Rate petco! 1-10

I've seen alot of threads with concerns of Petco, from personal experience I've gone to petco and saw three baby ball pythons skinny as ever, low hummidity, low temp, bad sheds, little room, and empty water dish. If you've gone to petco and noticed somthing odd, or that concerns you post it, if you have pictures, feel free to post.

-Payson!

At our Pet Co, the ball pythons are kept with red tailed boas, fed pinkies (even the adults), they are so thin, and the bearded dragons are all extremely tiny, and in an over-crowded aquarium. The rats/mice eat each other alive, there are 500+ hermit crabs in a 10 gallon enclosure (piled on top of each other), there are no hiding spots for the snakes, there are three leopard geckos in a small display case that is around the size of a five gallon aquarium, the crested geckos are fed baby food, they drop animals all the time and they don't care...

The list goes on. I tried reporting them, but they won't change.

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Originally Posted by RR - Mackenzie

At our Pet Co, the ball pythons are kept with red tailed boas, fed pinkies (even the adults), they are so thin, and the bearded dragons are all extremely tiny, and in an over-crowded aquarium. The rats/mice eat each other alive, there are 500+ hermit crabs in a 10 gallon enclosure (piled on top of each other), there are no hiding spots for the snakes, there are three leopard geckos in a small display case that is around the size of a five gallon aquarium, the crested geckos are fed baby food, they drop animals all the time and they don't care...

The list goes on. I tried reporting them, but they won't change.

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Thats really sad to hear.. You would expect a "petstore" to treat there animals with care and love not to be used as quick money.

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Originally Posted by Paysons Bps

Thats really sad to hear.. You would expect a "petstore" to treat there animals with care and love not to be used as quick money.

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Right?

The birds all have almost no feathers, they are so bored they pluck their feathers, they have large rabbits in small enclosures, and so much more. It is so horrible and disgusting

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Originally Posted by RR - Mackenzie

At our Pet Co, the ball pythons are kept with red tailed boas, fed pinkies (even the adults), they are so thin, and the bearded dragons are all extremely tiny, and in an over-crowded aquarium. The rats/mice eat each other alive, there are 500+ hermit crabs in a 10 gallon enclosure (piled on top of each other), there are no hiding spots for the snakes, there are three leopard geckos in a small display case that is around the size of a five gallon aquarium, the crested geckos are fed baby food, they drop animals all the time and they don't care...

The list goes on. I tried reporting them, but they won't change.

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I would call 911 in that case.

one of the petcos in my area now sell argentine b&w tegus... :rolleyes:

I'm not sure if they're any better now, but the petco closest to where I live was a trainwreck the last time I was there. The ball pythons were a sob story, and if it weren't for the fact that I wasn't sure if they had something contagious, I would've brought all five home (that, and the stress of moving them probably would have sent them to their graves). They were WAY too thin, and they were piled together with no hide in a ten gallon tank. They had russian tortioses with runny eyes and noses and moldy salads, and they had a tank with some anoles that had cobwebs trailing across the top. I didn't look at anything else because I probably would've hit the employee in charge of those animals in the mouth.

I reported them, had my friends report them, and never went back. I can only hope they've improved for the animals' sake.

been in the 2 local ones and gone from justa customer to offerd a job at the one. I don't buy there often prefer local or online stores. I had the manager at the one store call me and asking advise for on a snake that was dropped off at the door once. ( they didn't havea reptile person. I was passing cards and such out for doing rescues at one time. )

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Originally Posted by mechnut450

been in the 2 local ones and gone from justa customer to offerd a job at the one. I don't buy there often prefer local or online stores. I had the manager at the one store call me and asking advise for on a snake that was dropped off at the door once. ( they didn't havea reptile person. I was passing cards and such out for doing rescues at one time. )

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The one that was by me in Florida did the same thing. I lived 2 mins from them, and they had me on speed-dial basically because they'd need help to identify whatever herps were brought in. They actually kept the store clean, and the animals in good condition.

Unfortunately the one here in Atlanta is headed on the same path. Whenever I walk in the store they know I'm grabbing 60 crickets for my lizards, and I'm known as "That reptile Guy". They changed the habitat by me for their normal balls because I pointed out that they weren't arboreal and didn't need a 6 foot high tank because they could hurt themselves. The next week I came in, the tank had changed, and didn't have vines and everything hanging from the top. Plus they had the hides and other things needed to keep them comfortable.

I'm sure they are going to need my help with a few things here or there.

You can't generalize the company based off your local stores. There are many things most people don't know about PetCo. Make whatever assumptions you will, but they are leaps and bounds better than most other chain stores.

