Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, so after getting nowhere with the manager of the store, i made a firm but polite call to their complaint line and, thanks to all who replied to me, i was able to use bit of "yes, i know what i'm talking about" ammo with the representative i spoke with. she said that she would have someone contact me within 48 hours, but i've not heard back.

so, out of curiosity, my boyfriend and i went into this same petsmart last night to see what was going on, and i was bracing myself for the worst...

but to my very pleasant surprise, they had them in those critter keepers! not the ideal, i know, but SOOOOOOO much better than those betta cups. and one of the little guys was actually walking/crawling/hopping around! "they don't move," my ass. the manager there's a stupid rhymes-with-witch, but at least a change for the better was made, probably thanks to all the complaints that i'm sure that they have received.

have any of the rest of you checked in on this situation in your local petsmart? i'm hoping that this is an across-the-board change and not just at my local store only.

Good God! they had them in the cups!! and I thought that having them in the same tank as the green tree frogs was bad.
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2 firebelly toads (Ernie and Oscar)
1 american green tree frog (Booger)
1 Pacman frog (Atari)

Hello,

I used to work at a petco, pretty much the same thing as petsmart. I think the quality of the animals there REALLY depend on who's managing teh store. Before I was hired, the manager kept telling me animals ALWAYS come first before customers hehe, which I totally agree. This petco sells crested geckos too...craziness.
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::hsuANsTerZ::

Yeah, it goes in waves. The Petsmart I know is REALLY bad for frogs. The Petco I go to occasionally has a few set backs, but for the most part, their frogs are kept in those reptile racks with plenty of moss to hang out in. The firebellied toad tank sometimes has problems, but most of the time they seem healthy. The best way to stop the problem is to urge people not to buy from the stores, and to buy from specialty herp dealers. Just buying animals because you feel sorry for them just encourages more and more to be tortured in the long run. Even though you may not know the conditions of the animals, they are probably in better care because of specialty.

Never, EVER buy fish from Walmart, as a final word.

pitcherplant7

i nearly got physically ill seeing fish in this one walmart that just DOES NOT give a flying poo about them. we're talking wads of dead fish in vile tanks...

Glad to hear that you were able to make a difference. Usually I just get asked to leave.
It's cool when people actually do something about a situation, instead of just griping about it. I bet that you have hade many frogs happy.
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2.1 Python regis, 1.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator, and the frogs.

Petsmart, petco, petland all really suck but i kind of understand the situation they are put in...when you talk to the employees you think in your head "this guy doesn't have a f'ing clue" but in order to have knowledgeable employees you would have to spend months training them and i'm sure that's quite expensive...and now that you've got a highly trained employee you've got to pay them highly, not minimum wage...and there's the simple matter of price of critter keeper vs. glass tank...anyway, i'm glad you made a difference and it's unfortunate that in the pet trade ignorance is bliss.

i agree 100% with gutloader, they all suck when it comes to handling reptiles! i made one mistake with frogs in all of my experience and it turned out fatal. I bought a Whites tree frog from them and turned out that it had eaten something in the tank provided by petco that poisoned the por thing, so i just took it back because i didn't want to have to deal with a dieing frog, i later found out it died when petco took it back. I'm glad to hear that your complaints worked, now the frogs might have a chance at good health!!

That is quite ignorant. I personally wouldn't choose to support any of the stores as they are all part of a chain, but some of them know what they are doing. I have been to quite a few that were pretty impressive. A store is as good as its employees. Most of the stores that have good employees have appropriate setups and care, as well as good information for costumers.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

I just recently bought a Pac man from Petsmart. in fact two days ago. So time will tell how he or she is. he seems to be prety handable so i'm happy.
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2 firebelly toads (Ernie and Oscar)
1 american green tree frog (Booger)
1 four line/golden tree frog (Nugget)
1 Pacman frog (Atari)

When you say "handable" you don't mean you are handling the frog...right?
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

i don't think what i said was ignorant!....i'm 33 years old and own a home, looking for another, have sold 2 others, own 3 cars all less than 2 years old and have been patrionizing pet stores since i was 12 years old...I AM A CONSUMER AND CAN TELL QUALITY OVER CRAP....there is no comparison, none, zero, zilch between Petco/Petsmart/Petland and a privately owned store...yes, it is possilbe to have a decent crew at petsmart but that crew will leave in a year and chances are the next group isn't so hot...again, i don't blame the petchains because it's nice to be rich but it is about the bottom line with them and they will cut corners if it means another dollar in their pockets.

i work very hard for my money and i like to spend that money on quality items that will last....i admit, if i need a water dish or a light bulb i go to petco but when i'm ready to make a purchase on a creature i go where the animal is being housed correctly and spend the extra 10 lousy bucks for quality.

as you can tell i don't like being called ignorant, at 33 i've bought and sold more crap than most people ever will!..am i an amphibian expert?...no, but i'll take the leopard frog at a good privately owned store than the one at petco in west babylon, long island that is sitting on wood chips and has a empty water dish the size of a dixie cup cut in half because keeping it under those conditions is IGNORANT

unchikun, may i ask what state you're in,because i went to petsmart yesterday and saw the same prob. I might buy one to save him but i'm still not sure. any suggestions?
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Denise (Mom) and/or Jared (son)
Take care!

1.0 Ball Python - King Jake
1.0 Bearded Dragon - Merlin
1.0 Pixie Frog - Pixel
0.1 Blue-tongue Skink - Gila
2.0 Chinese Fire belly Newts - Fred n' Ed, and Ed n' Fred
1.0 Black Cat - Shorty
1.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa - coming soon (completing brumation with present owner before joining our home)
0.0.4 Tanks waiting on us to decide what is going in them! LOL

you souldn't pitty frogs at a store such as petco that has them in a crapy environmeant and try and save them. Never take a chance with frogs that you feel bad for because it might leed to bigger problems etc.

