Stella

MissSkittles

Chameleon Enthusiast
It’s been an emotionally rough week. Helped stepdaughter with an emergency turtle set up for 3 turtles she rescued from a bad living situation. Needing supplies stat we had no other option than Petco. Looked at the chams - spoke to the manager about the wrong things I noticed and was told, “we have to follow corporate policies” and assured my concerns weren’t valid. Manager lied too. We hung out and shopped in the immediate cham area for a good 20 mins and no one came near. Mgr said the one was on the cage floor because they had just handled her and put her back in. Also said they had a buyer for her.Was skeptical but no time to argue.
Back to the turtles. Quickly discovered that one of the turtles wasn’t a turtle, but is a gopher tortoise. Poor thing has been sitting in a tiny bowl of dirty water for a few months and looked to be on the brink of death. Dried it out and warmed it up and in the morning took it to local wildlife hospital/rehab. Most likely it’s too late to save her. :( Stupid effing people who basically killed a beautiful creature! :mad::mad::mad:
On the way home from wildlife rehab, stopped back at Petco as we bought the wrong sized filter. Checked the chams and nothing had changed...same empty water dripper, same full bowl of water with same dirt in it, same 2 adult girls in same enclosure and one still digging in the wet dirt floor. As politely as I could I again spoke with someone about the conditions and again given the same lines but this time told they thought the little digger was gravid. Not in the mood to argue and the clerk (who was nice and sympathetic) has to recite the corporate crap. Digger cham was pale, same as Miss Grumpy got the day she started her laying. I asked them to give her to me...they couldn’t do that but would give her to me at half price. Good enough! Thankfully I have Miss Grumpy’s old enclosure all cleaned and sanitized already and had just bought some new stuff to add to her enclosure, including new sand for a fresh lay bin. Only thing I need is another UVB...gave the one for small cage to be used with the turtles. Has already been ordered.
So meet Stella. Yes, I fully understand the whole problem with buying from Petco and am in total agreement with it. However, after the little tortoises very poor prognosis I couldn’t let another animal suffer, especially when I had the opportunity to change it’s fate. When it comes to animals, I’m way way too soft. I have no regrets. Not sure if she’s gravid or not...she is pretty round. Will give her a little time to adjust and see how she does before a wellness vet visit. Hopefully won’t need an emergency vet visit.

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It’s been an emotionally rough week. Helped stepdaughter with an emergency turtle set up for 3 turtles she rescued from a bad living situation. Needing supplies stat we had no other option than Petco. Looked at the chams - spoke to the manager about the wrong things I noticed and was told, “we have to follow corporate policies” and assured my concerns weren’t valid. Manager lied too. We hung out and shopped in the immediate cham area for a good 20 mins and no one came near. Mgr said the one was on the cage floor because they had just handled her and put her back in. Also said they had a buyer for her.Was skeptical but no time to argue.
Back to the turtles. Quickly discovered that one of the turtles wasn’t a turtle, but is a gopher tortoise. Poor thing has been sitting in a tiny bowl of dirty water for a few months and looked to be on the brink of death. Dried it out and warmed it up and in the morning took it to local wildlife hospital/rehab. Most likely it’s too late to save her. :( Stupid effing people who basically killed a beautiful creature! :mad::mad::mad:
On the way home from wildlife rehab, stopped back at Petco as we bought the wrong sized filter. Checked the chams and nothing had changed...same empty water dripper, same full bowl of water with same dirt in it, same 2 adult girls in same enclosure and one still digging in the wet dirt floor. As politely as I could I again spoke with someone about the conditions and again given the same lines but this time told they thought the little digger was gravid. Not in the mood to argue and the clerk (who was nice and sympathetic) has to recite the corporate crap. Digger cham was pale, same as Miss Grumpy got the day she started her laying. I asked them to give her to me...they couldn’t do that but would give her to me at half price. Good enough! Thankfully I have Miss Grumpy’s old enclosure all cleaned and sanitized already and had just bought some new stuff to add to her enclosure, including new sand for a fresh lay bin. Only thing I need is another UVB...gave the one for small cage to be used with the turtles. Has already been ordered.
So meet Stella. Yes, I fully understand the whole problem with buying from Petco and am in total agreement with it. However, after the little tortoises very poor prognosis I couldn’t let another animal suffer, especially when I had the opportunity to change it’s fate. When it comes to animals, I’m way way too soft. I have no regrets. Not sure if she’s gravid or not...she is pretty round. Will give her a little time to adjust and see how she does before a wellness vet visit. Hopefully won’t need an emergency vet visit.

