Another Sad Petco Story

Stopped by my local Petco today for substrate and checked out the animals like I usually do. They have had a green tree python for awhile and though it had a bad shed it has appeared healthy the past few visits. Today i noticed it was not perched and at first thought they sold it. Giving the cage a closer look the humidity was 50 and the temp was over 90. Then I noticed the gtp was on the ground and kinda tangled in a fake plant.

It was obvious that the little guy was in trouble so I got an employee and said they need to check it. She opened the cage and then stood there. I asked why she didn't pull it out and she said "it bites." I could tell it was not going to bite but hoped it would. I pulled it out and it only had a small twitch in the tail but no signs of life.

The employee asked me what they should do:O. Then asked if I knew of a reptile vet:O. I told them about one but by the time they decided what to do the faint twitching stopped and it was gone.I believe it was past the point of saving to begin with.

I had not been to the store in a few weeks and was going to go yesterday but I held off til today. I wish I would have gone sooner and maybe I could have saved it.

Talking to the employees about it they admitted they knew nothing about it. They said it arrived in November and it had not eaten since they got it. They also said that nobody really messed with it because it would always strike. I wish I would have known about the issues they were having sooner, maybe I could have helped or even adopted it.

Sad, Petco and the big pet stores usually have people who don't know much wish they would actually hire people who knew what they were doing, I'm amazed they didn't notice it at all though poor little guy.

One employee did notice it wasn't acting right earlier in the day but didn't do anything. It's great that the customers care more than the employee.

It would be nice if they paid someone a decent wage that actually knew what they where doing to take care of them. or god forbid actually train people to do it right.

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Originally Posted by dillan2020

It would be nice if they paid someone a decent wage that actually knew what they where doing to take care of them. or god forbid actually train people to do it right.

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X2

But in their eyes that costs money! And eating into profit margins for shareholders is a big no no! Truly is sad, why I haven't gone to a pet smart in a long time.

They should have discounted it since it was being stubborn with them. They wanted 299.99 for it and now they have nothing. I would have bought it with a discount and tried to turn it around. I'm not big on buying animals from them especially for 300 but at a low price I would have taken the gamble. They recoup some and the snake would have gotten a better chance. I just hope they don't order another one.

They had signs about adopting some bearded dragons. Why not the gtp? Just being greedy.

Yea it is sad, I new 2 great people that worked at a PETCO and that store rock, clean, pets care for and they new everything you needed to know. But now its gone down hill since they left. I can only hope that they get someone like the 2 that where there before and the store comes back to what it was, it was relley looking great back then.
:)

My petco didn't know much about Ball pythons. I asked them questions they either had to go check with someone or they didn't know.

I also asked to see one and they refused to touch em.

People at my petland near me were more helpful and willing to touch em.

A sad story indeed. I don't hold my tongue when I see animal neglect like that. I can't believe that store would allow it. I guess I'm just lucky to work at a PetSmart that takes very good care of our animals. Reptile humidity could be increased a little, but that's the only issue we have and I've only ever seen one respiratory infection. On top of that we can all recognize when an animal is sick or not acting healthy. It's strange that breeders sell GTPs for 399.99$ and a retail store sold them for less. Usually it's sold at a huge mark up.

It does seem the PetSmart is cleaner and the animals better taken care of compared to Petco.

I've been researching pacman frogs as a new addition. Today I was looking at the food options Petco had for one. The boxes of live crickets were stacked two high and about five deep and none of then had live crickets in them. They were all dead and marked with the date 2/12.

I took this picture of a GTB at my local PETCO...

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...97980998_n.jpg

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Originally Posted by Highline Reptiles South

I took this picture of a GTB at my local PETCO...

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That poor thing doesn't look alive.

Similar to what I found but it wasn't coiled at all. Looked like a rope tossed in a corner.

I wonder what their cost is on a gtp.

That's really depressing. My local petco has at least one guy that's into reptiles at least at a knowledgeable hobby level. However, I'm still shocked that they sell marine animals and angelfish.

I was a store manager at petco for five years. The animal care starts with the manager hiring the correct people. I hired one person mainly for small animals one for birds and one for reptiles and I oversaw the fish. I made sure that those people had there hours and where happy. I had other associates complain but i told them you do not take proper care of the animals so that is why you are on the register or stocking. Since I left the store it went down hill quick. They begged me to come back and be the manager cause they did not like the other one. Yes it is sad that most of the store out there do not give proper care. If I had to guess that gtp only cost them $150. You wouldn't believe the mark up on the animals.

Never seen anything but balls and corns in my local Petcos and PetSmarts. There is no way that a store like that should have that kind of an animal. Sad.

