* Should I Get A Job At My Local Petland Discounts? *

so my summer job is about to end after this week so I need another job and I kno that the local Petland Discounts has been hiring for a while so I was wondering what you guys think about me getting a job there...I really don't want to just being cleaning up crap from animals all day....does anyone work at a pet store?? whats it like?? any comments from anyone would be appreciated....

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I really don't want to just being cleaning up crap from animals all day

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Haha, if thats the case, you DEFINITELY shouldn't work at a pet store! I know first hand!

i did... and yup... you are cleaning cages a LOT... how do you think they get clean? hahahahahaha

sorry i'm not laughing at you... just at the image of a snake with a little duster *giggling*

get a job there and then work your way up to cleaning out the bp cages and reptile cages....do an extraordinary job over there and make your boss say "wow you did a great job....i'll let you clean those from now on" and BOOM...you're the new reptile guy. while you're cleaning, you'll get the opportunity to talk to little kids and make them wanna buy a snake or something.

One more thing, take a look around these boards and you'll see a lot of pet store horror stories. Since you're on these boards, you have probably gained a lot of knowledge...take that knowledge to the pet store and then hopefully one day someone come on here and say "i found the cleanest reptile pet store EVER!!"....ya hear that? ching ching $$

I've now worked at two "pet stores", well the current is just aquatics but that's besides the point. When you work at a pet store you can expect to be busy cleaning a lot! Make sure you like all kinds of animals....I know for sure I've had enough of hamsters biting me... If someone were to ask me about a good small mammal as a pet as of now I'd have to say a rat, the answer used to be hamsters, but I"ve had to deal with too many nasty hamsters.


Anyways, good luck with your decision.

I have worked at pet stores for about 4 years, and yes you will be cleaning a lot of animal messes. You will most likely be doing this and only this when you are first hired, especially if you don't have any previous sales experience. There are basically 4 roles when you work at a pet store; animal maintenance, customer service, inventory, and product maintenance, as in dry goods and shelved items.

Both of the pet stores I worked at were independently owned and had incredible amounts of animals there, so there was a TON of stuff to do when it came to the animal maintenance role. I personally didn't mind this (at times, anyway), because if there was ever a time (and there certainly were a few) that I did not want to talk to another ignorant person for a while, I could be surrounded by animals and dirty cages instead of people.

My advice would be to go in the store and look around at all the animals they have to take care of every day, take a wild guess of what all you think you would have to do to take care of them, multiply that by some large number, and decide if you would enjoy doing that for most likely a very low hourly rate.

I worked at a pet reptile/exotics store, and left a few months ago. During my time at the pet store, I acquired most of the animals I have now. Since I've left and work a daily office job, I appreciate my own animals much much more. They've become more like "play" and not just work at home.

Either way, working at a pet store, be prepared to deal with a lot crap...both from animals and from customers. Many people walk in the door with an attitude brought from the stigma most "bad" pet stores have created for all the rest, even the good ones. Realize that no matter what you say, some people are going to believe what they want to believe and not listen to a word you say.

My time there was a good way to pass the last few semesters of school and make some pocket money, but I'll admit, I got burnt out by it towards the end.

My advice would be to take a good, hard look at your own temperment. Will you be able to deal with pig-headed customers who insist on buying that cute baby burm for their 12 year old? Or who insist on owning the ball python and the cheap, screened-in critter-cage to keep it in?


And will you be able to deal with a boss who may not agree with your ideas on how the animals should be kept? If the cages are already set up with multiple animals per tank and no hides...it's very likely that the boss would be unwilling to change such practices. I mean...ya never know, you might be able to sway him/her. But such a change would only come about with a very patient, mature, diplomatic approach.

I applied at a local pet shop. After this thread I'm almost glad I didn't hear back.

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

I worked at a pet reptile/exotics store, and left a few months ago. During my time at the pet store, I acquired most of the animals I have now. Since I've left and work a daily office job, I appreciate my own animals much much more. They've become more like "play" and not just work at home.

Either way, working at a pet store, be prepared to deal with a lot crap...both from animals and from customers. Many people walk in the door with an attitude brought from the stigma most "bad" pet stores have created for all the rest, even the good ones. Realize that no matter what you say, some people are going to believe what they want to believe and not listen to a word you say.

My time there was a good way to pass the last few semesters of school and make some pocket money, but I'll admit, I got burnt out by it towards the end.

