Post your weird experiences with Petsmart/Petco!

[Wh00h0069]

I went in to buy some mice feeders. They said they wouldn't sell them as feeders... I'm like, O.K. so I will go to another store to spend my money.

[guambomb832]

I got into a 3rd grade level argument with an employee and then the manager over Leopard geckos and salad. They had a big bowl of salad in the Leo tank, no crickets or worms, just salad. I asked the employee about that and she said that is what they eat. I, politely, said not really, they don't eat salad they eat bugs. She was happy to tell me I was misinformed and it was written in their care sheet. I asked who wrote the care sheet and was she sure it was for Leo's and not Beardies or Uro's or tortoises or rabbits. Again, in her happy voice, she said the corporate vets wrote it so it must be right and I was, of course, wrong. I asked to see the manager. We went through the same conversation, almost word for word!! I was getting nowhere with him and he made the mistake of copping a condescending tone...not a good idea! I walked over to the book area and grabbed the Leo care book off the shelf and told him to read it. Oh, that was wrong too...old, outdated information in that book and their vet was up on the latest care and Leo's eat salad. Well it went downhill from there and ended up being a "yes they do" "no they don't" "yes they do" "no they don't" heated discussion, I called him an idiot and said the corporate vet was a moron. I was told I could leave the store on my own or wait for the po-po to show and escort me out. He also suggested I not come back.
I did go back a month or so later only to discover a new manager on duty and crickets in the Leo tanks.

Good job

[Elise.m]

I haven't been to one since I've learned almost everything on this website, but when I went there the last time (that's what actually got me interested in snakes) I saw they had about 5 BPs in one cage, no hides, and one was cruising like crazy. This guy that was standing next to us told us that he could sex the snakes just by looking at their tails. -_-

[Wh00h0069]

This guy that was standing next to us told us that he could sex the snakes just by looking at their tails. -_-

Wow, if he has a gift like that then what is he doing working in a pet store?

[knott00]

I haven't been to one since I've learned almost everything on this website, but when I went there the last time (that's what actually got me interested in snakes) I saw they had about 5 BPs in one cage, no hides, and one was cruising like crazy. This guy that was standing next to us told us that he could sex the snakes just by looking at their tails. -_-

I had a similar experience at petco. One of their employees told me that a snake was a female just by looking at the tail. He ended up being correct about the sex of the BP though. I'm sure it was just luck though...

[WingedWolfPsion]

One important thing to remember--both PetCo and PetSmart TRY. They do not succeed all the time, so don't expect miracles. But a lot of the problems here are the result of employees who can't even listen to what the Corp says, whether right or wrong--those employees need to be corrected. When you see something wrong, open your mouth, and complain--do not just complain at the store--if the store manager does not listen, go to the corporate site and complain there. Specify the location of the store, and what the problem was. Be polite. You may be surprised and see results.

[Vypyrz]

Hey, I recently went to brand new Petsmart that just opened up where I live, and I had a weird convo with the reptile 'expert' there, here it is:

Me: Hey, cool ball python, dude.
Him: Yeah, he's awesome, do you have one?
Me: Yup, but mine is just a baby.
Him: What do you feed him?
Me: Fuzzies.
Him: That's cool, we feed ours crickets.
Me:
(I feel pretty bad for the snake, if he was serious.)

There's my story, do any of you have any wacky Petsmart/Petco stories of your own?

Ok, after doing some quick research, here is what I got:
1) Link to Petco's care sheets. NO WHERE in the BP care sheet does it say feed crickets. There are, however, some other inaccuracies in their sheets.

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/snak...ython_Ball.pdf


2) Their care sheet for Garter snakes DOES recommend feeding crickets, so possibly a little employee confusion...

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/snak...erandWater.pdf

[PythonBreeder]

Hey, I recently went to brand new Petsmart that just opened up where I live, and I had a weird convo with the reptile 'expert' there, here it is:

Me: Hey, cool ball python, dude.
Him: Yeah, he's awesome, do you have one?
Me: Yup, but mine is just a baby.
Him: What do you feed him?
Me: Fuzzies.
Him: That's cool, we feed ours crickets.
Me:
(I feel pretty bad for the snake, if he was serious.)

There's my story, do any of you have any wacky Petsmart/Petco stories of your own?

Similar problem with my friend. Here we are at petsmart, the only place around me with blue rats, and we are holding and examining the reptiles. So first when my friend goes into the ball python tank to hold him(with permission), keep in mind he was in a maybe...... 5"x6" tank. She says "be careful pythons are evil little guys" me and my friend just kind of laughed. Then out of curiosity he says "what you guys feed him?" the employee says " we feed them pinkies but this particular guy is picky so sometimes we have to feed him crickets. HE LOVES THEM!" So me and my friend are pretty much on the floor laughing and she asked "is something funny?" Then came the typical petsmart employee vs. reptile enthusiast argument. Sorry if this was hard to follow.

[Mina]

My Petsmart story doesn't have to do with snakes, it has to do with birds. I have several parrots, I do know a bit about them, and I can read, which clearly put me ahead of one of the employees I ran into. They used to carry larger birds and in this case there was a Goffin's cockatoo in a cage. It had a large sign on the cage saying that is was a Goffin cockatoo, and the price. I was waiting for this woman to get my crickets when some other lady walked up, pointed at the bird and asked what it was. My jaw dropped when I heard the employee tell her clearly that is was a white amazon parrot. (there is no such thing as a white amazon, not to mention the sign under it stating what it really was)

[Nasubi77]

I guess my story is not "weird" but pretty typical for a chain pet store. I got a bearded dragon from a breeder, and I had researched TONS so I knew what I was doing, even though I had no hands-on experience.

I needed some crickets to hold me over until my first shipment came in so I went into a Petsmart and bought 100 small (1/2" maybe) crickets, planning on that being a 2 or 3 day supply.

"What are you feeding them to?" I am asked.

"A bearded dragon about 4 months old."

I get a shocked look. "Why are you getting so many?"

"It will be a couple days until my order for 1000 crickets gets here."

An even more shocked look. Then they proceed to tell me that the dragon will only eat about 10 crickets a day and I should get the bigger ones.

(For those of you with no BD experience, babies can eat 50-100 crix a day and the crix should be no bigger than the space between their eyes)

But this is typical pet store drivel and I was prepared for it. I just shook my head at them and took my 100 crickets and never went back.