Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just have to rant...recently I was at petsmart to pick up some food for my frog...saw some people in the reptile section speaking with an employee...and I hung around listening in on the conversation...they were there to buy the one beardie the store had...and of course everything they were being told was wrong...feed six crickets a day, etc, etc....well, I wnet up to the lady and introduced myself, explained that I have two and that most info given by pet stores is wrong...told her to check out this site after making sure she has internet...luckily they weren't bringing home the beardie that night...this is twice so far that I've had the opportunity to try to step in...I'm beginning to think those of us that care need to get together and picket the stores, try to do something to get it changed...
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1.0.1 Bearded Dragons - Smaug and Pazuzu
3.1 Bettas - Jason (R.I.P.), Ori, Fishy Fishy Fishy, Faith (R.I.P.)
1.0 3 Legged Bullfrog - Jeremiah Sim Choy
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Spike
0.1 Guinea Pigs- Oreo and Bunny

This just happened to me at petco! Last week I saw a family of four, two parents, and a young boy and a younger girl. An employee had one of the most malnurition beardies i had ever seen. I could see its bones! The dad kept asking the boy if he could take care of it. The boy was of course excited but the dad new it wouldnt stick around a week. The employee told them to feed crix and lettuce, iceberg would be best. As my jaw drops the mother asked how hardy they were and the employee said that they have never had one die. (BS!!!) She also asked how big it would get and the employee had to go get a sheet and ask the manager. So i stepped in and told her that they dont eat lettuce, they get about 24 or so inches, that was a crappy dragon, go find a breeder if you really want one, and they arnt an animal you can just go pic up at the pet store and take home that night and play with it all day... Before i was finished the employee came back and i told her they shouldnt eat lettuce and she strictly said, "yes they do, i feed them lettuce everyday!!!" The mother and her family watched her reaction and followed me out of the petco, without the beardie. About and hour later i printed out all the pages about nutrition from www.beautifuldragons.com and personally handed them to the same employee and asked her if she knew how to read.
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*~*Erin*~*
0.2 Tiki and Tahlie -Bearded Dragons- July 18, 2004 -high oranges-
0.2 Bailey and Mia -Degus- June 1, 2005

Good going. I am glad you stood up for them. I know I'll do my part when the time comes.
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
1.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizard
500 Escaped Crickets

I completly understand your frustration with your local petstores. But you have to hear both sides of the story.

I currently work at best buy. But before moving there I have worked in and managed local pet stores for abour 7 years, since my freshman yaer in high school. When I started I barley knew anything about animal care. But now I know a ton. The pet stores you are refuring to are big chain corporate stores. they dont hire people because of knowledge of animals. They hire anyone out there. And provide only minamal training. But not all shops are like that. i know quite a few that have dedicated knowledgable employees who care about every animal. Although i would have to say that none are chain stores. Infact I was a manager at a petco. I quit because the district manager told me I had to lower my standards to petco standards. it was costing them too much to take care of the animals they way I did. infact one example was they wanted me to put a 24 inch savannah monitor in a cage that was only 16 inches long! But thats besides the point.

Its great that you steped in and saved that family from that sale. But thats only one. if you want to inpact the pet stores then a good idea is to offer to go in and educate the employees. Or maybe just the primary caretaker. Or print up detailed care sheets. Also in the case of the chain stores , some guy behind a desk writes the care sheets. And most of the time they are wrong. maybe contact the human resources for that company and complain. You never know you could change their whole outlook on things.

anyways there will allways be bad pet stores, but you have to remember there are always good ones as well.

peace,
nathan

Hi
i whas in a petstore i wil not named it
i whas there as second customer and i heard the conversation front of me.
he aksed what do the wax moth eat????
then the guy take the box and show the carbord egg thing inside where the waxmoth where atached to .
then he told him they eat the carbord
so abit funny but also lack of education.
byeeee

You do know that bearded dragons love iceberg lettuce right? Not as nutritious as romaine lettuce, but they will still eat it aswell.

