A new Petco is having the grand opening today and this weekend, so since I was out at a store near it anyways, I decided to drop by and see what it was like, just out of curiosity.

I was stunned.

Not only was the setup completely different from any petstore I've ever been into, it was visually appealing, easy to navigate, well-organized, well-lit, it didn't smell at all, they even had a dog training class going on. There was a fish area in the center and a completely separate reptile area, VERY well-labeled and separate from the fish (which made me happy) which had a lot of actual herping items in it; not fish-tanks, but those nice side opening double door terrariums and such. But what was most impressive of all--and I have NEVER been impressed by a Petco before this--all of the reptiles and the few spiders they had were almost PERFECTLY cared for. EVERY reptile had at least one hide and things to climb on, the substrate was clean, new, deep, and you could tell it had been recently misted; the water bowls were full and clean, the reptiles were healthy looking and alert, and I was excited to see that they only had two Balls in a 30-35 gal enclosure, and they had plenty of space to get away from each other. No stuck sheds, no skinny, just-out-of-the-egg babies that didn't look to have fed--they even had caresheets listed that said Balls need hides and listed humidity and temps, AND they reccomended feeding frozen/thawed, AND they kept a fridge with f/t prey items available! Not only that, the medium f/t rat I got (this will be my first f/t feeding) was ACTUALLY the same size as the live medium rats I get at the local pet store!

Anyways, I just wanted to report this since it's the first NICE Petco I've ever gone to, and I don't think I've seen any posts about good ones before... I figure we all get enough bad news about badly-kept animals in petstores, and we need good stories occasionally!!

And on a side note, I sooooo want one of the little baby Balls they had, it's tiny and cute, and really bright orangey color with pretty little markings...^-^ It was really active, too, kept going all over the enclosure and climbing the little tree they had set up and drinking the water... >.>;; But it's $79 and I'm spending something like $250 in the next two weeks on a little pastel, so I couldn't buy it. *siiigh*

If I think about it I'll try getting my camera and taking pictures for everyone, next time I go. Wish me luck at f/t, I've only ever fed my adult girl live! Prescenting and thawing right now.



EDIT: Oh, haha, forgot to mention--I find it highly amusing that on the bag the rat's in it says in big bold letter, "DO NOT MICROWAVE" and then at the way bottom, "NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION"