I was at Petco and what do I see??

A snake regurge looking at me. I had to get a new water bottle for my rats, and, like everyone else does, had to go look at the reptiles. The ball python was skinny. The boa was in a tank so humid the water was running down the walls. And he was trying to hide behind his water dish. (How many boas do you know that hide? Mine never does anyhow.). AND in his water dish was a regurgitated rodent. :eek: Poor guy. Oh, and the rats were filthy, and one hamster had a crusty eye. Those big pet stores drive me nuts.

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I really dislike the manner in which Petco cares for its reptiles as well. Their employees are generally just as pea brained as well as I distinctly recall an instance when a lady and her son (probably only around eight) were purchasing a boa and the man helping them was practically feeding them the worst information available and even more so, said that the boa was an okay pet for an eight year old kid!

The chain pet stores really just need to step up their game in general or stop carrying animals that they can't handle (which pretty much seems like every animal). It's pathetic.

yeah i dont like petco either last time (before i knew about bp.net) i asked to see a snake and none of the employees wanted to show me the snake because they were afraid of them since they didn't feed in a week or so

Poor things :( Did you inform the manager about the regurge?

As for boas and hides I have two smaller ones who use theirs pretty frequent and my hypo used to use them when she was smaller too.

Yeah most petcos I have been in are horrid. However the one I go to now is very clean and well maintained. They have a dude running the reptile and exotic birds exhibits that does a great job. But I am sure this is a rare occasion considering this is the only petco i have visited that has decent standards.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

Poor things :( Did you inform the manager about the regurge?

As for boas and hides I have two smaller ones who use theirs pretty frequent and my hypo used to use them when she was smaller too.

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I told the first girl I could find, she was in the fish department and said she would let somebody know. It's just sad. These places shouldn't carry animals.

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Our local Petco is really hit-and-miss. Whenever I've been there ALL of the reptiles have crickets running around in there, generic size, apart from the tortoises. However some of the staff are pretty cautious about selling reptiles, and refused to let me rescue a Tokay gecko who had been there a month because I have small children and he was full-grown and very aggressive.

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Originally Posted by Andybill

Yeah most petcos I have been in are horrid. However the one I go to now is very clean and well maintained. They have a dude running the reptile and exotic birds exhibits that does a great job. But I am sure this is a rare occasion considering this is the only petco i have visited that has decent standards.

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I'd probably be willing to work at the Petco in my town if they were willing to let me run the reptile section. :/
I feel so bad for their animals especially since I recently found out that ours doesn't feed its hatchling snakes like at all (apparently about once a month). If the whole company was willing to put more work into hiring people who could properly care for their herps, they'd probably have a much better reputation with the reptile community.

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Originally Posted by Andybill

Yeah most petcos I have been in are horrid. However the one I go to now is very clean and well maintained. They have a dude running the reptile and exotic birds exhibits that does a great job. But I am sure this is a rare occasion considering this is the only petco i have visited that has decent standards.

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Sounds like maybe these animals are lucky..

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Originally Posted by MisterKyte

If the whole company was willing to put more work into hiring people who could properly care for their herps, they'd probably have a much better reputation with the reptile community.

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It should be up to these companies to properly train their employees...it's unreasonable to think that they would be able to fill all their positions with people who have the knowledge and care enough. Nothing that goes on at pet stores is the fault of the employees, they are just normal people like you or I who need work. It is up to the companies ONLY to properly equip their employees to care for the animals. The unfortunate thing is that the mode of business for these pet stores is "in and out" as quickly as possible so that care does not actually need to be given.

Thats horrible. Some of the employees may care and know about the animals they sell, but the management is what's worst. I can't say anything for Petco because there isnt one in my city, but I used to work at Petsmart. I was wrote up for refusing to sell a lady a green tree frog because she was going to keep it in a fish bowl and "feed" it tadpole/crayfish pellet food. She then got irate and complained about me refusing the sale. I tried to explain what she needed, and she said she didnt have the money for a 10 gallon tank and a small heat lamp. So I told her I wasn't going to sell it to her unless she got what it needed to LIVE, as in, you know, PROPER husbandry equiptment and FOOD. At least at the Petsmart I was at, everything is about money money money. They dont care about the animals well being. I was chewed out for not selling a frog to a lady that was going to kill it. I'm glad I got away from there.

Ick. One time I had an argument with the manager about if reptiles could get internal parasites...he was completely sure that no reptile could ever get them. :weirdface Uhm dude has he ever even heard of vets taking a fecal ...............PROBABLY NOT.

That whole thing was from a discussion about a sick iguana, giant fiasco btw.

I have to say that the two Petco's I go to are pretty decent. The guys that run the reptile departments weren't the best, but they were willing to learn and for that, I'll give them business. Just spent an hour the other day in one of them explaining various ways to get hatchling corns to eat since I pointed out one was rather skinny. Not only did he listen, but he took notes AND said thank you. I know that Petco/Petsmart doesn't really give the proper training to the people that work there but at least some of them are smart enough to know when to look for other information and get help.
Now the Petsmart I went into to look at their tortoises in St. Louis, I walked right back out of. Their Russian torts were in with the water dragons and had a mister going in the enclosure... <facepalm>

Our local Petsmart is pretty good. There's a guy who works that that I've known for a long time and he keeps snakes. He knows his stuff. The reptiles always look pretty good in there. Petco is a different story and I wouldn't buy from them. However, if I were to buy a hermit crab (awesome pets!) I would buy it from Petco and NOT from Petsmart. Our local Petsmart has absolutely no water or humidity for their crabs. The Petco is much better.

I stopped in a Petco near where I work on my lunch break one day. They had at least ten ball pythons in the same tank. The tank was filled with shed and feces. I didn't bother looking any further and I haven't been back since.