A very hard decision

[SaintJimmy]

Today I went to a local pet store. Very small store, very crowded.

Many bearded dragons and fish were kept in tiny tanks together as adults. Boas and other snakes and turtles had the same situation. The place was very dirty.

Here are some bad quality pictures. I was very nice to the man, he was very nice to me. Everything was super cheap, he knew a great deal about the reptiles and fish. He was very knowledgeable, but obviously didn't care about the animals! It didn't make sense. He knew everything, but didn't give it to the animals regardless. I did not want to catch his attention so I took out my ipod and snapped some of these.

tons of boas in the same cage

all adult beardies in the same tiny cage. cage in background is all males. caught one or two head bobbing, others looked stressed

Poor baby beardies were all stressed and hungry, one or two were injured

Annnnd... here's what i'm asking about.
Poor baby.

Little baby male jackson appeared to be healthy, still had the red patterns they get when they're young. His horns were not even out of his head yet, still covered by scales. All he had was a poop covered cage, a UVB 5.0 tube and a water bowl.

He was 50-40$.

I really want to get him to a better home, but ... should I?

 

[LLGabriel]

So disappointing. If you have the room and can care for him, absolutely. It's such a shame that even someone with the knowledge still has animals in these conditions. It's everywhere though, you know? Those tropical fish, especially the tangs in those little divided tanks is horrible. Sigh. Rescue what you can and leave the rest to hoping they find wonderful homes. Do it!!

 

[vgaines]

I say go for it. He will be so much better off with you. Get him before his current living conditions make him sick. Seeing things like this make me wish I could win the lottery and open a pet store/rescue. I do not understand how so many shop owners can be so cruel and heartless. How can they stand to see the animals in their care suffer. Please rescue this little guy and post lots of updates and pictures...

 

[teejayteej]

Go for it ... if he did not look sick go and get him. Just make sure you take him to the vet to get him checked out ASAP and tested for the nasties they can get from unclean living conditions. Hopefully he has not been there long enough to get anything.
I hate it when I see this, but it is an all too common practice in pet stores.

 

[Ctg]

I'd definitely do it, even if its just fostering him until you can find him another responsible owner.

 

[junglefries]

think

as much as rescuing would help, as I know you care [I see a lot of your posts], what will you do about the one who replaces your purchase. The one after that? the third? the fourth? unfortunately, you will only encourage the pet store to buy more and stay in business longer. call the game warden or fish and game [make sure up to code]. then go back and buy the little guy. Encourage everyone you trust to buy one from them. while all of you are there, educate NICELY as to their mistakes. maybe by the fifth or tenth customer, they may change their methods or even just one care tactic of those pets.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Thanks guys. I my dads gf is willin to keep him in her house, as my father says we cannot afford another pet.

He just does not understand that I already have 1. Cage, fully furnished 2. A live ficus I can use for him 3. A new UVB I didn't use.

All we need is a new fixture for the UVB. I don't know what I may do about the temps.

Does he need a basking lamp?

She owes me money for working for her, so I will try and make a deal. She keeps it in her APT since father doesn't want it, she pays for chameleon (40-50$ and cheap hood for UVB) and that is my pay. I worked for her, so in turn she can help me take care of this baby. I already have food for it, obviously

I don't know what I can do about the warden, but an official NEEDS to see his store. So I will do my best.

I will update little jax's story on this thread. Stay tuned.

 

[Blueberry2223]

It is so good that you are going to help this little guy out it makes me so sad when I see them in bad conditions, but you can only help as much as you can as of now I am over loaded on Jacksons my female had 9 babies so we have 11 Jacksons and 1 nosy be panther.

 

[pigglett79]

If people continue to purchase from these types of shops, all you do is keep them in business. I know is hard to see animals in these conditions, however purchasing the animals keeps the business going and contributes to this situation. If you cannot stand to see this happening, the best thing you can do is make sure NO ONE purchase's from that shop and they go out of business.

 

[Kiwiflage]

Support responsible breeders

Piglet voiced my exact opinion. You can not save every animal, no matter how much you want to. Everyone knows petsmart is an evil corporate face that does not give healthy living conditions to all their animals. For this reason I find somewhere else to get my supplies. If you keep these businesses in the "making money" business instead of buying from somebody responsible who breeds reptiles for not only hobby but general welfare of the species, then the evil money hungry business man wins every time. I feel just as bad for the poor animals as everyone else, but none of us can save them all.

 

[pigglett79]

Piglet voiced my exact opinion. You can not save every animal, no matter how much you want to. Everyone knows petsmart is an evil corporate face that does not give healthy living conditions to all their animals. For this reason I find somewhere else to get my supplies. If you keep these businesses in the "making money" business instead of buying from somebody responsible who breeds reptiles for not only hobby but general welfare of the species, then the evil money hungry business man wins every time. I feel just as bad for the poor animals as everyone else, but none of us can save them all.

Yes, This is the exact reason why I breed my own feeders and also enough to help out my friends. we need to band together and stop giving money to these places. Even giving them $1 is too much, you contribute to their continued business.

People really do have the power. You can put an end to it, all you have to do is say I will not give you another dollar. Its really that easy. Business is run by the all mighty dollar, and money talks. DO the right thing and just say no.

It really infuriates me that people just don't see how much power we really have. All we have to do is agree to do the right thing, and we can make amazing changes. I sometimes wish I was born during a previous time, when people cared enough to make a difference.

