Problems with petsmart

ok i want to know has any one else had this problem with petsmart i walk in and here is what i find in a very small tank for the size of it a blue tongue skink barely any bedding and no room to turn around on the bottom there is a pair of turtle's that put together would not equal the size of the lizard in a tank too large for them use common sense ppl not only that but they i have found fed two baby ball pythons in one tank and actually let the larger bp eat both food items the larger one also had a shed gone bad they told me he didn't shed from the head for about four inches down that he had been like that two weeks and they didn't know why I do they had no proper hides no rocks bark or other friction-ish object in the tank it was deplorable no wonder they were in constant motion they wanted a larger area and a place to hide

anyway let me know what you think i think its crazy :rolleye2:

yeah petsmart sucks.

i got my ball python from a petco. i luckly had set up a cage cause i was planing on gettin a snake very soon. but it was the healthiest looking and nicest patern so i had to get em. hate to think of the homes most of those snakes go to.

yea i work at a petco and thats all i hear is about how bad the condtions are over at petsmart for the reptilesm and they come over they see the reptiles over my store and they say wowm. it makes me happy since im the head of that department. snakes with all perfect sheds and its fun to cuz on feedings day of there are kids around and they wanna watch them eat i let them. i do feed out of the tank though in boxs because of policy and i do have to feed f/t mice which i dont mind doing. but explaining to the old time herpers that come in about the f/t thing is hard cuz they are all stuck in there ways yea i feed live to my own snakes but i watch and make sure the mouse or rat get eaten.

well petco i will agree is a much better place to buy things and i have looked into this now that i have thought of it alot of the forums are saying to boycott petsmart or buy them just to get them away from those conditions when i get enough money though i will be going back and buying the other one to get it out of there if its a male i might sell it though cause i need a couple females for my project (which isn't happening anytime soon) but still let me know what you think and tell us your horror stories about petsmart the bad thing is i am applying for a job there in a few weeks when i turn 17

(here's what i don't get why is petsmart not smart when it comes to reptiles) just throwin' my :2cent: in

I guess that the staff at the PetCo's here in Oklahoma are sub par to the rest of the chain stores, because they are terrible here with the majority of their animals. It could be the people that they buy their stock from, but after seeing the conditions that their rats and most of their snakes are in, I will never shop there again, and might just go to wal-mart to buy rat bedding/feed. The Petsmart here are 'better' just because they have been around for a lot longer, but like most chain stores, they're all about making a buck over quality care of their animals ( more so when it comes to the reptiles).

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Originally Posted by serpents-prey

well petco i will agree is a much better place to buy things and i have looked into this now that i have thought of it alot of the forums are saying to boycott petsmart or buy them just to get them away from those conditions when i get enough money though i will be going back and buying the other one to get it out of there if its a male i might sell it though cause i need a couple females for my project (which isn't happening anytime soon) but still let me know what you think and tell us your horror stories about petsmart the bad thing is i am applying for a job there in a few weeks when i turn 17

(here's what i don't get why is petsmart not smart when it comes to reptiles) just throwin' my :2cent: in

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This point was brought up in another thread not too long ago. Whenever you buy animals from either a large company or a BYB, that is just encouraging them to keep on breeding what ever animal it is, because you are still giving them money, which is all they care about.

I work at PetSmart. I can't speak for all stores (and I am in no way defending them), but at the store I work at, the specialty employees do their best to give the reptiles what they need. We have BS regulations from cooperate on how to have each enclosure set up, so there's not too much we can do about that. I got my BP from the PetSmart I work at.. She's very tame, because when she was still for sale at Petsmart, all of us employees loved taking her out and handling her. I worked many a nights with her wrapped around my neck. She's never bitten anyone.. Never tried.

Anyway, I know like 80% of reptiles are sold to employees. One of my manager has bought numerous BPs from there, one just bought a skink, and I'm reaalllly eying a albino rosy boa that just came in. I also got my chinchilla from there.

