WTF at petco

I called the Ohio Dept of fish & game on a local petstore after not getting a satisfactory response from management about the conditions of their reptiles. There was a bearded dragon that was fried in front of a heat lamp..he had obviously been there for some time. The poor iguanas that were in the same tank were all huddled together at the other end, it was a very small enclosure. This place also had a variety of snakes, all together in a 55 gallon tank..with just a CHE on top. When I took a closer look at one of the balls in their, the little guy was literally gasping for air..his whole body was heaving something awful. I advised the clerk on my way out, but it fell on deaf ears. I also noticed the store sold cayman, which I believed was illegal in my state. Contacted the manager who seemed very nonchalant about the situation, he advised they ended up euthing the ball. When I contacted fish & game, they told me they've gotten numerous complaints about this store before, but unfortunately due to the crappy lenient laws here in Ohio, there isn't much they can do. Your best bet is to definitely contact corporate, then have an outside party such as your local animal warden's office or wildlife to look into it as well.

I agree it's awful to see things like this, but truthfully we can't save them all.

I would at the very lest speak to the manager. Try to be calm and collected and state your concerns as valid points, not by arguing. You might begin by saying this animal seems unhealthy to you, and ask if he's noticed it. Inquire about feeding habits, or ask if this particular animal might possibly be housed separately for a short time.

If this falls on deaf ears, then the next step is to stop shopping that store. Sometimes your local newspaper can be persuaded to run a short column about neglect seen in a particular store.

In a last ditch, all-or-nothing, to **ll with what anyone thinks move, you can try to get enough friends together to picket the store, where you will be sure to end up on the news, and possibly in jail if you aren't careful. I have seen that happen once here, the store in question stayed in business, but no longer sells snakes or reptiles of any kind.

Gale

Does anybody live near a Debbie's Petland? I'm not sure if it's a local chain or personally owned store, but it has relocated itself around my area a handful of times, all due to complaints and the lack of care shown to its animals. They opened up (again) in the mall near my area, and at the beginning I had heard that they'd "really turned the place around!" or that "the animals seem way healthier!" so I decided to check it out myself.

Big mistake.

I marched past the dogs and cats - at first glance I could tell that they were as sickly as always - and went on to the reptile section. I was appaled to say the least. It's like watching a car crash, you want to look away but you can't. There was not a single reptile there that didn't look sickly. I moved on to the ball pythons, and almost cried. How the poor little guys were still alive was beyond me. I almost wanted to put them down myself, just to end their suffering because there was no way those animals could have survived the stresses of being moved to a new home without dying.

How do places get away with this bullsh*t? Especially when they are major chains, like petsmart or petco or any other pet anything that are open to the public, the majority of which having eyes. How can an average person not know that an animal that's lethargic and has fluid coming out of its nostrils is a sick one? I refuse to shop at places like that anymore. It only succeeds in making me want to punch whoever's in charge of taking care of the animals.

as unfortunate as it is, its all too common for pet stores to not have healthy animals. my take on it is one of (& ive told a few employees this)
" if you dont know a thing about these animals in here, then why do you work here?!"
& every time, they go "uh...well...um...i needed a job"
& i give a louf huff, roll my eyes & walk away with a wrenching heart for the animals i'm leaving behind as i do so.

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Originally Posted by kasmir

I called the Ohio Dept of fish & game on a local petstore after not getting a satisfactory response from management about the conditions of their reptiles. There was a bearded dragon that was fried in front of a heat lamp..he had obviously been there for some time. The poor iguanas that were in the same tank were all huddled together at the other end, it was a very small enclosure. This place also had a variety of snakes, all together in a 55 gallon tank..with just a CHE on top. When I took a closer look at one of the balls in their, the little guy was literally gasping for air..his whole body was heaving something awful. I advised the clerk on my way out, but it fell on deaf ears. I also noticed the store sold cayman, which I believed was illegal in my state. Contacted the manager who seemed very nonchalant about the situation, he advised they ended up euthing the ball. When I contacted fish & game, they told me they've gotten numerous complaints about this store before, but unfortunately due to the crappy lenient laws here in Ohio, there isn't much they can do. Your best bet is to definitely contact corporate, then have an outside party such as your local animal warden's office or wildlife to look into it as well.

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Would your local news, TV and print, like to do a story on them? Things that crawl under rocks seldom like having that rock lifted. Remember there is the internet too. Make a site on them and then mail them the info anonymously so they know it's there. Also there is a huge complaints board you can post on also.
http://www.complaintsboard.com/

In other words Run Your Mouth Loud And Long. Bad people hate that. It does make a difference.

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Originally Posted by DJ_Bizarre

I Now I am planning on calling corporate tomorrow to see if they can do anything to fix the situation, or should I just call the store and try and talk to the store manager about the lack or care being shown to one of their animals?

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Don't bother with the store manager. Calling corporate will get better results. Customer complaints reflect very badly on the store, it's why when I get the receipt with the customer feedback coupon, they tell me to give all 5's, anything less is considered a failure. You can use the phone number on the receipt or you can use the feedback form on the website.

petland and petco are jokes. petsmart is the only "mainstream" pet store around where I live that has a clue what they are doing.

I have called corporate on Petland, but I havnt been back in there to see if conditions for their ball pythons improved. I refuse to go back.. thats how bad it is.

I would call the store manager and let him/her know the problem, and also tell the store manager that you want the number to corporate so that you can talk to corporate about it also. TRUST ME, if you tell the manager that you are calling corporate, something WILL be done.

Sure, we can't save all of these poor animals. It is impossible. But that dosn't mean we should just sit back and do nothing and give up trying to help them. If I have to call corporate 100 times, and it only saved 1 animal, that would be worth it to me.