Argh, I hate Pet Supermarket!

[Seneschal]

I went in today with my grandmother to look at the betta fish, and not ONLY were there like five dead bettas left out on display, the poor herps were kept horribly!!! The water was evaporated out of the bowls, leaving behind a disgusting slimy brown ring, there were sheds and poop all over the place, and of course no hides...but the ball python baby was worst of all.

It was probably only 60 grams, a tiny little thing. But I'll give you a run down of the enclosure before anything else--in the other animals' enclosures, there was at least a little water left. There was none in the BP's tank. There wasn't enough substrate, and what was there was dusty, dirty reptibark, with feces and urates all over the place. They had NO thermostat, NO hygrometer, and the empty and disgusting water bowl was large enough that if it HAD had water in it, and the baby got in, he might not have been able to get out. No hides, and no UTH, the lights they had on them didn't emit heat, and they had a ROCK in there. It was rough and jagged, some sort of lava rock, and it scratched my skin when I picked it up and took it out--I can't imagine what it would've done to the poor thing if he'd rubbed against it in shed! And over all, there was an unpleasant, acrid smell about the enclosures (they had an african rock python, a red tail boa, and the bp all in the same size and setup of enclosures, but luckily those two looked LOTS better than the guy I'm on about)

Now, the baby--he was obviously underweight; his back was triangular and he was moving around like he was really hungry. He had a stuck shed really bad--I suspect that there may have been two layers of stuck sheds there, since his eyes were completely white because of the skin--and he was badly dehydrated, his eyes dented obviously even without taking him out of the filthy tank.

I was immediately irritated and concerned, and approached a manager who obviously had no idea what to do with the animal--she opened the enclosure and let me take them out and show her what was wrong, but wouldn't touch. When I picked the little guy up, I was horrified when I saw his belly--I don't know if it's belly rot or not, but it looks bad. There are patches of scales on his belly that are brown and withered, like an old dead plant, and even some on his face and neck. Up close he looks really dehydrated and is extremely stressed; he half curled up in a ball and flinched every time someone moved.

I got onto her about it and she had me hold them while she cleaned out the cages and replaced water and substrate at my instruction, and I told her what was wrong and how to get rid of the stuck shed (the soak and run through a wet paper towel method) and told her she needed to get the animal to a veterinarian and hire somebody who knows how to take care of the animals. I told her I'm going to come back with proper caresheets for the animals they have and better information about them and stuff, but I don't know if that will make them clean up their act.

Personally I feel that they way they kept the poor things was nothing less than animal abuse.

There were only two good things I can say about them--they had the animals housed alone, and the little guy wasn't rasping; I don't think he has an RI but I'm really worried about the scales on his belly. Any idea what that might be, and do you think the store will take him to a vet? Also, I was told by another herper in the area--he manages another pet store I went to directly after, which I'm pleased to say takes care of their reptiles (haha, they have more herps and inverts than they do mammals or birds!) WONDERFULLY--that I could call the Florida Fish and Wildlife management, and see if they could do anything, and if not they'd probably know who to go to, since Animal Control probably don't deal with herps. Does anybody know someone I can call? Because I don't feel right just letting them get away with treating their animals that way. It isn't right. The fish tanks looked bad, too, with algae everywhere and dead fish all over the place--I'm glad my grandmother decided against buying the bettas from that place.

And on that note, she now has three healthy male bettas at home housed properly and perfectly happy to bite my fingers when I reach in to adjust the rocks at the bottom, named Badger, Mushroom, and...er...some name I can't spell!


I wish I'd thought to take pictures, but--any ideas? I'm going to be going back tomorrow or the next day with a caresheet and a little spray bottle for them to mist with, since I doubt they'd bother getting their own and I have extras. I'm going to be getting onto them to get good UTHs on there next time I go. Poor little guys were so cold!!

[xdeus]

I'm not sure what kind of people you're dealing with, but remember you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

I wouldn't offend them or nag about all the things they're doing wrong, but rather offer your assistance and be as helpful as possible. Try to convince them that taking care of their animals will ultimately be better for their business.

It sounds like they're pretty open to change which is better than many other places. Good luck!