Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Why is it that pet stores suck so much at reptile husbandry? The local pet shop in Oak Harbor, WA has a boa on display, its not for sale but its in horrible condition. I'll skip the details. Is there anything I can do other than personally confronting them?

I believe others could comment much better than I. Either JB Johnathan Brady or JS Crickner on this forum has written about proactive pet shop visits they have made don't remember which guy it was that posted it a ways back.They usually confront the store owner and an employee and explain the situation. Explaining proper husbandry is needed for animal in question. Then explain that if these adequite conditions are not met they will contact certain animal authorities.
If I remember correctly this is how they handled the situation they observed. The last thing a person wants to do is if the Boa is forsale to buy the Boa. This just promotes a bad cycle more boas put into similar situations and bad conditions for more Boas etc..

. . . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

>>Why is it that pet stores suck so much at reptile husbandry? The local pet shop in Oak Harbor, WA has a boa on display, its not for sale but its in horrible condition. I'll skip the details. Is there anything I can do other than personally confronting them?

Having personally been involved recently in a very bad petstore type of situation a few tips.

Talk to Owner. Is there a chance this was a dumped animal and is being rehabbed? Are the rest of their animals in good condition? If so keep a close eye on the boa. It is not for sale. Why? Are all the animals need being met? Chances are good this might be a rehabbing animal. People dump their animals at pet stores quite frequently. Suggest an off the floor cage for rehab.

IF the rest of the animals are in poor condition, contact the following agencies.
Local Humane Society
Local Health Department
Local Police Department
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

Land of the Outcasts!

Some examples would be no humid hides for the leopard geckos(no humidity for any reptiles that require humidity). I guess I'm just confused that they would be that ignorant. I can't imagine what it was like 10-15 years ago. I've on kingsnake.com since 1998. The internet has the most up to date info on reptile husbandry. It doesn't require that much initiative. I'll talk to them and see what I can do. Thanks guys.

tell somebody that works there.

I once went into Pet-not so-smart and saw a box tortoise in an aquatic display for red ear sliders. The poor thing was doing all he could to balance on the one rock sticking out of the water. I explained to them what kind of tortoise he was and told them they needed to remove it. They quickly got it out of the water... sheesh!
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Adrian De Leon
Hissenia Reptiles

This boa is a long term captive. Its their only long term captive. The rest of the reptiles aren't taken care of properly either.