Post your weird experiences with Petsmart/Petco!

This store has really gone downhill the past few years too. The last two guys that both kept reptiles but were either let go or quit. I've even brought it to the attention to them that both ball pythons and the boas needed soaked instead of this spray the vet told them to use. I heard a rumor that they could care less of the quality of care their animals and was all about sales.

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Originally Posted by bamagecko76

The worst thing I have seen in a chain petstore was in petco in Jackson TN, they had a 1 1/2 foot redtail boa that was severely malnourished, every one of that snakes ribs were showing and its skin was loose. Made me very mad, I about asked an employee if they knew of it's condition but decided to leave since I knew I would not be able to keep my cool.

And on a funny note:
I had a lady (costumer, not employee) in petco tell me one time that she used to own a thirteen foot BP and that she always slept with it. I just smiled and nodded....

Again at petco, I got into an argument with one of the employees that I made friends with about weather or not they used to sell day geckos (they did, unles they used to have some other green lizard with reddish spots labeled "Day Gecko! ). I think she thought they were green anoles!

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I have a funny Petsmart story. I went in to one a few years ago and saw they had a batch of bearded dragons in. I've never seen a morph beardie at any chain store before and was really really surprised to see one with bright red coloring all over it!

I called an employee over and asked her about the dragon and its red coloring. I was absolutely floored to hear, "Nah, they only come in brown. Someone must have taken a red marker and drawn on it."

She then took it out and tried to rub the red off (which of course didn't come off). My repeated advice that it's part of the dragon's coloring went unheeded (some further muttering on her part about an ink spill or highlighter) so I thanked her for her time and went about my business. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Originally Posted by apple2

Well one thing I noticed at a Petco was THIS :confused:

http://www.atom-computer.com/snakehook.jpg

Apparently the packaging designers couldn't spell "Rattlesnake" right :rofl:

My only other story is pretty funny:

So... Wandered by the reptiles as always. There was an elderly couple there that were looking to buy a BP. They asked two things:

1. Can I keep it in the same cage with my hamsters? They'll get along, right? After all, snakes only like prepared meat.

:banana: YUM :banana:

It gets even weirder...

2. (Associate ENDORSED THIS :O)

Will Albert (Named before they bought it...) enjoy slithering through the tubes? We can make a maze with his food bowl at the other end so that he can get exercise before he eats the sausage. That way he won't get fat.

SAUSAGE??? Really?

At least the snake won't go hungry. It has all the tasty hamsters it would ever need :P

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COBRAS?!! I wouldnt get NEAR a cobra with that thing! Ive always had really good experiences at my local Petsmart and Petco to be honest, but we used to have a Pets Supplys Plus store near my house. Everything we ever bought (fish, guinea pigs, hampsters, etc) never lasted very long. I was about 12 years old when I bought my first snake, a texas racer from Pets Supply. They insisted that it only ate crickets and didnt need any kind of heat source or anything like that and me being young and dumb did not research it or anything. My parents are deathly afraid of mice so the only snake I could get couldnt eat mice. I am not afraid of anything but large, mean dogs, heck i even had a pet black widow for awhile that i caught in our bathroom! Needless to say, the snake didnt last very long. When I got my BP a few months ago I researched every website and book I could get a hold of before getting my snake since I live on my own now and could have what I wanted. I lurked her a long time before joining. Now I believe I know what happened to that poor snake.

No worries, my BP lives in a sterilite tub and everything from that old snake was tossed a long time ago.

I don't really have any "horror" stories about the local Petco because the one by my house actually has knowledgable employees who I have known for quite some time, BUT I do have a somewhat funny story about the Petco I used to go to when I was in college. They had an employ there whose title was reptile specialist. Over time I became friends with the guy and he was a hobby breeder of several different species of reptiles. Well as you all know, the chain pet stores get their guidelines from corporate and God forbid they differ what what their "experts" say lol. Well he cared more about the animals well being than he did about what they told him to do so he changed everything the best he could to make sure the animals were as comfortable possible with what he had to work with. He was fired for breaking protocol and then called about 3 weeks later with an offer to take his job back because their reptiles were dying. The funniest part about the whole thing is, he was fired 3 times for doing this, and every time they would call him back 2 to 3 weeks later offering his job back lol.

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Originally Posted by jtomb1510

He was fired for breaking protocol and then called about 3 weeks later with an offer to take his job back because their reptiles were dying. The funniest part about the whole thing is, he was fired 3 times for doing this, and every time they would call him back 2 to 3 weeks later offering his job back lol.

