So is this Pet Store Employee dumb?

[minimoe80]

So a few days ago I took a trip to the pet store to replenish my gecko food and buy them a new hide.
I Got some more Crickets and some Mealies.. I wanted to get a few wax worms as a treat, and was also curious to see if they would like/eat them because my two geckos are juveniles and have never seen wax worms (but they don't sell them there.. arrrrggggg)

But as I was checking out I saw they had Super Worms in little containers right there by the register to buy. As I was leaving I opened the lid of the supers and was looking at them and talking to the guy. I said "I want to get them for my Leos sometime, but since they look so big and my Leos are just juveniles I would probably have to wait right?" He then responds with "No No NO NO NO.. Don't ever get super worms for Leos!! The super worms Eat right through and out of the the Leos stomach after they swallow them!" "and it kills them..."

Now isn't this like one of the biggest "old wives tale" out there about Leos??? Or am I the Dumb one??

 

[Euphoric]

It is an old wives tale, but I know lots of people who don't feed superworms (Myself included) due to bites, poor digestion of the worm, and other factors.

 

[minimoe80]

ok Euphoric. Thank you for the info. I thought it was. But thank you also on the info on why you dont feed your Leos supers. It just bugged me that this guy was giving misinformation like this. This particular pet store is mostly a Reptile/herp etc. store..

 

[Euphoric]

Yeah, as a former ******** employee, I can tell you the things they dish out are not very accurate..I was misled a lot of times. In fact, I was told I "had" to sale "sand" for reptiles, and was reprimanded by my Pet Care Supervisor. Lame, huh? That is why I stick to local reptile only shops..and only two at that, Arizona Reptile Center and Predators. They are the only shops I have seen that actually are knowledgeable and care. Thank god for the internet, right?

 

[minimoe80]

Exactly Euphoric lol..
Im really interested in going to a show. Im gonna have to try and search and see when one will be. It would be my first

 

[roger]

not true

 

[prettyinpink]

There's a lot of people that believe this and some even have it on the back of their minds. I wouldn't say he's 'evil' for saying this as he was trying to be helpful...at least he wasn't trying to sell you something to make a buck and lie. He was actually telling you not to buy something, have to say that's a first *lol*.

I'd love to work at the 'chain' stores just to help out the people who can't take the time to go on the net to actually research the pet they're taking home. But I wouldn't be able to deal with it because you can't just say 'whatever'...they want you to sell what makes them the most money, not looking out for the animal. Which sucks... just wish they could do both things, make a buck and also look out for the animals at the same time. But I guess that's the world we live in

 

[Dog Shrink]

Ugh this again... it KILLS me how truly uneducated pet store employees can be. Being an animal behavior specialist we need to know a lot about everything from health and nutrition to breed propencity etc. and I have been kicked out of those wonderful large chain stores on more than one occasion for fighting with employees that were trying to sell the wrong type of food for a dog, or trying to sell them crap they didn't need for their dog that could actually do more harm than help. The blue buffalo rep and I have gone a few rounds as well, esp. right after the pet food recalls in 2007. If more people just learned how to read/interpret a food label...

As far as the mealies or supers eating a hole in their stomach there's a few threads on teh forum about that. This should be of interest to you http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=56103 All I feed is supers to Eros and he does great. They actually have LESS shell than mealies and shoudl be easier to digest for that fact alone. More bang for your buck when you consider you only really need to feed an adult leo 1-2 3x (or less for some) a week. I usually crush the head a little on mine when I feed so that they don't try to bite or whip that tail around and poke him but Eros does a pretty good job of grabbing the lil boogers right by the head so... problem solved

Myia, where did you get your info on supers being harder to digest? and compared to what if I may ask? I'd like to research that a bit more. What do you feed your leos?

 

[minimoe80]

Ugh this again... it KILLS me how truly uneducated pet store employees can be. Being an animal behavior specialist we need to know a lot about everything from health and nutrition to breed propencity etc. and I have been kicked out of those wonderful large chain stores on more than one occasion for fighting with employees that were trying to sell the wrong type of food for a dog, or trying to sell them crap they didn't need for their dog that could actually do more harm than help. The blue buffalo rep and I have gone a few rounds as well, esp. right after the pet food recalls in 2007. If more people just learned how to read/interpret a food label...

As far as the mealies or supers eating a hole in their stomach there's a few threads on teh forum about that. This should be of interest to you http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=56103 All I feed is supers to Eros and he does great. They actually have LESS shell than mealies and shoudl be easier to digest for that fact alone. More bang for your buck when you consider you only really need to feed an adult leo 1-2 3x (or less for some) a week. I usually crush the head a little on mine when I feed so that they don't try to bite or whip that tail around and poke him but Eros does a pretty good job of grabbing the lil boogers right by the head so... problem solved

Myia, where did you get your info on supers being harder to digest? and compared to what if I may ask? I'd like to research that a bit more. What do you feed your leos?

Is it ok to feed "juveniles" the supers?

 

[Dog Shrink]

Depends on the size of the juvie. I was feeding my leo supers at 7 mos old but then again I didn't have him as a wee one but his breeder said he had been on supers since about 3-4 mos old. As long as the circumference of the super isn't bigger around than the space between his eyes he should be fine.

 

[roger]

Is it ok to feed "juveniles" the supers?

3-4 month old leos can eat the fresh molten supers no problem

 

[M_surinamensis]

I'd love to work at the 'chain' stores just to help out the people who can't take the time to go on the net to actually research the pet they're taking home. But I wouldn't be able to deal with it because you can't just say 'whatever'...they want you to sell what makes them the most money, not looking out for the animal.

That is not even close to true. It is, in fact, an outright lie.

