Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you're new to the world of reptiles (or proper animal care) and don't understand why experienced people usually say to avoid pet stores when looking for an animal, read on. For everyone else, I just figured I'd share this.

Over the holidays, my grandparents had mentioned that they were in the local pet store getting fish food and they happened to see a really unique-looking snake while they were there. They couldn't remember what kind, but they described it to me and they said that it was some kind of milk snake. I was driving by there today so I thought I'd stop in and see what it was. The first thing I noticed when I went inside is that the whole building was cloudy from cigarette smoke. This place has a lot of different stuff like dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, etc. All things that probably aren't going to benefit from breathing smoke all day long. Anyway, I went over to where the reptiles were at and I found what I assumed was the snake. It was marked as a Sinaloan but it was hiding under an empty water dish so I had to wait for one of the employees to come over so I could get it out. Aside from it having no water, it ended up being a 20" tricolored Honduran (and for $240! I've never been in the market for a Sinaloan, are they really worth that much of a mark up?)

But anyway, while I was waiting, I started to look around at the other reptiles. Among what I saw was a green iguana with no water and a disgusting cage (I'm not sure how long it hadn't had water, but this was at 3 in the afternoon, so they had plenty of time to fill it). It was laying up near the glass, so I was able to get a good look at it. It was in really sad shape, it was malnourished, and it had mites all over its face. There were probably 15-20 aquariums there with various snakes/lizards in them and they were all dirty. I'm not talking about missing a cleaning day, some of the single snakes had multiple sheds lying around. Some of them had to have been like that for several weeks at least. There was also an aquarium with green tree frogs. Aside from not actually being green tree frogs (I'm not sure what they were exactly, but they were some other kind of tree frog), the aquarium itself had sand substrate, a plugged in heat rock, a water dish big enough for 1 frog (out of the 3 I saw in there). The other 2 frogs were covered in sand, sitting on the bottom near the back. I'm not entirely sure they were even alive.

Eventually, somebody came back and got the milk snake out for me. Snakes are supposed to be odorless. This one's substrate hadn't been cleaned in so long that it actually gave off a completely disgusting smell (no, it didn't musk me, but that was my first thought). It had some kind of infection in one eye, but its vent was clean. I actually had to change my clothes when I got home to get that smell (well, that and the smoke) off of me.

Sooooo, if you've never been sure why people say it, THIS is why pet stores aren't the best place to buy reptiles (or much else from what I saw). My question is, can anything be done about a place like that, or doesn't anyone of authority care enough about stuff like this to make it worthwhile bringing it up?

The best way to report this if you truly care is go to your local city Department of Animal Care & Control. I do not know where or what city that pet store is but chances are, your local Department of Animal Care & Control would be very helpful and appreciative in reporting such matters. If you do not know where your Department of Animal Care & Control, maybe your local SPCA or the nearest zoo can assist or direct you of where to go to.

Hope you follow up on this and I encourage you to report this. Let us know through the forum if reforms, changes or penalties have been enforced on this pet shop you are referring to.

Good luck in helping these sad animals!
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RAY

Absoultely report them.

I would report them, then either talk to the owner / manager, or call or write an anonomous letter if you don't want the confronatation.

Tell them exactly what you told us. Identify yourself as someone with experience keeping herps. They very well may try to blow smoke like "reptiles only need water once a week" or some crap.

The low-lifes that would treat animals this way would certainly lie about it as well. Let them know that you visit the store frequently and will continue to report it if they don't take much better care of the animals.

One other note, MANY, but not ALL pet stores neglect their herps. I have a couple independently owned stores around me that do a very nice job, and train their employees well.

I posted this same message on two other herp forums that I read on a regular basis, and one other member was able to give me the ASPCA's contact information. I'm going to get ahold of them, but I'm going to go back up to the store tomorrow and see what else is there. Like I said, they have cats, dogs, birds, fish, and some other stuff as well. I just want to make sure I give as much detail as I can whenever I do report them. I didn't actually see any of the non-herp animals today. I'll keep you guys posted on what happens, thanks for the help though, I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw a problem with this.

A lot of breeders (including myself) give their colubrids water only once a week. We do this for several reasons. One is that it keeps the possibility of falgyllates and other things infecting the water. Dishes are disenfected and then dried and placed the cage once a week for 24 hrs. Which is obviously NOT the practice this pet shop has.
Another is spilled water dishes will moisten the substrate causing mold and rotting.
While I still think the pet shop should be reported for the smell and uncleanliness, mites ect. I don't think the water should be the major thing pointed out for the snakes.
The iguana and other animals are a different story.

Couple of updates: I got an email back from the ASPCA this morning and they only do stuff in New York state. They did give me a list of 4 or 5 places to call in Pennsylvania (where I'm from, but I'm sure there are similar places in each state and country).

Also, I went back to the pet shop this morning to take a look at the animals I didn't see yesterday. There are probably 20 aquariums with various lizards and snakes in them. All but 2 or 3 had at least one shed lying around, about a third either had no water at all or very little water that was filled with feces, the redtail boa and ball pythons (each around 4 feet) only had a tiny water bowl about 3 or 4 inches in diameter so they couldn't soak in it, and most of the aquariums were filled with feces. They had a collared lizard there with no heat source and the thermometer in the tank said 70-75 (basking temps should be 100 - 105 and elsewhere should be 90 or so). All of the snakes only had heat rocks (if you're new to this, that's a big no-no for snakes) and some of the corn snakes had the heat rock unplugged and no other heat source (those particular ones also had old sheds and no water). There was also a white oak rat snake with rotting mouse/rat parts in the cage. The iguana that was looking so bad yesterday wasn't there anymore, so unless somebody bought it in the 5 hours the store had been open since I was there last, I'm guessing it finally died overnight.

It was amazing though, the rest of the pet store (although still a dump) was 100x better than the herp section. I guess they like kittens and hamsters a little more than the snakes and lizards. Anyway, I'll let you know what happens.

I remember a pet store in Chesapeake, Virginia. The employees were caught releasing sick and dieing animals into the woods out back. Needless to say, they were shut down.

And I wonder if this is a common practice.

Chris =/
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"I don't know about you...but I find comfort in that." -- Cowboy