Poor Petco Chameleons

I hate the way petco takes care of their chameleons, I adopted my Jackson’s chameleon from petco and he’s currently thriving, but I went in a few weeks ago and I saw that they had beautiful Piebald Veiled Cham babies! And then, I went back a few days ago and saw that one of them was on the verge of death, he looks really sick. The healthy looking Cham pic is one I took of him 3 weeks ago, and the dull sad sleepy pic is one I took of him yesterday, it breaks my heart and I told the manager and he responded with “it looks fine to me”, I wish I could help him :( he’s eating soil and just sleeping.
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I feel you on that. I get angry every time I go in one because when you look at the chameleons they either have a water dish (which they don't drink from) and no dripper or the humidity is way off or their is no basking light. Poor chameleons
 
It's sad that the chameleons suffer to die and that if you buy it you save one and they bring in more to die because you bought it. The "law" should be after them...but it's "only" a chameleon in heir eyes.
 
It's sad that the chameleons suffer to die and that if you buy it you save one and they bring in more to die because you bought it. The "law" should be after them...but it's "only" a chameleon in heir eyes.
I am of a different mindset with buying Beman and even when I bought Bentley. I know they bought more to fill their tanks after but I do not feel like I am the reason for that or are their deaths on me. They would do it even if I had not bought them and they died in the store. While I understand there are better places to buy from I did not have any issues with either of my petco boys. Granted Veileds are the only species I would consider doing this with due to them being bred and not wild caught. Both were bought in the first week they had them and neither had parasites. I do understand my experience may not be that of others though. The sad thing is pet stores do it with all animals they have. Fish, reptiles, small mammals, and birds. They write off the loss and replace.
 
I understand people’s perspective on don’t buy from petco or petsmart so they don’t get profit but some person who doesn’t have knowledge will buy them or they die and get new ones so I think it’s aright to buy from petco or petsmart so we can give the chams a good life my Yoshi is a petsmart baby and he was in a 6by 6 inch enclosure with no climbing things and the enclosure is tinier than my cricket pen/box/keeper
 
I feel you on that. I get angry every time I go in one because when you look at the chameleons they either have a water dish (which they don't drink from) and no dripper or the humidity is way off or their is no basking light. Poor chameleons
Regarding the water dishes... There is a video on YT explaining this—I wish I could find it, but I just spent too much time looking for it to no avail. Briefly, when they don't put water dishes in enclosures, people who know nothing about reptiles complain, "Look at how they abuse these poor animals—they don't even have water!" So management has employees include water dishes that never get used —other than for defecating in—to shut those people up. It's a lose—lose situation, and—no offense, but you bought into it. Anyone who doesn't know, would.

This whole situation of "saving" these animals is really no different than the days when pet stores sold puppies & kittens from puppy/kitten farms. It's not about the animals; it's about the "supplies" that go along with the animals—that's where the money/profit is. The animals are a commodity—the razor given away or sold cheaply in order to sell the blades forever after. Plain & simple—If this model didn't work, they wouldn't keep doing it, but it does work, and it apparently works beautifully.

Things aren't going to change until as much money & outrage are put behind things as they were with banning puppy & kitten farms. Unfortunately, reptiles aren't cuddly/furry animals that look adorable (to the general public) and make pitiful noises for cameras. In many places they've become invasive pests (a different discussion/issue)—something to be viewed with disdain/revulsion. Media outlets can get big ratings showing popular cuddly baby animals suffering; it's rare that they can with reptiles except in a few isolated cases (e.g. Pets Plus in Lockport, NY) and that was several years ago.

PETA (read me out) has the facts on this industry, and while they seem to overlook responsible herp keepers—that's not who they're talking about. We are vastly outnumbered by an ignorant public.

Reptiles Aren’t ‘Pets’: PETA Explains Why

Facts on Reptiles

Reptiles Suffer, Left to Die at Another Massive PetSmart Supplier Mill

Urge Petco to Stop Selling Birds, Reptiles, Fish, and Others

It doesn't do any good to keep posting/venting here if you aren't willing to sign a petition, show up at a protest, or otherwise get involved to change the situation. If you do, kudos; I applaud you.

Click on the Take Action buttons. There are other ways besides donating money.
 
Eustis had a neg fecal test and he was deemed healthy by a vet so he evidently was no worse for wear coming from petco but I agree we need to do something about the selling of reptiles like this and get them to leave the selling to breeders who know how to care for them.
 
cammy i also got from petco- it sucks that they just don’t care. i do have to say most people don’t they just want money, thankfully the petco i got cammy from has some very nice workers. they have been very helpful especially when i first got her. it really does suck that they blow stuff off
 
My Stella is a Petco girl too. No regrets. Whether they sell the animals or they die in their care, they will simply order more to fill the tanks. I don’t think they make much profit off of the animals. I believe their main profit is in selling chameleon kits, water fountains and all of the other crap they tell people they’ll need to care for their chameleon. I think it would be much less objectionable if they were to just provide the correct care and correct care information for all of the animals. Instead, they profit off of the misery and suffering of the innocent animals. If only I ruled the world…sigh….
 
My Stella is a Petco girl too. No regrets. Whether they sell the animals or they die in their care, they will simply order more to fill the tanks. I don’t think they make much profit off of the animals. I believe their main profit is in selling chameleon kits, water fountains and all of the other crap they tell people they’ll need to care for their chameleon. I think it would be much less objectionable if they were to just provide the correct care and correct care information for all of the animals. Instead, they profit off of the misery and suffering of the innocent animals. If only I ruled the world…sigh….
Yoshi is a petsmart baby no regrets I do agree with all u said I don’t think they make a lot of their profit from chams and I don’t think not buying them will change anything
 
after years of watching the poorly cared for chams in my local petsmart behind tiny glass enclosures I was shocked when I moved to a new areas recently and they actually have a proper screen enclosure set up for the their current cham girl! I later met that store manager through a friend and turns out she knows her stuff and is doing her best. I wish they could all have this!
 
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