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:rofl:

I know Petco/Petsmart both have a really bad rap for their pet care but I have actually had fairly positive experiences there. My first snake I got (a normal female BP) is literally the best pet I could imagine. She always has perfect sheds, never missed a meal, eats F/T, went from mice to rats with a breeze, and never bites. I will admit I paid way too much for her ($40 because she was half off) but I couldn't be happier with her. I also recently got a crested gecko from Petco and she has also been a great pet. I have actually been really happy with their animals. A few negatives about them though.... When I went to buy my BP who was a hatchling, they REFUSED to sell me a BP if I didn't have a 20 gallon tank as a minimum... I had done some research and I planned on doing a tub setup but the manager told me the only way she would sell me it is if I had the tank. I really wanted the snake so I bought everything she said. I returned everything she sold me 2 days later. :D Then when I went to buy my crested everything went fine until I asked for CGD. I didn't notice it on the shelf and the girl working told me that they use Leopard gecko calcium supplement. (used for dusting crickets) so I bought the gecko and went to a different store for food. I would say other than their poor information they usually have good animals and they take really good care of them. (at my Petco at least) Last time I was in there they had Kenyan sand boas, a Pastel or "Fancy ball python", and a wide variety of colubrids.

-Alex

Ok so I was in my local petsmart picking up 20 gallon tank for my bearded dragon and I stopped to look at the reptiles. I noticed that the ball pythons were is what looked like a desert habitat and instantly knew something was wrong. they actually had a dial thermometer and hydrometer in the tank (not great but better than nothing) It was 110 on the hot side with 0% humidity. I instantly asked someone if they knew that their ball pythons were being housed incorrectly and this lady told me that I was wrong, that ball pythons are native to the MOJAVE DESERT and need such temperatures and humidity levels. I was stunned at this statement and instantly pulled out my iPhone and showed her the care sheet here on BP.net. About a week later I was driving past the petsmart and decided to check if they had actuallty done anything about the ball pythons husbandry. I went in prepared for the worst knowing that if nothing had been changes that there likely was a BBQ'd BP sitting in the tank. When I looked in the cage I was stunned the BP was dead but not because the enclosure was too hot... they had stopped using ANY heat sources at all. I had made it very clear that BP's needed a thermal gradiant of 78-82 on the cool side and 88-92 on the hot side. The thermometer was reading 60 degrees. (It is the coldest petstore I have ever been in) I got the same lady over and asked why there wasn't any heat being provided and if she knew that their snake was dead. At this point she starts freaking out at me and gets the manager involved. I show him the care sheet from this site and explained how I had showed this lady the exact same thing.

HE FIRED HER ON THE SPOT.

I don't want anyone to lose their jobs especially in these hard economic times but she really shouldn't have been working there in the first place. while this defiantly wasn't a shining moment for Petsmart I have to give it to the manager, he was very professional and was willing to listen to me once I proved to him that I really did in fact know what I was talking about (Which I find to be very reasonable I would be worried if he listened to anybody who approached him). After he fired the lady he had me print out the BP.net BP care sheet and had me fix the issues with the setup.

So... I work at one of the aforementioned stores (which I probably shouldn't be specific on just in case lol), however I groom dogs :) As much as I wanna jump in and say, "don't hate on us! You just have a bad store!" I can't because.. well, I know better. We aren't allowed to feed live, and quite honestly I'm glad because we hire the general public, not specialists, and I can't imagine the damage we'd see if there were live feeders. I got my normal from work, and she was a super picky eater. Turns out, all she wanted was live. Now, she's big and healthy.

Fast forward to now... we have a tiny BP who won't take f/t, and there's nothing we can do but try and offer it. I really wanna sneak in a hopper and feed it, but I'd lose my job. One of my favorite petcare coworkers said they had one in a similar situation, and one of her friends bought it so they could feed it live, and then took it back to return it. Admittedly, not the best idea, but at least it ate.

We have a chain puppy mill pet store out here too called Petland that also sells reptiles. I've never been in one (although I'll have to shortly because my reg stores don't have any hoppers), but my friend's cousin bought a BP there. They told her it didn't need a heat source and to feed it once a month. It died in December... makes me want to punch them.

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Originally Posted by moonlightgdess

So... I work at one of the aforementioned stores (which I probably shouldn't be specific on just in case lol), however I groom dogs :) As much as I wanna jump in and say, "don't hate on us! You just have a bad store!" I can't because.. well, I know better. We aren't allowed to feed live, and quite honestly I'm glad because we hire the general public, not specialists, and I can't imagine the damage we'd see if there were live feeders. I got my normal from work, and she was a super picky eater. Turns out, all she wanted was live. Now, she's big and healthy.

Fast forward to now... we have a tiny BP who won't take f/t, and there's nothing we can do but try and offer it. I really wanna sneak in a hopper and feed it, but I'd lose my job. One of my favorite petcare coworkers said they had one in a similar situation, and one of her friends bought it so they could feed it live, and then took it back to return it. Admittedly, not the best idea, but at least it ate.

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Would it be possible for you to explain the situation to the store manager and see if you can make an exception to the policy?

i went into petco to purchace my pacman frog couse i had 50% off coupon on any live reptile :banana: so i ask the girl for the pacman frog she puts him in a plastic bag with tissue realy just let the dry tissue absorb the last bit of moister left on him so i tell her can u put some of the substrate in there she goes whats that so i slide the draw out and grab a handfull of moist dirt like a kid on halloween lol then she goes but :colbert:and i cut her off and say i dont want my pacman frog to die now!!!thheeeennnnn i go to get superworms and there was a load of worms that turned into pupae so i tell the guy and he said "wow they send us cacoons" lmfao