Repeat business is a necessary cornerstone of most successful pet stores. This is especially true for a big box chain store, which all make the majority of their money on the sale of dry goods and supplies. They are breaking even and even losing money on live animals, which are only present to give customers a reason to spend money on the items they actually profit from.

Aggressive sales of inappropriate or over-priced items do not generate repeat customers. The corporate offices would much rather have five dollars a week, every week for years from a customer than fifty bucks up front and have the person pissed off. They may encourage suggestive selling but that's not remotely the same thing.

As a matter of corporate policy though, there is definitely no incentive to push bad information for fast sales. The exact opposite really. The problem lies in the way that each individual store then has its own management staff, with varying degrees of competence and knowledge and its own staff of mostly high-school and college kids, half of whom don't really give a damn and will probably be gone in six weeks.

Sometimes misinformation happens. Sometimes the kid working the sales floor gets it wrong. As a collective whole however, the average big box store isn't any better or worse than the average small privately owned place. There are examples of exceptionally good and exceptionally bad in both- most are just mediocre, room for improvement but hardly some vast evil. There are criticisms that can be levied on a case by case basis, like the numbnut who claimed superworms would chew their way out of a stomach, but these are statistical outliers, the extremes and the fringes- not definitive indications of an entire industry.

It's kind of odd actually... that most of the people who I see get involved in undirected, drive by style pet store bashing (rather than individual criticisms) are almost universally people who I don't think are really qualified to pass judgment. Just people standing up to loudly and proudly proclaim their own ignorance, "L0LLZERZ!!!1 pet stores r teh stupidz!!!1!one!!eleven!11!!!lol"

 

[rubym]

I feed them but I do crush their heads.

 

[minimoe80]

Crush there heads? With like tweezers or something?

 

[Daedric1]

That is not even close to true. It is, in fact, an outright lie.

Repeat business is a necessary cornerstone of most successful pet stores. This is especially true for a big box chain store, which all make the majority of their money on the sale of dry goods and supplies. They are breaking even and even losing money on live animals, which are only present to give customers a reason to spend money on the items they actually profit from.

Aggressive sales of inappropriate or over-priced items do not generate repeat customers. The corporate offices would much rather have five dollars a week, every week for years from a customer than fifty bucks up front and have the person pissed off. They may encourage suggestive selling but that's not remotely the same thing.

Exactly. So many people have bought into the myth that "corporations are evil," when in reality there's little truth or evidence of that. Sure they're out to make a buck, but they know they can't do that if they piss off everyone and price gouge. That's a quick way to lose business and go belly-up if you're not a monopoly, and there's very few (if any) of those around.

 

[minimoe80]

Crush there heads? With like tweezers or something? And does that kill them? Cause my Leos will not eat anything thats not moving

 

[Dog Shrink]

Yes pinch the head or right behind the head with a tweezers. give them a good pinch. It stuns them but doesn't kill them and they will still move. If they don't move enough if you reach behind and pinch their tail witht he tweezer when the leo is looking at it, it WILL move and give the leo a chance to zero in on it.

 

[Tony C]

"L0LLZERZ!!!1 pet stores r teh stupidz!!!1!one!!eleven!11!!!lol"

I am so tempted to make that my signature.

 

[prettyinpink]

That is not even close to true. It is, in fact, an outright lie.

Repeat business is a necessary cornerstone of most successful pet stores. This is especially true for a big box chain store, which all make the majority of their money on the sale of dry goods and supplies. They are breaking even and even losing money on live animals, which are only present to give customers a reason to spend money on the items they actually profit from.

Aggressive sales of inappropriate or over-priced items do not generate repeat customers. The corporate offices would much rather have five dollars a week, every week for years from a customer than fifty bucks up front and have the person pissed off. They may encourage suggestive selling but that's not remotely the same thing.

As a matter of corporate policy though, there is definitely no incentive to push bad information for fast sales. The exact opposite really. The problem lies in the way that each individual store then has its own management staff, with varying degrees of competence and knowledge and its own staff of mostly high-school and college kids, half of whom don't really give a damn and will probably be gone in six weeks.

Sometimes misinformation happens. Sometimes the kid working the sales floor gets it wrong. As a collective whole however, the average big box store isn't any better or worse than the average small privately owned place. There are examples of exceptionally good and exceptionally bad in both- most are just mediocre, room for improvement but hardly some vast evil. There are criticisms that can be levied on a case by case basis, like the numbnut who claimed superworms would chew their way out of a stomach, but these are statistical outliers, the extremes and the fringes- not definitive indications of an entire industry.

It's kind of odd actually... that most of the people who I see get involved in undirected, drive by style pet store bashing (rather than individual criticisms) are almost universally people who I don't think are really qualified to pass judgment. Just people standing up to loudly and proudly proclaim their own ignorance, "L0LLZERZ!!!1 pet stores r teh stupidz!!!1!one!!eleven!11!!!lol"

Oh ok. So in reality it's just they dont' know what the hell they're talking about? Because before I heard the reason they push the sand on you is because they make a lot more money if you were to buy the sand off of them (because you need to replace it) then for them to tell you to just use paper towels. Which is the reason I said they don't give a damn about the animal...just making a buck.

Just hard to believe they actually care about the animal when you see the same pet stores doing the same things wrong and when you tell them they don't care. Or maybe I read what you wrote wrong :S

For what it's worth I don't mean to criticize the big chain stores on purpose, just seems that the majority don't take the time to research, and you'd think they'd want to...to have more customers come back. Also I've been to the 'non' chain stores...we only have one where we live. Called 'partners' and I'd much rather go to the 'chain' stores then lay a foot in there again. I've even said countless numbers of times that some ********s that i've gone to were awesome.

 

[clemsonguy1125]

Yesterday I went to pick up some moss for my humid hide and was told not to give them any type of humid environment because they are desert reptiles