pet store employee

...had no idea what i was talking about. i called petsmart yesterday to see if they had a zoo med repti temp thermostat in the store. i was trying to find out if it was there or if it was something i had to order online. the guy had no clue...he "tried" to talk me into getting a rheostat & sounded like he didnt even know what THAT was. lol, i just said "nope thats not what i need." & kindly thanked him before getting off.
[shakes head]
i was so disappointed when i got off the phone, not because i have to order the thermostat online, but because of the guy's total cluelessness.
even though i see it all the time...it never fails to disappoint me.
all pet stores should have educational classes for their employees about their products & the basic needs of the animals in their care.
i hate seeing people who only care about making sales then the well-being of the animals or the quality of their products.:mad:
anyways thanks for reading this & sorry for the slight rant in the end...

People at my petstore told me that it is impossible to put a ball python on frozen, even if the snake is CB.. the idiots..

i wonder how the managers sleep at night knowing the animals in their store are so poorly cared for...i wonder if they go to sleep thinking "did i make my quota today?"

There was a thread where a guy at a petstore said they fed the bps crickets :rolleyes:

Hrm, that one I can kinda see, I know chain petstores here in Canada don't sell thermostats at all, you have to order them from a few select online supply shops, and even then the selection is very limited. (I had to buy mine from the US.) So I kinda understand why he wouldn't know what it was. The rheostat is actually a step up from what we have in our stores: nothing.

When I bought my bp, The people at pet smart told me to buy her a 40 gal reptile tank, being a total newbie at this i spent like 600 bucks on a bunch of crap i didnt need cause the store clerk told me I needed all this stuff, worst part about it was she was a hatchling so the enclosure was way too big. They told me to buy a uth and didnt say anything about a thermostat. The welfare of these animals that they sell doesnt mean anything to these people, I was also told that she only ate f/t, and was told to buy 3 boxes of those,lol. fact is they told me she ate on the previous Thursday. I assumed THEY fed her because thats how the clerk made it seem, until I looked at her care sheet and found out they got her on the previous friday, so when was the last time she ate? On top of that I had her to the vet the day after I brought her home because she had a really bad R/I. It was a very stressful situation for her for a while till i got rid of the ri, and got her husbandry issues fixed thanks to the help of the good people on this forum. If your a newb at this, try to do a lot of research on bps and there husbandry, it will save you heartache on a possible dead snake and save you a lot of money. And dont listen to the people at petsmart cause its obvious there worried about making money and not the pets they sell or what situations they put them in. They also like to bug you to donate to the humane society, I dont know about you, but I have a problem with anyone who euthanize perfectly healthy animals just to make room for more.

When I was a young lad (once upon a time) I worked for a chain pet store I thought it would be a fun job I like all animals. I tried to learn about all the different ones that we had and what they needed to be kept healthy. When I pointed out that X needed this and that needed y. I was told it cost too much and shut up and do my job. I got in a bit heated argument about ethics with the chain owner, store owner, and sales director (from the head office) as well as my manager. I quite before they could fire me. It isn't surprising that this happens some floor people will know and be good that animals in their care will be well looked after. So it is a job that is easy and don't care at all. The real problem is with managers and or owners. Some care about health and have ethics and some care about money and if it costs profit margins to keep animals healthy or to treat sick ones well the dollar wins. I often go in a check store before I buy ask basic questions like temps for this and that. See if animals have clean enclosures ect. Then I'll check back and get a new clerk and start again if I don't like what I see I will NEVER buy from them. I often will send a letter to owner telling them my feelings and why. It doesn't change anything (or hasn't yet) but I feel better.

You want be in this hobby long before pet stores are on your no-no list. I haven't stepped foot in a petstore for years...til last week. Looking for somewhere to kill some time last weekend and stumbled across a pet store about 3 hours from my home, it looked clean so we went in. One of my main reasons for not going is MITES, I still didn't touch anything. Hatchling, normal, ball pythons....$129.99!!! Baby boas....$179.99!!!! I watched a young girl buy a boa. I wanted so bad to hand her a business card! If you need anything for your snake start at Reptile Basics, Rich is very helpful and if he don't have what you want he will tell you where to go to get it.
Just remember, pet store....BAD :mad:...Reptile Basics....GOOD :gj:

The ZooMeds may get the job done, but I (and I think a lot of others on here) would recommend spending a little more for a Johnson Controls, Ranco, Spyder Robotics Herpstat, or a Helix.

