I believe it all depends on the employees. I have 3 Petco's within 10 miles of me. 2 of them have experienced reptile employees. One guy even breeds leopard gecko's. But, the one is horrific! As for Petsmart I have 2 near me. One we bought a bearded dragon from and have had no problems. She's a little aggressive. But the other Petsmart is BAD! I could see the bones on their BP's, bearded dragons and they had a dead water dragon. So, I won't even return there! Guess there are good and bad of both stores!!!!