My first trip to a Petco

I went to Petsmart and talked with one of the women in the fish department, because I wanted to get a few tank buddies for my now lonesome danio, Tiger. She started talking about the new Petco and how awsome it is. I thought, "Hm, maybe I'll pop over there and check it out."

I've heard bad things about Petco, especially when it comes to reptiles, and I'd never been in a Petco before, so I wanted to check it out for myself. The store looked really neat when I stepped inside. There is one problem I had with Petco the moment I stepped in. They overcrowd thier cages and tanks. Many of thier tanks were more than full, but saltwater fish and the koi were not overcrowded. There were a few things I did like about the store.

The bettas were kept in larger cups than Petsmart keeps them in. THEY ACTUALLY HAVE ROOM TO SWIM. And there is a sticker on the outside of the cup saying that the cup is only temporary housing for the betta and to ask one of the employees about appropriate and permanent housing. Also, there was not a single dirty betta cup in the bunch. They may have just changed the water, but it was nice to walk in and see clean cups. Also all the bettas had great fins and looked healthy. Not a single obviously sick one in the bunch. They get points there.

They also got points in thier bird section. All of the birds were kept in appropriatly sized cages and all the cages but one were clean of feces. All the birds seemed to be in good health and none of the bird cages were overcrowded.

Where they lost points were in the reptile and small mammal sections. In the small mammal section, the cages were a bit overcrowded. In a tank that would equal a 10-12 gallon, they had at least 7-9 mice. In a similar sized tank, they housed 3 rats. Other than that, the cages were clean and food and water were provided.

In the reptile section, they only lost points for overcrowding and small tank size. First, the overcrowding. I have no clue about ribbon snakes, but they were housing at least 3 in a tank that would equal possibly a 6-8 gallon. They had one hide and a full water dish. I didn't check thier humidity and temps, but they looked healthy. Thier leos were kept 2-3 to a tank, juvies, so they didn't require a large amount of space. I wouldn't consider their leo tanks overcrowded. They were kept on very fine sand that I think might have been calcium sand. They had three ball python juvies in the same tank. It equaled maybe a 20-30g tank. They were provided with a water dish and at the least 2 hides.

Overall I liked the store, but I wish more attention was paid to the reptiles and small animals. I will admit, I did buy some fish for my 10g from the store. I plan on going back at least once a week to watch the progress of the store. I might even try and get a job there, so I can let customers know what the animals REALLY need in order to be happy.

In my experience with Petco, at least the one here. If they start to go down hill and you stay on them about it they will keep things at the very least clean. They won't stop overcrowding but at the very least things need to be clean, water, tanks and food.

Be careful though, I have known people who worked at petcos that were reptile keepers and they were caught giving out the correct info versus petcos policy and caresheets and were fired pretty much on the spot. They have their policies and won't let you go against them.

So when I go in there I have shut down employees giving out wrong info to customers and I have given the correct info. Including websites, and forums. I have referred a few people here in the last week or so.

Just don't let them get off track.

Kristy

Trust me, I'll go there often and if I see an employee giving out wrong information, I WILL step in, especially with reptiles. I plan on doing a lot of research and becoming familiar with as many types of reptiles as possible. I wish I could own my own petstore, but alas. I am but a near 20 year old college student with no money. LOL. But this place does need a GOOD petstore around. With so many that are not taking care of thier animals, its hard to find the good ones. They are normally put away somewhere where you can't find them.

If I do get a job there, I will give out the correct information, even at the risk of getting fired. (I have no real expenses so I'm not too worried about money) I'd rather be in a position that I could help a few customers get the right info about the animal they wish to purchase, than never have helped at all. I'll be keeping a close eye on them.

The petco here in Raleigh is actually very good. The people working there actually know how to take care of the animals in their area. The fish are in very clean tanks and all of the reptiles are kept separately except for the small lizards(anoles, baby cresties and leos.) There's a ball and a baby burm who are both looking very healthy. The only thing that bugs me is that at the baby burm's tank there is no sign saying "THIS SNAKE WILL GET HUGE!" The birds are healthy, the ferrets, bunnies, and whatnot also look very good. What I like most is that there's an AcuRite in each reptile tank proudly declaring the correct temps and humidity.

Keep it up, Raleigh PetCo! :gj:

I'm going to apply for a job this week, when I get all my information together (of past employers and such).

