Swollen eyes at Petco, or just my imagination?

Snapped a pic of these balls at Petco not too long ago but forgot to post. If I remember correctly, they are still there. I thought their eyes looked very swollen. Almost like I could see a sclera around the side or someone thought they were a squeaky toy and squeezed them a little too hard. Is it just me? Do they look alright to you guys? I had no intention of buying I just thought the poor babies might have eye infections, and it caused me some concern http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10...f7351d9ff1.jpg

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Hi FluppleWott. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention as animal care is our top priority. Please email us at PTPsupport@petco.com with your name, phone number, and the store location, so our team can look into this. We look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you!

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Originally Posted by Petco

Hi FluppleWott. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention as animal care is our top priority. Please email us at PTPsupport@petco.com with your name, phone number, and the store location, so our team can look into this. We look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you!

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Uhh....Wow. All I can say is good on Petco for reaching out and into the community.

Dave

I'm actually surprised that in this day and age of social media that both Petco and Petsmart aren't on here regularly. Good to see Petco getting on the ball with this.

As for your question it is hard to tell if the eye is swollen or if he's just looking back (which can show off some of the white).

Swollen eyes or not. It is common to see animals in poor health at Petco, which is why most here will not buy the animals there.

I won't even spend money there. I will if I have no other choice, but usually steer clear. Someone had to tip off petco about this thread. There's no way petco is actually reading forums.

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Originally Posted by Yodawagon

I won't even spend money there. I will if I have no other choice, but usually steer clear. Someone had to tip off petco about this thread. There's no way petco is actually reading forums.

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So damned if they do and damned if they don't, huh. Oh, the life of a retail pet store. :)

Lmao oh man... Better watch what you guys say about the big chain pet stores. The Men in Black might come to your house and have a little chat with you...

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I don't know why I didn't think of this before but those are just the sad puppy dog eyes. They are trying to say "get me the heck out of Petco please!!!!"

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Originally Posted by Yodawagon

I won't even spend money there. I will if I have no other choice, but usually steer clear. Someone had to tip off petco about this thread. There's no way petco is actually reading forums.

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Its not like it would be hard for them to hire someone to patrol hobbyist sites. Give credit where credit is due.

Y'know, it is unfortunate that everyone finds sick animals at petco, but there are stores out there who care and are capable i.e mine lol I an primary caretaker of aquatics and reptiles. They just need to assign people who know what they are doing at other locations

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Originally Posted by SCWood

Y'know, it is unfortunate that everyone finds sick animals at petco, but there are stores out there who care and are capable i.e mine lol I an primary caretaker of aquatics and reptiles. They just need to assign people who know what they are doing at other locations

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I wish they all had people like you working there. I once applied at a Petco about 10 years ago and someone who was trying to feed Crickets to the Ball Pythons and Boas was hired over me.

Petsmart is the worse in my opinion simply because of their horrible policy of "no live feeders." Everything's gotta eat some things don't like dead stuff.

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Originally Posted by gtrdeath87

Petsmart is the worse in my opinion simply because of their horrible policy of "no live feeders." Everything's gotta eat some things don't like dead stuff.

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THEY are. Their housing is much smaller and every store I visit has given me awful advice

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Originally Posted by MidSouthMorphs

I wish they all had people like you working there. I once applied at a Petco about 10 years ago and someone who was trying to feed Crickets to the Ball Pythons and Boas was hired over me.

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Well thank you. I'm sorry you got turned away. We need more reptile enthusiasts

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It's no big deal, that was long ago.


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Seems like at petsmart everything in their Reptile section just dies if they don't sell it fast enough.

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Originally Posted by AKA Dave

Uhh....Wow. All I can say is good on Petco for reaching out and into the community.

Dave

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I have to agree.

I've only bought a reptile from Petsmart -- I bought a Bearded Dragon baby a couple of years ago who died (I was ignorant and didn't research enough to know that buying from pet stores is a horrible idea); they think he was born with parasites. But I just don't trust buying any animals from them anymore. That being said I always check out the reptiles when I walk by. Never seen any like this. Poor babies. I hope they're alright.

