Who's responsible?

A sales associate at a chain pet store sells a customer a reptile, but does not give adequate information about how to care for it. The customer takes the animal home and, although he loves his new pet, cares for it improperly because he doesn't know what he's doing. In a month the animal is on its deathbed due to the improper care it has received.

Who do you feel is the BIGGEST cause of the death of this animal?

1. The customer, because he did not do the necessary research before investing in the reptile.
2. The sales associate, because he did not have adequate information for the customer and therefore should not have sold the animal.
3. The store manager(s), because they did not properly train the sales associate about how to care for certain animals and allowed him to sell them anyways.
4. The corporate office of the pet store chain, because they do not encourage the managers they hire to make quality animal care and communication to customers their top priority.

I work at a pet store, and this question has been on my mind lately. I can't really decide on an answer. (**Note: I am not the actual sales associate in this story!)

I would say, the customer.

You can never learn enough information on care. So many people put up so much different information.

The person should do more research other than a pet store employee.

If you sell an animal you should be able to provide proper info on it's care and the equipment or info for the proper equipment for correct husbandry pratices. Unfortunately most large chains only care about the bottom line and hire the cheapest labor so they can get the highest return.

In a nutshell you should buy directly from a breeder that knows how to properly care for the animals and has experience to back it up.

We assume that a person in a pet store knows what he is talking about. That can be hit or miss, depending on the animal in question

I think corporate offices need to ensure their staff are properly trained.

But it doesn't seem that any of the large chains have any such process in place.

It infuriates me when I see how many pet store employees have to come online and do research on their own time to find out how to care for the animals in their employer's care.

Mites, RIs, improper husbandry, crappy cage furniture, etc. etc. etc.

But then again, if there was standardized care, it would revolve around products and not the animal's well-being. It would be about selling the package to the consumer.

Nice big glass tank... but no hydrogemeter. (Never got that one).

I hate putting it back on the customer. If they are told... "yeah, yeah, this animal is a dream to care for"...

I think people that buy from breeders are people who already know about bps. The average new pet owner, who is interested in a first time snake, does do what they think is proper research. AKA pet stores. But when the info is outdated, the staff are not properly trained, and the animal is sick to begin with, then they are pretty much in a lose lose situation.

How often do we see people come into forums, who have done LOTS of research, but get the same crappy outdate info over and over again? It isn't till they talk to other bp owners that they discover most of what they learned is not valid.

*ugh*

Bruce

The first BP we ever saw was in Petco. My son and I decided we loved it. The store employee gave us lots of (incorrect) husbandry information. We left the store, went home, and began our research that lasted for a couple of months before we felt okay to start looking for a BP from a breeder. We now have 8 (maybe 9) snakes waiting for warm weather to be shipped to us. In the meantime, we have our RBI cages (3) and RBI racks (2) all hooked up and steady on the temps, humidity, and everything. The only thing we still have to do is get the amp out of the room the snakes will be in. I am also encouraging one of my kids to move to Portland so that his younger brother can have his room and the snakes can have their own room! Ya know, this hobby pretty much takes on a life of its own!!
So, yeah, the pet owner needs to educate themselves prior to purchase. IMO.

I voted the purchaser because in the end, when you make a decision to take on any living creature, especially one that requires specific care and is long living and has the vast amount of information available for you to access on the internet - it's your responsibility.

Consumer, for the various reasons already listed.

I think it's great to have qualified staff that know their stuff, but it isn't their ultimate responsibility to teach the customer. Especially if most customers aren't interested in learning.

Just my experience with people in retail. Customers are your number 1 enemy. (I am a lil hateful :P)

Comes down to it, the customer has taken the responsibility when they bought the animal, the seller shouldn't have to be obliged to teach every single person that comes their way.

i say the corprate office. for a couple reasons.
they are the ones at the end of the day that are not paying for the training of there sales people. as far as the person that sells it they are just doing a job. few because they actually like animals i bet. for the most part they are just trying to have a job and earn a living. and anyone that has a job to pay there bills i cant see to much fault with.

it seems that the coustomer should be at fault but who. petsmart / petco is souposed to know everything. most of them have a vet right there in the store. believe it or not there are many people out there that dont have the internet yet so the ammount of reasearch done is verry little after they get some advice from the store.

i was a petco the other day and i saw a kid walking out with a bcc and a critter keeper. and a parent that did not look to happy. the image i have of that snake in there in 1 year all balled up and cant move sadens me. or the alternative they let them go.

