pet store bashing

Discussion in 'General Discussion and Introductions' started by Acecobe, Sep 12, 2005.

  1. Acecobe

    Acecobe New Member

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    HI,

    I just wanted to voice my opinion about big corprate petstores like Petco. Not all of them are bad... I have a nearby Petco where I live and they take excellent care fo there herps. From what I can tell the living conditions of the herps are really good. The temps are all good, they are feeding them the right sized and kind of food, and they are NOT on calcium sand. The only problem that I see is that they have a lot of the same types of herps together in the same tanks. ( they seperate the bigger ones from the smaller ones, and they never have more than 5 of the same type at a time.) Probably because they sell so many herps, because people know that they are getting healthy herps. It probably helps that the employee in charge of that department is a huge herp lover too, and wants people to have healthy pets.

    On the other hand there is a small pet store that is terrible with there herps. I was refered to this place by a friend, and they conditions for the herps were horrible. There were 6 baby leos in a tank that had calcium sand in it, no water dish, no hides at all, and the tank looked like had never been cleaned. All that was in the tank was the sand and a branch for them to climb on. They also had a bearded dragon that was also in a 5 gallon tank, and it was about 6"-8" long. I proceded to talk to the owner of the store about the living conditions of the leos, and how terrible they were. The only reply he had was " I keep them that way because I want the customers to see how beautiful the colors on them are." I got really mad after he said that and stormed out of the store. Now I tell people to stay away from that store because he doesn't even know how to take care of the animals he has there.

    My advice to people is to read up on all the information that you can get about the desired herp that you are looking for. Then shop around for the best place to get it. Don't stay away from the corprate petstores, like Petco, because they are NOT all bad. And from my experences be leary of the small pet stores too. The people that run them are just trying to make money too.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. General48

    General48 Member

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    yep i agree with yo completely whether they are a big corporation or a small local shop when it comes down to it, they are in it for the money plain and simple. There are however some good ones with both and they should be applauded
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. s_n_s

    s_n_s Embryo

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    I have also heard good and bad about different stores. I spent some time this summer working for a big pet store, and I found nobody had any real knowledge about what they were dealing with, so customers didn't get the advice they needed, and alot of animals go to homes that decide spur of the moment to get "that one". But within this chain I worked for, I have heard really good things about employees in other stores, that they are knowledgeable, and reptile people work in the reptile section, fish people in the fish section, not just random people with no experience everywhere (which is what I saw). I have been in some nice stores before though, and you can tell that they know what they are doing, and everything is clean, and each species well cared for, to it's own specifications, not just some default setting for everything.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. Radagast

    Radagast New Member

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    I went to a Petco near here and was astounded at how good the conditions for the reptiles were...Even the iguanas had a huge clean enclosure with a waterfall and a huge salad as well as pellets and good lighting..The snakes had similiar nice enclosures...So there are some that care and do a good job, now if they would just give out caresheets with all their animals, maybe with some websites for more info, it might be perfect..
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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    5,483
     
  9. KAOSRacing

    KAOSRacing Member

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    One thing I've come to understand is often the quality of a pet store "department" (cats, dogs, birds, fish, herps, etc) is a result of the people working in that department. There is a non-chain pet store that we purchased both of our dogs from but their herp department was marginal at best. They recently hired a guy who really likes herps and seems to know his stuff. The herp area is nicer and buyers are getting better information before they make a purchase.

    As someone who does some research before buying most anything (not just animals) I am amazed at how many people will buy a living creature with zero knowledge from someone who knows next to nothing about the animal.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. Radagast

    Radagast New Member

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    OMG 18 cats...Sorry to change the subject thats just alot of cats Kaos
     
  12. KAOSRacing

    KAOSRacing Member

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    It's really not as bad as it looks since there are two rooms in the house totally cat free, two cats stay in my son's bedroom, and two stay in my bedroom. The rest have free reign of the living room and kitchen. The vast majority are either mixed breed rescues/adoptions or my retired Tonkinese breeders. Sadly I'm starting to realize I will loose a full third (or more) in the next 2 to 5 years to old age.