I second Fatboy's recommendation of Reptilesupplies. I've ordered a Johnson 419 and a Helix from them and Rich was really cool when I had to call him up to ask a couple of quick questions. He sells the Johnsons prewired with a powerstrip so you can plug in multiple UTH'S, you know, in case you are thinking of expanding someday.

don't feel bad I heard of people being conned into buying the uv lights, special rodent food( which was rebagged catfood ) and other horror stories as most pet shops only there to make a profit not proper animal care. they know if you but the animal and it lives you will keep coming back once it dyes no matter what caused it .

Yeah. I was going to buy a bp from Petco. But I'm glad I didn't. They guy wouldn't grab me one. I have to reach on and grab a baby myself. And after holding it for 5 seconds, it began lunging at my friend, me and the employee. I'm glad I was suggested it a reptile only place. And they breed their own reptiles. And if they don't have a clutch, they buy from a breeder they know personally. And they take great care of their animals. I'm glad I was suggested to them. My baby is so relaxed and is just the best first snake I could ever ask for. =]

ok so go to reptile basics & reptile supplies...got it.

I personally work at a Petsmart and unfortunately when i'm not working, my co-workers do what you just did. Well they only recommend a 20 gallon (which is still too big), but some people do just come in and buy a 40 gallon and spend $450 on the setup. I personally tell people to get a sterilite 12 qt storage container, but some of them just want to buy something at the petstore, so they waste their money on the $40 5 gallon critter cage. Unfortunately most people find bp.net AFTER the fact and thats the issue!

wow i already found 3 items that i can buy for cheaper then what i was gonna spend at petsmart/petco...hm good deal.

i dont mean to dis anyone here for working at petsmart/petco or any pet store, so please dont be personally offended by what i said earlier. it just blows my mind how un-educated these employees are when all it could take to fill in the gaps are classes like i had said.
someone on another thread said "a little knowledge can go a long way."
so true man, so true...

There was/is a guy working at the Petco kind of near me, not sure if he still does as I refuse to set foot inside. I was looking at the reptiles section and saw a bp. He comes over and we converse for a few minutes regarding it's temps as they were pretty low in which he told me "blah blah I worked at the rescue society this is how we keeped all our pythons", so I played dumb and switched the agenda to eating. I asked what the kind little beast eats and he stated pinkies. I told him the snake is starving if this is true. I told the man I am just going to purchase the snake and feed him/her bigger meals to encourage better growth and he says to me "Why rush things?"

Long story short I have that cute little snake I call Waffles. They had him marked down to $30 for some reason, so I went with it. Whatevzz

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kitedemon

I was told it cost too much and shut up and do my job. Some care about health and have ethics and some care about money and if it costs profit margins to keep animals healthy or to treat sick ones well the dollar wins.

---

About a week after I raised a fuss about the BP with the retained eyecaps in Petco and they took it to the vet, the price of their mice went up. Both live and frozen. No way of telling if it was because of me forcing a vet visit on them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sorakitty

Yeah. And after holding it for 5 seconds, it began lunging at my friend, me and the employee.

---

I've run into snappy babies at pet stores too. I would surmise it indicates they're hungry, tho I've been told a couple times it's because they're mean. Telling them "your snake is hungry, feed it" always gets "oh we do feed them, he's just aggressive." >sigh<

Id just like to say that not all employees are like that. I posted another thread about how im turning the entire reptile department around at Petland it took me a while but i finally talked the reptile department manager into letting me partialy take over. I always give people good advice and make sure they know what they are getting into with a snake. Its cool because anyone at the store thats interested in reptiles sits and will listen so that means the majority of the employees will give better info now that they know what they are doing wrong. Idk i figured if im gonna work there might as well try and fix it instead of watch it happen.

Well as someone who works for Petsmart now and has gone through the training process, I can tell you that the employees DO receive basic training on the animals in the store. Of course, it is just basic knowledge and even though there are plenty of opportunities to learn more, even while on the clock, I think many employees don't take that opportunity to learn and just go through their day. It is only a job after all. :rolleyes:

One of my managers asked me yesterday how things were going with training with the pet care manager. I could honestly tell her I was having so much fun! I actually didn't want to leave work! I think the problem with uneducated employees is the fact that the managers continue to hire people who have the wrong attitude. When it comes to taking care of and informing people about animals, I think the stores need to be very picky about who they hire. They need to hire people that are very enthusiastic and have knowledge of animals BEFORE they are hired. You can hire anyone with open availability but if you want to provide your customers and their pets with the best possible customer service and provide healthy animals, the stores need to hire better people.

again i say, i was not trying to go after anyone here i was just voicing my opinion based on what ive experienced and seen personally,thats all. if they do educate their employees thats great. i did not know. thank you for correcting me.