If the sales rep gives INCORRECT information, they're at fault. If they give NO information, it's the customer's fault. If the rep doesn't have the right information, they should leave it to the consumer to do their own research.

good point. some times no advice is better than bad advice.

I think it's the consumer who is most at fault. Anyone who buys an animal should know the care and requirements before making the purchase. Too many people make impulse purchases and either don't really care how to properly care for the animal, or they don't want to spend the money to give the animal the proper husbandry. Most of the time you can't learn everything you need to know by having a 2 minute conversation with the breeder/salesperson, even if they know what they are talking about, but nobody should assume that a petstore employee will even know what every animal they sell requires. If you are going to buy a pet, you should do your research and set up the enclosure before bringing an animal home. If you don't have a computer (you probably can't afford a pet w/ your broke @$$) you can go to the local library or Borders and read a book. With the few impulse puchases I've made, I've never made it home with the animal without a good book on the care of the specific specie and all the correct enclosure, food and accesories it requires. As soon as it's settled in I hit the forums and start reading and asking questions. I want all my animals to thrive. Anything less is just being irresponsible.

Ultimately the customer; when buying an animal researches should not be limited to what a pet store employee says.

Some stats on how many people actually have access to the internet for those interested.

http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_040318.pdf

3 our 4 people have internet access according to this report.

I voted consumer, because anything that requires care to survive should be researched thoroughly before accepting that responsibility.

That was a hard choice between the customer, and the corporate office... Let's not forget that the majority of us here, if not ALL are obviously "animal people"... If a customer that has little, if any creature skills wonders into a pet store, and sees a beardie... and decides that they want it... and with all good intentions listens to an employee and takes all they say to heart... well, if the info was wrong, I would blame the store. Not the employee, and not the manager... because with big box chain stores... the management and employees are "trained" by the corporation... I THINK the majority of the time, especially with reptiles.. they go off what they are told, and the care sheets that are provided... Anyhoo... I voted cooperate... Now if a somewhat knowledgeable animal person purchases a critter, there is more of a chance that they have animal buddies that they'll discuss their new pet with, care etc... they, I would think would already know that sights like this one exist, etc.... Can I just vote all of the above!??! :rolleye2:

I have to say the customer. I think that anyone that is purchasing a living thing needs to know how to care for it properly BEFORE it comes home. You wouldn't bring a baby unless you had the things they needed already at home and knew how to care for him or her and I treat my pets the same way.

As a very new snake owner we didn't make the decision to own an unfamilar pet quickly or without extensive research. Now I did make some changes to our tank after Mugsy came home but it was minor tweaking not a complete setup. We knew what we were doing, what to look for dealing with illness, where we were going to get food and when we were going to feed him which was coordinated with the existing schedule set by the breeder. I did the same thing when we got our birds too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Laooda

Let's not forget that the majority of us here, if not ALL are obviously "animal people"...

---

Remember, these customers aren't whatever stereotypical image you have in your head of a "non-animal person buying an animal". These people could be someone you respect - could be your aunt, or your mom or dad, or your neighbor. Often times they honestly have no malicious intent regarding the animals they're buying.

My first reptile was a beardie from Petco. I hate to say this but it WAS an impulse buy, as I had been thinking about buying a reptile but had not decided on what I wanted to do exactly. But after I bought it with the supplies sold to me by an associate, I ran home and read online for hours and hours and hours about beardies, desperate to give my little boy as perfect a habitat as I could manage. Week after week I perfected my tank, my lights, and my feeding routine. That beardie was in fact my gateway into the herping world. I quickly learned lots of fascinating stuff about lizards and reptiles in general and soon added a small anole tank to my collection.

I'm not sure why, but some non-animal people, even after buying an animal, STAY non-animal people. In other words, even though they bought the animal, they don't bother doing any more research than what they learned at the store. A lot of times, this happens when parents buy for their kids because "my son/daughter really, really wants it" instead of "WE really, really want it."

So is it the fault of the customer for his indifference about his new animal, or the people who sold it to him (at some level in the company) because they failed to prevent the situation from happening? Hmm...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by icygirl

Remember, these customers aren't whatever stereotypical image you have in your head of a "non-animal person buying an animal". These people could be someone you respect - could be your aunt, or your mom or dad, or your neighbor. Often times they honestly have no malicious intent regarding the animals they're buying.

