Another Sad Petco Story

Stopped by my local Petco today for substrate and checked out the animals like I usually do. They have had a green tree python for awhile and though it had a bad shed it has appeared healthy the past few visits. Today i noticed it was not perched and at first thought they sold it. Giving the cage a closer look the humidity was 50 and the temp was over 90. Then I noticed the gtp was on the ground and kinda tangled in a fake plant.

It was obvious that the little guy was in trouble so I got an employee and said they need to check it. She opened the cage and then stood there. I asked why she didn't pull it out and she said "it bites." I could tell it was not going to bite but hoped it would. I pulled it out and it only had a small twitch in the tail but no signs of life.

The employee asked me what they should do:O. Then asked if I knew of a reptile vet:O. I told them about one but by the time they decided what to do the faint twitching stopped and it was gone.I believe it was past the point of saving to begin with.

I had not been to the store in a few weeks and was going to go yesterday but I held off til today. I wish I would have gone sooner and maybe I could have saved it.

Talking to the employees about it they admitted they knew nothing about it. They said it arrived in November and it had not eaten since they got it. They also said that nobody really messed with it because it would always strike. I wish I would have known about the issues they were having sooner, maybe I could have helped or even adopted it.

Sad, Petco and the big pet stores usually have people who don't know much wish they would actually hire people who knew what they were doing, I'm amazed they didn't notice it at all though poor little guy.

One employee did notice it wasn't acting right earlier in the day but didn't do anything. It's great that the customers care more than the employee.

It would be nice if they paid someone a decent wage that actually knew what they where doing to take care of them. or god forbid actually train people to do it right.

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Originally Posted by dillan2020

It would be nice if they paid someone a decent wage that actually knew what they where doing to take care of them. or god forbid actually train people to do it right.

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X2

But in their eyes that costs money! And eating into profit margins for shareholders is a big no no! Truly is sad, why I haven't gone to a pet smart in a long time.

They should have discounted it since it was being stubborn with them. They wanted 299.99 for it and now they have nothing. I would have bought it with a discount and tried to turn it around. I'm not big on buying animals from them especially for 300 but at a low price I would have taken the gamble. They recoup some and the snake would have gotten a better chance. I just hope they don't order another one.

They had signs about adopting some bearded dragons. Why not the gtp? Just being greedy.

Yea it is sad, I new 2 great people that worked at a PETCO and that store rock, clean, pets care for and they new everything you needed to know. But now its gone down hill since they left. I can only hope that they get someone like the 2 that where there before and the store comes back to what it was, it was relley looking great back then.
:)

My petco didn't know much about Ball pythons. I asked them questions they either had to go check with someone or they didn't know.

I also asked to see one and they refused to touch em.

People at my petland near me were more helpful and willing to touch em.

A sad story indeed. I don't hold my tongue when I see animal neglect like that. I can't believe that store would allow it. I guess I'm just lucky to work at a PetSmart that takes very good care of our animals. Reptile humidity could be increased a little, but that's the only issue we have and I've only ever seen one respiratory infection. On top of that we can all recognize when an animal is sick or not acting healthy. It's strange that breeders sell GTPs for 399.99$ and a retail store sold them for less. Usually it's sold at a huge mark up.

It does seem the PetSmart is cleaner and the animals better taken care of compared to Petco.

I've been researching pacman frogs as a new addition. Today I was looking at the food options Petco had for one. The boxes of live crickets were stacked two high and about five deep and none of then had live crickets in them. They were all dead and marked with the date 2/12.