The Hedgehog, didn't your location use to say Savannah? If not, sorry. I'd like to know the PetCo you're talking about.

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Originally Posted by jfreels

You can't generalize the company based off your local stores. There are many things most people don't know about PetCo. Make whatever assumptions you will, but they are leaps and bounds better than most other chain stores.

The Hedgehog, didn't your location use to say Savannah? If not, sorry. I'd like to know the PetCo you're talking about.

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No it was Atlanta. The one in Sandy Springs is the petco where they had them in the arboreal setup. I heard they changed it back though. I haven't been in there since last week. :(

we have 2 that aren't to bad AUBURN MASS> and SHREWSBURY MA.
they call a local snake breeder if they have problems , and i have helped them shed a few snakes that came in with bad sheds.
Petsmart on the other hand SUCKS

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Originally Posted by The Hedgehog

No it was Atlanta. The one in Sandy Springs is the petco where they had them in the arboreal setup. I heard they changed it back though. I haven't been in there since last week. :(

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They were only doing that temporarily to "highlight" the ball pythons and they didn't want to sell the tortoises at half price. That's the one my wife works at so if you have any complaints, talk to Al, he's the store manager and he will listen to anything you have to say. Or even Akosh who is the manager of that area in the store. You didn't happen to see a fat guy with a RTB on Saturday, did you?

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Originally Posted by jfreels

They were only doing that temporarily to "highlight" the ball pythons and they didn't want to sell the tortoises at half price. That's the one my wife works at so if you have any complaints, talk to Al, he's the store manager and he will listen to anything you have to say. Or even Akosh who is the manager of that area in the store. You didn't happen to see a fat guy with a RTB on Saturday, did you?

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No, I was in there rather early about 11 or so. Who's your wife? And thanks for the heads up, I like most of the employees there. They are all friendly and were cool about listening to my suggestions.

Things were horrible, but someone must have complained because now things are decent....

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Originally Posted by The Hedgehog

No, I was in there rather early about 11 or so. Who's your wife? And thanks for the heads up, I like most of the employees there. They are all friendly and were cool about listening to my suggestions.

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Brandi, the grooming salon manager.

Probably been said already but I think that because PetCo is such a main stream franchise type store...you cant really expect them to have a staff in every store that is knowledgable on herpetology. The average store seems to have the average person who just flat out needed employment. I dont think that any experience is required just a willingness to learn as they go...If thats the case, I wont fault the staff. I go there to get pet food and recently started getting frozen mice and rats but I dont see myself getting any snakes there.

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Originally Posted by t6venom

we have 2 that aren't to bad AUBURN MASS> and SHREWSBURY MA.
they call a local snake breeder if they have problems , and i have helped them shed a few snakes that came in with bad sheds.
Petsmart on the other hand SUCKS

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I'm glad there are a couple in MA that aren't bad. The one I had been in was in Falmouth, but it was a few years back. They're probably better, but like I said I haven't been since I saw what I saw.

The petsmart in Hyannis is not so great either. The reptiles don't seem too bad, but there are always things that need improving, but some of the birds and stuff they get in are just sad.

There are some awesome places near my house, though. They're privately owned, and they know what they're doing for the most part. Every time I go, the guy behind the counter is browsing herp forums and such on the computer. :)

Not all places are so bad.

:colbert:I dont recommend and i never have nor will ever buy and animal from a petco or petsmart mostly because there animals are not captive breed and come from farms in Africa and or south america. And you never know if what animal your getting has mites or diseases in its genes like mbd and i dont really like the idea of an animal just being kept alive. they dont get held allot or treated rite so you never know if the animal your getting is mean. but like i said i dont recommend buying animals from petco or petsmart so you dont even have to think about these problems if u buy ur animal from a breeder. usually buying from a breeder your getting a healthy animal thats nice and has been treated rite. i know i went a lil overboard with this post but i just want to help all you new pet buyers so you get a good, healthy, pet you'll love. thanks for listining :gj: :rolleye2: :banana: :sabduel:

Petco: Housing dead fish since 1965. I voted decent because the ones near me arent that bad. However I went with a friend and she said "Eh, no matter where you go for fish you'll find some dead ones in there." However considering I counted 6 and the other places I have gone had 1-2 or more frequently none... I have to say that's bull. How hard is it to walk around a net the dead ones instead of leaving their carcasses in there long enough for scales to start circulating in the water...