I wish all PetSmarts would take care of their animals like we do.. They give us such a bad name :(

yea i guess it all depends on the location cuz i know alot of petcos that are bad too. and yea the corparate rules do suck on how to take care of animals i will agree 100% on that cuz our policies are crap too

We just got our BP almost 3 weeks ago (first one and new to site) from a local Petco. I am not familiar with how PetSmart keeps their stores, but the Petco in Ranson, WV seemed very well kept (it's also a newer store, less than 1 yr old). The employee who helped us was very knowledgeable and even has a BP herself. We were happy with our experience there.

Sorry to hear about the poor critters at some PetSmarts!

i'm guessing not many of us have lives myself included i just got back from there with some cat litter and whill i was there i saw that they moved the other on to an even smaller tank its a six inch widex8 inch long tank the bp is about a foot long the skink has rubbed a shiny spot onto its nose i would buy it but its $125 and i can't afford it

I got my BP from a Pet Warehouse, and the ones in my area are horrible. The 'specialty employees' don't know jack about the animals they have.

I just wondered if they even have caresheets for the employees... the BPs at that PW share a little glass fronted area (they usually have 2-3 in each enclosure) and the same goes with the sheds, someone is almost always having a bad one... all that is in the enclosure for temp measurement is a stick on theremometer on the wall, no humidity measure of any kind.

Can one of the big chain workers give some examples of the corporate policies or guidelines they give the employees on how to care for the animals?

Yep, this be old news here. I wanted a job at Petsmart so badly when a teenager, then I got one and learned better. Do NOT work at a Petsmart, Petworld or Petco unless you know that the store has good managers who care about the animals and their keeping!! Some stores are just amazing and do a really good job, but most are crappy places that hire anyone regardless of experience or knowledge and don't give a lick of training aside from "Clean these cages this day, and these on this other day".

Policies, at least at Petsmart, aren't so much about what employees should do, but what they should NOT do. Enclosures for reptiles are regulated to those stupid bookcase like systems with tiny cages, bad lighting and no heat. The only thermometers they use are the stick on dials, and woe to you if you try to put together makeshift cages to separate the animals (yep, I tried and was yelled at). You can't even supplement diets for lizards, you have to feed them what is on the stupid outdated charts. Example: Beardies need veggie/fruit as well as insect diets every day, but the charts had you feeding them crickets (only) every day with every other day giving them a mix of lettuce, carrot, and cucumber...and that was their veggies. SIGH.

Anyway...sorry for the rant. This is a subject that gets me talking because I still can't believe how bad the store I worked at (and the local Petco's as well) was and still is.

I kind of work as a cashier and specialty employee, because we're short handed on both ends. When I work over in specialty, I'm the first to tell you that I don't know jack about fish... like nothing. I don't know about filters, which fish eat each other, what they eat, etc. My manager just tells me to just bag the fish and if anyone has a question about fish care, call her. I've learned a lot by doing this. It's not the best way, but at least I'm learning. Whenever a customer asks me a question that I'm not sure of, I always reply, "I'm not exactly sure.. Let me find one for sure from someone who knows." Then I page my manager, and problem solved!

I know I HATE going to a pet store where the employees don't know jack about the animals. My only defense is that I'm at least trying to learn.. There's a guy that I work with that will make up some of the most ridiculous junk you've ever heard. People like him make me just want SCREAAAM.

Anyway, back to the question.. Whenever someone new starts working in specialty, the pet care manager goes through and shows exactly what animal eats, what the humidity/temps should be, how to give medicine to the sick animals in the iso room, etc.. I know we do have some caresheets, but I don't think I've ever used them. I know it doesn't go into detail AT ALL on them.. Like, on the leopard geckos, it says their temperatures are supposed to be "deserty, yet moist.." Ummm.. huuuh? So we just don't use those things at all.

i dont know the more i work at petco the more the policies seem to contradict themselves.

but one of the policys i hate the most is pushing people to buy frozen food there are some people set in their ways on how to feed their own snakes.

but the policy in place for care specifics are great desert reptiles get spot cleaned every day and changed out once a week. tropical reptiles spot cleaned everyday and cleaned once a month. which in my opinion is a pretty good way of doing it thats what i do myself for my reptiles always have. also humidity gauges and heat gauges are a must along with hides, water dishes, and decoratins.

