Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would like to tell you a story of what happened toady and Thursday. If it is against the rules, please don't get me in trouble. Okay, so on Thursday when I went to get some crickets, I looked in some of the cages and there was a nearly dead anole in the assorted gecko cage. Today, there was a dead emerald swift that was dead. They say that they care for their animals, but they obviously don't if they end up having dead lizards. The guy that took the anole out just took a bag, picked it up and I don't think that he washed his hands. If anyone knows where I can report this. Please let me know. Also if you know of any where else that has dead animals, please boycott them as well. I would like to boycott PETCO and would like others to join me. Thanks.

You think Petco's bad, you should see the places they get THEIR lizards from. I don't want them to stop selling herps. I want them to stop using skanky wholesalers. I think they're taking steps in the right direction though. They just really ought to stop selling wild caught lizards. There is a place for these animals in the trade, and pet stores aren't it.
Unfortunately, if I boycotted every pet store around me that sold sick animals, I'd have to breed my own feeders...

You really do have to take into consideration,that some of the deaths are purely not the stores fault. I work in a pet store, a fairly big one,that most people would consider to be one of those places that doesnt care. I care completely and whole heartledly about everyone of my animals, like they were my own. even the nasty ball python that has bitten me like 3 times.dont care. Sometimes things just happen. We just had a savannah monitor die today not sure from what,i had him in the appropriate setup, a good diet, everything seemed to be right, but he didnt make it for some reason. Sometimes they just dont. its not like ill just throw it out in the trash can either, they are frozen and sen back to the breeder or to a vet to see what exactly went wrong so we can correct it and take steps int he right direction. If you see a couple posts below this,there is someone complaining of a dying Uromastyx in a pet store. That was my stor eiw ork in that he was talkign about. That was an olddd uromastyx,hes been ther elonger then ive been. i dont have any control over theyre dying of old age. You just gotta think sometimes though. Its not that we dont knwo whats going on, some of us. not alot of people care, i care,and there are a few others. I do what i can. Just please take that into consideration.

My recommendation while others may not support it is to just let it go and forget about it. For one nothing you can do will stop them. I do agree it is wrong but you cant change that and there are not enough people that will take a stand. All you are doing is upsetting yourself and stressing out. #2 it’s hard to place blame in situations like this. While they may be in the wrong and definitely should be washing there hands. Before placing blame you should do a little research and you will find that an unbelievable number of pet including reptiles, birds, fish, cats, dogs so on and so forth die merely from the stress of being shipped to America. Again I don’t support petco in anyway but again it’s just not worth the time. Also their layers earn more in a day than you will all year. The Sacramento Bee did a nice column on pets in stores or a week after being purchased dieing do to the travel from the tropics. You may be able to go to sacbe.com and find that article.
RR

Suggestion for people who work in pet stores that have ill animals. Please don't take this the wrong way but they shouldn't be on display. Ill or dying animals aren't for sale and should be labled as not for sale and should be kept in an area away from animals that are for sale. I worked in a pet shop years ago and we had a quarantine area for new animals or animals with uncertain health. We had lots of shop pets (bred parrots, fish and burmese pythons) and those animals were either in the back so they wouldn't be bothered by passers by or clearly labled not for sale. I can't stand walking into a shop and seeing ill animals. Take them in the back and treat them well till they are ready for sale! Healthy animals attract customers and ill ones will only drive customers away.

Well said I agree 100% Lets also keep in mind if you see an ill pet don’t put down the pet store. You took the time to post here so take the time as well to talk with the clerk I am sure there is an acceptable explanation to 80% of these cases.
RR

I agree with you. I also work at a good-sized pet store in NJ. And for one thing, you can't get upset about anoles dying. Not being mean or anything, but when we get them in, some just don't make it. They don't do well. Probably because they're wc, then poorly cared for by the wholesaler, then they're half dead by time they get to us. Then we care for them, some make it and become healthy, some don't. We have gone through at least a dozen wholesalers, trying to find a good one...it's just not happening. Our manager doesn't like to ship animals (Due to some VERY bad experiences in the past) so it has to be a wholesaler close enough to deliver. However, we found a wholesaler extremely close to us, and we're about to try going straight to them and hand-picking our own animals. But not every pet store can do that. Ok, the other lizard dying might warrant a little concern, but don't get worked up over an anole. I love anoles, and I've had 6 species myself...but the condition they come in isn't wonderful, and casualties just come with the territory. Any anoles that do die are frozen and sent back to the wholesaler to be replaced, or if they're not dessicated, they are saved in the event we have a picky snake come in that won't eat, and we use the frozen ones for scenting. All I know is that I care for every single one of those animals as though they are my own...I even take snakes home with me that won't eat just to work on it personally until it's feeding. So don't mark all pet shops that have animals die as bad. I'm not really trying to pass the blame, but let's just say if we'd get healthy animals, then we wouldn't have dead ones.
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1.1 Albino Nelson's Milks
0.1 Dumeril's Boa
0.0.1 Albino Corn
0.1 Mex Mex
0.1 Northern Blue Tongue
0.0.1 Green Tree Frog
0.0.1 Cuban Tree Frog

How old was this Savannah? The fact that they're wild-caught is part of the problem. The things that these animals go through from capture, shipment, and transport to the store is enough to cause permanent organ damage that we can't see, but could affect an animal years later.

Katrina

u no what i have figured out..no matter what we do..stop trying to save sick animals..stop buying there all together no matter what they will keep buying the reptiles and all that...nothing matters..they dont have to listen 2 us reptile lovers remember 2 them we are idiots..im starting not to even care about the animals at petco..we cant save them..my petco has healthy leos..thats it other wise they feed the other reptiles the wrong stuff...the manager at my petco keeps leos so thats why they are healthy..i will buy leos there if they are nice but nothing else...just give up on petco

Go to www.planetfeedback.com to make the complaint. Make sure you include the location of the store and the dates you were in the store.

Katrina