I agree with PP, I think its not only the customer, I feel everyone is at fault. If the corporate office would educate the individual stores, who educated the individual employees these animals would be in better shape by the time it actually gets into the customers hands, however, whos expecting an often 17yr old to study and learn all there is to know about each and every animal the store has.. come on, scorpians, spiders, snakes (all different species), beardeds, geckos, frogs, fish (both salt and fresh).. thats alot to expect from anyone, and to make the mix worse what if that associate only likes cats and thats why they work at a pet store, that makes it even worse..

Ultimatly it is then up to the customer to be properly educated on the animal they have chosen. Honestly alot of people dont really get what they are getting into until they are in it either and that falls back onto the customer... Its all in the way you look at it really.