I haven't experienced many problems with my local pet stores. Both of my ball pythons were purchased by each major chain pet brands, PetSmart and PETCO, respectively. Both of these stores have only ever sold corn snakes or ball pythons as far as snakes go. I don't remember actually having any problems with PetSmart. The lady who sold my first ball python to me has had experience with ball pythons before. Since the only ball python they had hadn't eaten since it arrived, she said they typical wouldn't sell them and was greatly discouraging me from buying it. I, however, decide I would take the gamble. (Didn't matter much to me anyway; I wasn't the one paying for it, I was just a teen dying to get his first snake.) My mom doesn't know squat about snakes, in fact, she's the one to asked if we could still buy it. (I'm slightly impulsive, especially if it isn't out of my pocket, so I didn't argue.) The good news was, I always seem to find that captive bred balls who are 'picky', just want fresher food, as that fat pig of a python goes to show. :) (Both chain stores have to feed frozen/thawed due to policies, although not all ball pythons like frozen/thawed.)
As far as PETCO goes, the manager there is also quite discouraging as to ward off ignorant impulse buyers who want a pet snake just to be "B-A". She, however, said I seemed like a knowledgeable pet keeper on pythons, and that I sounded quite smart. (Gee, don't I get that a lot! ;)) I didn't get the ball python then, as that was the night I was nagging my mom about how orange it was. I came in a week later to pick up the orange python, except I had a different staff member help me out. Being a blunt up-front person I am, I didn't allow ignorant comments fly by unnoticed (like when he said that there were "plenty of ball pythons in Florida") and would kindly correct him. Although like all pet store personnel, he was a bit sketchy that I would be an impulse buying teenage boy, I asked him questions in regards to care, quarantine, vet records, and again, openly educated him, as well as interested shoppers, he too said I was quite 'snake-smart'. Anyway, I had something to rub in my mom's face. :rolleyes:
Back on point, the stores I visited seem to know at least something about a few of the reptiles and did an "okay" job on care. ("Okay" as in the animals looked healthy, except for one skinny ball python, and they were kept slightly colder and dryer than they should have been.) They actually both knew of a local vet who treats reptiles! (It was the same vet for both stores.) They would have animals checked out if they showed any signs of disease. All in all, I would trust the stores in caring for my ball pythons more than I would trust my parents to do the same thing.

I went to my local Petco about a month ago and I was looking at the BPs. I couldn't believe it, there were tons of mites everywhere! I went to the manager and she said they would take care of it right away. I went back to the store the next day to make sure they took care of it and there was nothing in the tank at all. I remembered seeing a shelf with a couple tanks through a door that said Manager's Only. I opened the door and saw a tank with the BPs. They still had mites and there was no heat lamp on top of the tank. There was also a tank with a bearded dragon in it.. no heat lamp and a thermometer that said 75 degrees. I went off on the manager, and when I went back the next day, everything was taken care of. I also bought the poor beardie that they said they kept in the back because his brother bit his foot off.

I worked at a Petco for 7 years. I worked together in both the fish and the reptiles dept with another full time guy. He took horrible care of the reptiles, and didn't even own a single one at home. I constantly confronted our store manager about it, showing him how they should properly be cared for. The manager was finally tired of our arguing, and made him the reptile manager, and me the fish dept manager just to keep us apart! I praised the day he was finally fired, for his improper care of the reptiles. It was just sad that it took so long, and for my manager to finally see what I was trying to tell him all along. The guy that was hired to take his place was screened carefully....by me :D He ended up being a great guy, actually cared about the reptiles, and even owned several himself, including two ball pythons. He took wonderful care of them while he was at PETCO. Today, I work for a smaller privately owned pet store. Its completely different. Its incredible how much cooperate BS there really is in those big pet store chains!!! I don't know what Petco's markup on animals is, because I was never allowed access to that information. But im sure its ridiculous....because many of my store's merchandise is cheaper than it is at Petco, and you know they buy it at huge bulk discounts! Please, support your local small business.

The mark up is outrageous. I know that most saltwater fish is marked up 3x the purchase price. Reptiles where about 2 to 3x the purchase price. Next time you go into a store and just look at what it is on sale for. That will give you a reasonable amount of how much they mark it up for. I seen when the balls are on sale for 29.99 orignally 79.99. So that alone is a $50 discount and they are not losing money one the snake.

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Originally Posted by Jons2012pied

The mark up is outrageous. I know that most saltwater fish is marked up 3x the purchase price. Reptiles where about 2 to 3x the purchase price. Next time you go into a store and just look at what it is on sale for. That will give you a reasonable amount of how much they mark it up for. I seen when the balls are on sale for 29.99 orignally 79.99. So that alone is a $50 discount and they are not losing money one the snake.

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This isn't really "bad" or unethical, it's just business. What do you suppose the mark up is on a pair of $200 Miss Me jeans? Claire's probably pays about $ .08 for a pair of base metal earrings they sell for $10. That's just how retail works.