---

"and with all good intentions listens to an employee and takes all they say to heart..."

I think you misunderstood me... I wasn't implying that a new owner had any indifference or malice towards their new purchase.

I think that ideally, an educated staff coupled with a customer that is willing to self educate is the best scenario. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by icygirl

Remember, these customers aren't whatever stereotypical image you have in your head of a "non-animal person buying an animal". These people could be someone you respect - could be your aunt, or your mom or dad, or your neighbor. Often times they honestly have no malicious intent regarding the animals they're buying.

---

They could be my aunt, mom or dad and I would still consider it their ignorance for not researching ahead of time. It is common knownledge that pet store employees make somewhere around minimum wage or a tiny bit higher. That means they are usually low quality workers.

"Ignorance has no boundries"

i cant vote because the corect answer is all of the above!

I voted that the customer ultimatly is the most responsible party. However I feel all of the people involved play a part in the aminals care. Before I found the forums I thought that the people that worked at petstores had a working knowledge of the care and supplies needed to maintain the animals they sold.

I personally would purchase or check out books about what ever animal I ultimatly brought home

I agree with PP, I think its not only the customer, I feel everyone is at fault. If the corporate office would educate the individual stores, who educated the individual employees these animals would be in better shape by the time it actually gets into the customers hands, however, whos expecting an often 17yr old to study and learn all there is to know about each and every animal the store has.. come on, scorpians, spiders, snakes (all different species), beardeds, geckos, frogs, fish (both salt and fresh).. thats alot to expect from anyone, and to make the mix worse what if that associate only likes cats and thats why they work at a pet store, that makes it even worse..

Ultimatly it is then up to the customer to be properly educated on the animal they have chosen. Honestly alot of people dont really get what they are getting into until they are in it either and that falls back onto the customer... Its all in the way you look at it really.

In my opinion it is the customer; even though I know from having tables at reptile shows that many times a purchase of a normal ball python is an impulse buy. I try to discourage the buy, provide care sheets if the person in uninformed and strongly encourage him/her to go on-line to do reseach before (yes I provide the link to this great forum :D) . I've lost many sales this way . . . .

I do agree that corporate/management has responsiblity to properly train their emloyees, but the lack of sales staff training is not unique to the reptile industry- the results are just more devistating.

This is a toughie. At first, I want to say that the buyer should've researched things beforehand. But personally, when I was much younger, I had a pet iguana. I was told by the store that heat rocks were fine to use.. I used one and my iggy ended up burning onto it and dying. As I was told incorrect info (this was back around 1991..) from both books and the store, I don't feel like this was my fault.
Now, with the internet and more widespread knowledge, stores should not be giving erraneous, harmful info. I would take it on a case-by-case basis when forming my opinion on who's at fault with an animal dying from improper care. If someone comes onto this site or another good site, and refuses to follow correct advice, and the snake suffers.. that is the owner's fault 100%.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ginevive

This is a toughie. At first, I want to say that the buyer should've researched things beforehand. But personally, when I was much younger, I had a pet iguana. I was told by the store that heat rocks were fine to use.. I used one and my iggy ended up burning onto it and dying. As I was told incorrect info (this was back around 1991..) from both books and the store, I don't feel like this was my fault.
Now, with the internet and more widespread knowledge, stores should not be giving erraneous, harmful info. I would take it on a case-by-case basis when forming my opinion on who's at fault with an animal dying from improper care. If someone comes onto this site or another good site, and refuses to follow correct advice, and the snake suffers.. that is the owner's fault 100%.

---

Jen--My first reptile was an Iguana, too. I was 13 when I bought him: also with a heat rock. I suspect that my iguana died of some sort of vitamin deficiency (I even brought him to the vet and they gave him vitamin E shots, but it didn't help). That was 10 years ago, and whenever I think about that iguana, I just wince to think about how uninformed I was. The pet stores and the iguana book I bought didn't really give me much information. My mother, who really didn't want me to have a reptile in the first place, felt I was responsible enough to care for it myself. I wasn't.

Iguanas are an even tougher case than something like a BP. They require a lot of specialized care conditions (UV lighting, high humidity, hot and cool spots in the cage, a variety of fruit and vegetables, enough vitamins) and they grow to be large and sometimes aggressive lizards. I don't think the pet stores emphasize this enough when someone like I was, a 13-year-old kid, comes in to buy a cute little green lizard.