I think that not all petstores of the same chain are bad, and not all are good. I think it all depends on where you are and what kind of people they hire. If you get a store that has hired lazy people, things just don't go right. If they are more careful of who they hire, I think that makes the store better.

The man I talked to at the Petco seemed to know fish pretty well, and all the tanks were spotless. Overcrowded (a little over half the tanks were overcrowded), but spotless.

all the petcos i have been to only lost points on the reptile side of the fence. the hights temp in the cages was 65. that is inclucing the beardeds. geckos, snakes, it made me sick, the only reptile i have ever bought from petco were creasteds which dont need hight temps. but if you think for one second i am going to buy a ball that has been kept in a 67 deg take for a month with 7 other you have to be kidding. that is just asking for a sick animal.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

Trust me, I'll go there often and if I see an employee giving out wrong information, I WILL step in, especially with reptiles. I plan on doing a lot of research and becoming familiar with as many types of reptiles as possible. I wish I could own my own petstore, but alas. I am but a near 20 year old college student with no money. LOL. But this place does need a GOOD petstore around. With so many that are not taking care of thier animals, its hard to find the good ones. They are normally put away somewhere where you can't find them.

If I do get a job there, I will give out the correct information, even at the risk of getting fired. (I have no real expenses so I'm not too worried about money) I'd rather be in a position that I could help a few customers get the right info about the animal they wish to purchase, than never have helped at all. I'll be keeping a close eye on them.

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Thats what I want to do is own a petstore. Just reptiles and maybe some birds. There is really no market up here for just reptiles though, I am sure there is somewhat but I live in a really small town and all the other petstores closed down except one thats been around for 20 + years once Petco came here. Sadly all the great petstores and the one reptile store that was incredible went a long with them.

Ok, move over here and lets get one started! :D

Yea, the only petstores around here are Petsmart, the new Petco (petsmart is 15 min from me, and the petco is 30 min from me), Noahs (a 20 min drive) and various others that I just refuse to shop at. Noah's is closing in September, and that sucks because thats where I get my frozen feeders. I really wish I could have my own petstore. I would specialize in reptiles, small mammals and fish.

LOL I would love to move back to Virginia. I was born there in Norfolk. I love it there and a lot of my family lives there. But thats not gonna happen :(

I was kicked out of the Petco in Stratford CT and told never to show my face in there again or they will call the police.


Why was I kicked out and threatened to have the police called?

I cost them a sale. They tried to sell a corn snake and an iggy to a young kid and his father along with one of those plastic critter keeper things with the handle on top to house both in, that green carpet, crickets for food (baby corns eat crickets according to Petco), and a heat rock. I interupted the sale, explained what was wrong with what they were being told and what they were about to buy and they left to research a bit before making a purchase.

I was told never to come back again.

Wow.

This is why I want my own petstore, so that I can let people know how to take care of thier animals properly. I'm about to start my massive animal research project I'm creating for myself. I want to learn about as many different types of pets as I can so that if I ever do start my own store, I'll have all the knowledge I need to get it up and running..the right way.

I'm also going to learn through experience. I wouldn't sell any animal I haven't owned and cared for myself. That way, I know what I'm talking about when informing a customer.

Oy, me and my dreams. I wish I could have my own petstore so badly. We definatly need a good one here.

I would have done the same thing

One point on the overcrowding issue coming from a pet retail store position...a pet store is only meant to be a temporary "halfway" home, and really as long as the cages are clean, sufficient food and water is available, and the small animals are healthy (and hopefully separated by sex) then I don't really see an issue with "overcrowding". As long as they don't recommend actually housing like their sale displays then it is okay with me.

The ribbonsnakes were advertised as living together. Not sure about the ball pythons. I'll check back on those.

The small mammals were seperated by sex, and they were oh so cute. I almost brought one home, but I didn't have any more money after the fish.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

The ribbonsnakes were advertised as living together. Not sure about the ball pythons. I'll check back on those.

The small mammals were seperated by sex, and they were oh so cute. I almost brought one home, but I didn't have any more money after the fish.

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I've seen in PetCo stores--ON the BP's tank, is a little sticker. They claim that BPs of the same size may be housed together as long as they're removed to be fed seperately. We all know that's a bad idea...but it was on the sticker on the display case--right along with avg. length/temps/etc.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

Noah's is closing in September, and that sucks because thats where I get my frozen feeders.

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From who did you hear about this?

