Reptile & Amphibian Forums

does anyone know wether or not the snakes at petco are all wc or are they all cb?

the petcos by me say they are from local breeders. alot of people are against buying from petco but i bought my first corn at a petco and she is doing great. that last year in feb so she is year and a half now and approx 36 inches.

It really doesn't even matter if it is even one of those "upscale" (this term is relative to some) Petco's. The money goes to the same place, the corporation. You are just helping to feed a company that is notoriously bad for keeping animals, gives out horrible information, and is an all around pest to the reptile community. I would not trust that all their animals are from local breeders. Most of the animals they have (and I have been to many stores in many cities and in a few different states) are in bad condition, and many of the species they keep are not bred commonly in captivity (ribbon/garter snakes, rough green snakes, anoles, etc.). Not to mention that they are overpriced for the quality they offer and often misidentify their animals.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"A yellow ribbon instead of a swastika. Nothin' proper about ya propaganda. Fools follow rules when the set commands ya. Said it was blue when ya blood was red. That's how ya got a bullet blasted through ya head"- Rage Against the Machine

I have heard from two different people that Petco will secretly and illigally euthanise (sp?) animals that require any vet care. It is simply cheaper to kill the animal in the back room than take it to a vet. I don't know from personal experiance, but if this is true than we should all boycott. You will be much better off buying from a breeder, ethier from the internet or a reptile show. Barring that, a pet store that specializes in reptiles will provide better animals and more info than Petco.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Jim
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2.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.1 Eastern Hognose Snakes
1.0 Malagasy Speckled Hognose Snake
1.0 Texas Longnose Snake
2.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1 Green Iguana
0.1 Cat
0.1 Dog
1.0 Rat

.
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.0.1 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Irian Jaya BlueTongued Skink

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

I agree to stay away from Petco. I will strongly urge anybody to buy from either a local breeder or a breeder off of kingsnake's classifieds.

Boycotting a multi million dollar corporation on a hunch...that's just asking to be sent to jail for slander. If you go out there and tell everyone that every single petco store euthanizes their pets that need medical treatment, and you are going on nothing more than heresay evidence, it's your word against theirs. and since you are attackin them, they get the upper hand in suing you for slander. The fact of the matter is that if there are indeed some stores out there that do euthanize the pets, it is very unlikely all do that. No company would condone a practice that would open the door to repercussions from so many animal rights people all over this country (PETA, HSUS, etc..). They would be out of business. And trust me, if it was in the operations manual to do such things, it would be out by now. Boycott all you want, just get some firm proof that it's done before you go around spouting that out...for your own safety.

But yeah...Petco sucks anyway!
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
1) Female Licorice Stick Black Ratsnake - Lola
2) Neonate Black Ratsnake (Het for Lic Stk's) - Frankie
3 & 4) 2 Bairds Ratsnakes - Rosie and Jose

First, all I said is I heard this from two seperate individuals. I do not have first hand knowledge.

Second, I cannot be sued for slander for repeating a rumor if I state that it is a rumor. (Even if they could sue me, I'm sure they would not want the publicity).

Third, what I ment by "boycott" is thatl I will not give my money to a company that has such practices and I urge others to not as well. We won't make a dent in their earnings, but I for one will sleep better at night.

By the way, it is not their official policy. The people I heard this from were former employees who were asked by their manager to kill sick animals descretly in the back room. For all I know, they were lying through their teeth. I did once go into a Petco and asked who they used for a reptile vet and no one could give me an answer. That level of ignorance is enough for me to never shop there again.
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2.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.1 Eastern Hognose Snakes
1.0 Malagasy Speckled Hognose Snake
1.0 Texas Longnose Snake
2.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1 Green Iguana
0.1 Cat
0.1 Dog
1.0 Rat

Actually, Petco just lost a lawsuit to the city of San Fransisco for animal neglect, paid out over half a million dollars. Do an Internet word search and I'm sure it will come up.

Also, their ball python supplier is selling them imported "farmed" baby ball pythons, at least as of last year. I suspect that any balls that are not hatchlings are WC, as I've found older juvenile balls with ticks in two or three seperate stores over the last five years.

The corn snakes at Petco might be OK.

Katrina

The Petco around me stinks. Their animals actually look pretty good though,I will give that to them. They have a reptile vet posted(One that I do not use).None of their animals say WC or CB.They has some king snakes in awhile ago,I just looked and kept moving. Anyway I have not been to petco for months because I bought some Frozen mice there and they give them to you in those plastic bags so I didn't see the mice. Anyway I get home and the fuzzies were actually pinkies and the adult mice stunk to high heaven after I defrosted them and had patches of fur missing and black spots on the skin.They were NASTY. I go into the store and throw them on the counter at the register where the manager is talking to someone. I said these frozen mice are the most rotten frozen mice I have ever seen and I want a refund. After telling me that all there frozen mice are like that and giving me excuses I tell him goto the reptile pet store down the street(who was closed when i got the mice)and you'll see what quality is. He said to me I can exchange them for some live mice,most reptiles won't eat those frozen mice anyway! I said not these nasty things they are rotten! My snakes will eat f/t mice any time I offer...He gave me my money back but tried to act like he was Mr. Animal Kingdom and made himself looks stupid. Haven't been there since.
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Reptiles
0.1 - Early 2002 Anery Motley Corn 33 1/2"
1.0 - Late 2003 Yellow Rat Snake 15 2/3"
1.0 - 2003 Banded California King Snake 29 2/3"
1.0 Green Anole
0.0.0 House Gecko
0.1 Painted Turtle

Mammals
4 female ferrets,1 male cat,1 female rottie and 1 male doberman...and a few kids!