I think that when it comes to younger kids purchasing reptiles (or -any- pet), that pet stores should demand parental involvement and provide adequate and up-to-date information. When one gets into his/her late teens and beyond, I think that responsibility for research into proper care falls to the customer. The internet and access to it, in addition to many websites with information are far more prevalent now than they were 10 years ago. There's no reason for someone capable of doing research about a pet to be uninformed these days.

Hello everyone,

I voted that the customer was most responsible for the animal's demise.

I'd like to say a few things since we are breeders/retailers. We not only have a moderate to large collection of captive bred and breeding reptiles but we also have a retail store that is open 6 days a week. This store currently (and for the past 8 years) has catered only to the reptile customer.

Celia and myself help nearly every customer in the door and we have since we opened, which is VERY time consuming among all of our other responsibilities to our business. We also issue a basic care sheet with every live (non-feeder) animal purchase. We still have customers who take a perfectly healthy animal home and kill it with improper care and ignorance. This makes us very unhappy as we take a lot of time to help the customer and insure that all of our saleable inventory is healthy. What does one do in this situation? Unfortunately, more times than not, a customer blames the health problem on the store they purchased it from instead of their ignorance of what a live animal's life requires.

In times like these I am viewed as this evil store owner because I think that some people can only learn a lesson with negative reinforcement. If there is an "impulse buyer" in my store I usually refuse to sell them the animal that day. It is sad that as a business owner my ethics make me more of a dictator but that is the way I think it has to be. Here is a story...

I recently sold a hatchling Corn Snake to a lady and her child. They were in a real hurry and didn't seem to listen to anything we had to say. I sold them the Corn Snake and (mostly because they had other snakes at home so I figured they had at least SOME care knowledge) NOTHING ELSE and also gave them a care sheet. The next day I get a call from the child saying that his new snake was dead. When I asked what type of substrate he had this tiny hatchling snake on he replied "CEDAR SHAVINGS". In my past experience cedar takes a while to harm a large snake but not a tiny hatchling and especially not with a brand new bag of cedar. I told him this then he hung up. I waited 5 seconds and his mother called. She was extremely upset about the situation. At that point I made a choice... I'd rather teach this irresponsible person a lesson than have a repeat customer, that is how important the animal's well being is to us. So I told her that I gave her a care sheet on which it states to not use cedar shavings as they can be toxic. She was shocked that I wasn't going to replace the snake and threatened to call the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and report our horrible business practices. I then told her that when it comes to an animals health and well being, the customer is not always right! I assured her that the BBB report would make no difference and that the snake would not have died if she had taken some time to educate herself with the material that we provided her. She was furious and assured me that I would NEVER get her business again and I told her that I appreciated that.:colbert:

See I was the devil to that lady, in that instance, but do you think they are still keeping their pets on cedar?

I think that there are a lot of hobbyists and breeders who really bad mouth retailers without realizing that retailers are responsible for most new hobbyists entering the business. Someone on the first page of this thread said that they saw their first Ball Python in a PetCo but didn't purchase it. Instead they went home and did their research and now have a decent collection of ball pythons with commercial caging and racks. We have to give credit to the retailers who hook us all on this expensive, addictive and sometimes lucrative hobby!

Hope this wasn't too long...

Absolutely excellent post Sean!

I'll stand by what I said earlier in this thread. It's the customer's/purchaser's ulimate responsibility. It's easier to blame the store or the person who sold you the snake, etc. It's far harder to face the fact that you purchased a living creature that you did not learn about first, you did not set it up properly or do the things to ensure it's wellbeing. Part of that might well be deciding who you will buy a snake from in the first place whether that is a good breeder or a good store with responsible staff.

I think the purchasing decisions you make are only a small part of what your learning curve should be before you taken on the responsiblity of a snake or any living creature that's dependent on you.

The customer should educate themselves before getting any animal. That is something I seriously believe, it's getting to the point where it's always someone elses responsibility to make sure that the consumer is ready for something.

I miss good old common sense :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Laooda

"and with all good intentions listens to an employee and takes all they say to heart..."

I think you misunderstood me... I wasn't implying that a new owner had any indifference or malice towards their new purchase.

I think that ideally, an educated staff coupled with a customer that is willing to self educate is the best scenario. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

---

Hey, sorry, that post wasn't directed at you, Laooda. I actually thought you were making a good point by saying that most people on here are animal people and that it's good to also see this from other perspectives, and I wanted to expand on that.

