Quote Originally Posted by Kurtilein View Post
yes, you are right, maybe i need to make myself more clear.


You should only buy from people or places or companies where you can see that husbandry is good for all reptiles, amphibians, and spiders. If i see any animal not properly cared for, i wont buy anything.


But with big chains and big box stores, there is another problem: Their management and their hiring policies are known to TIME AND TIME AGAIN lead to unmotivated, unqualified and inexperienced employees. And these are nationwide or even global policies. I wont buy from big chains because hiring people that know how to properly care for the animals IS NOT PART OF THEIR POLICY, specifically THEY WONT PAY FOR IT. The business model is to hire at lowest possibe wage, and to HOPE that such knowledge automatically goes from employee to employee.

With small breeders and big breeders and dealers and individual stores, every one has the potential to do a really excellent job when it comes to husbandry. Every one can also screw up. And if they want to stay in business, there is an incentive to consistently do a good job.

With the big chains, if one of the stores does a very good job, this is merely a coincidence. The big chains are not aiming for it. If they _by chance_ hire a veterinary student, husbandry in that store will be excellent until that vet student gets a REAL job, but that veterinary student will not see a single cent more for his knowledge. With the high turnover rates, the low fixed wages, and good husbandry just not being part of the business plan, if you support ANY of these big chains you also support the worst shops in that chain. If the underlying philosophy is screwed up, one person can make one petco/phis. etsmart really nice for as long as that one person is present, but noone can improve the overall situation in the hundreds of shops in the larger system - not unless we bring some consumer power to bear against the whole system and force them to change their whole strategy.
There's a lot to be said for this. I wonder if a letter campaign was put together, or even something like a BOI for chain stores (or even local places, although they tend to be more stalwart in their strategies)-- keepers and hobbyists logging on to give reviews of particular stores or particular regions. It could be effective, it could not. Perhaps it's something to work on. Feedback?