I have to agree, I think that most stores are so focused on who has open availability and what their sales are at the end of the day that it makes actually caring for the animals get sent to the bottom of the list of importance. I think that if pet stores screened people first before they hired them, then their sales might actually increase because of the amount of knowledge that each employee has rather than the amount of hours they can work. If you work for a store and go against them for taking care of the animals rather than just help reach daily sales goals, then you are most likely going to get blown up rather than be rewarded for your efforts. I try to avoid big box stores but then again, not all of them have employees that lack knowledge about the animals. It really can depend on how the manager views the living things in the store as if they were just product/inventory or actual living creatures that need proper care.

Its happened to me alot. My local aquarium store was closed on a day I wanted to go so I went to petco and asked if they had any salt for freshwater tanks. They looked at me like I was stupid and proceded to tell me that freshwater fish dont need salt water and there was no such thing. I tried explaining to them that there are 2 types of aquarium salt and one is for freshwater for brakish fish. Also that it is a great temporary treatment for sick freshwater fish. They still didnt get it.

They also sell bearded dragons but dont carry any lights with UVB. Hmmm.

i work at petsmart.

i've also heard a lot of petsmart "horror stories"

all I have to say is that it isn't about sales. There is no commissions and no benefit in making the "big sale."

I know I care about the well-being of all the animals I work with (even the hamster, which I despise)

Its not fair to base such a hated opinion on one bad employee.

big d your right, it isnt fair, but what else are we s'posed think when we see it so often? it may just be, that whenever we have a "situation" we're just talking to the wrong person but it happens too often to just be the fault of 1 un-knowing employee.
should we be condemning the whole store for a few employees mistakes...probably not, but...again it happens too often.

I don't see the blame here being put on the employee, hey, they just need a job. I see the blame here being put on owners/managers for not making sure employees are properly trained. I know the employee don't benefit from the big sale but the owner/manager does. There is a pet store about an hour from my home that had a dude that was right on time with the reptiles...I was learning from him. I would visit to talk with him and he may be doing fish, stocking shelves, ect. When I asked him why he wasn't taking care of the reptiles that day he informed me that all employees were on a weekly rotating schedule and that he only got to work with the reptiles about every other month!!! Talk about poor management :O If I managed that store he would have never left the reptiles, no other employee had a clue. Keep in mind...90% of the general public are scared of snakes, pet stores are hiring employees out of the general public....which means 90% of the time snakes at pet stores are not being properly taken care of. :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FatBoy

You want be in this hobby long before pet stores are on your no-no list. I haven't stepped foot in a petstore for years...til last week. Looking for somewhere to kill some time last weekend and stumbled across a pet store about 3 hours from my home, it looked clean so we went in. One of my main reasons for not going is MITES, I still didn't touch anything. Hatchling, normal, ball pythons....$129.99!!! Baby boas....$179.99!!!! I watched a young girl buy a boa. I wanted so bad to hand her a business card!

---

If this store is in New Bern, I know which one you are probably referring too. Starts with a "B" and ends with a "S"... I almost want to spray myself down with PAM before going in there for feeders....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FatBoy

If you need anything for your snake start at Reptile Basics, Rich is very helpful and if he don't have what you want he will tell you where to go to get it.
Just remember, pet store....BAD :mad:...Reptile Basics....GOOD :gj:

---

RB owns! i buy my hides and i bought my scale & rack from them :gj:
my younger BPs started to outgrow their hides and my larger BPs started to tip their water bowls so i also bought new water dishes :D:D

RB is the best fo sho:gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vypyrz

If this store is in New Bern, I know which one you are probably referring too. Starts with a "B" and ends with a "S"... I almost want to spray myself down with PAM before going in there for feeders....

---

Ohhhhh...I know the store you are refering to, remember I said "clean"!!! B!@#s is not clean. I was in there once and saw a tank with a regurge in it...it didn't even smell!!! :O How long does a regurge have to sit to loose it's smell???? That store SUCKS! The clean store I was refering to with the $$$$$ animals was in Greensboro, NC. The store with the one good reptile guy is in Myrtle Beach, SC. The only problem with the one in MB is you need to take a PAM bath before entering there too. :colbert:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by big d

i work at petsmart.
all I have to say is that it isn't about sales. There is no commissions and no benefit in making the "big sale."

