Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I thought i would post this here since I post in this forum the most.

I went to a petco today, just to prod around and see if they had anything interesting for sale...

Very sad...

Juvenile Leopard Gecko enclosure - Probably over 100 piles of feces...

Bearded Dragons - Being Fed Lettuce... about 15 in 15 gallon enclosure also

Corn Snake - Juvenile Corn snake on the verge of death, probably over a foot long, and about a pencil thick...

Day Gecko - Severely decomposed day gecko lying dead...

I reported them to the SPCA, hope to hear a word back

Yes i dont know why petstores have to be like that... If you are going to buy the friggin thing and HOPE to sell it i think that they would learn to take care of it. I went to a PetCity and their was a bearded dragon in a 10 gallon cage barly hanging on a branch and barly able to breath, its fairly sad how people can be like that. On the other hand a retired science teacher that used to work at the school that i go to has a quality pet store but is a bit over priced. but i cant complain because its just like buying a leopard gecko from something and paying the shipping.
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Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!

=Þ
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Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!

(Personally, I don't see how this is OT!)

You'll have to let us know if they email you back! That is absolutely horrible!!!

Did you make any kind of complaint to Petco?

Not that it would matter, I'm sure. I went in to one & checked out their leopard geckos once. BAD idea. The poor things.. One was a dark, unhealthy color, flaky skin, dehydrated to all get out, and skinnier than a pencil. Another one was horribly obese - like it was sick, obese, ya know??

I pointed it out to the girl. She told me about the skinny one, "Oh, well, she just laid eggs - that's normal." I was all like, "um, I Breed Leos. A healthy female who just laid eggs does NOT look like that. That one is SICK." So she replies, "oh. well. i'll tell my manager."

*raises an eyebrow* Yeah, calling Petco would be pointless, okay. I'm just rambling now. This sort of thing just REALLY sickens me, ya know??? UGH. Anyhoo...

~~Dusty
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Crystal Light (Yes..thats my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

I didn't want to confront them, because honestly I was too mad, and I would prefer to complain to them sensibly, but from what I see of the manager, he doesn't even remotely seem like a caring person anyways.

Every petstore that i went to that has the name pet in is just a torture place. The only place that i like is Animal specialties. =Þ
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Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!

Confront them right away. Start yelling and making a fuss and really lay right into them about how the animals are being mistreated. Bring it out right infront of everyone in the store, hell do it at the front cash. If customers don't come in to buy the animals then they won't get them in the first place.

If you discourge 5 people in the store with you not to shop there they will tell 5 more people and so on and so on. It's the same thing that happens if people eat a bad meal at a restaurant. If you hear its bad food your not going to eat there. If you can get as many people as possible not shopping there then they will start to pay attention to you.

There is nothing more powerful than a customer, face it we run the world. If we don't buy people can't sell. So walk right in ask to speak to the manager and tear a strip out of them infront of the rest of the customers.

My advice for the night.
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

I absolutely agree.

Plus, the SPCA will probably just walk in and say "oh well you do know you need to take better care of them, right?"
manager: "yes, I know, so sorry about this inconvenience, here's $something$ for all your troubles."

At least, that's what I've heard from other people.

I mean, how else would they have been able to stay in business this long? Lord knows, customers have probably complained to the SPCA more times than you can count. Yet they're still there. Hm.

~~Dusty
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Crystal Light (Yes..thats my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

How about I stand outside with a sign then? Is that legal?

heh That depends on where you live. I think if we tried that here in good ol' TX, people would start bringing out the Shotguns. "We don want nunna that herrre, ya hearrrr???? Get up on outta herrre!!! YEEEHAW!"

**hehe Sad thing is, that is actually I how I talk. At times, at least.**

Really, though, its legality does depend on the laws of your state, as far as I know. Look it up. You ARE on the internet after all.

~~Dusty
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Crystal Light (Yes..thats my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

nt

hehe So You know what I'm talking about then!

Any idea what the actual law here is?
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Crystal Light (Yes..thats my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

I think he was just laughing at your post. hehe.