Hmm, that's pretty good. We at Petsmart could include decor, but not too much. Of course, too much was open to interpretation.

I think your cleaning frequency works much better. Ours was that each type of animal got cleaned completely on a certain day of the week every week. All of the animals of that type all at once, and you better have had it done before opening... *grumble* I thought it was so stupid to have all sorts of reptiles piled into two critter keepers for holding that were used over and over without being cleaned. Got to the point I would take the extra time (and get chewed out) to do a quick wipedown at least of those things between cleanings. And they wondered why our store had such a high rate of reptile loss and sickness with the small rodents... Now you can see more of the reasons why I left.

yea that doest suck thats how it was before at my store until i complained and the managers heard it

i work at a petco and my boss is STRICT when it comes to keeping animals clean and healthy or she'll chew us out(she has a bunch of animals herself). technically im not the reptile specialst(yet) but since im the only one in the store that knows about them pretty well, they always call me to the area for the customer that needs help.we clean the cages,give them plenty of fresh water, and fresh food every day.if one of our animals gets sick, we put it in the back for quarantine and immediately call our vet to set up an appointment.

just yesterday i asked one of my managers if i was able to recommend the acurite digital thermometers for the store and she said if petco doesnt carry it, then most likely we wont be able to get them.

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Originally Posted by Swingline0.0.1

Can one of the big chain workers give some examples of the corporate policies or guidelines they give the employees on how to care for the animals?

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i can print out a caresheet for our BP's and everyone can see if the info is good,so-and-so, or bad.

Heck, even if you never carry them, you should still recommend them to customers (as long as the boss cant hear ya). I used to send people to Walmart all the time for thermometers, fake plants, hides, tanks...pretty much anything. Come to think of it, based on the Outrageous prices Petsmart charges for their reptiles, I sent a lot of customers over to the good reptile specialty store down the street for their pets. :D

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Originally Posted by Argentra

Heck, even if you never carry them, you should still recommend them to customers (as long as the boss cant hear ya). I used to send people to Walmart all the time for thermometers, fake plants, hides, tanks...pretty much anything. Come to think of it, based on the Outrageous prices Petsmart charges for their reptiles, I sent a lot of customers over to the good reptile specialty store down the street for their pets. :D

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haha thats what i do. but since the walmart here doesnt carry acurite digital thermometers, im not really sure what to tell them so i tell them to look them up online.or i tell people to not use the sand for reptiles cuz it can cause impaction,etc. so i tell them to se either cage carpeting(for certain reptiles) or newspaper.some people choose to listen to me, and some dont.

yea i tell people to go to other places too all the itme like the the dollar store for squirt bottles and do it yourself hides and things brings the customer back too. makes for a happy store and happy people

These companies are in it for the money. Live animals make them no money, and the exotics are a very small piece of the pie. They are built for dog and cat people and to an extent birds. If you don't like what they do, then don't go there. It gets kind of old to always here people surprised how they keep their animals.

Oh they are most definitely in it for the money, but I wouldn't say live animals make them NO money. They try as hard as they can to make tons of money off pet sales at Petsmart. The markups of their animals are sky high...sometimes 100% again what they would normally be bought for.

Ex.: A juvie Blue tongue Skink from a breeder, basic Northern or Eastern species, would cost around $110-130 or so. At Petsmart, they charge 220! A single Gouldian Finch (the multicolored ones with purple chest, yellow belly and green wings) cost around $100, and even fancy mice are $5 each.

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Originally Posted by greenmonkey51

These companies are in it for the money. Live animals make them no money, and the exotics are a very small piece of the pie. They are built for dog and cat people and to an extent birds. If you don't like what they do, then don't go there. It gets kind of old to always here people surprised how they keep their animals.