The snakes have never looked bad to me but what kind of bugs me - and this might just be personal preference - is that in the gecko, beardie, chameleon enclosures there are crickets just jumping all over the place in their enclosures. I never fed my Beardie (that I got elsewhere, not the Petsmart baby) in his own enclosure and I only fed him as many as he'd eat. Shrug.

OK, so here is the deal with "Big Chain" pet stores. I feel I always have to toss up some defense on their part.

Most reptiles that you can get from a big chain pet store are perfectly decent pet quality animals that are healthy.

There I said it.

The majority of those reptiles, ball pythons, veiled chameleons, leopard geckos, beardies, crested geckos, corn snakes are all even captive bred.

Most instances of bad reptile caging advice is caused when the associate learns of the person's budget and tries to get them into the "minimum setup". Not because they don't care about the animal but because its a teenager that is afraid to tell someone no this pet might not be for you. I remember when I worked at a Pet Supplies Plus way back when and that was something I did before I got more confident. And I KNEW it was probably a bad idea. Of course this was back when a lot more animals were wild caught and most animals died anyways.

It has the appearance on this site that all big chain stores have nothing but disease ridden abused animals in them because no one ever posts the perfectly healthy Milk Snake that has taken longer to sell and is thriving, moving about because he smells the tasty baby corn snakes. But you'll see the anole at petsmart with a huge growth on it's head. Do we really think that anole was their long enough to have a growth or do we think it was shipped like that?

A Pet Store only has the animals that are sent to them. Ordered from a list of possible animals on a list. Is this ideal? No.

It looks worse with ball pythons because they are bred in such large numbers to supply the pet trade and are probably the breeders worst animals, sold in bulk without feeding yet etc.

This one probably got bonked somewhere along the line.

These chain stores have really smartened up, sticking to MOSTLY very popular animals that are CB. You don't see random dead/horribly sick animals all the time like you used to.

You will see certain occasions where a big retail store will fit the worst case picture of what we all describe them as. Report these via proper avenues and they will address it. But I've also been to big chain stores where the cages looked better than those at the zoo in terms of cleanliness and healthy animals.

Also you learn very quickly that just because a store is small doesn't mean that it's magically going to be nicer. You can check my review on google on Harbor Pets in Boardman Ohio if you want to see what I mean.

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Originally Posted by gtrdeath87

Lmao oh man... Better watch what you guys say about the big chain pet stores. The Men in Black might come to your house and have a little chat with you...

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Like I was saying [emoji12]

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I have a few animals from big chain pet stores. My local Petco is really amazing. The people that work there are passionate about animals. I have purchased 2 fuzzy ferrets from them a year apart and they are in perfect health and are adorable little psychos. I have purchased another ferret that was very ill and I took him to the vet within 2 days of getting him, the vet told me he did not feel that he would recover well if at all and that I should just let the pet store take care of his vet bills. Which at the time I decided that was best. My Petco kept me informed of his condition and how well he was progressing and that he eventually went to a nice forever home. The employees do try to educate customers about the animals they are interested in. They do try to tell people that are captivated by the super adorable animals that they can't be tossed in a cage and forgotten about like a hamster and they need hours of work, a proper cage for them is going to cost 200 plus dollars, their food is expensive unless you feed raw, ect. But people just think they are cute and I see lots of them on CL or returned to the store.

As for the reptiles I purchased my first ball python from them. He is normal, he was held rather frequently, I was told to purchase my supplies before, read, read, read as much as I could before I made my decision. I had 3 different Petco workers spent 30 minutes talking to me about the animals and their needs, handling, ect. My boyfriend does fish and live aquatic plants as his hobby, every time we go there one employee in particular spends a half hour min. talking him and sharing information.

I'm not defending in any way, just stating that, at least in my area all the animals look very healthy, the staff seem to really care about them and have a passion for them. Even the little mice and rats that are bred for feeding get played with and handled by the staff. And even the employees will point out when the set ups and displays aren't the best in the store and will show you which product is better for the animal in the end.

My boyfriend went in today actually, and the girl that helped me pick out my snake even asked how he was adjusting, and how his behavior has been, ect.

