, terrified food item may attack in a last ditch effort to not die. the snake at my old college almost died when she was attacked by a feeder rat and it got infected. after hearing that the vet bill was over $1000 i don't think i'd ever be comfortable feeding a snake anything live. :main_lipsrsealed:

Good point and HOLY CRAP $1,000?!??!!?!?!

 

[nats]

frozen food is safer... a cornered, terrified food item may attack in a last ditch effort to not die. the snake at my old college almost died when she was attacked by a feeder rat and it got infected. after hearing that the vet bill was over $1000 i don't think i'd ever be comfortable feeding a snake anything live. :main_lipsrsealed:

Thats interesting that you mention that.
My Brother's Son has a corn snake, and it was bitten several times by
a mouse. The snake was not badly injured, but it was very tramatized
and went into hidding for days. My poor Nephew thought the snake would
NEVER come out!
After that, it was frozen only!!

 

[nats]

My petchain by my house used to take horrid care of their animals. Sick leos, no water in the water dishes(even now I go and point out a dry water dish *any reptile* almost every time I go like maybe once a month)but have nowadays improved. The baby leos are healthier, poo cleaned more often, and fed more. I was told that the small animal caretaker had been changed and I could have shouted with joy right there and then lol.

What irritates me is that the corp will NOT allow the chains to feed their snakes live food or keep the adult leos on carpet. The snakes can only be fed frozen pinkies and leos on sand(the babies are on carpet though). I wish they made a reptile expert the corp leader, but what can we really do to change that other than to complain to a brick wall(which is what it seems like to me after reading what a lot of you guys have tried over and over again IMHO)?

Just my .02

I will have more to say on the issue but I have to go somewhere right now so I will be back posting later :main_laugh: make sure you save some room for another post(or 2...) :main_laugh:

Emily


Emily

It seems like the big chain stores, that have the most money, take way worse care of their animals than the small "Mom & Pop" shops (what few there are left that is).
And you cant blame it on the "kids" that work there either.
The small "fish and pet" store where I live is nearly all teenage employees,
and they are very knowledgeable and take excellent care of the animals.