This is a good place to lodge a complaint about almost any chain store - the letter goes straight to the CEO. It's how I was able to get a customer service manager to finally admit that the Russian tortoises were wild-caught, after someone formally lodged a complaint.

www.planetfeedback.com

If you don't mind, please click on the little button that lets the letter be seen publicly - your information won't be visible beyond your first name, but the public can see that they are not the only ones having problems.

Katrina

>>First, all I said is I heard this from two seperate individuals. I do not have first hand knowledge.

I never said you did. I never implied you did. I said watch your ass.

>>Second, I cannot be sued for slander for repeating a rumor if I >>state that it is a rumor. (Even if they could sue me, I'm sure >>they would not want the publicity).

.>Third, what I ment by "boycott" is thatl I will not give my >>money to a company that has such practices and I urge others to >>not as well. We won't make a dent in their earnings, but I for >>one will sleep better at night.

I didn't say that you could get sued saying it was a rumor. I said if you tried to start a national boycott, even if it was something as small as going to multiple reptile societys and saying that they do that without proof that it would be slander.

I was just giving you a bit of warning. Well I learn from my mistakes and don't repeat 'em.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
1) Female Licorice Stick Black Rat snake - Lola
2) Neonate Black Rat snake (Het for Lic Stk's) - Frankie
3 & 4) 2 Bairds Rat snakes - Rosa and Jose

Or there's always www.bbb.org - to lodge a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Katrina

I'm not sure about WC or CB but I do have an experience that I can share that happened this evening.

My boyfriend and I went to petco this evening in search of a book on burmese pythons. He's been especially scared of snakes all of this life...and I suppose it didn't help that his girlfriend (me) keeps the larger specimens. Anyway, we went to petco and my boyfriend was literally glued to the glass tank full of at least 9 ball pythons. I thought they were cute and started looking them over. Chris was curious as to what he should look for if he were going to buy one (which wouldn't happen without me, I'm sure). I started explaining that the ideal snake would be active and alert and flicking its tongue, etc. After a few minutes, I got into what the snake should not physically have (ie. scale/mouth rot). Just about that time, a cute little baby lifted itself 1/3 the way off of the ground and started up the glass. I gasp. His cream colored belly was riddled with greyish/brown material and some of the scales were pealing back to reveal flesh. Chris was so shocked he jumped back and knocked a lady into a shelf behind us. He asked me if this was normal and I told him no. Apart from that, an associate stood nearby. Gauntly, she asked of she could help. I told her that I wanted to hold one of the baby pythons and she opened the cage. We both stood there for a moment...no one reached into the cage. Upon questioning, she said she had been bitten earlier and was not going to reach in again. If I wanted one, I'd have to get it myself. Well, I picked a little guy in the back that was more focused on scaling the wall (no pun intended) than munching on my fingers. He had it too! I put him back and grabbed another, him too! Before long, it became clear that most, if not all, of the babies had it. I asked the associate what was wrong with them (like I didnt know) and she acted amazed and said it was from shipping (new one for me) that they were still in shock and hadn't eaten...because they didn't eat, their bellies were small and "didn't quite fill out" and that was the reason the scales appeared to be pealing back. Not impressed, we moved right on out the door.
Perhaps this is just Oklahoma Petcos...but I sure as heck am not going to buy anything that has so much as a heartbeat from them. Disgusting!!

Sami
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0.2 Burms
4.6 Rats~Rex, Winkin', Kanga, Noodle, Cy, Pyp, Symone, Vyolet, Onyx, Blinkin'
1.1 Dogs~Boots, Karrey

"She's got beauty, brains...and a set of pipes"

I bought two ball pythons from a local Petco and although one (a female surprisingly) is doing well the other had to be returned to the store because it wouldn't eat and began to look lumpy (like it had broken ribs). The manager refunded our money and told us that the snake would be sent to surgery to fix its ribs. (do you sense the load of b/s in that statement?) well a few weeks later i went back to purchase a water dish and noticed some new balls. I asked to handle one just because i liked its pattern. The same manager was there and told me that the snake i took back was sent to surgery and adopted out to an employee of the store but died due to an infection. (do you really think they spent hundreds of dollars on a snake that sells for under one hundred? or that they "adopted" it out?) Well the manager then told me that i could not see or handle their snakes because he would no longer sell to me!!! HA! I laughed in his face and told him that two local dealers who i am close with both sell to that store. I also informed him that they would not be happy to know how i'd been treated and lied to. Oh yea and one other thing, since i'd found a female in their store I knew they we're bringing in wild caught specimens because both dealers that sell to that store sex the balls and only sell males since almost any snake from a pet store will never be bred. Well needless to say my local Petco manager lost his smug smile and last I heard they were only receiving wild caught balls because both local dealers i talked to were sickened at the b/s i was fed. so the moral of the story is buyer beware because big chain pet stores will sell you overpriced crap.