Salt On the Wound

[Haligren]

Today was really difficult at work. It took a lot for me not to break down and cry especially since I came to work in a fragile state anyway. (Been very, very depressed lately.) My complaints have not been answered in any way about how we deal with the reptile section at work. Despite promises from the manager.(I work in a pet store.) And I thought things were going to change after I had that talk with him, putting it into terms he could understand, in terms of monetary losses.

I came in today to see that most of the tanks were literally CRAWLING with crickets. Lots of them. I must have pulled fifty from the pink-bellied swifts ALONE. And these are five gallon tanks. I was especially appalled at the state of the leopard geckos. I had a divider in to separate the ill ones from the not-so-ill ones. When I opened up the top of the cage you should have seen ALL the freakin' crickets that were attached to the divider alone. Many - infact most - of them were way too big for the leos to eat. Many of the leos are hardly four inches long and there were five and four week old crickets in there. Atleast 70 or so. It was like an infestation. This is in a twenty gallon tank, square not long.

When I lifted up one of the hides there was a dead baby gecko - and he had been dead for MORE than two days I can assure you. Crickets were eating what was left. And of course, as usually none of the tanks had been cleaned. Feces everywhere or...piled up in a corner in the case of the leopard geckos. So you can imagine what the crickets had been eating.

I've had a hard time getting the geckos to eat anyway. I've given them everything they need - calcium dish, mealies, plenty of hides, a UTH, and a 50w nightglo bulb on one side of the tank, but still some of them just refuse to eat and so they've gotten quite thin. I think I see why now: that many crickets many of them bigger than they are - I wouldn't eat either. Also we have had way too many in one tank - 12 in one 20g square tank. Well...eleven now.

After I picked out all the crickets from a single 5g tank (I think I counted 45) and put them in a bucket so I could show one of my supers who in turn showed it to the manager. I asked if I could leave a note to the other girl in the section or whoever was working in the reptile section and basically I was told that I couldn't: "it's not your place" were his exact words. I fail to understand this: I work the MOST in that section when I am there. I would be there full time but I can't - I have university to attend and homework to complete. When I come in there is stuff sitting out for me to put away or clean that should have been done before I got there. I couldn't believe that I wasn't even allowed to leave a single note simply asking that they not put so many crickets in one tank or crickets that are inappropriately sized for the reptile. What's worse was that after my super showed the crickets to my manager all I got was "He might do something about it".

Many of our reptiles cost at least 5x as much as a hamster or rabbit and are more difficult to come by making them even more valuable and yet the mammals and birds get their bedding changed daily - they always have fresh water and food. I just can't understand why they are letting this happen. How come cold blooded things are deemed less worthy of care than warm blooded things? It just doesn't make sense to me. I can't help but cry at this. It's all I can do.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I might have to quit. I just can't take this any more, and it's very strongly affecting my depression and anxiety which I already suffer from. I've hung in there this long because I in a martyr-like way I thought that the animals needed me.

My husband and I are going to call the BCSPCA (provincial SPCA) and file a report anonmously against my workplace. It's not the only one they would have received, I'm sure.

 

[Sunrise Reptile]

WOW! That must be horrible to see, but also very frustrating because they won't let you communicate recommendations for improvement to the other employees. And at the same time, they don't want to do their jobs. Why do pet stores in general seem to view reptiles as less worthy of proper care than mammals, fish or birds? I don't get it! :main_no:

 

[Spooki]

definitely file that report asap.

in your position i would quit. he does not seem to care and does not seem to want to allow others to care. he needs to stop selling reptiles if he can not even give them the courtesy of proper care. perhaps you should tell him to stop selling reptiles since he's not going to care for them. it's a waste of money to buy them and let them die.

animals care should never come second to anything in a pet store, it's a recipe for disaster. filthy cages with dead and sick animals harbor disease, i wouldn't be surprised if someone wound up catching something nasty. in my store where we do are damned best to keep things clean people still get sick from the animals.

hopefully the SPCA will be able to do something to rescue them. it's a damn shame he doesn't deem them worthy of care. people like that deserve to be thrown to komodo dragons j/k.

 

[Haligren]

WOW! That must be horrible to see, but also very frustrating because they won't let you communicate recommendations for improvement to the other employees. And at the same time, they don't want to do their jobs. Why do pet stores in general seem to view reptiles as less worthy of proper care than mammals, fish or birds? I don't get it! :main_no:

definitely file that report asap.

in your position i would quit. he does not seem to care and does not seem to want to allow others to care. he needs to stop selling reptiles if he can not even give them the courtesy of proper care. perhaps you should tell him to stop selling reptiles since he's not going to care for them. it's a waste of money to buy them and let them die.

animals care should never come second to anything in a pet store, it's a recipe for disaster. filthy cages with dead and sick animals harbor disease, i wouldn't be surprised if someone wound up catching something nasty. in my store where we do are damned best to keep things clean people still get sick from the animals.

hopefully the SPCA will be able to do something to rescue them. it's a damn shame he doesn't deem them worthy of care. people like that deserve to be thrown to komodo dragons j/k.

I just don't know what to do any more. I hesitate to call the SPCA because things could be a lot worse - infact they were before I started working there. Many of the reptiles seem to be healthy and in descent shape. But it's almost as if the others who work there are only willing to go so far: they'll give a snake an anti-mite bath and clean out the tank and everything but they don't do anything to help a starving gecko. My super even told me that sometimes there isn't anything you can do, and I know in some cases this is true. But I've proven that it isn't over until the fat lady sings. They just don't want to make the extra effort.

Also I'm not even sure if there's anyone at the SPCA that knows anything about reptiles. Many people who don't know anything usually don't care or simply care less - especially when it comes to reptiles. They may come in to inspect the place and not see anything wrong. /soapbox lol

 

[Lacedolphin]

Theres only 2 things you can do in this situation so you dont end up loosing your mind. One, let it be. Once the manager sees and hears the complaints from the customers, once they start seeing it hit thier wallet from deaths and sales of the animals, then they may be more apt to listen to you. Or second, quit. Look for another job and once you find one, then give them your notice. I know you care and know what you are doing, but you can't save the world. You can't keep letting this get to you and drag you down into a more fragile state. You need to make this decision for yourself. Your no good to any animal, even your own if your constantly stressed from this situation.

 

[Haligren]

Theres only 2 things you can do in this situation so you dont end up loosing your mind. One, let it be. Once the manager sees and hears the complaints from the customers, once they start seeing it hit thier wallet from deaths and sales of the animals, then they may be more apt to listen to you. Or second, quit. Look for another job and once you find one, then give them your notice. I know you care and know what you are doing, but you can't save the world. You can't keep letting this get to you and drag you down into a more fragile state. You need to make this decision for yourself. Your no good to any animal, even your own if your constantly stressed from this situation.

Well that's what I'm doing now. I'm going to quit. It's not worth the $9 an hour and it's not worth my sanity. I'm not even sure if they've had any complaints. Most people who come in obviously don't understand what they're seeing and those that do probably don't even shop there. I'm putting in my two weeks and calling the SPCA to at least alert them. Before I quit I may even try and sneak a few pictures just to back up my claim...

 

[Spooki]

i've never known a SPCA to turn their back on any creature in need. don't hesitate, just because things could be and were a lot worse doesn't mean they shouldn't be better.

definitely take pics if you can and get other people to back up your claims- friends, family, anyone else who has seen the bad conditions.