Why you don't trust petco... and their merchandise.

As hard an experience as this was Ben, if you plan to be a vet you are going to have worse ones and have to learn to seperate yourself to some degree from it. You'll see animals brought in far too late and you're expected to perform miracles (and not charge "too much") or animals brought in to be put down simply because their owners no longer want the hassle of them. Being a vet's a tough job I would think but a rewarding one. This experience will likely help you down the road if you see it as a learning one.

I have (more than once) slipped proper care sheets among the ones at petco. Hoping that someone might get the proper information. I guess if everyone does one thing to help eventually something will change.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

As hard an experience as this was Ben, if you plan to be a vet you are going to have worse ones and have to learn to seperate yourself to some degree from it. You'll see animals brought in far too late and you're expected to perform miracles (and not charge "too much") or animals brought in to be put down simply because their owners no longer want the hassle of them. Being a vet's a tough job I would think but a rewarding one. This experience will likely help you down the road if you see it as a learning one.

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yea, I'm aware of this. but just like doctors, vet's should honestly be able to say they did everything possible to help. i know i was not responsible for his snake b/c in the end it's his snake. It's when he tried to feed his snake and it wouldnt eat he asked for my advice and I told him his snake was fine, just to give him some time to get acclimated to his new environment. I asked about his temps, but not about how he was measuring them. It's just one of those nagging feelings you get when you realize asking just one more question could have meant a world of difference in the end.

there are many things about capitalism that i believe in, except when it comes to businesses that deal in living organisms. in such cases it should not be about the dime at the end of the day, but about the animals and their new owners.

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Originally Posted by Gooseman

there are many things about capitalism that i believe in, except when it comes to businesses that deal in living organisms. in such cases it should not be about the dime at the end of the day, but about the animals and their new owners.

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But you know there is just as much (if not more) money in doing it right then wrong. You really need more stuff to setup a tank correctly.

WRONG WAY: (prices are est.)
Tank/cover - $40
Heat Lamp/cover - $15
Half Log - $8
Water bowl - $4
UTH - $20
Cheap-o temp/humidity guages - $10
Substrate - $8
TOTAL: $105

RIGHT WAY:
Tank/cover - $40
2 Hides - $16
Water Bowl - $4
UTH - $20
Thermostat - $50 (cheap one)
Digital temp/humidity guage - $15
Substrate - $8
Potentially a heat lamp/cover + another Thermostat - $65
TOTAL: $153 (or $218 with extra thermostat and lamp)

Not to mention a happy repeat customer (feeders, more animals, etc.). It just makes you wonder why the big box stores don't do it this way.

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

It just makes you wonder why the big box stores don't do it this way.

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only reason I can come up with is the whole "lead by example" theory. If they recommended the proper set-up they would cannibalise all their space with all the larger, more expensive tanks they would need to house their animals correctly. Not to mention having 5 bp tanks so they can all be separate. etc.

Not to mention it's going to be harder to coax a customer into buying an animal they're not so sure on if they have to spend another $100 that corporate petco says isn't necessary.

This seems like a critical time in herping. The internet has brought us all the wealth of knowledge that we share.. it is too bad that no one can push that knowledge out into the retail world.

i go to petco all the time for feeders, etc and for a while there was a guy working there who really knew his snakes. he had all different herps and had even hatched a few bp clutches. when i had a prob with my babies, i'd call him for advice and it was always good. he's since quit working there and whenever i get into a discussion about snakes with anyone there (not looking for advice, of course) they don't seem to know the first thing about them. i feel like i'm educating them instead of the other way around. maybe i should start giving them this website.....

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Originally Posted by SnakeEyes

Good luck, one member here was sold a BP that had IBD and other snakes in the store were infected and petco didnt give two ***** about it. even when the snake the person purchased died all they offered was a discount, showed no signs of sympathy or anything. doubt a letter for this would mean anything to them...

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Yep, that would be me... The reason I don't trust Petco -- they sold me my very first snake which was infected with IBD and died a month later.

I had my friend turn his set-up back on so he could take a pic of the discrepency in the temps. Well my friends, here is that pic.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t..._0002_01-1.jpg

The probe was located inside the hide on the hotside, and as you can see, it's max'd out at 120 degrees. The "cool" side was 93.9 by the accurite and 80 on the stick on (according to daniel, I wish there wasn't any glare, but thats what we got...)

the real problem is that alot of people, vets, animal control, and health departments dont care because reptiles are not warm and cuddly so 99.9% of the time no one knows or cares to file animal cruelty charges against any of them for reptiles and im sure that .09% of complaints are just ignored