 

[Kate]

When my local pet shop took in two baby nosy bs before Xmas as a request from a customer who then rejected them, I ended up fostering them as they were far to small to sell. It took the shop a few months to sell them but they are now gone. The shop owner said to me that he wouldn't take chameleons in again!
So it's not always the case that they will be replaced by more. I loved looking after the babies and when they went back to the shop I couldn't bring myself to go and look at them. They have gone to caring homes now and are thriving.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Guys, you simply do not understand. Like Kate said, just because he had a Cham doesn't mean he'll keep buying them.

This jax looks like its a sort of rarity for him. There is only 1 whereas othe animals he had 100s of.

I will also see what I can do about getting him in shape.

Jesus. Just because I want to help an animal I'm already "supporting a monster". I'm going to do something about the conditions. Read what I'm saying.

I will encourage the owner not to have another chameleon, but unless I can get ahold of animal authorities, there isn't much I can say

 

[jannb]

I will encourage the owner not to have another chameleon, but unless I can get ahold of animal authorities, there isn't much I can say

I say educate the owner and get him out of there if you can. IMO you'd be saving his life. I am not for supporting reptiles in these type pet stores but if you have the means to support him go for it.

 

[SaintJimmy]

I say educate the owner and get him out of there if you can. IMO you'd be saving his life. I am not for supporting reptiles in these type pet stores but if you have the means to support him go for it.

Isn't there a way I can save the poor little jax and teach this guy a lesson?

Can't I get ahold of someone who will? Like, authorities. When they see the living condition of his animals (there were a lot of things just too disgusting to even post pics of here) I think they'd teach him a lesson at least.

 

[rickd5]

I've seen this too many times... giant monitor lizards in tiny cages... hoards of adult chams crammed in a cage with eachother.

In all honesty... the beardies are okay those guys are troopers.

IMO - You can tell this guy what he's doing wrong, he already knows it (unless he is just completely ignorant, i'm taking him more for a "don't really care too much"). Unfortunately if you buy one now, he's just going to get more and sell those too. And same if you don't. So if you want to save him go for it, but your only saving one of many chams this guy will sell, and supporting him to sell more in the future.

 

[SaintJimmy]

I've seen this too many times... giant monitor lizards in tiny cages... hoards of adult chams crammed in a cage with eachother.

In all honesty... the beardies are okay those guys are troopers.

IMO - You can tell this guy what he's doing wrong, he already knows it (unless he is just completely ignorant, i'm taking him more for a "don't really care too much"). Unfortunately if you buy one now, he's just going to get more and sell those too. And same if you don't. So if you want to save him go for it, but your only saving one of many chams this guy will sell, and supporting him to sell more in the future.

Out of the 100s of reptiles he did have, he only had one cham. So my guess is that someone just sold it to him, or gave it to him. And it's sort of a rare thing for him, otherwise I think he'd have 100s of chams too

I really need to foster this guy until someone can take him. And I will do my best to make sure this guy never gets his hands on another one.

How do I get ahold of an official? Other than just telling him what's wrong.. what can I do?

 

[Ninkylou]

It's no different than puppy mill puppies

I agree with the last 2 posters. Sadly it is often consumers that encourage this behavior, we are all looking for a good deal. It's what keeps the big box stores alive too. We want it now and we want it cheap. These pet stores survive on the impulse purchases of uninformed consumers. If more people researched their purchases before buying they would find a quality breeder, have enclosures and food ready long before they brought their new pets into their household. If this were the case we would see fewer pets (of all kinds) in rescue, on Craigslist etc. Irresponsible, money grubbing pet stores play into this behavior with little regard to ensuring that a pet has a good permanent home and an educated owner. (My soapbox?? Ya think??)

So bottom line, I say don't buy it. Post those photos anywhere where people in your area can see the deplorable conditions, report them to the appropriate authorities. Rate them on local sites Yelp etc. Do what you can, within the law, to have them shut down or to improve their conditions.

 

[SaintJimmy]

I agree with the last 2 posters. Sadly it is often consumers that encourage this behavior, we are all looking for a good deal. It's what keeps the big box stores alive too. We want it now and we want it cheap. These pet stores survive on the impulse purchases of uninformed consumers. If more people researched their purchases before buying they would find a quality breeder, have enclosures and food ready long before they brought their new pets into their household. If this were the case we would see fewer pets (of all kinds) in rescue, on Craigslist etc. Irresponsible, money grubbing pet stores play into this behavior with little regard to ensuring that a pet has a good permanent home and an educated owner. (My soapbox?? Ya think??)

So bottom line, I say don't buy it. Post those photos anywhere where people in your area can see the deplorable conditions, report them to the appropriate authorities. Rate them on local sites Yelp etc. Do what you can, within the law, to have them shut down or to improve their conditions.

Everyone is saying don't buy it

My argument is:

Why can't I buy it AND get him shut down? Or at least do something about it!

I can't sit and watch idly as a baby cham gets treated that way!

 

[pigglett79]

Everyone is saying don't buy it

My argument is:

Why can't I buy it AND get him shut down? Or at least do something about it!

I can't sit and watch idly as a baby cham gets treated that way!

If that is your point, why not buy all of the animals? Why is the chameleon better than all of the other animals that the pet shop owner is abusing? You should just report the shop and do what you can and not support them by helping their revenue stream.