Another rant about petco

[AESara]

I understand that animals for sale in pet shops will not be in ideal enclosures. I just wish that the stores would carry the products that actually would be suitable for the animal. The employees are put in a situation where they have to suggest items that are not ideal for the specific species and have no way to drive sales with the correct items.

It's true. I'm surprised I never got in trouble at that job. I was always telling people how wrong the caresheets were and directing people here for more info (and online for products) since I knew there was no way they'd remember my whole rant.

 

[FrenchChameleon]

I understand that animals for sale in pet shops will not be in ideal enclosures. I just wish that the stores would carry the products that actually would be suitable for the animal. The employees are put in a situation where they have to suggest items that are not ideal for the specific species and have no way to drive sales with the correct items.

I've yet to see a pet store carry a cage suitable for a chameleon. It's sad. And half of the products they recommend are bad for them.

 

[Kayroxyoursox]

I went to petco to get calcium without d3 and they didn't have it. Not only that the "reptile expert" on duty didn't even know what it was ! He asked me what d3 was and what it does for them .

 

[CraftingDreams]

Ugg sounds like the local pet shop I was dealing with for my Jackson. They have reptiles in there and have been in there for MONTHS. Nothing is selling. Standing there watching my little guy and waiting for the girl, I could hear people talking about how dismal and sad it all looks. Its no wo.der they dont sell anything.

I can honestly say that the Petco I go to
when I can, has a very reptile knowedgable manager, who goes out of his way to take care of the little guys, and the smaller petco, same deal.. just that he isnt a manager. Weekend before last
I asked him about an extremely skinny leopard gecko.. he took a look and sure enough, he wasnt eating. He took him in the back and started him on things to help get him eating. Because he was smaller, and there were several in the tank, he didnt get a chance at the food. I checked this past weekend, and hes doing a lot better. I think the horror stories do happen..which is sad..but I also think it depends on the staff.

 

[Blindsided]

I feel like you can't really expect experts at petsco/petsmart, they probably are making minimum wage and it's just a job for them.

Thankfully we have the internet nowadays and can find experts/learn from each others experiences.

 

[ashmichaelson]

I totally agree, I don't really think that it's the employees' faults that most of them are uneducated. Some of them are just trying to get by with the money they're being given. I really think it's the company's fault because they aren't teaching them about the animals. When my boyfriend and I bought our baby female veiled last month, we picked her out and asked questions about her and handled her a little bit (there were only two babies in the enclosure and they were easy to tell apart due to size). The guy with us couldn't tell us anything about her, not even her gender or how old she was. We still don't know how old she is for sure! But neither did the manager when he came up and started talking to us, so that alluded to error on a higher level than the actual sales floor.

Another story about this, I was at my local Petco last week and I noticed that they had recently gotten some new baby veileds brought in. It was almost closing so there was a young woman taking care of the reptiles, doing feeding and watering and all that. I talked with her, and she showed me some of the animals and what they were like when handled, and I was actually really impressed. Then she got to the new baby veileds and began to feed them crickets (which may have been considered a little big for them, but only just barely)... and then she proceeded to dump a whole glass of water on top of them. -_- babies were falling off of their branches and the biggest one even fell from the ceiling and landed in the substrate. It was NOT COOL, especially since she had a squirt bottle full of water hanging from her belt! I'm still deciding if I want to file a complaint, but I had to step back and remind myself that it probably wasn't her fault and she probably didn't know any different since the animals are new. Again, this is something that needs to be taken to a more executive level in order for the ENTIRE company to change at a rate that isn't slower than Moses.

 

[Bush baby]

I mentioned this in another thread. Take advantage of the power of social media. If we as cham owners see and document these things via our cell cameras, etc and post them on a facebook or twitter page dedicated to highlighting such instances, I guarantee that Petco and Petsmart will take notice. No company today wants their business going viral for the wrong reasons.....

 

[YoungOne0916]

I've discussed certain concerns I had at my local Petco and changes were made. I think that could always be the case so long as they have management that cares. As stated above, social media can work wonders

 

[Solargreenjake]

PetCo

OK, please hear me out. For the record, I don't work for Petco. However, I do notice that it depends which Petco store you go into. I have a Petco here at Rehoboth Beach Delaware that is so clean and the animals are so healthy. Even the Chameleons are housed in a very VERY large open habitat. Its very nice. I have heard some people have walked into some that are not good at all. I got one of my Veiled Chameleons from the Petco in Rehoboth Beach Delaware and she is so happy and healthy. Now I will let in you on one thing, I was an inventory manager for petco years ago and only left because I was moving. But at that time I know Petco had a contract with PETA. The contract was very strong and very serious. I would work for Petco again, only because I love how the stores I had experienced were really nice.

 

[OldChamKeeper]

I mentioned this in another thread. Take advantage of the power of social media. If we as cham owners see and document these things via our cell cameras, etc and post them on a facebook or twitter page dedicated to highlighting such instances, I guarantee that Petco and Petsmart will take notice. No company today wants their business going viral for the wrong reasons.....

This.


No need to go after a clean Petco. Go after the ones that aren't

As for PETA, I don't want to even to go into them. The stores I managed were clean as all hell. However they would have people outside the store and when a puppy would drink just once from a bottle they would call animal control to say the bottles were not full. It got so bad the local AC officer came in plain clothes to watch PETA (They liked to picket the stores since we sold puppies as well as other live animals) and ended up busting them for false calls of abuse. I dated a person in PETA once before I was managing stores and learned a hell of a lot more about them than the public knows. I don't support them in any way as a result.

 

[Kayroxyoursox]

The two panther chameleons are still in the tank at petco along with about 4 veilds of various age. The humidity in the tank was >20%. One of the Panthers kept licking the side of the tank; and they are both dull brown. One of the veilds was down in some dirt walking around looking for food I guess , and another was hanging on a tube connected to an empty dripper with its eyes closed during the middle of the day. My point is, petco shouldn't be selling animals at all of they aren't going to train their staff to care for them properly. I bought my veiled from petco before I knew anything about them. He is very healthy, but I would never buy another Cham from them.

 

[Petco]

Hi Kayroxyoursox. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please email us at [email protected] with your contact information, including your phone number, the store location you visited and these details so that we can look into this.

 

[brownie64]

Hello Petco You might want to look into your Marion IN store where they have an adult male Veiled in a tiny glass box with a water dish to drink from. I too think you should insist your franchises do a little better training for their employees so proper care can be given to these animals. And said proper training could also be transferred to your customers on their specific pet. You have know Idea how many people we see come on here with bad advice from one of your stores.

 

[bob351]

I'm no fan of big box stores of any kind, from the wal marts to the petsmarts.

The pet industry needs to be revamped IMO, it shouldn't be as simple as dropping some cash and walking out with a living creature.

Unfortunately not everyone sees life equally and has no issue replacing their ill cared for pet every few months when it dies or buying a dog or cat and then bringing it back to a rescue shelter because they didn't know it was going to be that much responsibility.

I could get into a giant rant right now but I wont, id be glad to see licensing and regulation.