paleopossum
Member
So, today I had to go to PetSmart to get small crickets for my chinese cave gecko, who out of my nine is the only one eating little crickets. I usually don't like to support them unless emergencies supplies is needed and the expo I went to yesterday was sold out of little crickets, sucks cuz they are a lot cheaper there as well. Any way these parents were buying a veiled chameleon for their like 14 year old daughter and let me just tell you some things that were said that fried my insides.
-"Just buy 12 crickets he'll only need like three a day." -Store associate
-"Can't he have just one a day?" - Mother
-"They are so good at handling! All chameleons are!"- Store associate (From my knowledge from others and my experience having a panther and jacksons, veileds are like the most moody. )
-"If crickets don't work you can just feed it mealworms." - Store associate
-"Just keep a water dish on the bottom of the cage for it to drink out of." - Store associate
-"You should mist them like once a day." -Store associate
A lot of other stuff was said and the fact they've never had a reptile and get an advanced guy like that upsets me. I do research for at least two months on reptiles I know I want and when i'm bored I look up care for other ones i'm interested in even if it'll be a while if I even encounter one to impulse buy. They also bought the zoomed chameleon kit, which yes I bought for my first chameleon, but I also got tons more to go with it since it only comes with like one plant and vine.
Mind you when I got my first chameleon I had four other reptiles at that point and a lot of surplus bulbs, lamps, CALCIUM, MULTIVITAMINS, and other stuff. In bold yes they didn't get any type of supplement and I just feel so bad and upset about this cham.
Now for my experience that is like a week ago recent. So i've been working a lot, get up feed and mist Lolita (my panther since she's the only non-nocturnal) go to work come home feed everyone else sleep and repeat. I usually mist her at least three times a day and run a dripper three times a weak, even though i've never seen her go near the dripper's range of water. Last few days I noticed she was darker more often and went to her sleeping corner a lot, some times she'd have her eyes closed but if I moved she'd open them. So I freaked out cuz I know chams aren't suppose to sleep during the day. I was like wow the ecoearth on the ground is totally dry that took forever cuz I forgot to run the dripper a lot. When I realized that I ran to fill it up and put the water drops in it and she immediately came out from her sleeping corner and went to drink from it and once it ran out she climbed to the top where the hose is resting on the screen top to drink from it when I refilled it. After drinking for a couple minutes her eyes went all bulgey again, even though they weren't really sunken in just enough for me to really notice it cuz i'm with her every day.
These people at PetSmart had no dripper and the lady didn't tell them anything! Also I was creeping around the family lol I needed crickets and the lady got some for the girl in front of me and walked off without talking to me and I was like whhhaattt. I did need a hanging plant for my new crestie and I like to look at the other reptiles there and I found them there. I was waiting for them to stop talking so I could ask for crickets and then the whole cricket conversation came up why'll I was waiting.
I don't have anyone IRL that's into reptiles and knows how frustrating this is and so I decided to post it on here hehe. Also as I was checking out they tried to talk to me about my tattoos cuz I am a bit on the heavily tattooed side and I was like :I no go away. I know it may not be the associates fault, but she could ask someone who knew better or told the family to look it up more or guide them to a beginner pet or frankly refuse to sell. When I was in high school and got an interview at PetSmart and told the manager I'm not selling to someone who doesn't know what they are doing, i'm not risking an animal's life he was kinda put off. Needless to say I never got a call back and it's awkward seeing him and making eye contact still three years later and the fact that a lot of the staff knew me and knew what happened and was like yeah he puts money first like the company.
-"Just buy 12 crickets he'll only need like three a day." -Store associate
-"Can't he have just one a day?" - Mother
-"They are so good at handling! All chameleons are!"- Store associate (From my knowledge from others and my experience having a panther and jacksons, veileds are like the most moody. )
-"If crickets don't work you can just feed it mealworms." - Store associate
-"Just keep a water dish on the bottom of the cage for it to drink out of." - Store associate
-"You should mist them like once a day." -Store associate
A lot of other stuff was said and the fact they've never had a reptile and get an advanced guy like that upsets me. I do research for at least two months on reptiles I know I want and when i'm bored I look up care for other ones i'm interested in even if it'll be a while if I even encounter one to impulse buy. They also bought the zoomed chameleon kit, which yes I bought for my first chameleon, but I also got tons more to go with it since it only comes with like one plant and vine.
Mind you when I got my first chameleon I had four other reptiles at that point and a lot of surplus bulbs, lamps, CALCIUM, MULTIVITAMINS, and other stuff. In bold yes they didn't get any type of supplement and I just feel so bad and upset about this cham.
Now for my experience that is like a week ago recent. So i've been working a lot, get up feed and mist Lolita (my panther since she's the only non-nocturnal) go to work come home feed everyone else sleep and repeat. I usually mist her at least three times a day and run a dripper three times a weak, even though i've never seen her go near the dripper's range of water. Last few days I noticed she was darker more often and went to her sleeping corner a lot, some times she'd have her eyes closed but if I moved she'd open them. So I freaked out cuz I know chams aren't suppose to sleep during the day. I was like wow the ecoearth on the ground is totally dry that took forever cuz I forgot to run the dripper a lot. When I realized that I ran to fill it up and put the water drops in it and she immediately came out from her sleeping corner and went to drink from it and once it ran out she climbed to the top where the hose is resting on the screen top to drink from it when I refilled it. After drinking for a couple minutes her eyes went all bulgey again, even though they weren't really sunken in just enough for me to really notice it cuz i'm with her every day.
These people at PetSmart had no dripper and the lady didn't tell them anything! Also I was creeping around the family lol I needed crickets and the lady got some for the girl in front of me and walked off without talking to me and I was like whhhaattt. I did need a hanging plant for my new crestie and I like to look at the other reptiles there and I found them there. I was waiting for them to stop talking so I could ask for crickets and then the whole cricket conversation came up why'll I was waiting.
I don't have anyone IRL that's into reptiles and knows how frustrating this is and so I decided to post it on here hehe. Also as I was checking out they tried to talk to me about my tattoos cuz I am a bit on the heavily tattooed side and I was like :I no go away. I know it may not be the associates fault, but she could ask someone who knew better or told the family to look it up more or guide them to a beginner pet or frankly refuse to sell. When I was in high school and got an interview at PetSmart and told the manager I'm not selling to someone who doesn't know what they are doing, i'm not risking an animal's life he was kinda put off. Needless to say I never got a call back and it's awkward seeing him and making eye contact still three years later and the fact that a lot of the staff knew me and knew what happened and was like yeah he puts money first like the company.