---

I generally try not to jump on the "all pet stores and their employees are bad" bandwagon. However, I once had a job at a large department store (no, not a pet store, but still the same concept), and it was ALL about sales. We were constantly pushed to sell, sell, SELL. If we weren't on top of our customers in 5 seconds, putting on the fake smile and asking, "Hi! How can I help you?" we were berated for it. My point? None of us got commissions, either. Just because an employee doesn't receive commissions, does not mean they won't be pressured into swaying customers to buy useless or unneeded items, just for the sake of making a sale.

The one, short time I DID land a job at a pet store (mom & pop), my employment lasted less than 24 hours. Why? Because I wasn't "perky" enough or bouncing off the walls. In other words, I didn't "butter up" the customers. I didn't jump on them the second they walked in the door and schmooze them into purchasing unneeded items. Also, one of the owners didn't like my "aura". :rolleyes:

That, and their were numerous husbandry problems with many of the animals. ALL water bowls were disgusting. The ball python had a UV light, even when there was accurate information on how to care for the animal stuck onto the glass of the WAY too huge tank. All the birds were never given enough food. I told the owner, "Birds have very fast metabolisms, so they need to eat often. I don't think they are getting enough food." She said, "Oh my gosh! Really!? I didn't know that!" :weirdface

I don't want to offend any one but i generally hate pet stores. Not all but most of them stink. Ninety % of the time the animals are of second or maybe even third quality. Ive been in the reptile biz for a long time and own over a hundred snakes and i ONLY buy from breeders that i know or breeders at the shows with top quality reputations. Ive just been burned to many times when i was younger and maybe that scared me, whatever, all i know is that pet stores, fly by nite breeders, and high school kids needing a summer job are the last people or places id ever buy a reptile from. Long Live the Private Breeder and Down With All Who Dishonor that Name, Thanks for reading, Eyeball PS: our local pet store here in Cornelia Ga is run buy a complete group of morons and smells like more than one thing died in there, If you want to know why so many people have horror stories about pet stores just go to that place!!!!!!!:cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by big d

i work at petsmart.

i've also heard a lot of petsmart "horror stories"

all I have to say is that it isn't about sales. There is no commissions and no benefit in making the "big sale."

I know I care about the well-being of all the animals I work with (even the hamster, which I despise)

Its not fair to base such a hated opinion on one bad employee.

---

Its not the employees that bother me because I have ran into some that know there stuff and others who don't but the way the store is ran. I know people who love herps and fish and try very hard to have rules changes but the managers and owners don't want to hear that because it raises cost. I generally think they should either take better care or stop selling but I doubt my opinion is worth the money they get from animal sales :mad:

I am going to say this and I hope I don't get bashed for being one of the "bad guys".

I co-own pet store and we only sell reptiles and supplies, saltwater fish, corals and supplies for fresh and salt water.

It is a tough business. Of the reptiles we have all (except the 2 left there from the old owner) have been hand picked by me, most of them from breeders who only breed one or two species. I either offer books or care sheets for all the animals we sell and I try really hard to make sure people have what they need and not necesarlly what they want when it comes to set ups.

Here is the issue we have. The majority of my customers are willing to learn to a certain extent but we live in a small town and it is really hard to get them to buy what they need. I have refused sales because of this but it makes it really difficult to keep the doors open sometimes.

It really SUCKS to hear everyone say pet stores are garbage and they keep their animals in crappy conditions and give poor advise. Because the truth of the matter is most of them do and are.

I have had owners of other stores tell me I can't run the store like I do it costs to much money and I will eventually fold. In order to make it in "the business" I have to buy wild caught cheap animals and sell people what they want and not what they need. To me I would rather go out of business than do this. I tell people all the time if I have to sell sick and dying animals to "make it" I would just rather not. Unfortunatley that is what will probably happen in the long run:(.

I do have customers that understand that we go out of our way to make sure the animals they get are healthy, I have a shop vet and if anyone comes in sick they go get treated, our rats are feed Mazuri and our crickets are feed greens. Our Snakes and most other herps are kept 1 to a cage (unless they can live communaly like cresteds/gargoyles). They are fed properly and wormed and/or quarintined (if I do happen to purchase a wild caught animal which has only happened twice).

What I am trying to say is not all pet shops are "bad" but because most of them are, people like myself have the deck stacked against us.

another thought about poor housing conditions in pet stores;

it bothers me when I see a poorly kept reptiles in a small or dirty enclosure,
and although there is no excuse for lesser living conditions,
reptiles in pet stores sell.

Where I work, if the reptile doesn't find a home within a certain amount of time, he is put up for adoption. (which I usually end up with if it is a reptile)

Keep in mind that any poor housing you see in pet stores is, thankfully, not permanent.