pet store loyalty

I had my first pay-it-forward experience last night!

I was in the local PetSmart here, picking up a some dog food for my gf's dog, and a guy was looking at the reptile equipment. I asked him what he was keeping, and he said he was wanting to get a BP. Seemed like a nice enough guy, so I told him I was doing the same. Gave him the same info I gathered here, and directed him towards this website. Hopefully we will come and read first.

A store associate came up and asked if we needed help, and the guy mentioned the BP. The store associate, who was probably ~17-19 years old, was actually pretty knowledgeable. He keeps multiple BPs at his house, and even referenced this website as well. He gave the guy good solid advice, and told him that alot of information the store hands out is wrong.

So just because they work at a pet store, does not mean they are idiotic morons with no clue who ignorantly torture animals to death due to poor husbandry. Try to give the benefit of the doubt- and help out when you can. I was actually impressed this guy was trying to get his tank and everything setup before he purchased a snake. The store associate was telling us that it is usually the other way around- someone sees the BP, buys it on a whim, buys lamps, bulbs, giant tanks, half logs, etc... and then comes back a month later wondering why their snake isn't eating, etc.

Anyhow, this site has been great for me and I currently have a nice tank setup with appropriate temps/hides/etc going on. All with the help of this site. My snake should be here Tues :)

Ok you people are starting to make me worried for my pet store bought BP. On the plus side the lady i dealt with seemed to know what she was talking about the 2-3 times i taked to her about the BPs before i bought mine. She even went so far as to steer me away from one of their snakes that appeared to have a broken rib. That said anytime i get a new pet that I'm unfamiliar with the first thing i do is go online and do loads of research.

Of course I recognize that there are good stores and bad stores. Chain or mom-n-pop both.

That said, I believe there are many more bad than good, but I agree that most should be given the benefit of the doubt when you visit. If the store seems clean and the animals well cared for, then go ahead and ask a few questions you already know the answer to. If the employee gets it right, ask a few more. If the employee skews off into the wild blue yonder as it were, ask for someone else, or shop somewhere else.

The most amazing little shop opened near me recently, and the couple who runs it are the sweetest people. They had barely been open a month when someone dumped off two badly neglected beardies, which they happily adopted and began to care for. Just a short two weeks ago, they had the opportunity to get a few gerbils from a local breeder { that's how they get all their animals if they can } and because they knew nothing about them, she spent all evening on the internet, then went out and bought four books on them. One so she could learn, the others for customers.

I happily gave them my business, now I'm not forced to buy supplies at the big chain stores when I can't shop the shows. And I plan on doing everything I can to make sure they are here for a long time.

gale

This thread has inspired me. Next time I go to a chain pet store, I will ask one of the employees to help my choose supplies for a ball python. If I'm lucky, they'll know what they are talking about, and I will inform the employee that he has passed the test. If they are a complete moron, I will see how they react when I correct them. I'm sure that they'll be glad to be out smarted by a young teenager :)

I was hired for VERY short time (less than a day and a half) at a mom and pop pet store, and let go on account of one of the partners not "getting a good feeling about my aura"...

Since when was taking care of and selling animals about having a good "aura"?

These two owners were ENTIRELY about the customers (I managed to have enough time to correct her on a few facts, "Oh, REALLY? I did not know that!" No, apparently you didn't). Yes, customer satisfaction is a very important aspect in business, but when animals are involved, isn't knowledge and proper care more appreciated? I was super excited about this job, because I'm all about enriching animals' lives and properly educating buyers. (My actual dream job is to rescue abused animals - the field work moreso than the in-shelter work. I want to have the satisfaction of taking the poor, mistreated animal from its owners and telling them what they did wrong, tell them they don't deserve the right to own an animal)

Apparently, in a PET store, my PEOPLE skills weren't up to snuff. Sigh. :rolleyes:

I think what a lot of these stores need are good quality employees. Take for instance, almost every time I go into the Petsmart up the street, I end up helping someone in the reptile/small mammal section with questions. One day I was in there and this lady was asking the employee about equipment she needed for her child's leopard gecko. The store employee said something to the lady (I really can't remember what but I remember is was incorrect) so I spoke up and directed the lady to exactly what she needed. The employee looked a little embarrassed and admitted she really had no clue about leopard geckos. The lady thanked me and purchased what I had recommended to her. There was also the time I was waiting on help in the fish department and a lady was waiting a little impatiently for help as well. We struck up conversation about the betta she was looking to purchase and I noticed the tank, food, and such she had picked out and I told her the fish she had selected was not healthy and not only helped her pick out a healthier, more beautiful fish, but also helped her select a better tank and food brand for the fish. After helping her she took a look at my everyday clothes and asked "Do you even work here?" I responded that no I did not but I knew a lot about betta fish (I have done a lot of research).

I'm currently trying to get a job with either Petsmart or Petco. It would be nice to be able to give people the correct information and help them keep their animals happy and healthy.

Everytime I walk in to a local petsupermarket to buy feeders (the exotic store where I bought my first BP and used to buy feeders went bankrupt and closed) In one of the reptile tanks, I always see these 2 hatchling BP and RTB together with stuck sheds, they dont look in the best of health and they havent grown much in 3 months... Also everytime there is always a different employee there, It breaks my heart for the "unpopular" animals...

Usually if a store is not caring for their animals correctly (as you have described) I do not give that store my business. I would bring up the lack of care to the store manager and see if you can get those snakes some help.

I tried, they didnt say much and just gave me a face... lol. Ever since I had to feed off my ASFs because I moved and my local exotic store closed down (I still had to go there to buy mice or rats since my Pastel never cared for ASFs) It has been a pain finding a local store with feeders and know what they are doing.

I thinking of getting a small freezer and try F/T. But I dont have alot of money at the moment.