Petco Chameleon Rant

[TreeTopChameleons]

I think offering to give them free caging is a waste of your time and money. The cost of housing a chameleon has absolutely nothing to do with the way they are usually housed. These major chains get supplies at rock bottom prices shipped direct from China. They generally put their animals in the enclosures that you see for one reason. Dollar per foot of shelf space. They need to maximize profits by allocating the minimum amount of space per product. It is a formula they follow, it has nothing to do with lack of knowledge or lack of proper husbandry supplies.

 

[A1forall]

Well how would you sell those veiled chams?
What set up would you use to display the Chams?
If you look at the they seem hydrated non stressed and temps see right. My wife and I were in a Pxxxo Yesterday and say the same set up, with three chams two girls and one guy. They did not have a basking bulb to cook them only a reptisun,. Their humidity was up to par. The only problem that my wife and I talked about was the bark substrate on the floor that a female was munching on. Other that that the eyes, color, and energy to walk around seemed fine. Good job PetXX.

 

[boosh96]

Neither of those pics are as bad as MY local petsmart...

Baby chameleon housed in like maybe a 3-5 gallon tank. No basking light, only uvb. There was one branch, a fake vine, and coco substrate...

Okay. Picture that setup with a beautiful adult male Jackson's in it. That's what I saw at Petsmart not too long ago.

 

[Tay And A]

ponder this

this is one of the saddest things i have ever seen, chameleons in a pet store that has no idea how to take care of them! =( i am so thankful that where i live all the large corporations do not have chams in there stores! there are a few of us "crazies" lol that have complained so much...havent seen one in a large corporate store in over 2 years. =) i have been known to even say something to the owners of smaller pet stores. its not right that they can't comply with proper care! they have everything that they need in their stores to make a great environment for a chameleon. and then you also have to wonder...who's the dummy selling these corporations chams???

 

[Tay And A]

Another day, the exact same story. Petco and all other big chains stores are still open because the majority of people would rather pay less for products. You want to put an end to them, stop buying from them, stop visiting their stores, stop talking about them online. You know the saying, "there's no such thing as bad publicity"?

A complete boycott of the major pet chains is what is needed. These rants that appear weekly have grown a bit tiresome.

Yes, PetcoPetcetera/Petmart sucks, that's why so many of us on these forums do not shop there.

exactly! i refuse to shop at a large Incorporated pet stores! my local feed mill is open to suggestions on what new product(s) to try so i mentioned reptile items. we will see by next week what happens! =)

 

[Oliviabryant]

At the Petco by my house I have actually complain enough that to where they have fixed a lot of their housing issues. I feel that if you talk to the right person in a respectful manor it can go a long way. It's still not an ideal environment but it's much better.

 

[Decadancin]

My biggest complaint is when the employees say that the water bowl is just to make people happy. Without it people will complain.

So its O.K. that people complain about something they don't need and you put one in, but when we complain about things they DO need, nothing happens. Irony? Maybe?!?

I think if people complained about no water bowl and they got educated that there are unique care requirements it would lead to some better success, but to fewer waterfall sales.

 

[pssh]

I agree with Dan. Also keep in mind that these animals are meant to only be in these cages for a short period of time. Having a baby veiled in a 10 gallon for a little while isn't going to kill it as long as it get proper water, lighting, and food.

I'm sure most of you don't know this, but a study was done on small cages for panthers and they (adult males) lived and thrived just fine in 12x12x18 cages. I believe it was by Gary Ferguson.

The two pictures posted didn't look all that bad to me. I've seen an adult gravid female Jackson's housed in a medium sized kritter keeper with one stick with water dripping all over the walls and puddled on the dirt at the bottom with a thermometer that read 95 degrees. Now that's bad. AND the kritter keeper was housed inside another cage with a pacman frog right next to her. I said something about it, but I never went back after that and decided I will never buy anything from petco/smart again.

DO NOT SUPPORT THESE STORES IN ANY WAY!!! Buying stuff from them isn't helping anything and it just makes you a hypocrite. If you absolutely cannot get insects another way (it cannot be delivered to your house) then fine, but otherwise there is no need to support the stores.