Not sure if you knew or not, but I used to work there some time ago.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

Trust me, I'll go there often and if I see an employee giving out wrong information, I WILL step in, especially with reptiles. I plan on doing a lot of research and becoming familiar with as many types of reptiles as possible. I wish I could own my own petstore, but alas. I am but a near 20 year old college student with no money. LOL. But this place does need a GOOD petstore around. With so many that are not taking care of thier animals, its hard to find the good ones. They are normally put away somewhere where you can't find them.

If I do get a job there, I will give out the correct information, even at the risk of getting fired. (I have no real expenses so I'm not too worried about money) I'd rather be in a position that I could help a few customers get the right info about the animal they wish to purchase, than never have helped at all. I'll be keeping a close eye on them.

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The wonders of an SBA loan! It can be done even by a young person.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

The wonders of an SBA loan! It can be done even by a young person.

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It takes more than just a loan to start a retail store Tim, its a TON of work. You better have some serious bank. I honestly wouldn't start a store of anykind without at least 80k in the bank just in case any "extra" expenses arise.

Jay_Bunny, if you are truly interested in starting up a store I would highly recommend writing a quality business plan. Have ALL of the facts and figures thought out before hand. Its not the most joyful process in the world (been there, done that) but it will honestly give you a greater idea of what you may be getting yourself into.

-Jason

I heard it from the store's owner. Ugh! Can't remember his name now. Older man...well older than the other employees. He says the lease is up and he's going back to school.

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Originally Posted by JBallPython

It takes more than just a loan to start a retail store Tim, its a TON of work. You better have some serious bank. I honestly wouldn't start a store of anykind without at least 80k in the bank just in case any "extra" expenses arise.

Jay_Bunny, if you are truly interested in starting up a store I would highly recommend writing a quality business plan. Have ALL of the facts and figures thought out before hand. Its not the most joyful process in the world (been there, done that) but it will honestly give you a greater idea of what you may be getting yourself into.

-Jason

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I was pointing more at him saying he had no money

The Petco in Augusta, GA isn't too bad. The salespeople don't really know what they're doing... but at least the reptiles seem to be healthy enough. Until yesterday, I'd only seen them care ball pythons, but now they have Columbian Boas and a ratsnake. I have been dying to get my hands on a boa, so I asked the sales person to let me handle it. She was a moron. She kept going, you know they're fiesty. And she was reading facts and "care" to me off the price sticker. I just kept my mouth shut.

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Originally Posted by darkangel

The Petco in Augusta, GA isn't too bad. The salespeople don't really know what they're doing... but at least the reptiles seem to be healthy enough. Until yesterday, I'd only seen them care ball pythons, but now they have Columbian Boas and a ratsnake. I have been dying to get my hands on a boa, so I asked the sales person to let me handle it. She was a moron. She kept going, you know they're fiesty. And she was reading facts and "care" to me off the price sticker. I just kept my mouth shut.

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With ball pythons in my collection I would only buy a boa from a reptuable breeder. Boas can carry IBD which can kill BP within a few months. Petco would be the last place I ever bought a snake from.

I wasn't trying to buy it. I just wanted to handle one. Ownership is a ways down the road.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I heard it from the store's owner. Ugh! Can't remember his name now. Older man...well older than the other employees. He says the lease is up and he's going back to school.

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That's Lang...yeah he's the owner...and he's been saying he's going to sell the store/end the lease for years now...he's not going anywhere, don't worry ;)

(you didn't hear that from me)

Well I went back to the Petco to get some food for my molly fry and decided to head on over to the reptile section, just to make sure everything was still looking good. Well there was one employee who didn't know very much, but another employee really knew his stuff.

He provided us with a lot of information about several different kinds of snakes and let us hold a king snake. (My fiance is determined to go back and get one) He knew a great deal about ball pythons, corns, and kings. I really liked that he worked there, because that means that people are getting the right information. I also checked the small pet section and everything was fed and clean. I'm starting to like this store, but only time will tell if its going to be a good store.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

With ball pythons in my collection I would only buy a boa from a reptuable breeder. Boas can carry IBD which can kill BP within a few months. Petco would be the last place I ever bought a snake from.

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Mites can carry them too.

My PetCo is decent also! Not the employees(some of them are) . Something did catch my eyes. they had 2 babie stripe cali kings(they called them Florda Kings) in diffrent contaners, but they were both in there water dishes...I was think possibly mites, but the rest of the herps would have bien covered! It could jsut be a cuinkey dink. I don't think I will buy any herps from there any time soon.