PETCO is out of control!

[cinderbird]

luckily, they don't sell any pythons in pet shops in NY.
But in petland discount i saw 2 garters snakes which were housed with what looked like a tegu...of course i had to buy all of them, but i bought 3 small critter cages and put them in and gave the garters to a garter snake breeder about 30 minutes away from my house and gave the tegu to a nearest herp shelter...at the store i asked why are they like that and they said "we ran out of room"...idiots...

That isnt true.. the petco near me sells not only ball pythons, but sometimes other types of pythons and boas as well.

i dont condone it, but i always talk to the employees when i go in there. I got my girl from a reptile specialist store. i wouldnt fuel petco's issues on animals by buying them.

[slartibartfast]

The petsmart near us always has dogs and tons of cats. I am not sure if they are for sale or rescued /shrug

They also almost never have reptiles there though. The only pet store that actually has reptiles is a PetCo

They are not for sale, I promise. They are brought in by various rescue groups hoping to find homes for them. It's a pretty good system.

I've shown at Petco with my rescues before, and the folks where very helpful and friendly. The dogs and cats you see in those cages don't live there...they are just brought in for the day so that people will see them and hopefully want to adopt them.

[wolfy-hound]

I'll add my voice to those others here.
Don't "rescue" the animals by buying them. Each animal you buy means they buy more to replace it. Each animal they buy brings at least 2-3 with it that die on the way, or in the holding facilty, since I doubt the holding facility for Petsmart/Petco is any better at caring and housing.
The Petsmart near me seems to do well. They do have two baby balls in one display, but the temps and humidity seem good. The Petco was worse last trip in, with four ball with NO hide, and three were in bad sheds, stuck all over, and skinny/dehydrated looking.
I don't spend any money in the store if they won't treat the animals right. I had a lovely petstore right on the route home, and they started carrying puppies. Right out of the puppy mills, and I had to stop buying there.
Too bad really.

[NightLad]

I'll add my voice to those others here.
Don't "rescue" the animals by buying them. Each animal you buy means they buy more to replace it. Each animal they buy brings at least 2-3 with it that die on the way, or in the holding facilty, since I doubt the holding facility for Petsmart/Petco is any better at caring and housing.

That's a good point.

I remember reading about a lady who wanted to protest a certain comic book she disagreed with, so she went around her town buying every copy she could get her hands on, under the logic that there would be no copies for the kids to buy.

Of course, it backfired, because with the sudden boom in sales the management of the stores just ordered in even more copies the next month and the distributers were so pleased with the demand that they included bonus issues and give-aways.

Okay, snakes are not comic books, but the same logic applies; buy the store out of the snakes this month, and they will have even more the next.

The only way to stop a store from stocking a certain item is to prove that it isn’t profitable for them to carry it. When dealing with living creatures we care for, this makes for a hard line with no clear black and white answers. I immensely respect people who are able to ‘rescue’ snakes in distress, but at the same time, in the case of ill-suited pet stores, it can be a double edged sword.

[cheryls]

You're all absolutely right. I understand that buying the animals leads to the stores wanting to sell more - and I won't buy the poor thing, but it sure is hard to see it.

I guess I'll just stop going in the store and try and find another place for any supplies I might need. If I never go in, I won't see the snakes!

Or maybe I'll protest the "old fashioned" way and slap stickers re: maltreatment on the tanks! I used to do that long ago when protesting the sale of toys promoting war.

[MarkS]

I guess I don't get it. You claim that these snakes are being horribly maltreated because one of them had a bad shed? I think you're over reacting.

[littleindiangirl]

I'll add it with everyone else.

DONT BUY SICK AND POORLY KEPT ANIMALS FROM BAD PET STORES. It's not a rescue!! It's giving them money to buy more animals!

I know for a fact from working in a Fortune 500 corporation in operations; they look at the numbers of what's been the hottest selling animal, and will "bulk up" more in the future. They are really about money!

Your better off complaining to them, then to the better business bureau. Get them in trouble instead of taking it into your own hands.

[Kristy]

My petco is alright. Not perfect by any means, but they have improved. I do NOT buy animals from them anymore, after realizing that they always end up with more poor souls to torture. The only time I take in animals from Petco anymore is if they are out on the adoption table. Mainly because I know they have been through enough already, they don't need to go to someone else who doesn't know what they are doing. They are usually free, I bring them home, let them de-stress, eat, fecal sample, and watch over them for a couple of months and then adopt them out to people. It has worked well so far, I get updates from people all the time and the animals are very well cared for.

[Monty]

just up the road from where i work theres 2 petsmarts not even 2 blocks from each other the older one is open for 3 more years and the other one is right next to the new walmart. but since the new one is soooo big and everyone whos looking for reptiles cant seem to find any there they come to my store. and from reading everything on here about how bad other peoples petcos are im ashamed to be part of that because we take the most care of our animals we can i clean the small animals twice a week. birds once a week. and reptiles i spot clean every day and change wet aspen as needed though i hate the aspen. its policy. and all the reptiles are as best as they can be i mean i can't help it that they over stock i have no control on that. and everyone else follows suit at the store. well im done my rant just wish the store didnt have to be a petco.


if we have any animals for adoption i always make sure they are the first to go to a good home. and people looking for large rats as feeders if we have them out for adoption don't get them at all because they are pets that are for adoption not food.

[littleindiangirl]

if we have any animals for adoption i always make sure they are the first to go to a good home. and people looking for large rats as feeders if we have them out for adoption don't get them at all because they are pets that are for adoption not food.

Why can't they be food? What really differentiates them from feeder to pet? Not many people want a geriatric rat, might as well give it to someone to help sustain another precious life. (Vida Preciosa)