    I actually own one more but she lives with her breeder, it's more of a cat club politics thing than anything else. :roll:

    Back on subject, one thing that bothered me was when I was shopping for my beardies. One store was asking almost double the price of any other chain (local pet chain prices are between $50 and $60 each theirs were $112). When my wife asked why, the girl replied "We take really good care of ours." It took every bit of self control I had not to laugh in her face! They were in the exact same living conditions as the other 3 or 4 stores we had visited that day. I ended up buying mine two dragons at a herp shop, priced at $40 each. I would have gladly paid the going rate ($50-$60) simply because I knew I was getting better info up front from knowledgible people...I wasn't just price shopping.
     
  13. wideglide

    wideglide Well-Known Member

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    Petco is a big corporation and has control over the conditions of every single store with the name Petco on it. Until every single location is up to acceptable standards on their care I hope more and more people come here and bash the ones they see that aren't living up to those standards. I mean how else are these powerful companies supposed to be restrained from doing whatever the heck they please? Our govnt. sure isn't doing anything to regulate reptile products and keep these people honest so it's got to come from somewhere.
     
  14. Acecobe

    Acecobe New Member

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    I agree with you Wideglide that the big corporation does have control of all there stores. I want to add that the Petco I go to has excellent sales in the herp department, and the corporation would not interfer with that if they are making money. I also hear many bad things on these forums about Petco, and wanted to clarify that not all of them are bad. I'm sure there are many people that don't go to Petco because they hear bad things about it here. I just want people to have an open mind about where they are buying there herps. The smaller stores are not always better.

    Also if you had a bad experence at on of the Petco stores, you have every right to complain. Word of mouth is the biggest way of getting information around. If you don't think Petco is a good store don't shop there. I'm not going to rule them out as a good place to shop form what I here from other people though... I'm going to make up my own mind, and see for myself if I'll shop there or not.
     
  15. missy

    missy Member

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    Come to think of it i don't know if ive ever been to a pet store (that sells pets) that didnt take care of their pets. the only stores ive been to are Super Pet, PETCO, and Pj's Pet Centre. good stuff good stuff
     
  16. jayhay

    jayhay Well-Known Member

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    2,884
    yes, some stores do take really good care of their pets, I don't think that anybody who posts a bad experience about a particular pet store is trying to generalize, but that often is the result. And of course, saying things like "Super Pet is bad" is generalizing, b/c it depends on the individual store and the employees etc in that store. But, lets be honest, thier are lots of horor stories out there. I myself have seen awful living conditions in pet stores, and fantastic ones as well.
     
  17. KAOSRacing

    KAOSRacing Member

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    There's a difference between taking care of their "stock" and taking proper care of their animals. Also not all pet stores are able to give good solid information on the animals they sell.

    I hate to use cats as an example here but I'm too new to herps to have stories to relate, and I've done cats for over 10 years (way too many stories).

    There was a chain store in my area that had a whole male ~9 month old Bengal kitten for sale. I own a neutered male Bengal and have since it was 5 months old. I'm good friends with a well respected Bengal breeder. Bengals are not for everyone...and whole male Bengals are a step above that. You could look at this kitten and tell it REALLY needed a bath and some time spent grooming it. The person who knew about cats knew the basics (food, water, litterbox) but certainly wasn't prepared to explain Bengal ownership to someone. I am 90% certain whomever bought that kitten because it was spotted like a leapard and looked really neat was not happy with their purchase with 2 months. Not that Bengals are bad pets, but they're not your typical house cat and while they don't require any special care to be healthy but you need to know certain things about their personalities before you decide to take one into your home.

    A lot of the same concepts I just described apply directly to herps. How many chain stores have people with herp knowledge that can help someone make an informed decision?
     
