Makes Me Sick! Reporting a pet shop?!?

We have a local pet shop near where we live. We are there frequently to get our supply of live feeders. However every time we are there it seems like there conditions are getting worse and worse. There are tanks that have mixes of bearded dragons, iguanas, and geckos. Almost every water bowl in that place is a mix of aspen and nasty "stuff" not clean and full of plain water. Heating elements are almost non existent. Too small chameleons (two of which were dead at the bottom). The ball pythons are all mixed sizes in the same tanks. Of course the small ones are all underneath the larger ones. They look underweight and just plain sad. There are exposed light bulbs in some of these vision type cages. Just plain dirty also. There was one tortoise that really upset me today. They have this poor thing in a little turtle shaped kiddie pool right when you walk in. It is just sitting in its watery feces. No food or water around for it to drink. Its shell length was about 16 inches or so, give or take. Its shell had looked like it had at one point been in some kind of accident and someone probably brought it in bc they found it or something. The girl working there knew nothing about it except that they were selling it for $500. All he/she was doing the entire time we were there was trying to climb out the side of the pool and kept squishing his head between his shell and the edge of the pool, kind of like it was choking himself. I got real close to it and was talking to him/her. Just looking in its eyes they looked like they were crying. I felt so bad for it along with all of the other animals they have. Some of the people there are nice people, but it still doesn't excuse this type of setting for these animals. Most of the people working there are extremely uneducated about there animals also. It really is hard to go there and not want to buy every single animal in there. There are also some larger snakes that are in way too small cages, PLUS there are more than one snake in these tanks. One of the guys working there even told us one day that they are just incredibly aggressive because of these conditions. It is sad to me that people can be so much about the money and not give a damn about there animals! How can they get away with it? There has got to be something I can do to have them change these living conditions for their animals. I don't want to get these people in trouble per say, BUT I would like for them to have an eye opener about what they are doing to these animals and that they can't get away with it. Oh yeah, its always nice to see there kids there (probably about 2 and 4 yrs. old) Climbing on the tables were the birds and rabbits and other small animals are spraying a bottle of clorox cleaner giving the animals a "bath". PLEASE shoot me some ideas of what can be done if anything and any other ideas, suggestions, comments, anything. There are definitely more scenarios that I have seen being there, but can't exactly think of them all right now. Plus I can go on and on about it how much it infuriates me. I figured if anyone would understand how I feel about this it would be you guys here on this forum! Hope to hear some good suggestions and thanks for "listening" to me vent!

sounds horrible!

i'd contact your local ASPCA

that's horrible! i'd say your only real option if you want to see a change is to report them to whatever animal regulation groups you have there. let them get smacked with a hefty fine and watch to see if anything changes. if not, call them in again!

Theres a pet store near me that I bought 2 snakes from, one had mites and the other one also had mites and RI. I treated one of them and lost the other one.
I never really spoke to them about it exept for one time when I said to the cashier that I got sick animals from them. She looked at me in a rude way and I don't come there any more. I go to a better one, where the animals are cared for, not 100% good but better than the other one.
Maybe you can sign some kind of a petition and team up with other people... ? I think that just because you want to have money you shouldn't treat animals this way. They are just big :cens0r:

I definitely planned on calling the local authorities tomorrow morning, but I was concerned that they may not give a darn about the situation. I was just trying to come up with a back up plan in case this was true.

if it's as bad as you say, they will do something! give them as much detail as possible and say whatever it takes to convince them that it's a desperate situation. and if it doesn't work, maybe write a letter to your editor? petition? strike? i don't know. but i would hope reporting them would be enough!

There is EBN by me, unfortunately it is a bit too far for us to travel there every week. Fortunately we are breeding our own rats and trying to get into the groove of it. I still feel like we are these animals only hope. If we stop going there all together we won't be able to check up on how they are doing. A petition also sounds like a good back up plan, but I wouldn't quite know how to find out who goes there. After all, herps are kind of a small interest here in New Orleans.

You should only need to file a complaint and let them know the conditions you saw at the store.

Here is a link to the Louisiana ASPCA Animal Abuse page and a short paragraph with contact info:

http://www.la-spca.org/prevention/cruelty.htm

"The public is the biggest ally in fighting animal cruelty and neglect. It is crucial that everyone gets involved and stays involved. If you witness animal cruelty, or think that you have, in Orleans Parish, call the LA/SPCA at (504) 368-5191, as well as the police department or fill out the online Request For Investigation Report."

In this case, it isn't about the people, it is about the animals. If they get in trouble then that is the consequence for allowing the animals to get in this condition.

Good for you for sticking up for the pets. MOst of the time, the Animal Control agencies are way understaffed and the only time they know about conditions such as you describe is when people call and report them.