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In June 2010, prosecutors from Marin, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Mateo and Santa Barbara counties announced that PETCO had agreed to settle a $1.75 million consumer protection lawsuit, without admitting liability. The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court that alleges Petco overcharged its customers and improperly cared for some animals, following inspections of PETCO stores throughout California from 2005 through 2008. PETCO paid more than $850,000 to resolve a similar case in 2004. [2]

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From Wikipedia. Wow to think they could have saved all that money and would have more customers if all they did was take care of their animals. That's a shame.

My local Petco is excellent, its very clean, the animals are cared for and even get some play time with the employees when they arent busy. The staff are very helpful and know their stuff. But I dont go in and ask the bird experts help me pick out a reptile either, lol.
I actualy only use Petco in an emergency (or to pick up a critter)...like a broke heat bulb, things that need fixed ASAP, otherwise I order because I only pay half of what they ask for localy - $24 for a $40 heat element localy, same for a $50 heat mat localy, I wont buy any of that type of stuff at a pet store.

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Originally Posted by Flatheadhunter33

I go there to get pet food and recently started getting frozen mice and rats but I dont see myself getting any snakes there.

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I stock up on rodents when I go to reptile shows. I won't pay $10.99 for a single "jumbo" rat (the ones they have are actually closer to a medium) or $6 for a 3 pack of mice at my local Petco.

I politely told the idiots they have running the reptile section about a retained eye cap on a ball twice over a period of 2 weeks, but they couldn't be bothered to fix it.

Not just Petco. Pet warehouse, Petsmart, Petland. They are all just as bad as each other here.

Our local Petco doesn't have reptiles anymore. Which is good because they used to look pretty rough. Bad temps, humidity, retained sheds, scrawny looking, etc...

[QUOTE=baxter1209;1386592]there animals are not captive breed and come from farms in Africa and or south america.
[QUOTE]

You know this because you work there? I know for a FACT that your statement is BS.

[QUOTE=baxter1209;1386592]
they dont get held allot or treated rite so you never know if the animal your getting is mean.
[QUOTE]

Seriously, this is one of your arguments?

You know the ONE thing that separates PetCo from PetSmart, PetLand and the others.....it's company policy to feed frozen/thawed. It's stated in the stores and on their website. Oh wait, there's a second thing, each region has their own dedicated vet. It's also policy to quarantine any sick animals and have them looked at ASAP. Most other stores will just let the animal get sold, die or send back.

If you see an animal sick or in harms way, see the store manager. If you're going to talk about how they need two of the exact same hides, X temp and X humidity, then keep it to yourself. Even though they would like to create the perfect habitat for each animal, they simply can't.

I rated them good, because I quite like the one I got my snake from.

The Petco I got Bones from does a great job at taking care of their reptiles. Their store is clean, well stocked, and smells nice, haha! I educated myself well enough to know that when I went to purchase my snake, if I asked them something and they gave me a generic or wrong answer, I'd know where they stood. All of the employees I spoke to in the reptile section were decently knowledgable and the snakes all looked and acted healthy. I think the Petco I go to takes better care of their animals than the local mom and pop stores around here.

With that being said, I think it is pretty unfair to assume that ALL Petco stores are bad just because you've seen maybe one or two out of the 1000+ Petco stores in the US that are bad.

Edit: But like Tonyaltn said, I only buy emergency stuff from Petco because it is cheaper to buy most things online.

[QUOTE=jfreels;1386736][QUOTE=baxter1209;1386592]there animals are not captive breed and come from farms in Africa and or south america.
[QUOTE]

You know this because you work there? I know for a FACT that your statement is BS.

[QUOTE=baxter1209;1386592]
they dont get held allot or treated rite so you never know if the animal your getting is mean.

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Seriously, this is one of your arguments?

You know the ONE thing that separates PetCo from PetSmart, PetLand and the others.....it's company policy to feed frozen/thawed. It's stated in the stores and on their website. Oh wait, there's a second thing, each region has their own dedicated vet. It's also policy to quarantine any sick animals and have them looked at ASAP. Most other stores will just let the animal get sold, die or send back.

If you see an animal sick or in harms way, see the store manager. If you're going to talk about how they need two of the exact same hides, X temp and X humidity, then keep it to yourself. Even though they would like to create the perfect habitat for each animal, they simply can't.

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You have your opinion and he has his...........

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Originally Posted by jfreels

You know the ONE thing that separates PetCo from PetSmart, PetLand and the others.....it's company policy to feed frozen/thawed. It's stated in the stores and on their website. Oh wait, there's a second thing, each region has their own dedicated vet. It's also policy to quarantine any sick animals and have them looked at ASAP. Most other stores will just let the animal get sold, die or send back.

