This place makes Petsmart look like Paradise on Earth

[Keyboard Warrior]

Went to my local petstore today, and I just about punched the manager. Not a single reptile in there had a hide. They had substrate and a water bowl, and a bright light, that I don't imagine provided much heat. The burmese pythons eyes were sunken in, from what I think a lack of humidity. The enclosures themselves were I guesstimated were around 10x12x8, and most of them were adult snakes. Every single ball python had alot of pieces of shed skin still attached. One in particular was covered in a white residue, that reminded me of the minerals left from tap water. They looked pretty skinny. I wanted to cry

I confronted who I believe to be the store owner/manager, whatever. I asked him why none of the reptiles had hides? He told me theres no room for them....yeah no ****!! when you keep them in a 10x12x8 enclosure, there's not going to be room. I told him that they were most likely very scared and stressed, having all that traffic walk by, a bright light shining down, and no where to hide. but its ok, he said "hey man, they're fine, don't worry about it." I just about hit him there.

Anyways, I don't know how rampant this problem is, maybe its common, maybe its rare to be treated this badly. But if you guys felt like giving them a ring, here's their google review page.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&su...ed=0CBcQnwIwAA

How would I go about reporting them? Something needs to be done.

[angllady2]

Sad to say it's pretty much standard OP for just about every pet shop out there.

These guys only care about making money and doing it quick. They cannot be bothered to properly house the animals they get in, it would be cost prohibitive. At least that's what they all say.

Their main hope it to rotate animals in and out quickly, so the substandard conditions aren't too noticeable. When an animal ends up staying so long the poor conditions start to show, the hope then is either putting the animal on sale will move it, it will die and make room for new stock, or some poor sucker with a bleeding heart like you or I will pity it and buy it.

They don't much care which one happens, as long as that tank goes empty so a newer animal can be placed inside to wait for someone else to get in over their head.

Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about it. You can call the BBB in your area and report them. You can occasionally involve the authorities if it's rampant and obvious abuse. The problem is of course, it's pretty low on the list of priorities for most places that could do something about it. Let's face it, when someone is shot on the streets of your town every 4 or 5 hours, some pets in bad condition at the local pet shop don't merit much worry.

The best thing I know to do is hurt their bottom line. Don't buy anything from them, no matter how small. Get the word out to your friends to avoid the place. Sometimes you can even involve the local paper to spread the word about the neglect. Big chain stores don't worry too much about isolated bad publicity, but a smaller private shop cannot afford a bad image, it could ruin them financially.

I share your frustration and your anger, but you'll drive yourself insane trying to correct it all.

Gale

[Skittles1101]

Went to my local petstore today, and I just about punched the manager. Not a single reptile in there had a hide. They had substrate and a water bowl, and a bright light, that I don't imagine provided much heat. The burmese pythons eyes were sunken in, from what I think a lack of humidity. The enclosures themselves were I guesstimated were around 10x12x8, and most of them were adult snakes. Every single ball python had alot of pieces of shed skin still attached. One in particular was covered in a white residue, that reminded me of the minerals left from tap water. They looked pretty skinny. I wanted to cry

I confronted who I believe to be the store owner/manager, whatever. I asked him why none of the reptiles had hides? He told me theres no room for them....yeah no ****!! when you keep them in a 10x12x8 enclosure, there's not going to be room. I told him that they were most likely very scared and stressed, having all that traffic walk by, a bright light shining down, and no where to hide. but its ok, he said "hey man, they're fine, don't worry about it." I just about hit him there.

Anyways, I don't know how rampant this problem is, maybe its common, maybe its rare to be treated this badly. But if you guys felt like giving them a ring, here's their google review page.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&su...ed=0CBcQnwIwAA

How would I go about reporting them? Something needs to be done.

There's not a whole lot to do about it unfortunately. +1 to the person above me, do NOT shop at the store and pass along the word.

