Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went down to my local petco yesterday to have a look around. I don't really go there that often so I like checking up on them every once in a while. Most of the leos looked healthy and alert except for two. I went and talked to the manager about them and he let me get them out and look at them and get some of the dried shed off htem etc. I told him I could take them home and see if I could get them to eat because in my opinion if they stayed they were going to die. He said they couldn't give them away but he did take them to the back and seperate them and scheduled a vet visit. He seemed like he was really trying to help these little guys out. We then began talking about adopting geckos who need homes after they have been seen by a vet or have been dropped off by people who don't want them any more. As soon as he found out I breed leos he asked if I would be willing to take some of them after they are ready to adopt. I left my number and email address with him and he said if any leos are ever in need of a home he would call me. I'm thinking about rehabilitating some of htem since I won't have room to keep them all and most won't be in a condition to breed. I already have a few people who are willing to take one. They will of course be free. Hopefully I will get a call from them about a leo but it made me fell a whole lot better about my loacla petco when I know they are atleast trying to make their herps happy when the local petsmart will look at you and say with a straight face "They are supossed to be like that". What do yall think about this? I know there is a risk of having a sick animal in your home but all these will have already seen a vet and had an antibiotic. Sorry for such a long post.
-----
Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

If you look around the internet and if you visit various animal husbandy boards, you will see that Petco has a horrible reputation as far as animal welfare is concerned.

I frequent fish, guinea pigs and small animal boards and everybody there warns you about buying/adopting pets from Petco.

I know I've gone into Petco a few times and I come out with something that I want to rescue and give a better home, but as I learned, by taking an animal from Petco you are just creating more demand. They don't care if you are rescuing or just buying an animal as a pet, a sale is a sale for them and they just keep on ordering more animals.

The best thing to do for animals is to not support places that don't practise good animal husbandry. Yes that cute gecko at Petco will probably end up dying but maybe that will stop them from ordering more animals to take it's place if a kind hearted person didnt' come along everytime and save the animal from them. Remember a sale is a sale, they don't care if you are doing a good dead by buying a sick gecko.

Have a look at petcocruelty.com before you decide to buy an animal or adopt an animal from them.

Katie, I completely understand your perspective, but I would like to point out a few things for you (and those that read this)to think about. First of all, PetCo is notorious as a corporation for lack of care and husbandry of their reptiles. There have been countless lawsuits and legal actions taken against them, and here in San Francisco there have been stores closed for their inhumane treatment of reptiles. I am glad to hear that the geckos you referred to actually got to see a veterinarian! There ARE a few good PetCo's out there, but this would be the exception and not the rule.

Please don't misunderstand... I am NOT wacko a PETA supporter. The problem is that when we take in sick, improperly cared for, and otherwise un-rehabilitated reptiles from PetCo, we are basically giving them the 'OK' by perpetuating the ill-treatment of their animals. In other words... what incentive do they have to change and correct their husbandry when they can rely on the folks with soft hearts to take the burden off of them? THEY are the ones that need to be accountable for their own actions!

I know this may sound cruel and uncaring. I used to take in LOTS of PetCo "rescues" because I thought I could help. I wound up spending so much time, money, and unmeasurable sleepless nights and heartbreak on these poor little creatures, until I actually realized that PetCO was getting ME to do their dirty-work for them! Taking on an animal like that requires tremendous commitment and resources.

At the risk of sounding like a heartless and uncaring person, there are times when you just have to turn and walk away from situations like this. I can no longer even go into a PetCo or even PetsMart for fear that I will go and see the reptiles and have my emotions take over my logic...

Just say "NO". Let them bear the responsibility.
-----
Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com

I know what you are saying and I have said "no" alot of times and going into petco and petsmart often leave me feeling mad because of the way they treat their animals and how they won't listen to their customers. There are good petcos out there and the one I'm talking about is usually a great store. You just have to point out a few mistakes to them and they will fix things right away. I don't have to take any of the leos but I might take a look at a few to see how bad they are and such. They would get adopted anyway though so isn't that enough "encouragement" for them to get more animals anyway?
-----
Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

I will add one thing. Generally i would say do not adopt their weakened and sick animals because yes all it does it tell them its ok to not treat those animals because someone will take them.

But...petco also has a new policy (I know because i *ugh* used to work there, and have several friends that still do)where they will take in animals from customers who cannot care for them anymore, do not want them etc etc. Generally these are perfectly healthy animals that maybe just havent had enough attention paid to them and need a little TLC. The adopting of these animals does not benefit Petco in any way because it is a completely free process. So i would say its ok to adopt those animals because its not their fault they ended up dumped at petco, and they deserve new homes too.

Here is a picture of two of my adopted leos that were petco drop offs.

-----
1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

Yes, I mentioned that in my above post about adopting drop offs. If they ever call me I'll be sure to ask questions and take a very good look at the leo before I make any decisions. Also, since this is a good petco why should they kinda get the punishment other petcos do becuase they have the same name. If they are working hard to be good to the animals they have but no-one notices don't you think it would encourage them to be like the other stores?
-----
Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

I agree. I HATE commerical pet stores, and actually most pet stores. But the petco i used to work at, despite haivng some assinine managers really did try. Every animal that so much as sneezes in that store goes to the vet. Its almost commical, they would send a feeder mouse or rat to the vet, spend $200 on it, then i would spend (I used to run the "sick" room) weeks nursing it back to health, and when it was better, it would be sold for $1.59 as a feeder. So I guess its important to treat each store as an individual, not that any pet store ever has ideal conditions for their animals, some of them are at least trying.

Another petco drop off (not a leo, obviously) he is still in the healing process, but we are working with him...

-----
0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Everything you just said is exactly what I'm thinking and exactly what my views are on this subject. I'm not going to take in every leo and I'm certainly not going to risk getting my other leos sick becuase of one little sick leo at petco. I will give an occasional one a home if it's healthy and looks to have a bright future (like drop offs).
-----
Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

i agree with katie, it is hard to see the way that these animals are treated and it sucks that they are victims of corperate greed but not all petcos are the same just like katie the petco by my house is awesome they have a vet come in on a regular basis there animals are healthy, i bought all my geckos there except 2. i also adopted a tokay gecko from there his cage mates were beating him up so they put him up for adoption cause they did not have the room, he is healthy and the biggest pig you could imagine. a couple of the other geckos that i have seen that were for adoption were brought in one was missing a foot and the other had a split tail. it is hard not to care about these animals and not want to take them home, yes if you do you are just helping petco make a profit. if you have the time and the money to care for these geckos(and other reptiles) then why not they don't know about greed and they didn't ask to be put in this cituation. i know that doing this will not change petcos practices but if i can help one animal live a full life then i think it is worth it. one last thing i do think that doing this is not for a novice and people must understand that it is not going to be easy or cheap.
-----
4.8.4 leopard geckos
1.0.0 cat (storm)
0.0.1 green tree frog
1.1.0 anole
0.0.1 tokay gecko
1.2.0 kingsnakes
0.1.0 cornsnake
mutiple cichlids

Well, I must say that I am fortunate to have 2 PetCo's near me that knw what they are doing. I have gottne to happy, healthy leos from them and the employees know what they are doing.

-----
1.0 Cresteds
1.1 Leos Rex and "Fredrica"
www.freewebs.com/leogecko/-UNDER CONSTRUCTION

By taking animals from Petco you are supporting the bad Petcos just as much as your local good Petco. There isn't a seperate association for good Petcos or bad Petcos, they are all part of the same company and until the bosses at the top of the chain at Petco decide to provide proper care for all the animals and proper training for all the employees in their stores, Petco on a whole will remain bad.

It's not just about the geckos, Petco sells birds, small animals and fish and if you visit different forums on the internet you will see that animal husbandry concerns at Petcos reach cross the board.

No, I don't agree with the poor husbandry you see at some (not all) of the stores. But - there are different kinds of adoptions. I have 4 petco adoptions in my home. 1 Pacman frog and 1 snow corn that were customer returns (they were owner surrendered/donations). I have 2 leo's that lost most of their toes to horrible sheds. Even though they were adopted by me, my local Petco still footed the bills when I took them to the vet (first visit).
My local petco takes good care of their animals and the newbie's growing/nursing to health behind the 'doors' - I was very comfortable adopting from them. I really think it's a personal decision.
In general, yes, I think it's risky. But if you are comfortable doing it, then by all means do. The biggest key word here would be QUARANTINE.

its the big corparation thats to blame, i work with my local petsmart and let them know when there is a problem, i have adopted and rehabed several animals from them, but less now that i have helped educate the kids who work there, the current manager over the selling of animals cant stand any herps, i have been called in by the kids that work there to help them with a sick animal and we have helped many. if we could stop hateing them and educate them it may help, the kids who work there are just doing what they are told, they most likely work there because they do like animals, and when given some advice often take it.
just my $0.02

It really doesn't matter if u rescue a gecko (or any animal at all) from a good petco or a bad petco. The money still ends up in the same place. You are not really encouraging them to buy more if you rescue it, they are simply buying more to gain more money. If you let the gecko die in the "bad petco", and rescue one from a "good petco" you've still rescued a leo and you still paid petco... They are going to get more geckos if they die or if they sell them, if you have the money and you are positive you can rescue it and it won't infect all of your other animals with it's parasites then i believe you should rescue it and let it live a better life.

I don't think you understand... a rescue, or "adoption" as the thread goes, is a free pet. There is absolutely no money involved - they GIVE it to you to because for one reason or another they are not allowed to sell it. You are not paying any Petco (Good or bad) a single dime.

At least, that's how it's been every time I've adopted anything from a petco. I think that is the agreement Katie has made with her local store also. She is rehabilitating them of her own accord, she is not being paid or paying anyone else to do it.

Yes i understand what an adoption is. What i was talking about was if you go in and see a sick leo and decide to rescue it. If a good PetCo doesn't let you take it home for free and you have to pay for it you are still paying all the petcos. Same thing happens if you go into a "bad" PetCo and buy one to rescue it and let it live a better life. If one dies they aren't just going to stop buying them because all the other stores are selling them so they are just going to buy another one either way. Live or die they WILL get more, so if you have the money i really think you should be rescueing these leos since they will keep on getting them.

i have seen both free adoption and a small fee, the 2 that i seen one missing a foot and the other with a split tail had an adoption fee of 10 dollors, my tokay was free. i think whatever you do is your own decision and should be done only after a lot of thought. if i had the room to quarantine a new gecko then i would in a heart beat.
-----
4.8.4 leopard geckos
1.0.0 cat (storm)
0.0.1 green tree frog
1.1.0 anole
0.0.1 tokay gecko
1.2.0 kingsnakes
0.1.0 cornsnake
mutiple cichlids

I went back today (I was in the area) and the manager motioned to me and asked if I wanted to adopt a Leopard Gecko. I didn't have time so I just asked to see it really quick. It was a little medium sized male that had lost it's tail. He gave me the adoption papers and I told him I would think about it. I don't think I'll get it but I was really surprised that there was one to adopt that fast.
-----
Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email