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Sorry, but Petsmart has the EXACT same policy. They refuse to feed live, district has its own reptile vet, all sick animals are supposed to see a vet within 24 hours, there is a quarantine room...

Sad thing is, youre talking about policy. If you read almost any petstore's policy, it sounds really good. The problems happen because while its easy to have a piece of paper stating a policy, it's nearly impossible to get the management of the stores to enforce it.

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Originally Posted by Paysons Bps

You have your opinion and he has his...........

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But he is stating "facts" which are incorrect.

aalomon, You're right about PetSmart, sorry I missed that one. They don't advertise that policy at my local stores and they do not carry frozen mice/rats. That was an assumption which I am sorry for.

The problem with the policy is that they are not great for the reptile, so the policy doesn't sound great. Generally, stores follow their company policy, or they would get cited for it when the DMs take tours of the stores. The policies are what needs changing.

I don't mean to sound like PetCo is the greatest place on earth to buy reptiles, far from it and I never plan on buying a reptile from them. I'm just arguing that because you randomly walk in and see a ball with stuck shed, that doesn't mean that they don't care about their animals and they all have IBD and mites.

PetSmart is the worst, IMO. But I don't feel as if I need to voice my opinions on why because I don't possess knowledge of how that company operates.

I never knew my local petco was such a bad place to go, intel i saw the inclosers of the ball pythons.

My local Petco is very nice. It's all college students, but it seems they only hire people who are in to animals. The woman that handles our reptile section breeds ball pythons. The fish tanks seem clean as well, I have seen a few things that bothered me. However, speaking with the manager resolved all concerns I had immediately. We use them for a lot of our pet needs, but if they were to slip we would pull our support immediately.

most chain pet stores take bad care of their animals. The up side for petco is they have good prices on supplies... (cheaper than petsmart even when ordered offline WITH shipping) and they always have online sales.

Unfortunatley there are no small name pet stores around where I live besides Petland and theyre still a chain...

The petco near me had very experienced people in charge of the marine fish and reptile areas. But all the petcos near me shut down like over 5 years ago. There can be a benefit to uninformed petcos however. I found a pretty expensive watanabe angelfish that shipped to a petco and it was mislabled as a twenty dollar swallow tail. That was a score!

The petco here is just decent. The people they hire know nothing so I don't even talk to them. I think they like it best that way because I pissed one off one time about giving advice to someone.

http://www.ozenduranceracing.net/wp-...03/ZOMBIE1.jpg

yep, definitively. it must be "old thread resurrection month".

When in Rome ...

The Petco near me does fairly well with baseline education of reptiles. Very terrible with invertebrates though. However their exotic creatures are not treated to my expectation as a keeper. But they are a business...

All things considered... I'd give them a 5 or 6 overall.


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1.0 normal
1.0 spider
0.1 pastel

They don't call it death co for no reason.

The Petco near me is horrible. I have seen green iguanas that can barley open their eyes. I was gonna buy my BP from there. But, good thing they were in shed so I couldn't get one.

Our closest petco is about 35 mins away and their store is decent. The reptiles were in good looking shape, humidity and temps were good, the red-tail boas Ball and pythons and other lizards don't appear to be skinny. Only one employee seem to be nice and knew how to maintain Ball pythons...5 stars better than our local petsmart. :)

The Bird section was bad, some Macaws (think I spelled that right) looked very stress, dirty looking feathers in a bunch...feathers missing, too many birds in one cage. :colbert:

Small mammals section was in great shape and all the employee's knows plenty of knowledge on keeping them healthy. :D

But the fish weren't in good shape, algae in every tank, dead fish in the tanks fish with big eye disease (puffy eyes) in the tank. They need a bit of help in that section. :mad:

It's ok...

My local store is okay.
I wish they used better equipment in their reptile enclosures, but their animals seem pretty well fed-as long as they can get them to eat f/t...
I have a buddy who works there and he knows his stuff, but that is hard to come by in big chain stores sometimes.
I did look at a pastel girl today that had some beautiful blushing, but they want 150 for her and she's probably about 300 grams-they have 50% off all snakes right now but wont do it for the "Special Orders". if she's there another month or so they'll knock the price down and I'll haggle with the manager using the length of stay as leverage...

The did have a couple "minor morphs" in their beardie cage(I think anyways...)

