I was at Petco and what do I see??

Thats horrible. Some of the employees may care and know about the animals they sell, but the management is what's worst. I can't say anything for Petco because there isnt one in my city, but I used to work at Petsmart. I was wrote up for refusing to sell a lady a green tree frog because she was going to keep it in a fish bowl and "feed" it tadpole/crayfish pellet food. She then got irate and complained about me refusing the sale. I tried to explain what she needed, and she said she didnt have the money for a 10 gallon tank and a small heat lamp. So I told her I wasn't going to sell it to her unless she got what it needed to LIVE, as in, you know, PROPER husbandry equiptment and FOOD. At least at the Petsmart I was at, everything is about money money money. They dont care about the animals well being. I was chewed out for not selling a frog to a lady that was going to kill it. I'm glad I got away from there.

Ick. One time I had an argument with the manager about if reptiles could get internal parasites...he was completely sure that no reptile could ever get them. :weirdface Uhm dude has he ever even heard of vets taking a fecal ...............PROBABLY NOT.

That whole thing was from a discussion about a sick iguana, giant fiasco btw.

I have to say that the two Petco's I go to are pretty decent. The guys that run the reptile departments weren't the best, but they were willing to learn and for that, I'll give them business. Just spent an hour the other day in one of them explaining various ways to get hatchling corns to eat since I pointed out one was rather skinny. Not only did he listen, but he took notes AND said thank you. I know that Petco/Petsmart doesn't really give the proper training to the people that work there but at least some of them are smart enough to know when to look for other information and get help.
Now the Petsmart I went into to look at their tortoises in St. Louis, I walked right back out of. Their Russian torts were in with the water dragons and had a mister going in the enclosure... <facepalm>

Our local Petsmart is pretty good. There's a guy who works that that I've known for a long time and he keeps snakes. He knows his stuff. The reptiles always look pretty good in there. Petco is a different story and I wouldn't buy from them. However, if I were to buy a hermit crab (awesome pets!) I would buy it from Petco and NOT from Petsmart. Our local Petsmart has absolutely no water or humidity for their crabs. The Petco is much better.

I stopped in a Petco near where I work on my lunch break one day. They had at least ten ball pythons in the same tank. The tank was filled with shed and feces. I didn't bother looking any further and I haven't been back since.