You are off the ball again. I see nothing wrong with the bigger problems because those can usually be rectified if caught in time. The reason you do not want to buy the frogs is because then the store will buy more, and then more, and then more. If there is a demand, they will keep supplying. If no one buys the frogs, and there is no demand, then the supply will go down. Simple economics. If bigger problems were all I had to worry about, I would buy out the whole damn store. But it is supporting the chain and creating demand for the frogs that should stop you from buying, if you are seeing the whole picture.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

i checked abother nearby petsmart location, but that visit was inconclusive, as that particular store had no pacman frogs in stock. that's too bad that it's still going on elsewhere (their being kept in betta cups); i was hoping that maybe it was going to be an across-the-board thing.

there are different ways you can look at potential pity purchases (alliteration, whee!). on an individual animal's basis, sure, you'd be helping one to have a better life (provided that any harm that had been done to it prior to your purchasing it doesn't comdemn it to a sickly life, and yourself to a thick stack of vet bills and heartache).

on a larger scale, though, as cold as it can be, it can really be better not to buy the animal, because, when you do, you're only supporting the practice. try instead to do as i (and many others, i'm certain) have done, and talk to the manager. don't get emotional, because, even though you may feel strongly about it, the other party, in all likelyhood, does not, and in their eyes you may lose credibility if you get loud, rude, et cetera. be matter of fact, and firm, and don't stop with the store manager. since this is obviously a widespread issue in these store, even if your store manager acts as though s/he "sees the light," call their 1-800 complaint number regardless and voice your concerns.

best of luck in whatever you choose. i know it's tough, because i nearly bought a turtle from petco because of its poor condition. instead i made the facts (along with my opinions) known to the store, and its habitat was improved, and someone else eventually bought it (and i hope he's doing ok... can't've been much worse than he was getting before i came along and saw him).

I'm in georiga too. the petsmart that caries them here had them actualy in a large tank. At the time i went there was only one left and he was about the size of a silver dollar. I own him now.
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2 firebelly toads (Ernie and Oscar)
1 american green tree frog (Booger)
1 four line/golden tree frog (Nugget)
1 Pacman frog (Atari)

I just started working at a petsmart in Georgia about two months ago. It was horrible when I started. They had desert reptiles in tropical setups, they were feeding herbivores crickets, and they had pacman frogs, pixies, and whites tree frogs all in the same tank and they wondered why they were eating each other. Now I am in charge of the reptiles and amphibians. Everything is going good now. They just need to get some bigger tanks, but what they have is fine for now. The people there really do care about the animals its just that they don't know much about any of them except for dogs, cats, and fish and petsmart doesnt bother training them about the animals, they just train them where everything is in the store and how to bag a fish. They do put the animals first. They tell us not to sell an animal to someone if we don't think that person will take care of it.

And then you somehow make the random decision that every privately owned store is better than petco or petland. I have seen numerous pet stores (including herp stores) that have a better selection than petco, but their animals are kept in worse conditions. I still think it was ignorant. My opinion. If you don't think so, then great for you. I still think it was quite ignorant, and you aren't going to change my mind about it.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

yes, it actually says that in their ads and in the store. the cold fact of the matter is that these animals are merchandise to pet stores, and, while some stores like petsmart can have very caring employees (a youngish sales girl there was very much in agreement with me, and she was the one who gave me the 1-800 number), as a whole, and by that i mean as a corporation, i'd rather see them sell just pet supplies and not animals.

there are enough rescue type places and responsible, private breeders out there. the problem is that some people don't want to pay the higher price that breeders must ask for because of their own expenses, and other might not want a "pre-owned" and possibly sickly or incurably fearful pet.

private pet stores aren't always better on a store-by-store basis, but if you can find a trustworthy, caring independent pet store, i'd feel that buying from them is far preferable to feeding into the petco/petsmart machines. i admit that i've bought supplies form petsmart in the past, but, even though they made a change with the frogs, i'll do business with the nice (but slightly higher-priced) mom-and-pop place that a bit further of a drive that i know of because they're on the up-and-up and have been for years.

snip "here are enough rescue type places and responsible, private breeders out there. the problem is that some people don't want to pay the higher price that breeders must ask for because of their own expenses, and other might not want a "pre-owned" and possibly sickly or incurably fearful pet.

private pet stores aren't always better on a store-by-store basis, but if you can find a trustworthy, caring independent pet store, i'd feel that buying from them is far preferable to feeding into the petco/petsmart machines. i admit that i've bought supplies form petsmart in the past, but, even though they made a change with the frogs, i'll do business with the nice (but slightly higher-priced) mom-and-pop place that a bit further of a drive that i know of because they're on the up-and-up and have been for years"

This a mainly true statement. But there is are a couple of points that are missing here. Most "Mom and Pop" stores do not survive PetSmart and Petco moving into the area (I think in a 40 mile radius of my house I am only aware of one non-chain store (whether it is an international chain or a local chain) that sells animals. There are a number that sell only dry goods)). If they can make it a couple of years they normally do well but most do not make it past that time frame. As a consequence, the people who get their first herp often buy their animal here. These new people then look around and support the remaining non-chain stores or begin to purchase animals from the few breeders. (We can always do with more breeders).
This does not excuse the stores from keeping the animals improperly.
Some thoughts,
Ed

np