Hi Paradon!
As for your sav not eating crickets anymore, no biggie, no worries. I wouldn't bother with french fry crumbs if I knew I'd get a steak if I held out. Varanids are incredibly smart and will make the best choice when given choices.

The pet shop situation you mentioned is very common, unfortunately. However, I persoanlly couldn't draw any reasonable conclusions unless I was in a position to know more. I always try to be fair and try to take everything into consideration.

I persoanlly know the owners of two different pet shops. I know them personally, not just business-wise. I know their mindset, their way of thinking, how they feel about animals, etc...

One owner takes pride in some animals but not others. Their fish deptmt is spot-on, but they just want to get the reptiles in & out, to make a buck. "Just keep it warm & alive and hopefully someone will buy it soon." Needless to say, I very rarely walk thru the door. Maybe 5 - 6 times in the 2 yrs it's been open.

The other owner genuinely cares about ALL animals. They've been slowly expanding their reptile deptmt but expansion (growing) comes with a price. The cost of more heat/basking lamps, the time it takes to maintain the setups, time needed in caring for animals, the quality of animals available to them, etc...

When only ordering just a few animals here & there, the dealers tend to send their better looking animals, but when more animals are ordered at a time the quality tends to drop. So it becomes a dealer issue. Ahh, but wait a minute....., the dealers are experiencing the same thing from their suppliers. Are they supposed to be the ones to have to eat the costs of poor-condition animals? No, we, the keepers, are the ones that have to pay the price, in one form or another.

The last owner I was talking about, the good one, will usually keep poor animals in a back room while nursing them back to health, but every now & then one falls thru the cracks.

Pet shop owners also have to rely on their employees. They can't do everything themselves.

So, sometimes there's more than meets the eye in what appears to be a bad pet shop. Sometimes.

I'm just saying, "Don't be too quick to judge every pet shop for every lil' detail." (I'm not saying that you are, Paradon. )

I hope this sheds some light & spreads some "fairness."

Take care!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

[ Show Entire Thread ]