[OhhWatALoser]

well im going to play devil's advocate here because someone has to, obviously if your going to report them be prepared for this...

are you sure about the cage sizes? because honestly most people would use 10 gallon tanks because their about as cheap as it gets, and they are usually 20x10x12, not ideal for an adult ball python obviously, but just want to make sure we are not over exaggerating. also this is a store, animals come in and out of there, they are just temporary cages, have you ever been to a professional reptile show?

why do you feel the animals need hides? are you observing their behavior? are they not eating? how could you tell they were scared and stressed?

Did you take temp readings? why do you feel the bulbs need to put out more heat than they are? how do you know the cage temps are not within tolerable limits

Now my real thoughts...
Only thing i'm surprised is you only harped on was about the hide, In reality lets pretend hes being a good store owner and observes that his snakes eat and have no negative effects to their behavior... why would you use them? most of my snakes do not have hides.

I would be more concerned with the dry sheds and which would be an obvious lack of humidity, since health problems can arise from them. also without knowing temperatures and a small tank most likely not having a big heat gradient, IF the temps are too high or low, the snake cannot escape them and this can again lead to health problems. That is what I would be discussing with the manager.

[babyknees]

IF the temps are too high or low, the snake cannot escape them and this can again lead to health problems.

I was bored so I was reading some of the reviews that were on the Google site posted...apparently when the snakes need to escape the high temps they just escape the tank and head over to the fish section to cool down.

[Jeremy78]

I'm on my way!

[Keyboard Warrior]

well im going to play devil's advocate here because someone has to, obviously if your going to report them be prepared for this...

are you sure about the cage sizes? because honestly most people would use 10 gallon tanks because their about as cheap as it gets, and they are usually 20x10x12, not ideal for an adult ball python obviously, but just want to make sure we are not over exaggerating. also this is a store, animals come in and out of there, they are just temporary cages, have you ever been to a professional reptile show?

why do you feel the animals need hides? are you observing their behavior? are they not eating? how could you tell they were scared and stressed?

Did you take temp readings? why do you feel the bulbs need to put out more heat than they are? how do you know the cage temps are not within tolerable limits

Now my real thoughts...
Only thing i'm surprised is you only harped on was about the hide, In reality lets pretend hes being a good store owner and observes that his snakes eat and have no negative effects to their behavior... why would you use them? most of my snakes do not have hides.

I would be more concerned with the dry sheds and which would be an obvious lack of humidity, since health problems can arise from them. also without knowing temperatures and a small tank most likely not having a big heat gradient, IF the temps are too high or low, the snake cannot escape them and this can again lead to health problems. That is what I would be discussing with the manager.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were close to the correct sizes. They were all custom made cages put in the wall. It was built to fit the most amount of reptiles. I guess I'm looking at the hides mostly in that it never felt like they had a place to feel safe. They were all curled up in balls in the corner, with a bright light constantly shown down on them. And how well they shed being one of the good indicators of husbandry. I saw nothing to measure temps in there, so honestly they could have been anything, hell they may have been right, so it may have been me just assuming that since several things were off, this was likely off too.

I knew this store was bad, and I decided to go today out of pure curiosity. I didn't know it was this bad. This store is notorious in Albuq. As being a terrible pet store. We "rescued" a cat from them years ago. It was in terrible shape. So I'll see about reporting them to the BBB...but like you guys said, its no priority...its not like they beat their animals or intentionally kill them or anything...its just pure negligence, and innocent animals suffer because some people are too lazy run a pet store the correct way.

[SpiffyYoshi]

If given a hide, they will use it. With a bright light like that, they will use it 99% of the time. Stores take it away to make the animal visible so it will sell faster. Does it matter if it doesn't eat? Nope. It's the customer's problem.

These animal rights organizations should make themselves useful for a change and outlaw the sale of reptiles in pet shops because barely any take it seriously. Too bad they wouldn't be able to stop at just pet shops though. Doesn't the world suck?

[Keyboard Warrior]

I'm on my way!

haha im sure thats a fun car ride.

Just reported them to the BBB. I'm going to see if theres anything else I can do.

[OhhWatALoser]

I was bored so I was reading some of the reviews that were on the Google site posted...apparently when the snakes need to escape the high temps they just escape the tank and head over to the fish section to cool down.

ok well at least they got a plan, i see no problems here lmao