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This made me want to cry till the end , Well done . I know so many will not agree but I say well done , even if it’s a short time and her fate was always to pass (not saying that ) the rest of Stella‘s life will be sweet , cared for and very very loved Pretty little girl . I LOVE HER NAME ❤.
 
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Yes, so sorry for your rough week, that's hard. Stella is such a great name; what a lucky little soul she is to have found her way to you. No judgement from me, I get it and it’s why I can’t go into petsmart or petco. It is so hard to see animals suffer. I do go to my local reptile pet shop occasionally for supplies. I went the other day after Maxwell got sick to pick him up some hornworms since I know that medication can increase risk of dehydration.

I usually avoid looking at the animals there, especially the chameleons. But they have a small enclosure of feeder lizards and frogs that I can’t help myself from looking at. It's so hard, their days are numbered. I guess certain species of snakes live in trees and eat them. I totally understand that snakes need to eat and that these little lizards are being sold as food but it’s so hard for me.

I have already have one anole that I rescued from being snake food. I have him in a lovely bioactive terrarium with lots of plants, branches, moss, basking lamp, plant grow lights and an Arcadia UVB light; so he gets the full works. I love his little pointy face dearly. He is very active with a big personality. He looks so much better since I brought him home too.

So last week I’m in there for the hornworms and I couldn’t help but rescue another little anole, they are just so precious. She has already had a good shed, made friends with my other anole and is enjoying basking in peace with no hungry tree snakes in sight. I'm a softy. I'm getting ready to set up another bio-active terrarium just like it so I can eventually bring home a couple more I love them so much.
 
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I’m sorry that you had such a rough week. I’m glad that you are give Stella a second chance at life. I love the little girls. I'm very sad for the little tortoise, too. If you are in the Orlando area, there's an awesome chameleon vets there. Dr. Ivan Alfonso and his tech Joel.
https://hiawasseevet.com/meet-our-team/
I love the little girl veileds too...little green haughty princesses. I had hoped to get a pretty male or maybe even a panther in the future as my second cham. I couldn’t just leave the poor girl to an uncertain fate though.
I have a vet that sees exotics within walking distance, but she’s demonstrated that she isn’t terribly knowledgeable about chams. I had Dr Oppenheimer come out last week and he is thorough! He only does house calls, which is awesome as he evaluates everything and gives a lot of education.
 
Yes, so sorry for your rough week, that's hard. Stella is such a great name; what a lucky little soul she is to have found her way to you. No judgement from me, I get it and it’s why I can’t go into petsmart or petco. It is so hard to see animals suffer. I do go to my local reptile pet shop occasionally for supplies. I went the other day after Maxwell got sick to pick him up some hornworms since I know that medication can increase risk of dehydration.

I usually avoid looking at the animals there, especially the chameleons. But they have a small enclosure of feeder lizards and frogs that I can’t help myself from looking at. It's so hard, their days are numbered. I guess certain species of snakes live in trees and eat them. I totally understand that snakes need to eat and that these little lizards are being sold as food but it’s so hard for me.

I have already have one anole that I rescued from being snake food. I have him in a lovely bioactive terrarium with lots of plants, branches, moss, basking lamp, plant grow lights and an Arcadia UVB light; so he gets the full works. I love his little pointy face dearly. He is very active with a big personality. He looks so much better since I brought him home too.

So last week I’m in there for the hornworms and I couldn’t help but rescue another little anole, they are just so precious. She has already had a good shed, made friends with my other anole and is enjoying basking in peace with no hungry tree snakes in sight. I'm a softy. I'm getting ready to set up another bio-active terrarium just like it so I can eventually bring home a couple more I love them so much.
I try not to go into any pet stores, whether big box or mom & pop as I know I’m too soft and weak when it comes to critters. Hopefully this is it for me with animal acquisitions for a long time. I’ll never turn away from one in need though.
 
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