  18. Acecobe

    Acecobe New Member

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    158
    If the pet stores hire people who know how to properly care for the animals there is no problem. But these stores don't pay well and the good employes are hard to come by... Maybe Petco and other big corprate pet stores should send there employes to an extensive training program so they could learn the right way to care for the animals they are in charge of... But wait that cost money, and I dought that will happen. So the animals will have to luck out by getting someone who already knows what they are doing.
     
  19. wideglide

    wideglide Well-Known Member

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    How much does it cost to have a corporate person do what so many of the people who come here do? Research and find out what proper care is for an animal? Then how much would it cost to have a printed out caresheet that is known to provide good care info available to both the employees and the customers? It wouldn't cost that much but for some reason none of this stuff is being done and I don't know why. The only thing I can come up with is the corporate owners know darn good and well the average person who makes an impulse buy on a reptile is somewhat ignorant of the true needs of that reptile and that ignorance makes them the most money because they can sell crap like calci-sand and other products which do nothing but harm the animals and/or rip people off. If there's a different explanation or reason why these simple things aren't being done I'm all ears. I take the big picture in these types of things and the big picture shows me to promote Petco is to promote greed and animal suffering.

    You can't tell me the people who run these corporations don't know about this stuff. You can't tell me they don't get any of the thousands of letters that are sent to them about their caresheets, etc. Yeah, they all know about it and still they won't provide something as cheap and easy as a zerox'd copy of a good caresheet a person can take with them to care for their animal or the employee can study. Maybe it's because they sell books on the stuff and hey, why give away something for free if you can make a buck on something else. Sure, the info may be a little outdated but what do we care?

    I am glad there are certain stores out there that are in good shape and take good care of their animals but there's too many that are driven by greed regardless of if the animals are suffering or the customers are being taken advantage of. Any single store who is part of a big chain where there are so many other stores that provide horrible conditions should not be shopped at in my opinion. All support of these stores should be stopped until simple steps like decent caresheets are provided. Sure, your store may be great but put a dime in their register and the suffering at the other stores goes on that much longer. Think about that then go to one of those stores and look at the poor, helpless, suffering animals and you may have change of heart.
     
  20. Blinga04

    Blinga04 Well-Known Member

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    I should just win the lottery and spend it buying the PetCo Corporation, and do an extensive transformation on how their stores act not only in the area of herps, but also other animals and items they carry..I'de call it... AnimalsTheRightWaYCo :D

    After I win the lottery, and give some big kahunas to my church and charity, and of course this site, i'll be buying petco.. so if anybody wants to throw in with me, be my guest 8-P
     
  21. Janice

    Janice ReptileBoards Addict

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    6,191
    Blinga04, That sound like a great idea. Or open your own chain and put petco right out of business!
     
  22. wideglide

    wideglide Well-Known Member

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    I'm with ya' Blinga04! I think that's a really awesome name too. Kinda catchy. :)
     
  23. Akineleye

    Akineleye New Member

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    lol very good idea. disgusting pet stores is my biggest pet peeve yet i got my snake from one nearby, and yes, i knew it was unhealthy and kept in absolutely horrible conditions (5 adults in a 2x3 box, no heat source, no water, no hides) but that made me want to take her home even more because i am a rescuer of sorts. so i picked the one in the worst condition health wise and i fought enough to get her for cheap and got her checked out, now shes healthy and happy :) ive complained to the humane society before about bad pet stores, i should hope everyone else does too.
     
  24. mike9i1

    mike9i1 New Member

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    im still in skool but when wrestling season is done and over with i want to get a job at a petstore, (1 reason so i can inform the pple who are buying cuz i kno 20 times more than ne of them and i am new to herps, and 2 because i can probably get free crickets for my leos.) lol
     
  25. bratspets

    bratspets Member

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    738
    Hey...the online suppliers are making money, too. Veterinarians are making money, too.

    Good care, philosophy, knowledge ... those all differ from one individual to another.
    People and the organizations they work in are subject to change and growth.
    Be careful not to stereotype ANYONE.
    Learn all that you can and educate those that you can.
     

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