Here's why you shouldn't EVER buy snakes from PetCo

Mostly my friends had their own leopard geckos, and I would always read the care book they had next to the terrarium. I never liked the look of the wrinkled leo's skin, but it was a reptile and that was enough to fascinate me. Mostly when I went to pet stores I would get all excited to see their selection, and be incredibly disappointed to see $80 a pastel with cohabitation in EVERY single cage. And I cringed every time someone bought a can of crickets instead of dubias, or when a little kid asked the staff on how to care for his reptile. I see why pet stores are important, but I don't think it's worth the cruelty. Theres 2 cents from a (just now!) teenager. Does it count if I turned 13 a week ago?

I got lucky and found a little mom and pop reptile place at the last second when I was looking to buy my first ball. Dude and his wife take really good care of their animals, really lucked out.

I feel terrible about the animals in your post though, it really sucks that they are cared for like that. Don't even know how somebody could neglect them like that. When I decided to get one I researched for months just because I wanted to make sure he would be taken care of properly.

Awe, poor things!! 7 in one tank together!!? I've heard of housing 2 or 3, but 7!


2 whites tree frogs

http://www.petco.com/petco_Page_PC_contactus.aspx - Call the store feedback line and complain. 877-738-6742

Another vote not to buy an animal there. Personally I wish they'd stop selling reptiles completely and stock a better selection of reptile supplies, I'd spend more money there.

Sadly they still make fine business from uneducated people.
We do our best to educate I guess.
alrighty i gotta turn in for bed i almost fell asleep on keyboard

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Originally Posted by bcr229

http://www.petco.com/petco_Page_PC_contactus.aspx - Call the store feedback line and complain. 877-738-6742

Another vote not to buy an animal there. Personally I wish they'd stop selling reptiles completely and stock a better selection of reptile supplies, I'd spend more money there.

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I was planning on doing this. I also was thinking of calling animal control, but after i sent my breeder the pic of that snake (he actually was the one who helped open up that store and had things set up properly. the current workers have screwed everything up since) and he told me to call the dept of agriculture. Does animal control take care of these things or does dept of agriculture take care of these things? i didnt really ask why it was that dept., but he seems to be really educated about that type of thing. I also trust that since he used to work for that exact petco

The authority that handles neglect/abuse complaints in each jurisdiction is different. The breeder likely knows who to call in your area.

Like posted earlier, each store is different although most of them are fairly uneducated in the care of reptiles. The Petsmart by my house where I got my high white pied girl actually takes decent care of their pets and gets them checked by an actual reptile vet, one of the best here in Washington state. I quizzed the manager before I bought her asked her which vet they use and she told me which one who is the one I know so I know their animals get checked up by a good vet. Now the next town over from mine, they have a Petco that is HORRIBLE. It seems to me that most of the Petcos or at least the 3 in my area take pretty piss poor care of their reptiles while the 2 Petsmarts in my area take fairly decent care of them. They still don't really keep them warm enough imo but at least they aren't mite infested with sores and have snakes as thick as toothpicks. And I agree, the best bet is buy from a reputable breeder but I couldn't pass up the $200 black Friday deal for that 6 week old high white pied girl who now after 1 week with me has gained 18 grams(up to 120 grams) and eats like a horse and now I am starting to work with getting her used to me.

And definitely call that number. I mean they probably wont do much as the chain stores are all about the bottom line but it cant hurt.

The pet stores don't care that you're buying an animal to "save" them. All they see is that this animal was sold, so they'll bring in another one. It's sad, but if the animals didn't sell and kept dying, they'd probably stop bringing the animals in as it would be costing them too much money.

We don't have Petco in Canada (as far as I know), but we do have a Petsmart. They will not feed live rodents, and I've heard some bad stories about the snakes that refuse to go on f/t.

As sad as it is, I don't think animal control would do much. I've seen threads where animal control has investigated and seen nothing wrong (when we all see the issues). They tend to not know a lot about reptiles. They seem to only care if they have food and water.

I hope you can find some solution though. To have an animal like that out for sale is ridiculous, especially when the manager acknowledges it. That animal should be in the back until it's healed.


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At my Petco, we refuse any more ball pythons if we have more than 3. Also we separate them by morph and by normal. There are far too many people in my particular store that love reptiles so they never go without water and they never go without being fed at least once a week. I'm so sorry that you had this experience at another Petco and I hope they do the right thing and fix it.

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