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Originally Posted by SteveySingle

My local store is okay.
I wish they used better equipment in their reptile enclosures, but their animals seem pretty well fed-as long as they can get them to eat f/t...
I have a buddy who works there and he knows his stuff, but that is hard to come by in big chain stores sometimes.
I did look at a pastel girl today that had some beautiful blushing, but they want 150 for her and she's probably about 300 grams-they have 50% off all snakes right now but wont do it for the "Special Orders". if she's there another month or so they'll knock the price down and I'll haggle with the manager using the length of stay as leverage...

The did have a couple "minor morphs" in their beardie cage(I think anyways...)

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150 for a 300g pastel actually isn't too bad at all, as long as she actually is female. I would have expected something in the three hundred dollar range at the big box stores.

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These big chain petstores are an empty husk; their goodness, or lack thereof, to be determined by the staff employed at any particular location.

Well, as long as this thread is back in circulation... I've got some horror stories about my local petco. They have the commonplace problems like stressed birds with missing feathers, dirty goldfish tanks with a handful of dead fish, and small mammal tanks with carefresh that looks like it hasn't been changed in a month, but the reptile section is the worst. There's an employee there who claims to run a reptile rescue out of his house; whether he can do anything about how the reptiles in the store are kept, or whether he really doesn't know how to care for them at all, I don't know.

None of the reptiles there have hides, presumably so customers can always see them, and not a single animal ever has clean water. The bearded dragons (usually babies) are always kept on sand, piled on top of each other, looking extremely lethargic. Occasionally they have an older beardie with a missing foot or tail. The leopard geckos, about ten of them, are in the same conditions (sand), all huddled in the corner piled on top of one another because they have nowhere to hide during the day. The leos always have some stud shed on their eyelids and/or toes and they're skinny as can be. What really disgusted me once was a baby iguana with so much stud shed on its eyelids that the eye was swollen to twice its size. I wouldn't be surprised if it has died from the infection by now...

This petco doesn't often have BPs, but they're usually trying to hide in a corner or behind a perch because they have no hides. They also have a problem with the neighboring neonate corn slipping into the BP's enclosure through the glass divider, so I've seen the BP and corn coiled up together multiple times. The employee I talked to didn't seem concerned about fixing it.

The thing that absolutely infuriates me about this petco is how they keep their crested geckos. For a while they were keeping their cresties at temps in excess of 100 F--if anyone here has kept cresteds before, they would know temps above 85 can be fatal. And sure enough, I saw cresteds there cooked to death on two separate occasions from being kept too hot. I literally found a tiny crispy gecko corpse in the tank, twice. I talked to the employees about this multiple times, and only recently did I see a change. Now if only they would change their food every once in a while and stop trying to feed their geckos a bowl of solid mold.

I'm sure not every petco is this bad, but mine is pretty awful. Finding dead and dying reptiles in a store takes the cake for me. On the other hand, my local Petsmarts don't make any of these mistakes, they don't even use sand and their animals generally look healthy. I did buy a sick CWD from Petsmart before though and he was sick his whole life, so I still don't recommend anyone buy a pet from these chains, especially if the species you're buying is likely to be an import.

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i got two bps at petco the first seemed attentive, healthy but died three days later , extreme impaction was my best guess
i went back and they gave me another who just died in my hands after a vet found another bad impaction (after only a short time)
both snakes were sold with poor health. They were so thin, all I have to say is stay away from their reptiles

My Petco isn't too terrible - leopard geckos on reptile carpet, beardies on carpet, AND humid hides for the leos. Shocking, right? :P But they also had multiple ball pythons on reptile carpet, which ball pythons are solitary creatures, but...

My Petsmart on the other hand...well. Where do I begin? There's like 6 ferrets in a glass cage big enough for maybe two. Guinea pigs & chinchillas have too small enclosures. Actually, they all have too small of enclosures. The ball pythons are waay too skinny. Housed together, of course. The leopard geckos -- oh dear. There had to have been at least 10 in a 5 gallon. All different sizes which, when housing leopard geckos, they have to be the same size. Housed on sand. I though a couple of them were dead, thank god they were breathing lol.

That's what i remember from the last time I was there. Maybe it got better.

I have two Petco's and three PetSmarts within 20 mins driving distance of my house, and in Texas that is considered very close. I am not fond of either of them. Hands down the PetSmarts are in better condition and take much better care of their animals, but I have no respect for either. Each one sells red tail boas, and one even had a burmese python for sale once. The cards on the display cases describing the red tails said they maxed out at 5-6 feet! It also said they could be kept in 40 gallon aquariums when they were full grown! I was shocked, and proceeded to demand a manager address the issue. This is why there are so many large snakes being abandoned, because of irresponsible pet stores giving out false information simply to make a quick buck! I don't buy from pet stores. Period.