I suppose that working with non-animal people on a daily basis, I start to sympathize with them. But maybe they just need to start thinking outside the box.

Sean, that was a well told anecdote that happens way too often. The parent-buying-for-child story is probably THE biggest cause of improper animal care that I see. The kid begs and pleads with his parents that he will never be happy again unless he has a [insert animal type here]. The parent doesn't really care about the animal, but wants to indulge or satisfy the kid. Unfortunately, most young kids aren't used to having responsibilities and/or are unable to care for animals themselves.

But here's the thing: the kids who receive these animals will also be learning about them, and learning to respect herps - which is definitely a good thing. So where do you draw the line? :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by icygirl

Sean, that was a well told anecdote that happens way too often. The parent-buying-for-child story is probably THE biggest cause of improper animal care that I see. The kid begs and pleads with his parents that he will never be happy again unless he has a [insert animal type here]. The parent doesn't really care about the animal, but wants to indulge or satisfy the kid. Unfortunately, most young kids aren't used to having responsibilities and/or are unable to care for animals themselves.

But here's the thing: the kids who receive these animals will also be learning about them, and learning to respect herps - which is definitely a good thing. So where do you draw the line? :confused:

---

Well I've got 4 kids so I've been down the "mommy PLEASEEEEEEEEE" route loads of times. Granted I'm definitely an "animal person" but the line in our home is pretty firm. If Mike or I are not willing to back one of the kids up fully on the care of the animal they want, and they aren't willing to do the learning first about that animal, then they cannot have it - no matter how much fuss they put up.

Our kids have snakes all around them but when Luke and Beth both asked for their own "personal" snakes we still made them go through the following -

- research online on the species of snake and it's care
- keeping their school grades to a pre-determined level to show a responsible attitude
- contribution of half of the cost of their snake
- assistance with the rat colony care
- direct care of their snake and it's enclosure
- a sit down talk about the future and an agreement about their snake if they could not care for them at some point (they are teens and need to think about college and so forth and what that means for their snakes)

Even Michael at 6 is expected to help care for Buddy his snake and help with the rat colony that feeds Buddy. As he matures he'll be expected to do more and more of that care by himself.

It's all fine and well to think that animals help teach our kids, but that line should be drawn when the animal is suffering for that life lesson.

Another example - Luke is 16, he'd like a big spider. I am sadly and stupidly terrified of large spiders. Since I cannot back Luke up and help care for this type of pet, he knows he cannot have one until he has his own home someday. Did he like this decision? Nope not one bit, but he understands the rule about animals deserving care even if their owner is not home so he's accepted that on this, he must wait.

The customer is at fault. Assigning blame anywhere else is simply the "pass the buck/not ME!" crap that contributes greatly to what's wrong with our world.

If you buy a set of pots and pans, do you blame Wal Mart when the food you cook sucks?

Besides.... how long does it take to learn very basic animal husbandry? While that question is obviously rhetorical, the answer is also obviously "way longer than you're going to talk to the clerk in a pet store."

You are not talking about a book, a candy bar, or a new TV. You are talking about a living, breathing animal that will depend on you 110% for EVERYTHING. It is totally the person who buys the animal who has the responsibility to see that it is properly cared for.

There is NO excuse to let an animal die because you REFUSE to learn. The animal didnt die in a day. There are vets out there. The FIRST thing anyone should do with a new pet is take it to a GOOD vet. If you can't afford a vet visit you cant afford the pet.

It is great when the "pet people" at the huge pet stores know a lot about the animals they are selling. However not only can most not remember what the person told them in that 3 min conversation they blow it off (usually to save money). I have NO symphany for impulse buyers who get ANY kind of animal! THEY and THEY ALONE agree to take and care for that animal.

For example a google search of ball pyhon care gave me 101000 in .12 seconds. You don't have to read all 101000 pages but even if you read for one or two hours and start seeing the same information you should be able to get a clue.

Steping down. Sorry but this is a hot topic for me. I have seen so many abused animals and hear "I didn't know" and say did you EVER call a vet? and 90% of the time the answer is NO. If they where sick they would RUN to a doctor

I voted the store management. I do agree that the sales associate and the customer are also to blame but it comes down to hiring untrained employees.

