Just a rant

[HankeyPoo]

Went to pet smart tonight for a quick cricket hall and of course I had to stop by and see what they were selling for Chameleons .... the poor baby that they had was I can’t imagine more than two weeks old so tiny and in a glass enclosure so moist inside that I could barely even see him through the glass! I cannot believe they get to sell them like that so sad!

 

[Pearl Fields]

petco and petsmart are so depressing i cant go in without getting upset about something whether its the DEAD BETTA FISH THEY APPARENTLY COULDNT AFFORD TO TAKE THE TIME TO CHANGE THE WATER IN THOSE SAD LITTLE CONTAINERS ONCE EVERY 2 DAYS or the TINY CHAMELEONS WITH HORRIBLE CARE, so whenever we have to get crickets, my mom goes in. very soon i am going to breed roaches, specifically to avoid having to support buisnesses like that. whenever we want to get crickets as a treat for him (he loves them) we will go to a reptile place where they at least seem to CARE about their animals, even if a few things could be fixed.

 

[PabloTheCham]

SAD LITTLE CONTAINERS

Their excuse? Bettas live in "small puddles on the side of the road" in the wild...

 

[Pearl Fields]

Their excuse? Bettas live in "small puddles on the side of the road" in the wild...

no fish WANTS to live in that. also, i suspect the bettas die for 1 of these two reasons.
a) ammonia poisoning,( if the petco people are even feeding them)
b) THE WATER IN THE CONTAINERS RUNNING OUT OF OXYGEN. i suspect this is the main cause because once i saw a poor fish on its side with its gill have out of the water, it looked like it was trying to get oxygen. REST IN PEACE all the animals that have been killed by petco and petsmart in horrible and sad ways.

 

[Pearl Fields]

and i DESPISE that stupid excuse. guess why animals live longer in captivity than in the wild? CONDITIONS ARE BETTER. NATURAL IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER, AND PETCO AND PETSMART SHOULD BE ILLEGAL BUISNESSES in my opinion. they either
a) care about their animals and try their best to keep them healthy
or
b) DONT OWN ANY AT ALL.

 

[Haley Hendrix]

I totally agree with this. I go to petsmart for dog toys and food every week. We. just got a puppy and she rips the stuffing out of the everything. I also look at the chameleons, it’s so sad to see them suffering when you know that you could give him/her a better life. Heres the one at my petsmart. It followed my finger to the front?

 

[Fchamel]

Their excuse? Bettas live in "small puddles on the side of the road" in the wild...

That is unfortunately so...... ??

 

[Fchamel]

It really is super sad. They put fake plants, feed the wrong items. Etc. It breaks my heart that the chamelon is suffering. I got my cham from Petco, and I was so lucky they only had her for a day. ?

 

[Pearl Fields]

yeah. feel free to buy them from there because your really rescuing them. but @Haley Hendrix at least that one looks.. ok? it is so sad how they keep them. im telling you, those stores should be illegal.

 

[Fchamel]

yeah. feel free to buy them from there because your really rescuing them. but @Haley Hendrix at least that one looks.. ok? it is so sad how they keep them. im telling you, those stores should be illegal.

Yes. ????

 

[jacksonchamnew]

I went to Petsmart and saw that small cham kept trying to eat mealworm in water dish with water in it. I told them no water dish but no response.

 

[MissSkittles]

yeah. feel free to buy them from there because your really rescuing them.

Actually this is a double-edged sword and many a debate has been had on the forum about this.
The problem is we love chameleons/animals and for whatever reason we buy an animal from big box pet store. That one animal gets our love and proper care and is saved, rescued or whatever term you wish to use.
Manager of the store then orders more of this type animal as they are selling well. This eventually makes it’s way to the breeding mill where more of the animal are bred/produced in order to meet the demand. In going thru the entire process from breeding mill to warehouse to store, many animals are injured, maimed and die due to poor conditions.
The only way to get these stores to stop selling chams and other animals is for us to stop buying them. With all of this being said, I am just as guilty as many others...I couldn’t walk away and leave the little girl who is now my sweet Stella another day in that hellacious environment of Petco.
It is a true dilemma and a problem with no easy solutions.

 

[ashdavisa]

It's corporate, y'all.... People sitting in a cozy office in California or Arizona with their dog are the ones making blanket rules for animal care. At store-level, there's very very little employees can properly provide without a district leader coming in and making a report.... we would try, though. Sick chameleons were often sent home with someone who could rehab & rehome them. Unfortunately stores just aren't provided with the right type of enclosure or allowed to use the right supplies to keep them healthy.

