Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today I went to a PetCo near my dad's work because I needed some mealworms and whatnot, so I just went there. Anyways, while I was there I was looking at the gekos to see how well they looked an all, and they had them on Cedar chips, no water bowel anywhere, and a bowel of black-dead mealworms. The hatchlings that were there were so skinny that I thought that a few of them were dead before they lifted themselves up on their toothpick-like legs and hobbled away. It made me physically ill that a pet store can mistreat an animal so badly, and get away with it. Now, I know for a fact that if they treated their dogs/cats like that that the ASPCA would be up their ass. I had to leave because I was so pissed off that I was talking very loud, and everyone was looking at me weird.

Also, on the craigslist.org thing, I did a search for leopard geckos and here's an exerpt from the only listing I found....

"Includes cage, heat rock, sand, light hood with two bulb socets, dish, log, and lid"

That's disheartening. If I ever sell any of my leo's I'm going to make sure that the people I sell them too have to at least have a knowledge of how to keep and care for reptiles. I'd even go as far as typing up/printing out an extensive, step by step caresheet for them, if they'd use it. Now I'm not saying that I know exactly what to do when it comes to reptiles, because I'd be the first to say that I do have some learning to do. But don't we all? Not a single person knows EVERYTHING that there is to know about reptiles. Is there?

Anyways, on a light note I finally purchased a heating pad and my two adults love it! I put it under the tank and they've layed ontop of it for the past 3 hours. I guess I should had bought one earlier but the place I got them from told me that I didn't HAVE to have one. But now I'm thinking I did. Thank you all for all your help/support. I want you all to know that I have taken all of your advise to heart, and I think that we need to do something about this PetCo/PetsMart thing. There is no reason that they can't buy their hatchlings/juviniles/adults from a reputable breeder, and care for them correctly. There is no excuse for a hatchling to die if it is purely human error. Ugh, don't get me started again, lol.
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1.1.1 Leopard Geckos
2.1 Chihuahuas
2.1 Rottweiler Mix
1.0 Siamese Cat
1.1.6 Dwarf Hamsters

Josh
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josh you shouldnt leave the heat pad with nothing on top of it if you dont already put their humid hides on top of it they can be burned if is just left there and there laying on it and it gives off good humidity if theres a humid hide on top

I have a little hide over it to where they can hide under it and still lay ontop of it. I've been trying to find a Miracle Whip type thing to stuff with paper towels (until I get to the petstore to buy some moss, because I keep forgetting). It doesn't get too hot, it's just hot enough to where I can barely feel it on the substrate. Thanks for the concern though.
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos
2.1.0 Chihuahuas
2.1.0 Rottweiler Mix
1.0.0 Siamese Cat
1.1.2 Dwarf Hamsters

Josh
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You can just go to the grocery store and buy their disposable tupperware containers. It's only like 2 bucks for a set of 5.

And don't buy the petstore moss, because it's overpriced and more decorative than functional. Home Depot sell huge bags of peat moss for less than $3.
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chickabowwow

3.2.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 1 more egg a' cookin'

A rheostat or thermostat should be used regardless. Heat pads can get up to and over 100 degrees without a temperature control device attached to them.
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Josh
My Email

I didn't buy a PET heating pad, all the breeders I emailed told me to go buy a heating pad for people and such, and I have it on the second to lowest setting (which is like second out of 7) ... so ya.
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos
2.1.0 Chihuahuas
2.1.0 Rottweiler Mix
1.0.0 Siamese Cat
1.1.2 Dwarf Hamsters

Josh
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You didnt specify that in your original post so I had no way of knowing. You said in your other post you could barely feel the heat, well you should have a digital thermometer so you can know for sure. Not always best to go by the way it feels.
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Josh
My Email

yeah i went to a pet store at the mall - and there were 6 hatchlings in a 2.5 gal display tank with no hides at all - just a fake plant and a water bowl with a dish of a couple mealies. they were extremely skinny and i wanted to buy them coz i felt bad and wanted to give them a good home.

with the leo i got from craigslist - i'm glad i got her because i feel like i may have saved her. although she was active and looked healthy, the living situation wasn't up to par. the substrate was sand, there was one hide in the middle and a dish of very shallow water (almost gone), and there were 6 adult crickets bigger than the size of my leos head. although there was a UTH, the sand felt the same on both sides coz they put a really thick layer and it didn't seem like it made a difference - also, the leo's tank wasn't near the window and had no lighting for the day/night schedules. i think it's a good deal coz A) i feel like i may have saved a leo -and- B) i gave the guy some money coz i have a feeling he did an impulse buy and spent a lot of money... so instead of willingly taking the leo for free, i just gave him some pocket cash you can tell the responsible lizard owners on craigslist.org when they ask to see the set up you have (if they don't wanna give you theirs), and will ask which vet you plan to visit.

the petco here (san bruno, CA) had some pretty good leos - although they were somewhat skinny, they had a hide, a clean dish of water, more than enough mini-mealies that won't escape from the bowl, and some plants. the petsmart here (daly city, CA) is also alright - there are two hides (one on the warm end (slate) and one on the cold end (wood). it also contains a water dish and a mealie dish. so i guess it depends on the workers and the way the store plans to make sales. there's only one pet store here in daly city that i don't like coz there are crickets on the floor everywhere, rodents with no water, tons of algae in the toad tank that u can't even see them, half dead mice, rashed rabbits with flies all over them, and hermit crabs with fallen legs. so i guess it depends on where you go and how professional the people are?

[aimEe]
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0.1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Marlene)
0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
1.0.0 Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
1.0.0 Black Lab / Pit Bull (Mikey)
aimee.i8.com

Yeah, I've been to the petco here a few times, and their adult leos are in horrible shape. They're on cedar chips, for one thing, and their hide boxes don't really allow them to hide at all. They had humid hides, but they were made of clear plastic. I understand that you have to show off your pets in a petstore, but it wouldn't hurt to give them something to actually -hide- in. Another thing that bothered me was that the leos looked really really sick...they had lots of food, but their tails were like the size of pencils (and these were fully grown geckos), and instead of taking them to the vet, this store was trying to sell them for 50% off.....which was still like $45...yeesh.

My local pet store had an awful reptile room after repeatedly offering my advice regarding how they should change things and nothing being done I called the humane society. The woman I spoke to said they already had reports regarding the store's care of the dogs and someone was sent over there. Unfortunatly they had no experience with reptiles and asked what they should expect I assisted to the best of my knowledge. Now when they get reports they call me and I go to the suspected store and scout it out.

As Smokey the Bear says "You too could prevent...eh animal abuse."