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

My daughter works for Petco, and they are very good with their reptiles. They have a wellness room where any ill or injured animal is kept in isolation. They keep their reptiles clean and fed well, they have a reptile manager who is in charge of only reptiles and a vet who comes weekly, since she is not a reptile vet they will use the reptile vet that we have locally. They never have more then 2 bps at a time . They do have a houdini of a corn snake though. It keeps escaping and they keep finding it ,. The reptile manager says she might just as well buy it herself, cause it spends more time roaming the store then in its cage, but its such a pig, its always comes out on feeding day. Its becomming the store pet. For the life of them, they can't figure out how its escaping.

My daughter and i just call it houdini, so thats slowly becomming its name. Petco is a corperete run co. but it's run by individual managers, and if a manager cares the store is good, if the manager is bad the store is bad. Their training is extensive in all types of animal care so its not the training its the people. Some people should never be allowed to work with animals. The only way the store will change is if you contact the corperate office and tell them you will turn this store into your state agency if there is no improvments.

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Originally Posted by blue roses

My daughter works for Petco, and they are very good with their reptiles. They have a wellness room where any ill or injured animal is kept in isolation. They keep their reptiles clean and fed well, they have a reptile manager who is in charge of only reptiles and a vet who comes weekly, since she is not a reptile vet they will use the reptile vet that we have locally. They never have more then 2 bps at a time . They do have a houdini of a corn snake though. It keeps escaping and they keep finding it ,. The reptile manager says she might just as well buy it herself, cause it spends more time roaming the store then in its cage, but its such a pig, its always comes out on feeding day. Its becomming the store pet. For the life of them, they can't figure out how its escaping.

My daughter and i just call it houdini, so thats slowly becomming its name. Petco is a corperete run co. but it's run by individual managers, and if a manager cares the store is good, if the manager is bad the store is bad. Their training is extensive in all types of animal care so its not the training its the people. Some people should never be allowed to work with animals. The only way the store will change is if you contact the corperate office and tell them you will turn this store into your state agency if there is no improvments.

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Exactly!!


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Poor things. It would cost a lot of money to take in another snake, unless you have a rack system of some sort. I hope they actually do get them proper vet care. I'm glad you took the time to speak to the manager, some people wouldn't bother :(

We aren't saying all pet store chains are bad, just most that I've seen aren't great. Mine has I believe around 4-6 iguanas housed together, and I think around 6-8 bp's housed together with all ridiculous prices.

My local petsmart has two ball pythons in separate cages, but 100$ for a normal!


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Oh man... Another post about how Petco is evil... You went there to buy something so you're obviously supporting the same horrible store you're writing about. If you're really that concerned, then volunteer at the store once a month and help them improve their condition. I'm sure the workers getting minimum wage there arent educated in depth about every single animal in the store. If it upsets you enough to write a whole post about it, then you should help them out.

For people who complain about multiple snakes in one enclosure, please calm down. If you expect any retail store keep each snake in an individual enclosure, you probably still believe in Santa. Even in mom and pop stores keep multiple snakes because it's cost effective.

Now the other thing that really grinds my gears (lol) is the price complaints. Just because you can get a Normal for $10 bucks off a breeder at a show or Fauna, that does not mean that's what people should pay for them retail. Next time you're at any pet store (big or small) ask them what their monthly rent is. I don't know if people know the difference between retail and wholesale or they just choose to ignore it. Ask any breeder how much it costs and how long it takes to produce one clutch. Now add another $5k-10k/month to that.

Anyways, im done with my rant. Say what you will but at the end of the day, stores are a business and they're there to make money. If you don't like them, them don't support them. That means not buying ANYTHING from them.

PS:If you're so concerned about the care of snakes at a retail store, then you should google what third world country makes your clothes. Most of them use child labor under horrible conditions. Just saying...




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I would volunteer but that Petco is near my parent's house in CT, but I live in NH most of the year. I agree that some pet stores can maintain good conditions for reptiles, but I was simply pointing out that this particular petco is clearly disregarding the education they received about reptiles and what conditions they should live in. The store manager there is more concerned about money than making sure the animals are healthy.


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Originally Posted by Reed12321

I would volunteer but that Petco is near my parent's house in CT, but I live in NH most of the year. I agree that some pet stores can maintain good conditions for reptiles, but I was simply pointing out that this particular petco is clearly disregarding the education they received about reptiles and what conditions they should live in. The store manager there is more concerned about money than making sure the animals are healthy.

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Then your title should have specified that location.
A store manager has duties and there is a reason the company is in business. ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
There are things in all business models that I don't like or agree with but its their company, not yours or mine.
The manager does as instructed because he probably has a family to feed and needs his job.

While I don't ever support the mistreatment of animals, a responsibly ran store can have some of the issues mentioned here and still be good. The best example I can think of it the issue of having multiple animals per cage. Yes it can be a bad idea, and yes that's not how they should live their whole lives, but to think a store should separate every bp they have in stock just isn't reasonable. First, people coming in to buy want to be able to see what they're after, so sticking them in racks wouldn't work well. Then there's the simple issue of space. Most stores lease their space, and do you have any idea how much retail space goes for? I knew a guy with anshop in a mall, and he was paying 3k a month for something like 400 square feet. So a tiny store, and the overhead eventually killed the business. So please don't talk like making money is a sin. Now if they don't even make an effort to do the best they can with what they have, then that's an issue. And that seems to be the case with the store that started this thread.

Did you ever call the corporate number to complain about the store?