stalincat
Member
I want to share my exotic petshop experiences.
I forgot to order bugs online this week and had to go to a local wee exotic store called Aquacadabra. They had 2 young Nosy Be chameleons, a boy and a girl. I got talking to the owner of the shop, asked her how old are they. She said they are 6-7 months, but they looked like they are 4. She said they shouldn't be alive. They were the smallest of the clutch and were doing really poorly, she took them home for a while, was nursing them and looking after them. They are not for sale yet, she doesn't think they are ready. She said if she decides to sell them, she will have a very long talk with the buyer, will sell only to someone with experience and will call him/her from time to time to check on the cham. She had the girl out and was kissing her, and the girl was very relaxed. This girl is the cutest wee thing ever!
Last time I was at the store, they had a sick Veiled on board. He had a bacterial infection which his owner didn't treat, and weighted 120g at 2 years. This woman (the shop owner) treated the chameleon, took him to the vet and such, and didn't return the chameleon to the owner! She found someone knowledgeable and gave the cham to him and told the owner she'd call animal rights people on him for mistreating the animal if he doesn't agree to leave the chameleon to them.
And another experience was with a big pet store called Strictly Exotics. I payed for my chameleon over the phone a good few weeks before I went to pick him up. When I came, they tried to sell me a female and when I said I wanted a male they tried to prove I didn't mention anything about the gender, so I opened the email and showed the guy. Anyhow, they didn't have my male, even though they've been told a few times. I had to wait for another month until they got him. And when I did finally get him, he wasn't eating much or growing. I emailed them asking how old he was and was he alright before, and I got a really mean reply practically saying that whatever is wrong with him is my fault and he was perfectly fine (obviously!). It turned out he had parasites, my vet thinks they've already been there when I got him because of the numbers and his lack of appetite from the start. So screw them! Not buying a single thing from them again! Just hope I will be able to nurse my baby to health.
That lady from Auqacadabra said she heard quite a few complaints about Strictly's animals. Arghhh how pissed off I am! Why more shops can't be like that wee one here, where staff actually care about every single creature there?
phew feel better now
I forgot to order bugs online this week and had to go to a local wee exotic store called Aquacadabra. They had 2 young Nosy Be chameleons, a boy and a girl. I got talking to the owner of the shop, asked her how old are they. She said they are 6-7 months, but they looked like they are 4. She said they shouldn't be alive. They were the smallest of the clutch and were doing really poorly, she took them home for a while, was nursing them and looking after them. They are not for sale yet, she doesn't think they are ready. She said if she decides to sell them, she will have a very long talk with the buyer, will sell only to someone with experience and will call him/her from time to time to check on the cham. She had the girl out and was kissing her, and the girl was very relaxed. This girl is the cutest wee thing ever!
Last time I was at the store, they had a sick Veiled on board. He had a bacterial infection which his owner didn't treat, and weighted 120g at 2 years. This woman (the shop owner) treated the chameleon, took him to the vet and such, and didn't return the chameleon to the owner! She found someone knowledgeable and gave the cham to him and told the owner she'd call animal rights people on him for mistreating the animal if he doesn't agree to leave the chameleon to them.
And another experience was with a big pet store called Strictly Exotics. I payed for my chameleon over the phone a good few weeks before I went to pick him up. When I came, they tried to sell me a female and when I said I wanted a male they tried to prove I didn't mention anything about the gender, so I opened the email and showed the guy. Anyhow, they didn't have my male, even though they've been told a few times. I had to wait for another month until they got him. And when I did finally get him, he wasn't eating much or growing. I emailed them asking how old he was and was he alright before, and I got a really mean reply practically saying that whatever is wrong with him is my fault and he was perfectly fine (obviously!). It turned out he had parasites, my vet thinks they've already been there when I got him because of the numbers and his lack of appetite from the start. So screw them! Not buying a single thing from them again! Just hope I will be able to nurse my baby to health.
That lady from Auqacadabra said she heard quite a few complaints about Strictly's animals. Arghhh how pissed off I am! Why more shops can't be like that wee one here, where staff actually care about every single creature there?
phew feel better now
