Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went on a trip yesterday, and on the way back home I stopped at this pet store just to have a look around. I was horrified at what I saw. In the back where they kept their iguanas, there was a very small baby iguana in a 10 gallon aquarium. It had a heat bulb above it and a flourescent light strip hovering above the tank which fed uvb to all the 10 gallon aquariums with their various reptilian specimens, however, it was way to high above the tanks to offer any healthy dosages of uvb to any of the reptiles. The iguana had a single piece of shriveling romaine lettuce hanging over its water dish. The iguana was sprawled out under the heat bulb with ribs showing, eyes close, breathing heavily. A piece of paper on the aqaurium said, requires, uvb light, heat light, feeds on romaine lettuce, crickets, meal worms, fruit. I was appaled. Just thought I'd share this. And also, I've been wondering, is there any charges that can be made on pet stores who offer the wrong health to their pets and ultimately cause their pre mature deaths? Its awful what you can find at a pet store. After seeing this baby iguana I felt better about the baby iguanas at my local pet store. They are offered a very tall reptile vented aquarium, uvb light and heat, and are fed iguana pellets. Although I know iguana pellets are no substitute for healthy greens, it is certainly better than what i found at this other pet store.

Our local SPCA will sent complaints to the stores. Is it a mall store or strip mall store? You can complain to the landlord.

I am not impressed with any of these stores. Most of these stores are in this for the money only. I try to shop where they don't sell animals. Supplies tend to be cheaper at these places anyway.

You can also complain to Animal Control and suggest the store find out the diet info.

A letter to the editor about stores not giving correct info might help. We had two local TV stations put my full size iguanas on TV.