As far as I know if your on public land and you aren't hate mongering, war mongering, or brandishing weapons you should be fine. I can't say that the locals won't lynch mob you, that's another story.
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

*weird look* I knew he was laughing at my joke... *confused look* Did I miss something??? *wouldn't be the first time...* *wouldn't be the first time talking to myself either lol*

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Crystal Light (Yes..thats my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

I dunno maybe I missed something.... Im at the end of a 10 hour shift I'm not quite sure what's going on. Maybe were both horribly confused or maybe its just me.
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

lol 10 hours, nothing. I've been with High School Freshmen All Day Long.

Beat THAT.

~~Dusty
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Crystal Light (Yes..thats my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

I talk to people on the phone fixing computers for 10 hours a day. Most of the people I talk to are dumber than high school kids.
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

Accually if you talk to the manager you should at least be able to get the reptile person fired. Pecto is supposed to have a Reptile specialist ( I am a the reptile specialist at the Petco where I live) and if that person is not competent enough to take care of some leos then they should not have that job. The leos that our store has are doing great with fat tails and no problems. The only thing that pisses me off is that corporate will not let us take the babies off of calci-sand and put them on a substrate they cannot eat. This is going to be changed eventually though I have heard and I hope. Anyways if you talk to the manager you can get that person fired or you can get the number of the district manager and complain to him/her and believe me they are dicks about everything and not taking proper care of animals is something they would love to hear about.

Jeremy

Working at a pet store (A good one I promise! ) I will tell you the best thing to do is get a number to their corporate office/head office. Those people are always more concerned with customer complaints and are quicker to do something about it then managers some times. Even if the store is a franchise, the head office would want to know. Hell, I'd do it for you, but I obviously didn't see it! Call the higher ups, they will do something about it.
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-Kristen

0.6 Leopard Gecko (Buttercup, Beaker, Beauty, Blaze, Bubbles, and Blinkers!)
1.1 Fat Tail Gecko (Bell and Bowser!)
0.1 Deformed Leopard Gecko (Gimpy)

Proud owner and operator of a Powerbook G4! Why use windows, when I can use Panther? It even sounds better.

But how would I find such a number? I guess Ill just try their main number and see what I can find

I agree the head office will take the complaint but they may not nessecarily do anything about it. I work in customer service and as bad as it is not alot of complaints are really handled properly. You could always do both, chew em out and call the head office.

As for the sign you'd have to check your local laws. But as long as it's a peaceful protest and your not on the store property you should be ok. (on property they can nail you for tresspassing or loitery maybe even both)
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

If you just stand on the sidewalks they cant bust you for anything because you are on the states ground or whatever you would prefer to call it.
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Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!

The easiest way would be to call them and ask, can I have the number for your corporate office. That's how people get our head office number, and depending on the company they have websites that should have the number on it. Trust me though, there is nothing worse than having the higher ups calling you to tell you about a customer complaint, and if you really do call make sure you meantion EVERYTHING! Like the fact that you mentioned it to the employee(s) and how rude she was when she responded to your complaints. You could do some damage, and hopefully change them around. Just think about the poor animals!
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-Kristen

0.6 Leopard Gecko (Buttercup, Beaker, Beauty, Blaze, Bubbles, and Blinkers!)
1.1 Fat Tail Gecko (Bell and Bowser!)
0.1 Deformed Leopard Gecko (Gimpy)

Proud owner and operator of a Powerbook G4! Why use windows, when I can use Panther? It even sounds better.

Heh there is something worse, having a customer go off in the store AND calling head office in the same day.
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

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I dont think that is just the manager who takes of the animals. Since you are working thre i bet you can convince him to let you do their set ups. My brothers old friend owns a petstore and its a little shabby but he probably wont listen to me and their is always some idiot going to buy something.
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Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!

every one on this webpage hates petco, i can understand it hearing those kinds of stories but here in bethlehem pa, well ive never really seen that prob. maby its just a reginal thing. the first gecko(killer) i got was petco. i bout 3 after that (i had to sell them, they all turned out to be boys) and all 3 are still fine and healthy. but it is a shame and it does piss me off that they dont have as meny laws for reptile protection as they do for dogs and cats.
nevin

killer

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1.1 brazilian rainbow baos-sunshine&chaos
1.1 leopard geckos-killer&sallean
1 blizzerd lizzard-grim
0.2.0 amazon tree boas-sweetness&?
0.1.0 kenyan sand boa-?
0.1.0 bearded dragon-?
1.0.0 uromastyx-chubby
2.0 brothers
0.2 sisters
3 cats-fat max, spiderman, &toby
1 miniture mutt-brutis

