Reptile trouble at the store..

[TheaN526]

Hey all..
I work at a pet store and the reptiles honestly don't get the best care. Today I had to pull 3 dead snakes, 3 lizards, and a few other things. They all stunk to high heaven. One of the managers said the Taiwan Beauty Snake wouldn't eat so that is why it died. As far as the Desert King Snake he may have been dead for a few days. When I picked him up he was rigid. It was absolutely disgusting.

Does anyone know what I can do? I told the manager how many animals I pulled today and she didn't seem very concerned. The other manager in charge of the reptiles doesn't really seem to get it.

I don't know a lot about their care and feeding. I basically just water the reptiles. The other manager is supposed to feed them.

I think of this as a very severe problem that needs to be rectified ASAP. How should I bring this up to the other manager in charge?

Do you think it could be wrong temperatures, lack of feeding, etc. Again, I'm really concerned and I am afraid of how to bring this issue up. I don't want to outright accuse him of not taking care of the animals, but I don't know why these 8 or so reptiles just died like that.

What can I do to help?

[DutchHerp]

You can call your local SPCA.

It sounds like the animals are in horrible care over there.

I don't know how to help you mate.

[TheaN526]

You can call your local SPCA.

It sounds like the animals are in horrible care over there.

I don't know how to help you mate.

I think I will try to bring it up with the manager in charge of reptiles and if nothing changes than I may have to secretly try to get them inspected. Of course I really don't want to lose my job but I DO care about the animals and their welfare. I try and check water bowls every day but in all honesty we don't always get back there.

Truthfully- we have WAY too many animals to care for and not enough man/woman power. It's unfair to the animals and these deaths show me we don't have enough staff.

It just made me so upset to have to pick up all these dead animals-especially in our reptile room. We also had two scorpions die too. I almost choked when I took out the snakes. Puke!!

[jrosen123]

coming from someone who works at a pet store, in the reptile department, it seems like no one know what they are doing at the store you work at.

I am sure it is a combination of everything you listed.

How often do you work there?

Because you could try and take some initiative and research the basic care of the reptiles so YOU can make a difference, and show your manager/boss. It may be tough to get going, but once the cages etc. are set, then it is smooth sailing from there. I just think that if you show what it takes to take care of these animals it could make a difference.

ps. is it a privately owned store? or a chain store like petco or petsmart?

[TheaN526]

coming from someone who works at a pet store, in the reptile department, it seems like no one know what they are doing at the store you work at.

I am sure it is a combination of everything you listed.

How often do you work there?

Because you could try and take some initiative and research the basic care of the reptiles so YOU can make a difference, and show your manager/boss. It may be tough to get going, but once the cages etc. are set, then it is smooth sailing from there. I just think that if you show what it takes to take care of these animals it could make a difference.

ps. is it a privately owned store? or a chain store like petco or petsmart?

It's a chain store. I don't want to say which one though. Honestly the only reason I don't know very much right now is because I just got hired about two months ago and the manager just started giving me more responsibility with the reptiles. He promised to train me on the corn snakes since I am going to get one in June/July. I would love to learn all I can but he has me concentrating on fish stuff right now and that right there is VERY difficult for me right now.

I am trying to learn everything I can but it's really difficult to get it all in one fell swoop. THey advised me that homework will be coming soon but I haven't gotten anything. I give the animals their veggies, clean out water bowls, etc. The only thing I don't do with the reptiles is feed them.

I've learned a lot about bunnies, hamsters, dogs, and some things on snakes..but as far as lizards, scorpions, spiders-zip. I know I will go on my own and take a look at care sheets of the specific creatures we have in the store.

[jrosen123]

I respect the fact that you don't want to name the store

All I can say is do some homework, and maybe the manager will give you more responsabilities with the reptiles if they see that you are taking initiative. I know that I went from taking out garbage and cleaning cages to being the most knowledgeable about reptiles in the store, and I am also the youngest. I had prior experience with my own reptiles, but taking the initiative really showed my boss I was eager to care for the animals, AND that I was responsible enough to care for them

good luck

[gp_dragsandballs]

Don't trust the caresheets from the chain stores. Make sure you double check the information with reputable breeder caresheets.

Places like petco have predetermined cage decor and substrates. The cages at my local petco are programed for each animal for temps and such. I sure don't trust that crap.

Just do what you can to make animals comfy while you have them at the store and try to educate customers on proper husbandry, not always what is seen at the store.

Good luck

[TheaN526]

Thanks to the both of you. I'm amazed at much this bothered me today. I have never really been a reptile person but since I stepped into the store it's been my goal to try and learn more about them. Of course I have been reading up on everything snakes but other reptiles I don't know very much. I know that I need to take initiative and do what I can to ensure the animals are well taken care of. If someone walked in and saw that we could get reported and shut down.

I like my job but there are definitely some downsides too it. I don't want to bad mouth them but the managers should care about the animals they sell in the store. If someone brings a home a sick animal it doesn't give them a very good reputation.

I definitely would like to see some things change at the store and I know that I can be part of that change. I have a deeper level of understanding about animal care than I ever did before. It's not just feed, water, clean and so on. There is so much more you have to do to keep the animals in good condition.

Starting from today I am going to be more pro active about the care of the animals. They come before the product but sometimes the managers don't see that.

It's not that I hate my managers. I don't.. I would like them to be more concerned about the welfare of the creatures we keep.