Let us know how it goes!

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Originally Posted by dalvers63

You should only need to file a complaint and let them know the conditions you saw at the store.

Here is a link to the Louisiana ASPCA Animal Abuse page and a short paragraph with contact info:

http://www.la-spca.org/prevention/cruelty.htm

"The public is the biggest ally in fighting animal cruelty and neglect. It is crucial that everyone gets involved and stays involved. If you witness animal cruelty, or think that you have, in Orleans Parish, call the LA/SPCA at (504) 368-5191, as well as the police department or fill out the online Request For Investigation Report."

In this case, it isn't about the people, it is about the animals. If they get in trouble then that is the consequence for allowing the animals to get in this condition.

Good for you for sticking up for the pets. MOst of the time, the Animal Control agencies are way understaffed and the only time they know about conditions such as you describe is when people call and report them.

Let us know how it goes!

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and if it's possible, send them pics showing how bad the animals look!!!

Thanks a lot Deb! I am going to try and take care of what I can now and what's left I will take care of in the morning. I will DEFINITELY keep you guys posted as to what happens with this situation.

We have a store here like that I get feeders from. I hate going in there everytime.

There's a cage with baby balls. Large balls. Burmese pythons. And large boas all in the same cage. With sh*t and urates everywhere. All of em have retained eyecaps and sheds. FILTHY water filled with poop. Every single time.

So what can I do? Find my local aspca and give em a call?

The dogs and stuff there are ok. The rabbits are allright it seems. Fish are ok. Just the way they treat they're snakes is horrendous.

It is soo unthinkable that people would do this to animals.. Pet stores at least, the only reason I would want to buy an animal from them would be because I felt so bad for the animal. I sent in a complaint to the link that Deb sent me and I will follow up with a call in the morning. Hopefully they will take care of the situation and I definitely think that we as animal lovers have the responsibility to be the voices for any and every mistreated/neglected animal (especially herps) that we see. I say herp especially because as we all know there are many people who are very uneducated or could care less about them and might not see the not so obvious neglect or mistreatment that we would see. Such as housing x amount of snakes together or the little things that we know to stress out our snakes and such things like that.

Personally as the sounding of 2kdime said.. And my personal experiences with my local pet shops, there puppies are taken care of ok,cats,fish,rabbits etc. are fine, Doesnt make it right for them to sell them, but you know.

But I think there afraid of their reptiles or something, because their in terrible conditions, you shouldnt have an exotic if you cant care properly for it, there are no trained employee's, you ask a question and they look at you or tell you to look it up on line, I dont go there for anything else except my feeders as their the only pet store in DE, that carry F/T and live all sizes.

And I cant wait for my reptile expos to come around so I dont have to buy anything from those damn pet stores. :mad: I hate them...

They had Iguana's large and small in a tiny cage, dead ones were hanging from the roof of the cage, Pythons with eye caps, and sheds wraped around them,beardeds with dry flakey skin. ( And I know for a fact those beardeds do not get soaked, or the Balls get soaked when needed. )

It really ticks me off. That pet stores can get away with promoting filthy puppy millers, sell unhealthy exotic animals uneducated people, and young kids who think its cool to own and snake,lizard etc. and dont know a darn thing how to care properly for their exotic needs.

And a woman here in Delaware rescued dogs out of an act of compassion and get them all seized because of not having health certifercates, Here in DE you need a reptile license to own anything Exotic, and pet stores sell these animal to unknowing people...

I really dont get it.. :mad:

Sorry for venting.

But really am I right in feeling this way or am I over reacting?

No, you are not overeacting. I've seen it at almost every pet store that I've ever been too. There is only one exception in my area, Pets and Things. They are phenominal. That is the only one I go to and I avoid the rest. Please take the advise given in the previous posts, and shut these guys down. Thats wishful thinking, atleast a hefty fine.

I've been the same way, really! Especially after every time we leave that pet shop. Example of being uneducated.. One of the guys that works at this particular pet shop was talking to us and when we asked him whether some balls were male or female, he told us he knew for sure they were all males because he had seen those "hooks" on them. Thinking that the spurs were a sign of being male. We laughed, but at the same time thinking wow this is a guy that is trying to keep, care for, and sell these reptiles. It :soapbx: :cens0r: me off!!

i hate the idea that pet stores become only about the money and not the animals. Sometimes it really bothers me how animals are kept in stores.

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Originally Posted by dalvers63

You should only need to file a complaint and let them know the conditions you saw at the store.