I have worked in pet stores. One of them was a small chain the other a huge national chain. The huge chain, I was greatly disappointed. It comes down to politics and BS as far a I am concerned. Corporate does have a hand in these issues but only so far as their policies are concerned. Corporate does not hire, train, or supervise the employees. The store management does. Often enough the store managers don't know hardly anything about the animals sold in the store, or even the use of the products they sell. Their focus is dealing with people and following protocol and policy.

In the small chain I worked at, you had to be qualified to work in the fish or reptile rooms. You could not assist customers in those areas if you had no experience, you HAD to get a manager or an experienced employee. Everybody started out as a cashier and was only allowed on the floor if they really knew anything about pets and they provided great training, meetings, worksheets, encouraged the employees to read the books they carried etc. They would not sell exotics to people that did not know what they were doing. If an animal got sold to an idiot, it was the sales associates fault to a degree, but it is also up to the manager on duty to step in and make sure everything is allright.

The customer, yes I agree that you should never obtain a living creature without any idea of how to care for it.. but this is not limited to reptiles in any way shape or form! 90% of people that own dogs and cats know nothing of animal behavior, nutritional needs, training, etc. and wind up with ill behaved and dangerous animals because of their lack of research or being misinformed.

These sorts of things will continue to happen so long as the animals are made available to the people that want them. By responsible breeders screening buyers and through forums like this we can hopefully reduce how often it happens, but as long as those pet stores and those backyard breeders and puppymills are still in business, animals will suffer needlessly.

Individuals need to be responsible for themselves. I don't mind a store clerk asking someone if they know what's required for that animal or handing them a caresheet, but it's ultimately the consumer's responsibility to do right by the animal since he or she is the one deigning to care for it.

I think the costimer is at fault. He should of been a responsible pet owner and done research before buying and pet. I own several herps for a long time and I still do research to see if anyone has any better techniques or ideas.

This poll was designed with the assumption that everyone gets their animals from a petstore. I understand for the layman, this is most often the case, but its still a blank statement.

That said, I would like to say that, with 9 yrs of pet store employment experience (one being a nat'l chain) nearly everyone listed on the poll is responsible to some degree. It's true; the big wigs at the corporate HQ care about nothing but money. Store managers care only about keeping their jobs and making sure their underlings do theirs, and 90% of the time, the sales associates only care about their meager paycheck. Some sales clerks may care a little about the livestock, but usually, there is one of two obstacles in the way:

1.) they simply are ignorant of proper care, and if not properly trained by management (which is rare), they seldom take it upon themselves to do some research. This is very sad within itself, as we live in a society where most people hate reading. Unless its required for a job or school, no one likes to read voluntarily. I suppose it just simply equals "work" in their minds. This phenomena is what I commonly refer to as the "dumbing" of America.

2.) in the rare cases where you have a sales clerk who knows his stuff and genuinely cares about the animals and not the next buck, he finds himself in a position where he might have to confront his superiors. Most people choose to be robots and keep getting that paycheck (when you have bills to pay, you have to pick your battles carefully...I can't really blame most of these individuals.

So, it can easily be said that there's room for improvement with everyone involved, but I do have to say that out of the four, it is the customer's (pet owners) responsibility. This isn't like buying a microwave or a dvd player. A new pet owner is responsible for that animal's life, and this includes knowing what you're getting into. We live in an age where tons of information is literally at our fingertips. There's no excuse for not doing your homework before investing in a pet (this goes with my general concerns with people not doing research).

Also, part of the problem is that people do not know how to research. First and foremost, you cannot be dependant on a singular source of information (i.e. a petstore clerk). You have to confirm it with other sources, whether its a book, magazine article, another person, or websites. I always tell people to find 6-7 sources and average out the info. If something is repeated 3-4 times, its probably correct.

From a petstore's perspective, I can see where the store is liable if a customer is told false information and acts on it (thats just business), but I still think people should do a little more homework before making the commitment to have an animal's life in their hands.

I think its the store chain ..management where ever to give their employees a correct basic knowledge of pet care of the pets they sell to the public.., Its the customers responsibilty to get more in depth understanding of a pet prior to purchase. look at the efforts that go into buying a car or a computer or refridgerator for that matter..Any one who has the inclination to buy a pet from a general pet store surely should know that they need further research and understanding. With the internet so easily accesible it takes just a matter of moments to research any animal on this planet. All animals can get sick..from stress and changes thats why its soo important to learn how to make their transition as stress free as possible to help keep them healthy. the store cant be held responsible for a customers negligence .