Even feeder types are on a schedule with a set limit on how many you're supposed to use regardless of how many reptiles are in stock (I think for my store [a petsmart], we were expected to use no more than maybe 50 small crickets on a cricket day, while still being instructed to feed 6-7 per bearded dragon, which we regularly kept 5+ of, plus anoles, frogs, leopard geckos, other lizards, chameleons... it was so unrealistic.)

As for bettas.... it's just gross, misinformed cost-cutting. I've heard of some stores actually sectioning off their tanks to put bettas in, but they're meant to be impulse-buys. Easy to grab off the shelf, no questions (whereas for other fish, we're supposed to ask their tank size and we're "allowed", sometimes, to decline a sale if we'd consider it potential abuse. It's on employees to learn fish care, though) and advertised as needing next to nothing. Plus, they jam-pack the stores with so freaking many that there's no way to give them all the care they need ?

On a more cheerful note though, here's Wasabi while I was cleaning her prison a day before bringing her home.

 

[Pearl Fields]

Actually this is a double-edged sword and many a debate has been had on the forum about this.
The problem is we love chameleons/animals and for whatever reason we buy an animal from big box pet store. That one animal gets our love and proper care and is saved, rescued or whatever term you wish to use.
Manager of the store then orders more of this type animal as they are selling well. This eventually makes it’s way to the breeding mill where more of the animal are bred/produced in order to meet the demand. In going thru the entire process from breeding mill to warehouse to store, many animals are injured, maimed and die due to poor conditions.
The only way to get these stores to stop selling chams and other animals is for us to stop buying them. With all of this being said, I am just as guilty as many others...I couldn’t walk away and leave the little girl who is now my sweet Stella another day in that hellacious environment of Petco.
It is a true dilemma and a problem with no easy solutions.

yeah, i know about this. i feel like either way can be good.. in a way. but personally i hate going in petco it is so sad to see the poor animals, so until people stop buying from there, which is tbh unrealistic i feel like, i sorta feel like you should feel free to rescue 1 or 2. its a sad choice though

 

[CasqueAbove]

Their excuse? Bettas live in "small puddles on the side of the road" in the wild...

Yea they always go this way, and it is untrue. They live in shallow rice patties. They can gulp air so they can live in low oxegen environments. This is true, but in a cup it is the toxins from waste that build up quickly making it toxic.

 

[MissSkittles]

yeah, i know about this. i feel like either way can be good.. in a way. but personally i hate going in petco it is so sad to see the poor animals, so until people stop buying from there, which is tbh unrealistic i feel like, i sorta feel like you should feel free to rescue 1 or 2. its a sad choice though

Petco and the like don’t see it that you ‘rescue’ a chameleon. They see it as a sale and it only reinforces them to keep selling them. Our only voice that they will hear is with our money. However, it is emotionally painful to walk away and leave these innocent creatures to their unknown fates. It is ultimately the animals who will suffer no matter our choices.

 

[Fchamel]

Actually this is a double-edged sword and many a debate has been had on the forum about this.
The problem is we love chameleons/animals and for whatever reason we buy an animal from big box pet store. That one animal gets our love and proper care and is saved, rescued or whatever term you wish to use.
Manager of the store then orders more of this type animal as they are selling well. This eventually makes it’s way to the breeding mill where more of the animal are bred/produced in order to meet the demand. In going thru the entire process from breeding mill to warehouse to store, many animals are injured, maimed and die due to poor conditions.
The only way to get these stores to stop selling chams and other animals is for us to stop buying them. With all of this being said, I am just as guilty as many others...I couldn’t walk away and leave the little girl who is now my sweet Stella another day in that hellacious environment of Petco.
It is a true dilemma and a problem with no easy solutions.

Yes, It is so hard to not buy them and give it the better care it deserves. But also, PetSmart/Petco needs to learn.

 

[Pearl Fields]

yeah its not good either way for different reasons. the best i can do is just.. not go there as much as i can.

 

[NashansCamos]

just avoid it and don't get tempted because if you buy one from them they'll just ship 5 more in.

 

[Pearl Fields]

that is what i do. i do not go in at all. my mom goes in to get crickets. soon i will stop buying from there entirely