Purchased From Petsmart

Ugh! Not all pet stores are the same. Trust me! I work at one! Yes, we use the dials, but we also have the kind with the probe and we check basking spots often with it to make sure everyone is at the right temperature. The reptiles and amphibians that require medium to high humidity are misted several times a day and are housed on substrate that holds humidity well. They are all well fed and are cleaned once a week, plus spot cleaned every day. Their water dishes are removed, replaced, and sanitized every day. Our store didn't start out this way. It took my co-workers and I to turn it around but I can say that we have not had a single dead reptile for a looooong time. Not a single animal is underfed or provided with improper care.

Now, I cannot defend against us using giant suppliers that occasionally send us unhealthy animals. Just today we got a shipment from Reptiles by Mack and the little beardies were soooo cold when they arrived. But once in our care, animals that come into our store receive veterinary care when necessary.

I'm so tired of seeing SO MANY PEOPLE insulting my intelligence and saying that where I work is a horrible place. Do you know how many times I've been able to take a person who wanted to put a baby ball python in a 40g tank with no heat and turn it around and educate them on the proper care and get them to by the proper supplies? How many times I've been able to take a person who is terrified of reptiles and get them to touch a snake and say "Wow, they are not cold and slimy. They are really smooth."? How many times I've been able to educate people about how wonderful reptiles are? My job is wonderful! I get to provide animals with proper care and educate people! If my job were any better, I'd own my own store!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MitsuMike

And using dial gauges for ambient temps (no hot spot gauge) and a humidity dial gauge is not skimping? Dial gauges work at well as the weather rock.
Atleast some stores "try" and keep animals alive. But trying is not good enough.
Why are you defending a chain of store that pretty much buy from reptile mills? B/c a few stores do it somewhat right is it ok? Not so much.

---

No, I would classify no gauges as skimping. They are regulating the temperatures and while ambient temperature isn't as good as specific spots, it does still keep the animal in good health. What proof do you have that all their animals come from reptile mills? Do you have an article from an investigation? I've seen no proof of this from my local store as they don't just carry normals, they have morphs as well occasionally and the reptiles appear to be in good condition. So, demonizing every pet store that isn't a specific small breeder rather than letting someone decide on the health of an animal and the animal's care at their local store is better? I'm not defending all stores. Some don't do anything well enough to keep their animals alive. All I'm saying is, they're not all are the same. The store I shop at and the store my friends work at both take very good care of their reptiles and have reptile keepers working in their reptile section or they have people that want to learn more about them. I had a 30 minute conversation with one of the employees about her personal snakes and geckos and on a different day I talked to a girl while looking at their ball python and when I told her I already had two bp's she asked me a few questions about them to pretty much confirm what she was told to do with them there. Don't burn a store at the stake because you had a bad experience or your store doesn't take care of their animals. If the store you go to doesn't take care of their animals, report them. If you have information about a large chain pet store getting reptiles from reptile mills, please post it so I can read it and bring it to my store to speak to them about, but usually, the stores don't get a choice in who they get reptiles from, corporate usually says who to use.

I'll keep saying it over and over and over again.
Dial gauges are skimping. Providing an animal without the optimal environment is skimping.
Good/sustaining an animals is not the BEST, and if the BEST is not the way things are done then the animals should not be kept. That goes for stores and keepers.
I'm glad Jay_bunny that your store is doing better with animals and that you educate them, BUT one store DOES NOT.....let me repeat DOES NOT reflect on the chain as a whole.
I find it great that some people can get proper info at a store, BUT like I said a chain who has FEW good stores doesn't make the the chain any different.

Having a few good reviews vs the MANY bad ones doesn't make a store good.
Example:
Your looking to buy a snake from a breeder. You read up on them and he has 1000 reviews. 10 -20 are good, 980-990 are bad. Do you buy from this breeder?

Arguing for your one store b/c you and your friends work there doesn't say anything to anyone. Your sticking up for your store b/c you or your friends work there and you don't wanna be bashed. It's coming down to a person argument b/c you don't want people bashing your place of work, completely understandable. Now are your opinions compromised? Of course. Not saying it's bad or good, but let the facts show.

Been to NUMEROUS petsmart/petco in NC and in FL when I was younger. Cities like Charlotte, greensboro, Raleigh, cary, durham, winston salem, Miramar, Pembroke Pines etc. I see enclosures and animals that are ridiculously kept. Now will I use my experience of over 20+ stores vs your 2-3 to show future herpers to stay away from these chains........Petsmart, Petco, Petland, etc. If someone can go to the stores you people work at and buy a pet power to them and good for them.