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Couldn't have said that better...I was pretty burnt out on reptiles and saltwater when I finally left the petstore I was at...too many frustrations and coming home to more cleaning.

I now work at an aquatics store with saltwater, but it's not nearly as bad...I have a system I helped to design, and a great boss, also because I have a good rep as "the saltwater guy" in town. Because of my reputation I rarely get the arrogant/pigheaded customers which is nice. But when I was new I got all sorts of evil customers who thought I was just some cheap help and didn't want to accept my solid advice.

Based on my own personal experience, the typical pet store is NOT a place for a passionate herpetoculturalist (is that a word?).

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

Based on my own personal experience, the typical pet store is NOT a place for a passionate herpetoculturalist (is that a word?).

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Yes, yes it is a word.:)

And you are too right...my old boss thought it would be a grand idea to go buy some leos from a reptile show. So I got the day off, since he knows nothing about reptiles, and a few coworkers and myself went with the boss to a show. Well the boss ended up buying a ton of leo morphs...and we put them up for sale when we got back and they just sat there...and sat there...and sat there. I should mention that they were severely overpriced, we went through a lot of $30 normals, but none of the morphs until xmas rolled around and I decided to buy most of them at discount. Well he just decided to order more...and most of them to this day are still in the store.

The moral is, hardcore reptile herpetoculturalists don't go to Mom and Pop shops to buy leo morphs for outrageous prices...its moms and dads looking to buy their son/daughter that first reptile as a pet (not a breeder animal/pet) so they only want a $30 normal because more times than not the kids gets tired of the pet and they get rid of it.

Now I could see having high end items in a specialty exotics store...because your customers should be visiting expecting to see exotic higher end/quality stuff...but not in any old pet store.

i completely agree. i buy my cichlids from my cichlid guy in vancouver... not in a pet store. i buy my balls and boas from breeders...

i do buy a lot of critters from my local pet store but only because i know everyone who works there and where they get the snakes/frogs/lizards etc from... so i get to make an educated choice about whether or not i want to purchase them.

it was really hard when i worked at the petstore and people would insist on putting animals/fish in environments which are not good for them. broke my heart to see an oscar purchased by someone who is putting it into a 10 gallon tank cause it's cool to watch it eat feeders. :(

I agree with that one! People treat too many animals like they are disposable. Even if you try to lead people in the right most still keep their own ideas about things.

Oscars are such a neat fish, and I can attest to the fact that I've sold many without guarantees because they person insisted they would be alright long term in a small tank. Same goes for one of my favorite marine fish that I'll never personally keep or sell, but have had many requests for...the Moorish Idol. It's a beautiful fish, but does not belong in captive systems...yet I've had a dozen people ask me to order them, and regardless of what I said purchased them elsewhere.:mad:

Man that really grinds my gears!

lol...i got it answered for me...i went to the store and i saw that the HELP WANTED sign was down...and i saw 2 ppl that ive never seen there b4 working there and i walked up to the manager and said "Are you still hiring?" and he said "No."...lol...sounds like the negatives outweigh the positives anyway from what ive heard on this thread.....

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

get a job there and then work your way up to cleaning out the bp cages and reptile cages....do an extraordinary job over there and make your boss say "wow you did a great job....i'll let you clean those from now on" and BOOM...you're the new reptile guy. while you're cleaning, you'll get the opportunity to talk to little kids and make them wanna buy a snake or something.

One more thing, take a look around these boards and you'll see a lot of pet store horror stories. Since you're on these boards, you have probably gained a lot of knowledge...take that knowledge to the pet store and then hopefully one day someone come on here and say "i found the cleanest reptile pet store EVER!!"....ya hear that? ching ching $$

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i would love to be "the reptile guy" but ne way....i just wouldnt be able to handle all of the ppl b/c i dont have the best temper and i dont wanna just clean all day....lol...

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Originally Posted by JBallPython

I've now worked at two "pet stores", well the current is just aquatics but that's besides the point. When you work at a pet store you can expect to be busy cleaning a lot! Make sure you like all kinds of animals....I know for sure I've had enough of hamsters biting me... If someone were to ask me about a good small mammal as a pet as of now I'd have to say a rat, the answer used to be hamsters, but I"ve had to deal with too many nasty hamsters.


Anyways, good luck with your decision.

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i do love every animal....

I love animals so much but my talent is art but if only there was a job where I could be working w/ animals and drawing them at the same time or something like that....that would be the best