Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was very upset today when I went to buy some crix from my local petshop. They are not a big chain and they specialize in reptiles and some hamsters and stuff of that nature. They have a huge retic and chameleons and beardies and all sorts of kenyans and rosys. Anyway. I have never seen a leo in there until yesterday. They had 2 albinos and 1 normal. I realized right away that they were on sand, and babies. I understand they want them to look appealing to people, but it still frustrated me. I then took a closer look and realized that they had no hides and just 1 little dish for water and another for mealies. Also they were all laying out under the heat lamp and wouldn't even move when I walked up. Upon tkaing a very close look I realized they all looked very skinny and their arms were bent underneath them and kinda backwards. They all looked very ill and I wanted to take they home soo bad. I didn't though because I know they probably would have died. They really looked horrible. There was a lady looking around at them and wanting to buy one. They were priced at $40 for the norm and $50 for the albinos, ridiculous. I told her to go look up info online and to not buy one when the guy was not around. I just posted this to vent, but that shop was the only one that I respected and I no longer have respect for them. I'm going to buy my mealies and crix online nowbecause it even made me ashamed to go in there and buy anythign from them. Sorry for the long post.

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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

Instead of just getting upset, did you try to talk to an employee and explain what was wrong with the setup? Maybe they simply don't know and would have changed things if they were educated, especially since you say it wasn't a large chain store
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com

To be honest I was just so shocked that they had the whole thing horribly wrong that I just bought my mealies and crix and left. I think it just suprised me because they put all their snakes on aspen, not cedar. They have their huge retics on paper towels and everything else perfect for the other animals. I should've said something. I may go back there tomorrow and just let them know that things are wrong, or I may just email the owner since he gave me his email. Thanks for suggesting that. I guess I was so blindsided I never even thought of it.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

I totally understand And that's not to say that they will listen, but I would at least give them the opportunity. We too have a local petstore that does a horrible job of housing Leos, trust me, far worse than you described. I did try to talk to one of the main employees, who made it obvious he could care less about how the Leos were kept and had the attitude that I had no idea what I was talking about. I was also able to talk to the owner a few weeks later, he listened, but never made any changes. And no, I do not frequent that petstore any longer. He even offered to buy my extra superworms & discoid roaches from me, but I refuse to deal with a petstore that mistreats their reptiles the way he does. It's not just the Leos, it's all his reptiles.
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com

What does he do?!! You have piqued my curiosity.

The pet shop in my area provides them one large hide, no humid hide, and has them on some sort of wood shaving bedding. The heat source is a fluorescent-type light (i'm not exactly sure what it is) that covers the entire top of the cage. I have only recently paid attention as that is where I got my first leo. It was very sick and I bought it the day it came to the store, so I can't really blame the store (except that they told me later not knowing who I was that they were very upset at the distributor for shipping them so small - most went into shock and got very sick). Every time I'd go in for crickets for my healthy new leos (Petco and online bought) I would check on the batch of leos mine came in with. They'd always be huddled around the water dish never reacted to me. Poor things. Their tails were very skinny and they just looked so sad. I was mad that the petstore kept them out on display for sale - it was obvious to me that they weren't going to make it! *sigh* I don't think they did - the cage is empty now.

Anyway, my new babies are healthy (as far as I can tell) and are really putting on weight. So I'm just happy that my second experience with leos was positive. I hope nobody bought the sick ones from the petshop and was turned off from leos because of a bad experience. I'm glad you talked to the customer who was interested and persuaded her against purchasing a sick one.
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-Kristin

0.1.2 Leopard Geckos
(Monet, Kumquat, and Tamale)

I would start up a conversation with the employee about the Leos and that I was worried that they didn't look in very good condition. Then in a very nice way make suggestions as to how they could be better kept. Explain how important a humid hide is, and that they really need one end of the tank to be around 90 degrees in order to properly digest their food. I would guess most employees in petstores have no idea how a baby Leo should look or act and probably truly don't see that something is wrong. I'm not making excuses for them, but unfortunately that's just the way it is. Few if any petstores are going to house their reptiles perfectly, but they can at least come close and provide the most important aspects. Afterall healthy animals are going to bring them a lot more money that sickly looking ones
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com

I went today and the normal one was gone. I'm not dure if it died or if someone purchased it. Anyway I asked the man how many crix and mealworms he fed them a day to get started in talking to him and he informed me that he feeds the 2 crix each every 3 days. I almost died, they are babies. I told him that he should be feeding them everyday and at least 6 small crix each and to throw in a couple mealies to give a little variety. I asked him if he could possibly toss some hides in there and to make one a humid hide. I even explained what a humid hide was just in case he was confused. Needless to say he looked at me like I had 2 heads and told me that if I had a problem with how he raised his products I should go somewhere else. So basically he told me to leave. I did and then I told all my friends who all own reptiles to never go there and to never buy anything from him. They are all going to order feeders online and buy cleaning products and those kinds of things at Petsmart which is 30 min away. LOL. It's a long trip but it's worth it because I'm not paying that man to kill more animals. Thanks for the advise anyway guys. Too bad he was a jerk and things had to be this way.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

Well, I'm sorry to hear that, some people are just idiots. You can at least feel good that you tried to do something rather that stand back and say nothing. I applaud you for your efforts
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com