(I'm going to do my best here....the nyquil is kicking in)

I confess...I was an mis-informed, uneducated impulse buyer of a bp! I've learned a lot but not nearly enough, yet.

In my case, I think everybody involved is/was to blame...

--I didn't do enough research and feel horrible about it!
We started off researching corn snakes but at the last minute changed our mind to a bp because that is what my son really wanted.

--The rep really should know more about what s/he is selling
I realize now that the rep didn't have a clue what he was doing/saying but pretended he knew all there was to know about bps
When we made our final decision we told the rep to go ahead and set us up with whatever we need. He even agreed to setup the tank so all we had to do was add water once we got it home. Basically we said "here is a credit card, hook us up". It wasn't until I found bp.net that I realized the set up was all wrong. But, he mimicked the tank in the store. This is where I blame the manager.

Management should be responsible for providing proper care to the animals prior to the sale. I'm guessing the rep followed in store care and procedures.

Corporate should care just as much about the animals they sell as they do the money they bring in. Sell better, healthier animals, educate customers, make more money. Is it that hard?

My sister is the type who will get an animal (dog, cat, lizards, whatever) and not do a bit of research. Her son's all have lizards and the last time I was there none of them had water or hides. I've even gone as far as doing research for them and begged them to give the lizards their proper care. But, my sister doesn't care, couldn't be bothered and probably won't spend the money for proper husbandry.

In the last 7 years she has had as many dogs and 3 or 4 cats, most of which were bought at pet stores for big bucks. With an exception of the two dogs and one cat she still has, she has given them all away after only a year at most. Even if the pet shop provided the necessary information on the breed doesn't mean that the owner will follow it. My sister is now considering on getting rid of her King Charles mix and Chow because her husband is going through Chemo. I pray to God that she doesn't get another! We can't afford to rescue any more of her pets!

Sorry to ramble on!

I will do whatever I can NOT to be like my sister! Unfortunately I started off on the wrong foot but have since spent HOURS upon HOURS on the internet to learn all I possibly can about Foster! I want only the best for her and will give her the best or find a better home for her if it has to come to that.

It would be great if there were laws protecting pets against poor owners before they actually purchased them!

We don't need any more laws. I talked this over with my roommate and he did change my mind a bit. I still think the custome is responsible. HOWEVER, now I believe that there should be good information that goes along with any pet purchase. Even something simple as a handout that describes the proper type of care. It doesn't have to be fancy one page. Like my roommate said "people belive clerks because they hold a type of authority. They expect them to know what they are talking about" I have to agree. If you go to a pet store and ask a question you ASSUME that the person you are talking to knows his/her information.

On the other hand I don't belive in blind trust either. If you say "set me up" and you get a bad set up. Then the clerk is responsible for a short time. However it is up to you to do some follow up.

The manager and the chain stores need to be more aware of what goes into that bottom line. My roommate pointed out "store clerks just parrot information" so if the corprate says "sell them x" that is what they will do. Especially since most clerks are young. If they don't know what type of care x needs there should be a ready source of information (a cheat sheet) on the type of care X animal needs.

It would take little money to make a list of websites or online resorces or books. If an animal came with a care sheet and then gave you other references then there would be absoutly NO excues.

On a side note: anyone who gets an animal SHOULD be responsible but that is not always the case. We live in a throw away culture. Don't want it anymore give it away or kill it. I just saw an add on craigslist "free b/p" oh by the way it has a RI AND MITES but no big deal. if someone won't take it I will just kill it. How very sad is that. I thought for .000009 seconds of getting it and then came around. There is NO way I would introduce something like that into my house, but Ifeel so sorry for the little b/p. :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by akaangela

On the other hand I don't belive in blind trust either. If you say "set me up" and you get a bad set up. Then the clerk is responsible for a short time. However it is up to you to do some follow up.
:(

---

I agree with you 100% and that is exactly what I've done since bringing our bp home. However, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who will take the clerks word and follow it to a T. Those are the ones I'm the most concerned about.

I have learned so much from bp.net in the last several weeks since getting our bp. If it wasn't for you guys, I don't think our little girl would be around today, sadly enough. I say this because the information that I received so was sooo bad! I can't think of anything that they said that was actually true or worth a darn.

I'm not putting the blame off on anybody, but I do think that the store has some responsibility to either verbally provide basic care instructions or by handing the new owner a caresheet with useful information.