Reptile & Amphibian Forums

PetsMart expands their already care deprived reptile department. Yep that's right. I saw it on a banner on this sight. It's reffered to as their “bigger badder” reptile section. Yay!!!! More animals that will be deprived of the care they need. When will a regulation be set forth for big petstores to give proper care to all the animals they have? I'm sure some die naturally, but not all. I'm sure most of the reptiles die from deficiencies in calcium, vitamin D3 and lack of UVA/UVB lighting for the lizards and starvation, dehydration among other things on the snake side. Just sad to see more reptiles getting pumped into an already crappy scenario. Leave reptile sales to the real professionals. Just my thoughts on it.

I've got a friend who is a petcare manager at a local petsmart, and says their only expanding their selection of reptile products...not actually the livestock. I'm with you though. I worked at a petsmart for 4 years, all the while my friend (who's now the manager) were the only people they hired with reptile experience. "Oh, you had a goldfish once? HIRED! After 15 minutes reading our incredibly poorly written book on herps, you TOO can teach people about how to care for them". It was horrible. We had customer after customer who would ONLY come in when one of us were working. They'd call in and ask if we were there first because they knew everyone else in the building would either give them wrong info or straight up lie because they were put on the spot and didnt know the actual answer.

However, in saying all that, just remember...sometimes there's a diamond or two in the rough. Don't discount people just because they work there...they might surprise you. At least give them a chance and find out if they're actually morons first.

I actually debated getting a job as the reptile person at my local Petco just to get the right info out.

Best story ever...I was at Petco in the reptile department. This kid I worked with at Staples was buying stuff to get a turtle. He looks down the aisle at the manager of the store, looks at me...and says "You would know!" to me. The manager looks at me, looks at the kid...gives me a weird look and walks away while the kid asks me stuff about turtles.

Another time I was looking at lizards and this kid asks his dad about them. He says "I don't know..." so I answer the question. I then proceeded to talk for 45 minutes, convincing this guy to buy his kid a gecko. He says "Do you work here?"
"No...I just know a lot about reptiles..."
To which he replies "You should have a reptile call in show or something..."

Haha.
-----
"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

Great Stories! I could really visualize the first one...Too funny!

To the original poster:
I really think being a part of the solution is better than just bad-mouthing a large chain of retail stores. While there may be many locations with poor conditions there must also be some with decent conditions and employees who are well versed in the proper care of animals...as well as being genuinely helpful to customers.

The original poster used a rather broad stroke to create a negative image.
I have only been in our local PetSmart and PetCo on a few occasions...but while there I have always helped to provide info for both the customers as well as members of the staff.
If you approach staff members/employees with helpful tips about proper care and species information (without sounding like a "smarty-pants" they are more likely to take the constructive advice.....AND put it to use.
Now the managers and several employees of my local PetSmart and PetCo often contact me when they have questions from costumers that they are not able to answer themselves.
They also contact me about proper care and cage set-up for species that they are not yet familiar with...or animals that they are having difficulty maintaining properly.
When any retail outlet becomes as large as these companies...It is difficult to enforce standard care protocol across the board. Often the employee are paid relatively low wages. There are high volumes of employee turn-over. This makes the job of properly maintaining reptiles even more difficult. It can become a situation where the "blind are leading the blind" when it comes to employee training.

If you are truly knowledgeable about the proper care and management of reptiles...you should offer your informed support and positive suggestions rather than merely making negative or downright rude comments.
For herpers to really be appreciated as an asset in their local community they need to strive to make a positive impact.
Just my 2 cents.

Ok, I may have said somethings that bad mouthed them. I was just being concerned about the animals going to stores that have little or no experience with reptiles and what I thought was they were going to add more animals to an already for the most part an “I don't know, just do this or that” type of attitude or situation. I have offered my help and I have put in applications trying to work with them. I even put in the special skills section of the application that I have 16 years of experience and knowledge with reptiles. Believe me I can sit and talk to someone for 30 minutes, an hour or more. Share my stories with them and give them info. I love reptiles and snakes most of all and get so excited talking about them to other people that while talking my body starts mildly trembling and my jaw starts doing the same and it sounds like I am trying to talk while my teeth are chattering. I would love nothing more than to eat, sleep, crap, pee and drink reptiles all day, every day and get paid for it. It's my calling. Just every where I go that has reptiles isn't hiring because they don't need anyone else, but I still put in an app. I'm sure there are others out there like me that work at these stores. Bravo to them for being a great help. I can't say that just because they are a big chain pet store, “That I sympathize or empathize with them on the care of the animals”, when the store managers should take it upon themselves to look up in the phone or on the internet and find a pet store that specializes in reptiles. So when they do have a problem they can call and say, “Hey I have this .... and I'm having a problem with it not doing this. What do you suggest?” I know this may sound like a perfect world scenario, but it doesn't have to be when the store manager is working. It could be when he/she is off and about to leave or when they get home. Just a suggestion. I am however sorry for bad mouthing and do intend on speaking with the store manager the next time I go to PetsMart so I can offer my help with any problems or questions they have.