Just being sad

[lisa h]

Just went to a big box pet store today, and commented to my husband how nice it is that they don't get chams anymore. Well ... what does he spot on a low enclosure? A Flap Neck cham. Sub adult, so still a little guy. Set up with a nice clean bowl of water, of course. I talked to one of the girls there and explained that he's dehydrated and he's going to die if they don't start misting him cause they don't drink out of bowls. She went and did it immediately, but that will probably be the last time, as she didn't seem to have a clue (I was being a PITA). I can't go there everyday, but I will try to go when the reptile manager is there. I hope he/she knows something about chams, or is at least willing to learn.

I am so bummed. I have no more empty enclosures cause I have pygmies and sternfaldi babies on the way. Even if I did, if I bought him they would just get more and I'd be perpetuating the suffering. I hate to know that this one is suffering too. It's a lose/lose situation for everyone.

Thanks for reading.

 

[pssh]

It's not lose lose situation when they stop buying them. Just make sure you don't buy him, don't buy anything from them. I'm glad you were able to walk away.

I'm pretty upset about a petstore that I thought was good. They started using some kind of sharp looking wood chip/bark substrate in their animals cages.

 

[lisa h]

Pssh, thanks for saying that. God it was hard to walk away. I bet I don't sleep tonight.

 

[Miss Lily]

Lisa, I have just had a similar experience myself, although not with a pet store. I found Tommy on a local version of ebay, and was browsing the other day when I saw a chameleon for sale. On opening the ad page, the picture I was confronted with sickened me to the core. It was heartbeaking and I so want to help the poor cham. He is literally skin and bone - I have NEVER seen such an emaciated chameleon - you can see EVERY single bone in his tail, legs and face. His tail looks almost like one of those fossilised ammonite things it is so bad. It is pitiful, and the sad thing is that I expect the owner doesn't really know that it looks that bad, or, in fact, what a healthy chameleon should look like! I just wanted to share. I did send them a mail about the condition he is in, but I can only hope that the poor thing has either passed away and is no longer suffering, or that someone who knows about chams has (stupidly) paid for him and is helping him. I did tell them that I doubt they will be able to seel him as he looks.

 

[lisa h]

Ugh. It's so hard, isn't it? I'm thinking that even if that cham sells, will someone know how to care for him properly since the store employees don't even know how? I was tempted to go in today and check on him, but decided not to.

 

[Miss Lily]

The people I was saying about have read the mail (you can see when a message has been read) and now the advert has 'expired'. Never heard anything back though - not even anything nasty telling me to mind my own business.

Like my friend told me - you can't save all of them all of the time. My hubby siad 'you can't be responsible for all the chameleons on the Island'. He doesn't understand how deep my feelings are for my chams.

 

[lisa h]

An update: I went back to the pet store last night to check on the condition of the Flapneck cham. I was really hoping it wasn't there, and I wasn't going to ask why. Well, she was still there, and she looked better than last week! The same employee was there and took me into the back room so I could see the cham up close. They implemented the things I asked them to change. Not perfect, but at least they are misting 3x per day, feeding appropriate sized crix, and not handling her. Everything is written on her care sheet at the back of her enclosure. Again, not ideal, but better. At least she looked hydrated and showed some beautiful colours for a female. The employee thanked me for helping them out last week. My husband (who knew he liked chams? lol) decided to buy her, but at the last minute decided that we should wait a couple of weeks until we had a bit more cash. I don't agree with buying her from there, but that's up to him. As for the employees, I'm really glad they took some advice. I guess educating is the best we can do. They are there to sell pets, but at least give the critters a relatively good life while they are there. My husband originally said that I shouldn't start trouble because no one would care. I'm pretty shy, so I generally don't do stuff like that. It was just too important, and I sucked it up, and I'm glad I did. Thanks for the support.

 

[meganm85]

An update: I went back to the pet store last night to check on the condition of the Flapneck cham. I was really hoping it wasn't there, and I wasn't going to ask why. Well, she was still there, and she looked better than last week! The same employee was there and took me into the back room so I could see the cham up close. They implemented the things I asked them to change. Not perfect, but at least they are misting 3x per day, feeding appropriate sized crix, and not handling her. Everything is written on her care sheet at the back of her enclosure. Again, not ideal, but better. At least she looked hydrated and showed some beautiful colours for a female. The employee thanked me for helping them out last week. My husband (who knew he liked chams? lol) decided to buy her, but at the last minute decided that we should wait a couple of weeks until we had a bit more cash. I don't agree with buying her from there, but that's up to him. As for the employees, I'm really glad they took some advice. I guess educating is the best we can do. They are there to sell pets, but at least give the critters a relatively good life while they are there. My husband originally said that I shouldn't start trouble because no one would care. I'm pretty shy, so I generally don't do stuff like that. It was just too important, and I sucked it up, and I'm glad I did. Thanks for the support.

that was a great thing you did....congrats!!!

 

[pssh]

I'm glad they listened to you! I wish every pet store was more willing to change their husbandry. It makes me really mad when stores have care sheets that they give to new owners and they don't even follow them themselves!

 

[lisa h]

I may have made an error saying the cham was a female. It may be that s/he is too young to be sexed, and I am not experienced and only went by what I read. Either way, I'm glad it's being cared for. I think that it will need a larger enclosure than what we can provide, so my husband may be SOL. If he wants it bad enough he'll have to build something and figure out where to put it.

 

[laurie]

Lisa thanks for caring and telling the shop what to do for the care of the chameleon. If we can get the pet shops to work with us on caring for the chameleons we have at least given them a chance. You are my hero for today.

 

[lisa h]

Thanks Laurie.