As I learn more about 'exotic' pets big chains aren't going to be my go to for animals but the staff is top notch. And any problems with a sick animal was resolved and the animal was taken care of and it was proven to me that they were. Which I respect and I totally appreciate.

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Originally Posted by Blueraven99

I have a few animals from big chain pet stores. My local Petco is really amazing. The people that work there are passionate about animals. I have purchased 2 fuzzy ferrets from them a year apart and they are in perfect health and are adorable little psychos. I have purchased another ferret that was very ill and I took him to the vet within 2 days of getting him, the vet told me he did not feel that he would recover well if at all and that I should just let the pet store take care of his vet bills. Which at the time I decided that was best. My Petco kept me informed of his condition and how well he was progressing and that he eventually went to a nice forever home. The employees do try to educate customers about the animals they are interested in. They do try to tell people that are captivated by the super adorable animals that they can't be tossed in a cage and forgotten about like a hamster and they need hours of work, a proper cage for them is going to cost 200 plus dollars, their food is expensive unless you feed raw, ect. But people just think they are cute and I see lots of them on CL or returned to the store.

As for the reptiles I purchased my first ball python from them. He is normal, he was held rather frequently, I was told to purchase my supplies before, read, read, read as much as I could before I made my decision. I had 3 different Petco workers spent 30 minutes talking to me about the animals and their needs, handling, ect. My boyfriend does fish and live aquatic plants as his hobby, every time we go there one employee in particular spends a half hour min. talking him and sharing information.

I'm not defending in any way, just stating that, at least in my area all the animals look very healthy, the staff seem to really care about them and have a passion for them. Even the little mice and rats that are bred for feeding get played with and handled by the staff. And even the employees will point out when the set ups and displays aren't the best in the store and will show you which product is better for the animal in the end.

My boyfriend went in today actually, and the girl that helped me pick out my snake even asked how he was adjusting, and how his behavior has been, ect.

As I learn more about 'exotic' pets big chains aren't going to be my go to for animals but the staff is top notch. And any problems with a sick animal was resolved and the animal was taken care of and it was proven to me that they were. Which I respect and I totally appreciate.

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Good to hear!

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Originally Posted by Jhill001

OK, so here is the deal with "Big Chain" pet stores. I feel I always have to toss up some defense on their part.

Most reptiles that you can get from a big chain pet store are perfectly decent pet quality animals that are healthy.

There I said it.

The majority of those reptiles, ball pythons, veiled chameleons, leopard geckos, beardies, crested geckos, corn snakes are all even captive bred.

Most instances of bad reptile caging advice is caused when the associate learns of the person's budget and tries to get them into the "minimum setup". Not because they don't care about the animal but because its a teenager that is afraid to tell someone no this pet might not be for you. I remember when I worked at a Pet Supplies Plus way back when and that was something I did before I got more confident. And I KNEW it was probably a bad idea. Of course this was back when a lot more animals were wild caught and most animals died anyways.

It has the appearance on this site that all big chain stores have nothing but disease ridden abused animals in them because no one ever posts the perfectly healthy Milk Snake that has taken longer to sell and is thriving, moving about because he smells the tasty baby corn snakes. But you'll see the anole at petsmart with a huge growth on it's head. Do we really think that anole was their long enough to have a growth or do we think it was shipped like that?

A Pet Store only has the animals that are sent to them. Ordered from a list of possible animals on a list. Is this ideal? No.

It looks worse with ball pythons because they are bred in such large numbers to supply the pet trade and are probably the breeders worst animals, sold in bulk without feeding yet etc.

This one probably got bonked somewhere along the line.

These chain stores have really smartened up, sticking to MOSTLY very popular animals that are CB. You don't see random dead/horribly sick animals all the time like you used to.

You will see certain occasions where a big retail store will fit the worst case picture of what we all describe them as. Report these via proper avenues and they will address it. But I've also been to big chain stores where the cages looked better than those at the zoo in terms of cleanliness and healthy animals.

Also you learn very quickly that just because a store is small doesn't mean that it's magically going to be nicer. You can check my review on google on Harbor Pets in Boardman Ohio if you want to see what I mean.

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Thanks for sticking that out there :) needed to be said

If you wanna step inside, pay admission at the door...
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Total: 6❤