Problems with petsmart

I got my BP from a Pet Warehouse, and the ones in my area are horrible. The 'specialty employees' don't know jack about the animals they have.

I just wondered if they even have caresheets for the employees... the BPs at that PW share a little glass fronted area (they usually have 2-3 in each enclosure) and the same goes with the sheds, someone is almost always having a bad one... all that is in the enclosure for temp measurement is a stick on theremometer on the wall, no humidity measure of any kind.

Can one of the big chain workers give some examples of the corporate policies or guidelines they give the employees on how to care for the animals?

Yep, this be old news here. I wanted a job at Petsmart so badly when a teenager, then I got one and learned better. Do NOT work at a Petsmart, Petworld or Petco unless you know that the store has good managers who care about the animals and their keeping!! Some stores are just amazing and do a really good job, but most are crappy places that hire anyone regardless of experience or knowledge and don't give a lick of training aside from "Clean these cages this day, and these on this other day".

Policies, at least at Petsmart, aren't so much about what employees should do, but what they should NOT do. Enclosures for reptiles are regulated to those stupid bookcase like systems with tiny cages, bad lighting and no heat. The only thermometers they use are the stick on dials, and woe to you if you try to put together makeshift cages to separate the animals (yep, I tried and was yelled at). You can't even supplement diets for lizards, you have to feed them what is on the stupid outdated charts. Example: Beardies need veggie/fruit as well as insect diets every day, but the charts had you feeding them crickets (only) every day with every other day giving them a mix of lettuce, carrot, and cucumber...and that was their veggies. SIGH.

Anyway...sorry for the rant. This is a subject that gets me talking because I still can't believe how bad the store I worked at (and the local Petco's as well) was and still is.

I kind of work as a cashier and specialty employee, because we're short handed on both ends. When I work over in specialty, I'm the first to tell you that I don't know jack about fish... like nothing. I don't know about filters, which fish eat each other, what they eat, etc. My manager just tells me to just bag the fish and if anyone has a question about fish care, call her. I've learned a lot by doing this. It's not the best way, but at least I'm learning. Whenever a customer asks me a question that I'm not sure of, I always reply, "I'm not exactly sure.. Let me find one for sure from someone who knows." Then I page my manager, and problem solved!

I know I HATE going to a pet store where the employees don't know jack about the animals. My only defense is that I'm at least trying to learn.. There's a guy that I work with that will make up some of the most ridiculous junk you've ever heard. People like him make me just want SCREAAAM.

Anyway, back to the question.. Whenever someone new starts working in specialty, the pet care manager goes through and shows exactly what animal eats, what the humidity/temps should be, how to give medicine to the sick animals in the iso room, etc.. I know we do have some caresheets, but I don't think I've ever used them. I know it doesn't go into detail AT ALL on them.. Like, on the leopard geckos, it says their temperatures are supposed to be "deserty, yet moist.." Ummm.. huuuh? So we just don't use those things at all.

i dont know the more i work at petco the more the policies seem to contradict themselves.

but one of the policys i hate the most is pushing people to buy frozen food there are some people set in their ways on how to feed their own snakes.

but the policy in place for care specifics are great desert reptiles get spot cleaned every day and changed out once a week. tropical reptiles spot cleaned everyday and cleaned once a month. which in my opinion is a pretty good way of doing it thats what i do myself for my reptiles always have. also humidity gauges and heat gauges are a must along with hides, water dishes, and decoratins.

Hmm, that's pretty good. We at Petsmart could include decor, but not too much. Of course, too much was open to interpretation.

I think your cleaning frequency works much better. Ours was that each type of animal got cleaned completely on a certain day of the week every week. All of the animals of that type all at once, and you better have had it done before opening... *grumble* I thought it was so stupid to have all sorts of reptiles piled into two critter keepers for holding that were used over and over without being cleaned. Got to the point I would take the extra time (and get chewed out) to do a quick wipedown at least of those things between cleanings. And they wondered why our store had such a high rate of reptile loss and sickness with the small rodents... Now you can see more of the reasons why I left.

yea that doest suck thats how it was before at my store until i complained and the managers heard it

i work at a petco and my boss is STRICT when it comes to keeping animals clean and healthy or she'll chew us out(she has a bunch of animals herself). technically im not the reptile specialst(yet) but since im the only one in the store that knows about them pretty well, they always call me to the area for the customer that needs help.we clean the cages,give them plenty of fresh water, and fresh food every day.if one of our animals gets sick, we put it in the back for quarantine and immediately call our vet to set up an appointment.

just yesterday i asked one of my managers if i was able to recommend the acurite digital thermometers for the store and she said if petco doesnt carry it, then most likely we wont be able to get them.

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Originally Posted by Swingline0.0.1

Can one of the big chain workers give some examples of the corporate policies or guidelines they give the employees on how to care for the animals?

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i can print out a caresheet for our BP's and everyone can see if the info is good,so-and-so, or bad.

Heck, even if you never carry them, you should still recommend them to customers (as long as the boss cant hear ya). I used to send people to Walmart all the time for thermometers, fake plants, hides, tanks...pretty much anything. Come to think of it, based on the Outrageous prices Petsmart charges for their reptiles, I sent a lot of customers over to the good reptile specialty store down the street for their pets. :D

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Originally Posted by Argentra

Heck, even if you never carry them, you should still recommend them to customers (as long as the boss cant hear ya). I used to send people to Walmart all the time for thermometers, fake plants, hides, tanks...pretty much anything. Come to think of it, based on the Outrageous prices Petsmart charges for their reptiles, I sent a lot of customers over to the good reptile specialty store down the street for their pets. :D

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haha thats what i do. but since the walmart here doesnt carry acurite digital thermometers, im not really sure what to tell them so i tell them to look them up online.or i tell people to not use the sand for reptiles cuz it can cause impaction,etc. so i tell them to se either cage carpeting(for certain reptiles) or newspaper.some people choose to listen to me, and some dont.