Quote Originally Posted by Laooda View Post
Let's not forget that the majority of us here, if not ALL are obviously "animal people"...
Remember, these customers aren't whatever stereotypical image you have in your head of a "non-animal person buying an animal". These people could be someone you respect - could be your aunt, or your mom or dad, or your neighbor. Often times they honestly have no malicious intent regarding the animals they're buying.

My first reptile was a beardie from Petco. I hate to say this but it WAS an impulse buy, as I had been thinking about buying a reptile but had not decided on what I wanted to do exactly. But after I bought it with the supplies sold to me by an associate, I ran home and read online for hours and hours and hours about beardies, desperate to give my little boy as perfect a habitat as I could manage. Week after week I perfected my tank, my lights, and my feeding routine. That beardie was in fact my gateway into the herping world. I quickly learned lots of fascinating stuff about lizards and reptiles in general and soon added a small anole tank to my collection.

I'm not sure why, but some non-animal people, even after buying an animal, STAY non-animal people. In other words, even though they bought the animal, they don't bother doing any more research than what they learned at the store. A lot of times, this happens when parents buy for their kids because "my son/daughter really, really wants it" instead of "WE really, really want it."

So is it the fault of the customer for his indifference about his new animal, or the people who sold it to him (at some level in the company) because they failed to prevent the situation from happening? Hmm...