is there anything we can do?

[Egyptian_Sphynx]

me and my boyfriend went into the most disgusting pet shop today. the fish tanks were covered in green gunk, and the reptiles either had no hides, no water, no subtrate (that right just right on the wood) or the flexwatt was in the cage on top of the subtrate!!!! the snakes in general did not appear to be in bad shape but just the conditions!!! they also housed red tail boas with ball pythons!!! is there any place we can call on them or should i just save up the money and save the little buggers by myself. it is in saint louis if anyone is interested in saving one or more. i just dont know what to do, i felt so bad leaving them there

[Smulkin]

KNow how you feel - but think - if you buy them even with the good intent of providing them with better care the store will just order more of them since they will just view it as a "product that moved". Those are some hideous conditions you describe though. Very tough to walk away from I am sure I would have a really difficult time practicing what I preach if I saw the same right in front of me.

[frankykeno]

I have no idea what to do other than perhaps contact your local SPCA for advice and to notify them that this store has such poor housing conditions, as well I would notify the local health unit as pets bought from these kind of gawd awful stores could well carry disease to their human owners. There's been a lot of press lately about sick rodents and kid's so perhaps the health unit might be interested. Also I would call the Better Business Bureau for your area and inquire as to who regulates this type of business license and if anything can be done that way. Definitely tho call Animal Care & Control/SPCA and insist they do a visit to this store. You may get nowhere but at least you will feel you have tried.


~~Joanna~~

[Adam_Wysocki]

I have no idea what to do other than perhaps contact your local SPCA for advice and to notify them that this store has such poor housing conditions, as well I would notify the local health unit as pets bought from these kind of gawd awful stores could well carry disease to their human owners.

It's a shame, because while this is probably the "right" thing to do, notifying government officials may not be the best thing to do. With the recent tidal wave of reptile bans sweeping the nation, poor conditions like these are a dream scenario for a politician searching for that perfect platform needed to make a name for themselves. Politicians know that reptile owners are a vast minority in their districts and have no problem alienating their votes in order to make the 5 o'clock news with a 10 second sound bite calling for the ban of reptiles and exotics citing the deplorable conditions in this pet store as an example of how badly these animals are treated in captivity.

Am I paranoid? Most definitely, but that's beside the point. Scenarios like this have happened over and over all across the United States and politicians are taking note. Your rights as a reptile owner are at risk and the situation gets worse every year.

Before bringing in animal control (whose base of experience BTW is dogs and cats, not reptiles .... and many times they wouldn't be able to tell a corn snake from a burm) how about speaking with the owner? Maybe volunteer some of your time to help set up the animals propery ... or work in exchange for a discount on feeders? Another alternative may be working through your local herp society? If all else fails, protecting the animals is paramount and you've gotta do what you've gotta do, but keep in mind, the people that you call for help today will probably be the people trying to take your animals away tomorrow.

Also, don't waste your hard earned dollars taking on someone else’s problems. It sounds harsh, but unless you have the experience and money needed to rehab herps, it can be a painful and sad endeavor. Support vendors who sell happy and healthy animals and sooner or later the scum bags will fold it up and go the heck home!

(rant over now)

-adam