Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i also had a prob w a petstore here in upstate ny.. stores here other than the big chains of country max are terrible!! i hate giving these ppl the business by buying anything such as vitamins or uv lights but sometimes have no choice. i have seen many a dying tort in these places it takes a good 5 or six complaints to get the humane society at thier door and a good year or more to get them shut down we just recently went to this store with dead torts in a tank w live ones the smell and filth of the place was disgusting they have recently been shut down but it has taken a good year to get it done. i feel so bad for these animals and if i had the resources would buy all of them i was told by someone that doing so just contributes more to the store and that buying them to save them just kills more in the long run as they keep restocking what they are selling the most of there needs to be stiffer penalties for ppl like this {i think all these guys got was a cruilty to animals charge and a $100 fine} i dont think that some joe blow down the rd should be able to just up and open a petstore i feel they should heve to show some knowlege of each and every animal they choose to sell before being able to sell them anyways just my opinion

I feel the same about almost every pet store I've been in down herer in soouther New England. I've seen a few good ones but they are few, far between and usually don't last long.

I worked in one during high school. It was on the better side of suck...but it still sucked. I tried to clean the herp cages and set them up correctly and feed them appropriately. I had to sneak this stuff because I'd get in trouble for it.

I think people just want what they want when they want it. They want the cheapest price with no concern for health or quality. They do not care if the animal suffers or dies. And there for the sucky pet stores florish while the good guys wither.

Brian

PS: One good place I've seen is JL Breeders in East Providence, RI.

I understand your pain! However after spending my teenage and young adult years as mgr of a nice little store in Peoria, IL. I can tell you that not all Pet stores are bad. The good news from what I have seen here is that the big guys are pushing out some of the bad ones. However many of them aren't much better.
I spent 11 yrs. in the pet industry. It needs our help! BUT think of it this way. If I came into you place of employment and told you how to do your job (And in most cases it will be the first few times we have meet), you may not take to kindly to what I have to say. You may just blow it off, or you might be totally offened that someone is telling you how to run your buisness. The buisness that you deppend on for your lively hood, to raise your family, and to give you Finical freedom. After all you don't know me from Adam. Those of you who have your own buisness will understand what I am saying.
Something else to consider is look at what all they have to deal with. They are hit from may diffrent sides. They have fed and local goverment coming at them. The have animal rights groups to contend with. AS well as all the overhead that will not go away!
I am not saying that this should be an excuse for poor husbandry. There is NEVER an excuse. When I ran Metro Pet Centre, the health and well being of our animals came first and customer service came secound!!!
I would ask you to try a diffrent approach next time. If you have a local reptile club, invite all the local clubs to come and speak at your club. This will give them a chance to see what your club is all about, and maybe they will see the market potentail of working with your members. What that means to your club is increased membership, proper education, and a better retialor. Most of all the animals will come out on top. If you don't have a club, start one!! You could even hold the meetings in the diffrent local pet stores. Think about this, You would be sending 10 to 50 reptile owners/buyers to the store for 1 to 2 hours each month. Man I would love to get a captive audence at my retail store. If you apeal to why they are in buisness in the first place, to make money and a living, you will get a better respounce in most cases.
If you try this and the retailer in question still doesn't want your help, then by all means don't buy from them. If they don't sell their goods they can't pay their bills. We have choices today. We can buy online and have it sent next day.
So inclosing I would say thank you for reading!
I am sure this will piss off many of you!!
By the way, I am not in the pet industry any longer! I do still beleive it can be great. Just look at some of the good guys like Pro exotics, LLL Retile, and Prehistoric Pets, just to name a few!