Here is a link to the Louisiana ASPCA Animal Abuse page and a short paragraph with contact info:

http://www.la-spca.org/prevention/cruelty.htm

"The public is the biggest ally in fighting animal cruelty and neglect. It is crucial that everyone gets involved and stays involved. If you witness animal cruelty, or think that you have, in Orleans Parish, call the LA/SPCA at (504) 368-5191, as well as the police department or fill out the online Request For Investigation Report."

In this case, it isn't about the people, it is about the animals. If they get in trouble then that is the consequence for allowing the animals to get in this condition.

Good for you for sticking up for the pets. MOst of the time, the Animal Control agencies are way understaffed and the only time they know about conditions such as you describe is when people call and report them.

Let us know how it goes!

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:rockon:

But yea... I would walk through tomorrow with a camera and take as many pics as you possibly can. However, be warned they may ask you to leave for taking pictures on private property, although that's about all they can do.

The saddest part of it all, is that it would probably be cheaper in the long-run for them to actually take the time and care for their animals. As they would have few to none die in their hands (lost profit), would have healthier animals that would attract customers away from corporate Petco/petsmart, and could possibly get away with even higher prices if it shows how much effort/care they put into their animals...

How's this for being money hungry?

My local pet shop. The one 2 miles from my house charges 5 dollars for a small feeder rat. Hahah I laugh everytime I think about it.

Yeah, there prices I think are still pretty high. There beardies are like at minimum $200. Everything else is pretty high too I just can't remember off hand. They obviously don't have a very good turn over rate because of all these factors, meaning we pretty much see all the same animals every time we are there. The biggest thing they sell has got to be there feeders. Which they are actually in the process of building a new little bitty feeder room, because there neighbors in the little strip mall all complained about the smell. We told them that we recommend putting vanilla in the water on top of this (we breed some of our rats and to us it makes a significant difference with the vanilla as to without) and there response was they do too much with the feeders all ready (in regards to basic changing of the substrate) to be bothered to put vanilla in water. They don't even really clean them out very well. We went today to get a couple mice and there were dead mice all in the tubs. We kinda hate to get our feeders from them, but are really limited as to where we can get them from. Until we get our rat project down pat. They are just crummy all around!

Yup mine is exactly the same. They aquired a "borneo blood python" which looks sumatran. They're asking 300 for it.

150+ for balls. Some prices are good. Some are just crazy.

The bad thing about my place is they have a so called experienced snake guy on hand and he allows the animals to be kept in some nasty conditions.

I just had an image of Pee Wee Herman running in and saving all the animals from the pet store. I know some of you know what im talkin about :P

But seriously though, you should plan a covert operation and rescue those poor animals. I'm all for it. Where is this pet shop located anyway?

I'm disgusted that there are so many uncaring pet store operators out there! The one near my house is great! All cages are cleaned of poop, etc. daily. They feed when the store is open so you know the animals are eating well. Its owned by a couple who have been involved in exotics for over 20 years and they and their staff are very knowledgable about their animals.

I haven't experienced the worst out there like all of you have but i just imagine the conditions and am enraged!

As for limited sources for feeders, there are quite a few on-line feeder stores that have pretty good prices and deliver to your door. They have everything from a large variety of worms to all sizes of f/t mice & rats. I've dealt with some and have had good experiences. They even accept paypal if you don't have a credit card! Could be an option for some.

I agree with the suggestion and your plan to call the ASPCA. You should see what happens to animal abusers here in Canada! Sometimes they even get jail time!

People who run stores with such nasty conditions should be forced to live in those conditions themselves! Then maybe they would give a damn.

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Originally Posted by Snakeman

sounds horrible!

i'd contact your local ASPCA

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Agreed, i dont know what to say except contact the ASPCA. That is terrible.

Report, report, report! There's no other option. What a horrible and ignorant way to treat those creatures. If I were you I'd have said something long ago (not criticising or anything, I know you rely on the store). Thankfully near me we have two great reptile specialist stores, kept clean, have a nice store and the staff are knowledgable.

It's a shame that it can't be said for all pet shops. :(

You're doing the right thing, keep us posted and in the mean time, just buy your feeders from online or other sources.

half the time the ASPCA wont do anything. Whatever law enforcement you have regarding animals (like, for me in Florida it's Game and Fish Commission) contact them, because they HAVE to at least look at them whereas the ASPCA just feels like they should and then nothing gets done.

Also, if you want a reaction REAL fast, get the media involved. Contact any and all local newspapers. They're almost always willing to get involved in stuff like this and when the stores find out they're getting bad publicity they usually jump to fix things. The trick is to keep going back and make sure they're continuing the good habits.

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Originally Posted by Snakeman

sounds horrible!

i'd contact your local ASPCA

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sooooooooo true that sounds like neglect :(