Petco?

Thanks everyone for the replys :lol:

I purchased my bp from Petco and he was and is fine. I had him check by a vet about mo after I got him. He is doing well but if I had it to do over and when i buy my Red tail Boa it will not be from Petco. I am sure mine was w/c but my Petco swears they are cbb and they get them from Gourmet Rodent.
If a store or breeder doesn't want you to handle then do not buy.
You need to handle and inspect any animal you buy, unless of course it is from a reputable on-line breeder and then they should have pics and gurantees
Good Luck

i got my BP from Petco when it was on sale for 29.99 and my snake is doing great. Very friendly and never balls up. Not sure of the sex though, but overall I am very pleased. Also I have never had a problem feeding f/t so it may just be cbb.

I actually had a good experience at Petco. The guy who works there has over a dozen snakes himself, including 2 bps. So he was very knowledgeable with the reptiles. He said the pros and cons of buying from petco, and what usually happens (i.e. the people that don't know squat about snakes), but he said that the ones they had in he has taken care of them, and the other store employees have taken care of them very well. And of all the signs from my jub jub that seems to be the case. Healthy eater, very friendly, and likes to roam around his cage at night a lot.

But, I could see where there could be problems.

Some of the large chain pet stores have a policy of not using ANY wild caught pets. That said, one problem they have is that their hiring standards are not always the best. The manager of the store is a manager, not necessarily a "pet specialist", and he or she may or may not be highly concerned with hiring employees that are knowledgeable about pets. This is the same problem many large stores have. You do NOT want to know how many times I have gone in to Home Depot and known more about what I needed than the employee in that department knew, and I am not a home repair expert by any means. When the guy working in the heating department doesn't know what a plenum is, the store either needs to review their hiring practices, or institute some serious training.

Petco and Petsmart are, as previously pointed out, dependent on the quality of the individual management in the store. If the manager knows enough to hire people who are experienced with the various pets, and supports his employees in assuring the animals are well cared for, they can be a great store to shop in. If, on the other hand, the manager hires someone for other reasons ("She's got HUGE tracts of land!") you're liable to be shopping in Pet Hell.

The local reptile specialty shop here in town has not been a reliable source for frozen rodents. Even though they freeze their own, the last few times I've gone in, they have not had any. Petco has been carrying frozen rats from a national supplier, and most of the time they have an ample stock. I would really prefer to patronize the locally owned specialty shop, but if it won't make enough effort to stock what I need, I will go someplace that does.

well I guess I can talk about petco....I work there. I take care of the reptiles.

As for the $29.99 price tag. There is nothing wierd about, petco just has a sale rotation and it was just their turn.

Also I saw mention of our snakes being wild caught, that is just not true. They are all captive bred I assure you. I make the orders for petco so I know where they are coming from.

Now I am not here defending petco be in stretch of the imagination. I dislike many of the policies because they are complete off the wall and are sometime just straight up bad for the animals.

Now for their hiring, I do have a very big problem with this. Petco has almost no interest in if you keep the pets, now this is just to get the job. If you want to care for the animals, you must prove that you have the knowledge base to handle most any situation that arises. For example we have been having problems with red mites and I have been forced to take a large amount of reptiles and put them in the back to get them back to health. When it comes to care, the animals are VERY well cared for while in the store. The problem with petco is its suppliers most of them are all big companies that are just looking at the bottom line not quality. So that is where the problems lies, we have animals coming in majorly under wieght, to young, or just plain dead. I have the skills needed to care and even nurse them back to health but many are in such bad shape that it is not possible. If any animal does have a hope we send it off to the vet asap. I say we send about 2-3 animals to the vet each week. Looking at other pet stores I don't see them having these problems, because they make sure to get a good supplier.

Hope this helps a little. If you have anymore questions about what happens behind the scenes at petco feel free to ask.

thanks

Sure, that's your Petco you work with, but not all Petco's are that decent with their animals. :( And if the suppliers are supplying mistreated/malnourished pets, then wouldn't you find other suppliers? You can blame them to an extent. But common sense tells me you'd find a better resource for your animals. :(

Ya well the petco were i live te sold BP's for $180.00 !! i was like ok bt luck me i got mmin for free!!!!

The PetCo where i live has gotten much better since I reported them to the ASPCA.

what kind of stuff did you report them for ??