"dont be afraid to die, only be afraid to not live"

"dont ever get drunk with a hoodie on, eventually ur ganna think someone is behind you"

cause i looked at that pic of yours and didn't see the gecko at first......then out of the blue i was like "oh cool theres a gecko in that pic" Yep, i'm tired......took me three tries to sign in so i could respond to this message LOL

Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

When I was little I lived in Allentown!...lol Nice area...I have to drive through it every time I go home to Jersey from here in IL. Wish I could just sorta stop in the nestle factory....lol Anyway, I've been shopping in that area, although I don't think I've been to PetCo there...but the one near home (in Bridgewater, NJ) sucks...They had a juvenile in there for weeks that was on the verge of death...no humid hide...no food that I could see...and the hatchlings they got in were separated from the half dead gecko by just one of those plastic separator things with about a half inch gap on the bottom...like that would stop them... Plus all the babies were on sand and of course without the humid hide...Poor little things...
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Christina

1.3.1 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

1.0 Australian Shepherd/Cattle dog cross (Foster)

Well was the place humid? I got my gecko from my old science teachers pet shop and he didnt have a humidity box but if you were outside and looking in you couldnt because of all the steam that was on the windows. =Þ
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Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!

no...definitely not humid...and I would think that being all steamy would be probably be worse than too dry
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Christina

1.3.1 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

1.0 Australian Shepherd/Cattle dog cross (Foster)

I wouldn't say anyone HATES petco. People are just angry at what a large pet chain gets away with. If a pet store kept a dog or cat in the same conditions that most reptiles are kept in PETA would boot f**k them before most people realised what was going on.

HEY that gives me an idea. maybe we could get PETA to circulate a petition for us. If PETA members sign it on top of forum members and herpers... yes... excellent....
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

Sounds great, they'll be able to ban keeping reptiles REALLY fast that way.

(the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend)
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convient pocket size!

yes but you might be screwing yourself there. We might have to buy lisenses and stuff like that just to own our leos. Now think how bad that would be you go into a petco ( a good one now that the PETA people have gotten involved ) and you go to buy a finch to feed your pixie frog. Well you probably couldnt, and you probably couldnt buy mice and other stuff to feed your pets.
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Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!
Leopard Geckos ROCK!!!

I contacted someone I know who works there, and the main care staff had the last 3 days off. I was exagerrating a bit in my main post because I was upset. The matters have been taken care of, but if they get bad again I probably will go further.

And this petco actually sends sick animals to the vet

That's still no excuse. If the main staff isn't there, thier should be a trained backup to take over.
-----
The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
__________________________________________
0.2.0 Normal Leopard Gecko's
1.0.0 Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon

The way all of you are talking , I AM SOOOOOOOO GLAD I DO NOT HAVE A PETCO HERE IN NC .

I may be the one person on this forum who actually worked at Petco. Trust me, everything you hear bad about them is true. I had a manager who was just horrible, I would ask, ASK! if I could clean the reptile cages or the small mammal cages, and I wouldn't be allowed to. I was told the customer came first and that meant putting merchandise on the shelves instead of taking care of the animals. I also have many just terrible memories involving the animals, working there you almost get used to animals dying all the time.
Sometimes Petcos can be decent if the manager cares about the animals and if the employees care about them, but if they don't, the store is just a deathtrap for the poor creatures.
They can have really good specimens there, I got the sweetest schneider's skink ever there, my beautiful beardie, my frogs, and yes my leo. They're all healthy (which is a rarity there), and I have inside connections to know when a good shipment comes in. (it's hard to pass up good healthy reptiles/frogs for cheap) But really it'd be best for the animals if they just shut the place down. Small breeders, like many of you on this forum, care for these animals and are a much better place to obtain a new pet than a chain store.
I would be all for shutting them down. They aren't responsible enough to have and sell pets.
Goodluck with your efforts!
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0.1.0 Normal Leopard Gecko: Mala Ala
1.1.0 White's Tree Frogs: Cabo and Wabo
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon: Igor
8.0.0 Betas: Ghost, Magnum, Anaxagoras, Teriyaki, Tsunami, Fruity, Misty, and Cobalt