I don't work at a pet store. I have a couple friends that do, but I do not. I understand you've seen plenty of stores that don't take care of their animals, but telling someone to avoid an entire chain of stores despite the fact that their store might or might not take care of the animals is silly in my opinion. A breeder typically isn't going to have multiple independent places that could have different levels of care for their animals. I wouldn't buy a reptile from the Petsmart that's the next town over. But, the one by my house takes good care of their animals. The closest Petco to me is appalling and they aren't doing anything to fix it, but the Petco my friends work at is immaculate, and they have probes in addition to digital gauges and if they get an animal in that management wants to sell but none of them have cared for before [rare but they said it has happened before] then they personally go home and research it to make sure it's getting what it needs.

I understand I'm not going to change your opinion, just as you're not going to change mine, but I disagree with you. I say let someone judge for themselves based on what they see.

I would never buy a snake from a pet store regardless of wether or not it looked like they toke good care of them because most of the people who work there dont know much and Id rather be able to talk to the breeder about the animal and not have to spend a ridiculas amount of money on a snake.

The only animals Ive gotten from a petco or petsmart such as hamsters and guinea pigs have died within a month or two of having them because of some type of disease they had when I got them. and thats why I now get hamsters and guinea pigs from small pet stores that spend a lot of time handling the animals and taking care of them.... I know its not all petcos/petsmarts but I just dont want to support that type of store

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MitsuMike

Your looking to buy a snake from a breeder. You read up on them and he has 1000 reviews. 10 -20 are good, 980-990 are bad. Do you buy from this breeder?

---

I would hope nobody would buy from a person with reviews like that but its still just ONE person. The PETCO/smart stores may share the same name but all the stores are different. Even if 10 out of 15 stores are bad that DOES NOT make them all bad.

If I was to go a BK and they screwed up my order a few times I'm not going to stop eating at BK just cause one cant fix a burger the way I asked. Ill just stop going to that BK..simple as that.

Plus just because an animal is coming from a breeder doesn't mean that the animal is kept that much better than the ones at PETCO/smart. No telling how the breeder keeps his/her animals behind closed doors.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Void

I would hope nobody would buy from a person with reviews like that but its still just ONE person. The PETCO/smart stores may share the same name but all the stores are different. Even if 10 out of 15 stores are bad that DOES NOT make them all bad.

If I was to go a BK and they screwed up my order a few times I'm not going to stop eating at BK just cause one cant fix a burger the way I asked. Ill just stop going to that BK..simple as that.

Plus just because an animal is coming from a breeder doesn't mean that the animal is kept that much better than the ones at PETCO/smart. No telling how the breeder keeps his/her animals behind closed doors.

---

Obviously everyone isn't getting through thickness of their skull and missing points being made so here it is, plain and simple.
The CHAIN is funded by each store making a profit (aka selling products). Dimwitted people buying reptiles from a "good" store, enables the CHAIN to continue sell reptiles and house them improperly at the other 900+ stores that don't know what they are doing. So by "keepers" saying "it's ok b/c this store is a good store" is actually providing funds to help keep the stores that are killing reptiles to keep housing reptiles. So how do you feel now?

Using piss poor examples to try to have a debate doesn't make a point, it's shows a stupid example that had no thought put into it. And someone who is just trying to put their 2 cents in, even though I wouldn't even pay 2 cents for it. Comparing making a burger wrong to housing an animal improperly for many months is not even a comparison.

As for the breeder comment, why to pull that out of thin air. No one even said buy from a bad breeder. I do RESEARCH before I buy any of my animals and most of the time I actually know the breeders I buy from.


There it is plain and simple. If you like it kewl, if not I don't really care.

I haven't bought any animals from Petsmart or Petco, but the quality of care varies between these stores. Definitely some of the Petcos are doing a good job, and some Petsmarts aren't. You have to treat each individual store just as you would any other individual pet store--if one Petco is bad, it doesn't mean they all are. If one is good, it also doesn't mean they all are. The name means very little--it's all about the management and the employees.

I have bought a Gecko from Petco once, and I brought it to a vet, and I found out that they sold me him with Cancer so I put him down.
I was heart broken because he was a beautiful Reptile. </3
:(
Now I do not believe in buying from there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MitsuMike

So how do you feel now?

---

A lil cold but other than that I'm just great! Thanks for asking! ^_^ how about you?