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i brought this topic up because i wanted to let ppl know about what went on in my own neck of the woods i am not surprised to see these conditions i am simply bringing them to ppl's attention.

on to another subject the skink is actually $125 so within normal perameters i don't know how much leo's cost but there up to $50 albinos are $80

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Originally Posted by Argentra

Oh they are most definitely in it for the money, but I wouldn't say live animals make them NO money. They try as hard as they can to make tons of money off pet sales at Petsmart. The markups of their animals are sky high...sometimes 100% again what they would normally be bought for.

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thats how petco is to if i sell a reptile for 10 dollars we make get to double the amount of the order the next time we order

ok now that i have calmed down i would like to apologize for the rude derisive comment i posted earlier just mad and wanted to get it out of my system if one of the mods could remove that comment i would really appreciate it and it will not happen again

They don't carry animals for the money. Theres a reason why you see them selling full setups with a free gecko. They have a 150%-200% markup on animals, but all the dry goods are 300% markup.

NOT ALL PETSMARTS ARE BAD!! Sorry, but I work for petsmart and we do our best with the piss poor supplies we are given, yes we have two or three BPs in one cage, but that's because we don't have enough room for all of them and our dumb ass manager keeps ordering 3 or 4 at a time! We keep telling her not too but she won't listen. I am seriuosly getting pissed about people knocking pet stores, not all of them are bad... but I'll probably start a new post on this. Everyone who works in the "small animal" department at my store owns at least one reptile (except our manager, but she is retarded) I have tried to fix a lot of stuff since i've been there. When I started the leopard geckos only had on hide and it was dry, so I went and got a couple of hides and some moss and made them a wet hide. We had a BP that was in a really bad shed so i wrote off a bottle of reptished (or something like that) and I sprayed the hell out of that snake and the next day it was fine. I put more hides in the BP tanks and put more wet hides in damn near all the reptile tanks. It's not always the pet store employees fault the store sucks. My manager doesn't know a :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: thing about snakes. We had 3 BPs that were in one tank that all got might and one got cut when in went to the vet, I guess it tried to escape from a critter carrier while she took them to the vet. But anyways, they were all three in 1 cage and 2 were getting mite treatment and the one with the cut wasn't (at the recommendation of the vet). We fought her for days that it was retarded to keep them together especially when 1 of them isn't getting mite treatment. So please! Quit knocking Petsmart, I have seem some crappy Petco's too. I know we have a couple really crappy pet stores in the town where I live. But I know I try to give the best advice as possible and take care of our animals the best I can.

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Originally Posted by grizz2534

NOT ALL PETSMARTS ARE BAD!! Sorry, but I work for petsmart and we do our best with the piss poor supplies we are given,

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I think that is evidence enough that most pet stores like petsmarts and petco's aren't the best places to buy animals. You can't give 100% optimal care, if you aren't given the tools you need. In general, yes, about 95% of the large corporate pet stores I have seen are pretty bad. Yours may not be so bad, but you can only do so much with the tools you've been given.

Don't take it so personally, it's just who you happen to work for. :)

Dude, I never said ALL petstores are horrid...but most of them, based on outdated policies and idiot managers, are exactly as bad as this and other threads have stated they are.

I am VERY glad that you and your fellow pet care employees are trying the best you can with the crud they give you, I did the same thing at my store, but I was only one person with the occasional help of another. Every now and then, a Petsmart or Petco will actually hire people who know what they are doing and care about the animals...but sadly, that is not common practice. I know this first hand, at least at the store I worked for, because I met two potential new employees for our department as they were being 'interviewed': one was really knowledgeable and quite nice, and the other was a clueless high school student who just thought it 'would be neat to work at a petstore'. You would think the one in the know would have been hired...but nope. They took the kid on purpose so they wouldn't have another rebel (i.e. Me) on their hands.

Understand that when threads like this are started, there is a reason. That reason is that people who care, as most on these forums do, want to let new and old members alike know NOT to frequent these stores or buy animals from them. If the posts state that one or two stores are actually good, then people know it's ok to go to those. However, it's overwhelmingly true that 90-95% of Petsmart and Petco stores are hell on earth for animals with idiot managers and clueless employees repeating whatever myths they have heard. Sorry.