I am now a PET Store rescue home

[D&J Reptiles]

Well didnt exactly know where to post this but thought it was a good thing to do and to share. Last night i was contacted by my local pet store affiliated with petco and I was asked if I would be willing to home all rescue ball pythons that are brought to the store, so i thought it over and talked with the family. well with a spare rack and a stack of empty tubs since i had a slow breeding season i thought i could take on a few more, well tonight i went to the local store and sure enough they had 3 normals that look like they havent eaten in months. and i mean very slim. according to the store they were in a box outside the door when the store opened yesterday. they said they get 1-3 a week? i cant believe there are that many people that just drop their pets off. while i was there they had 1 kingsnake and 2 bearded dragons and about 15 gerbils all needing homes. so i was gonna post and just see how many people out there do rescue reptiles and how many people have seen this problem of pet store drop offs, just felt like it would be good to share

[wolfy-hound]

You'll probably be full within a month. Make sure you're quarentining them well away from your own animals.

Yes, there's a lot of drop offs of pets. At my old shop, we used to get kittens and puppies dropped off in boxes or carriers out front of the door. Occasionally even adult animals. If we'd been a store that carried reptiles, I have no doubt we'd have gotten the snakes and lizards too.

A lot of people get snakes (and all other pets) as impulse buys, then find out they aren't as easy to care for, aren't as much fun, aren't as exciting, then they decide that a pet store would love to take their "free pet" in. They forget that a store is a business, and caring for mulitple animals, especially when people don't think the animals should be sold or given away, runs up very quickly, meaning the store can't make a profit.

Good luck.

[Emohooker]

well congrats on rescuing them and I agree with the how many people just grow tired of there animals. Sickening.

[vangarret2000]

Lots of people consider and even start rescuing until they realize how much work and what a great cost it can be. Make sure you don't take in more then you can handle. And also like stated earlyer make sure you have proper quarentining. A lot of reptiles that have been given up can have already been left with months of improper care before that and can have illness's or parasites on them you might not notice until you bring them in. And the vet costs can easily pile up when you take in rescues.

Good on you. Hopefully it works out for you.

[blushingball419]

Wow, I never knew there were that many drop-offs either My snow corn was a rescue, but not from a pet store. During my 6 months working at petsmart we never had anything like that, and I never heard about anything ever happening in the past either. I guess we would have people actually come into the store with the animals and ask if we would take them, and we always had to say "no", but then the pet care manager would go around and ask the employees if anyone wanted to take them. I guess one girl ended up with 2 corn snakes and 3 bearded dragons that way. But drop-offs... as in people just abandoning the animals outside the door over night? Nope, never. That's so sad.

Good luck to you! I agree with van_garret that you should make sure you don't get in over your head, but I think it's great that you're doing something like this!

[vangarret2000]

My g/f works at a petstore and they get people bringing in animals(reptiles actually being most common) every once and a while trying to sell them or jsut give them up. Sometimes they take them but generally they don't. The only time that they have had something just dropped off was a box of gerbils. Oh and one time someone brought in a dog (boxer pug cross) and told them they were gonna take it or she was just gonna get rid of it. So they took it.

[D&J Reptiles]

yeah this isnt the first time i have got my hands on a few snakes i didnt plan on so i actually have 3 seperate rooms 1 for new arrivials so i can keep them away from my collection, as far as amount they know i can only take and rehome so many at a time, but luckly i have a large supply of constant feeders and like i said the extra space, so i will do what i can to get these animals back to a living standard and hopefully between shows and just word of mouth in the long run i can get a few in home that truly want a pet and not a toy for the week.

[Jay_Bunny]

I work at Petsmart and we get a few animals every now and then, mostly small animals. During my first week working there someone dropped off an adult cat at the front door in a carrier with no food or water. We have also gotten in gerbils and hamsters. I've already told my managers that if anyone needs to re-home a reptile, I'll take it in and house it until I can find a proper home for it. They said they don't get many and have not gotten any in a while, so I won't be overrun. Though I was thinking of also talking with a pet store across town about the same thing when I have more space.

[Flatheadhunter33]

I dont see very many rescues out my way. I actually wanted to rescue before purchasing the ones I recently got but I just had no luck since I live in a relatively small town. I wish that I could come across a rescue that would be cost effective to have shipped...I would even do it that way.

[Lolo76]

Good luck with the rescues!

The shop I go to (Pet Club) had a bearded dragon & snow corn dumped on their "doorstep" on separate occasions... both were officially adopted by employees, and now live at the shop as store pets. Too bad, since I was thinking of getting that snow! But they're obviously well cared for, since this store is really good with their reptiles & fish. Unbelievable how heartless people are, dumping a pet like that - huh??