Petco shouldnt carry live reptiles

[brandodelro]

Petsmart is also terrible. These stores disgust me. 4 days ago I was getting crickets and HAD to rescue a 4-5 month old veiled from its five gallon tank with a bowl of water and a desert like shrub. Temp gauge under its tiny heat light was about 80 degrees. They disnt even know w hat sex he was and the lady tried to just grab him out for me so I told her I'm gonna do it. I'm opening a claim for neglect on them this friday.

 

[Sargentstickytounge]

Petco should really have classes or something to inform there employees about how to care for these animals then there wouldn't b as many death tolls and petco would save itself money .

 

[Olimpia]

Guys, you can't buy the chameleons from these stores! It's not rescuing, it's feeding the monster. Because you can complain all you want about how terrible the conditions are to the employees but they're just going to be laughing at you while they're swiping your credit card.

I know it sucks and that our hearts go out to these animals but we're fueling what we hate when we buy the poor, sickly chameleons. What's easier for a company than for the bleeding hearts to buy their sickly and dying animals! It's a win-win for them, they turned a profit AND you took the sick animal off their hands.

 

[brandodelro]

Guys, you can't buy the chameleons from these stores! It's not rescuing, it's feeding the monster. Because you can complain all you want about how terrible the conditions are to the employees but they're just going to be laughing at you while they're swiping your credit card.

I know it sucks and that our hearts go out to these animals but we're fueling what we hate when we buy the poor, sickly chameleons. What's easier for a company than for the bleeding hearts to buy their sickly and dying animals! It's a win-win for them, they turned a profit AND you took the sick animal off their hands.

I'd rather keep it in my care then let it die to prove a point. Hes also not sick and I paid cash I can understand your perspective though

 

[Olimpia]

And right now there's probably a new veiled in the same 5 gallon cage, and in two weeks there will be another one, and a month from now another one. Why not rescue them as well? The store will only be encouraged to replace them since people are buying them, for one reason or another.

You can send a letter to corporate and complain or open up an official complaint, but you voted with your money. The only thing that corporate is reading is that chameleons are in demand and sell. This goes for everyone that "rescues" a Petco/Petsmart chameleon.

 

[DanSB]

I think we are assigning a certain level of greed and villainy that isn't appropriate to PetCo.

Other than me, who here has actually lodged a formal complaint explaining the issues they saw? When I did that I got a serious response and improvements were implemented immediately.

Read their care sheets they give out with each chameleon. They aren't perfect but are better than most.

The enclosures are meant for short term display and in my opinion are appropriate for that purpose. I would like to see more appropriate cage furniture, and make sure the red heatlamp is off at night, but other than that...

PetSmart is horrid, I agree, but I think if we directed our complaining to constructive, friendly, intelligent criticism PetCo will respond. They show a much better potential. With a large pet store like that promoting good husbandry it will improve the hobby as a whole.

If anyone wants help drafting a sane complaint let me know, I'd be happy to help with the format and content.

 

[NosyBe15]

A lot of this also has to do with who they hire as employees. The petco by my house actually has a reptile "expert" who seems to actually know what she is talking about and I think she somewhat cares about the reptiles there. I look at the Chams they have when they have them and they look ok.

Some people care about the animals, some people are going there for a paycheck and dont care. Just the sad reality of the world we live in.

And I cant say that I dont take advantage of this. I know when the expert is working, and when the kid who doesn't care is working. When I get crickets, I go to the kid who doesn't care, because I ask for 30, and get around 80.

 

[Carlton]

I'd rather keep it in my care then let it die to prove a point. Hes also not sick and I paid cash I can understand your perspective though

Healthy, sick, cash, cc, whatever does NOT matter! The point is, when you buy the cham (regardless whether you are rationalizing it as a rescue or not) there's an empty cage for them to fill up again. They don't care how you pay or whether the animal was sick or not. Its still a sale and a profit. When you buy reptile supplies for YOUR cham you are also supporting their practices. If you really want to make a statement about their corporate policies or some local store's practices you should refuse to buy anything from a store you object to. And, tell them clearly why you are boycotting them. Otherwise you said NOTHING.

On the other hand, if I find a local store that seems to care and know what they are doing with their animals I give them my business, get to know the employees, share experience and suggestions, and basically cultivate a good relationship with them. And again, I tell them why! Some stores are much better than others so reward them!

 

[tony19]

If anyone has heard of PJs Pets they are pretty similar. I went to go see their reptile section and I came to see an extremely dehydrated chameleon in any extremely dirty enclosure. It was very saddening. I went to go seek help at the Ontario SPCA to no avail. They can only help you if the accused party has multiple accounts of animals in poor condition. PJs probably did but I am not well versed in really any other animal to know. Really discouraging

I have been to the one in Scarborough a few times. And though I've never seen a Cham I have seen other lizards and snakes like bps. And I have complained to just about everyone in that store no one listens. Others are on here are right have to make formal complaints. And as for the SPCA if its not a cat dog horse or other furry house or farm animal. They don't care. And pets art is a big company with lots of lawyers to defend and you'd be surprised what expensive lawyers can get you away with.

 

[juice28]

And right now there's probably a new veiled in the same 5 gallon cage, and in two weeks there will be another one, and a month from now another one. Why not rescue them as well? The store will only be encouraged to replace them since people are buying them, for one reason or another.

You can send a letter to corporate and complain or open up an official complaint, but you voted with your money. The only thing that corporate is reading is that chameleons are in demand and sell. This goes for everyone that "rescues" a Petco/Petsmart chameleon.

as a former employee of a petco(which was a great job, i had to move to a place without one) we had good livestock most of the time no pet store get 100% animals 100% of the time and no store is set up to house animals long term and if you notice most petco carry the same thing with a few variations location to location, its because the store HAS TO HAVE certain animals in it at all times by policy so if they get a sick cham in and someone buys it or it dies because it wasnt bought and stayed in the TEMPORARY cage for 4 months..or its perfectly healthy but sits there until MBD sets in because its not in a screen enclosure, it will be ordered again because its somewhat a requirement for the store. My store had a massive reptile section and we had to have either a jackson or veiled in stock and they dont order sexes, the order sheet says jackson cham or veiled cham.. not large male sunburst veild cham

 

[djfishygillz]

Not all petco's are bad. Just most of them are. Best thing to do is just not shop at the bad ones. If they do not get business for the reptiles then they will maybe stop carrying them.

 

[djfishygillz]

I've had the exact same issue with the petco about 45mins from here. I have a friend who lives in the same town that the petco is located and he actually finds live reptiles tied up in mesh bags in their dumpster out back. The first time he found 2 juvenile iguanas tied up in a mesh bag in the middle of summer on top of all the other trash. He went in to tell the manager and they didn't care at all. He's found tortoises, bearded dragons, veiled and Jackson's chameleons, baby monitors, corn snakes & ball pythons since then. Some alive some had passed. Now he goes everyday after he gets off work and right after they close to check.
Petco just doesn't care.

Wichita Reptile Rescue?

I would be very careful on this story. That guy is posted all over the boi on fauna for falsely placing iguanas there and such. I will not go into detail as this isn't a boi nor will it ever be but after researching the heck out of that story I feel that guy was lying about the two live iguanas for multiple factual reasons.

Also it is against the law to dumpster dive as he was and the petco stated they were locking the dumpster from on because there was great suspicion he is placing the animals in there (which I believe he is). As who would actually film themselves dumpster diving?