It also contains moisture and will rehydrate the dragon.
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
1.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizard
500 Escaped Crickets

iceberg lettuce gives bearded dragons diarrhea which is one of the worst things you can do for a bearded dragon, if you didnt know
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*~*Erin*~*
0.2 Tiki and Tahlie -Bearded Dragons- July 18, 2004 -high oranges-
0.2 Bailey and Mia -Degus- June 1, 2005

Not mine. They get a little bi of iceburg, romain lettuce and carrots along with crickets. if you give the variety, it won't cause diarehha.
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
1.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizard
500 Escaped Crickets

my adult female is from petland, of course i lucked out and the manager at the one i went to had 6 bearded dragons of he own she breed them also for a lil extra cash, and the reptile section was better than some reptile store tanks, i asked one of the guys who started a week ago(when this happened) and asked him about a ball python and he said all the right info,1/2 things a lil wrong like temps he said a lil to hot for day and a lil to cold or night, so not all are so bad

but im one of the lucky ones
bc i bought a male from a breeder it died of parisites and my female is in great shape never gets pissed of unless outside(loves it)
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Zero to 4 legs
1.0 Black rough neck monitor
0.1 bearded dargon
1.0 ball python

soon to be getting
1.0 red tegu
or
1.0 b/w tegu

Sorry to tell you, but if you keep feeding that way your dragon will not live much longer... Nobody should feed their dagons iceburg lettuce.

Tell that to all the Dr.s who write books on keeping bearded Dragons.

They love it, and mixed with other nutritious foods I doubt it does them harm.
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
1.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizard
500 Escaped Crickets

I never saw that written in any book I've seen. What books have you been reading?

Hey there guys
Just wanted to add my two (disparaging) cents. I totally agree. The kids they hire are just high schoolers off the street who neither know nor care about the animals. Occasionally, you get some herp enthusiasts working in the department (I groomed dogs), but more often than not it is their most recent hire. And most the time it isnt their fault they sound like total a**holes when they are telling people what to do. They are given virtually no species specific information, and only the most basic care information regarding ALL herps. I am certainly not defending, just saying don't necessarily take it out on the employee, take it out on the system.
When I worked for Petsmart, there was one knowledgable girl who worked in the reptile department, and one who THOUGHT she was knowledgable, and a boy who could have cared less about any of the animals he worked with. Most of them constantly recommended Calci-sand, didn't know which UV lights to recommend, and never bothered to pick up a book and figure it out. They are paid minimum wage and work accordingly....And private pet stores aren't much different. I watched a girl at a local petstore sell a baby beardie with a 5 gallon tank, and tell the new owner to feed full grown crickets. Lovely huh? It is just a bad system all together.

The problem comes with grouping all of a type of store together. "Fed up with pet stores..." really is an all encompassing statement that is based on a few experences with a few pet stores. Do they always give good advice? No. Why is that? It could be lack of concern or lack of proper training or training material. I can assure you that, in most cases, there is no malicious intent. To put it into better context, go to several computer stores and ask the same questions to each- What computer do you recommend for children in elementery school and what software do I need to go with it. See how many different answers you get.

We notice these things because we love the little guys and want to learn everything we can to take care of them properly. But asking for everyone that works in a petstore to learn everything about each of the animals is a bigger task than some may realize. I work as an internet developer. Ask me about HTML, Cold Fusion, ASP, and Perl I would have no problem. Ask me about Java and I would look more confused than most of the pet store employees that you are refering to. Does that mean that I am a bad developer? No, it means that I don't know everything out there that there is to know about developing.

And now for the disclaimer- Yes my wife works for a PetStore chain, and even in her store there is a varying degree of employee knowledge when it comes to herps. She does her best (as does the management) to train employees and customers on the animals, but keep in mind that is just part of the overall store. There are many other things to learn too.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

The major difference here is that you are not trying to sell people JAVA and teach them how to run it properly and successfully. Employees at petstores are.

I have to totally agree. If they don't know what they are talking about they shouldn't act like they do. I have learned from past experiences not believe anything from a pet store and to always do my own research. I work at a dog kennel where the owner also has a room dedicated to reptiles. Most Vets and other numerous places send people to us for info about reptiles. I have never acted like I knew something about a reptile when i didn't. I give them this website and tell them to do some research. Cara

There are a lot of people out there that do do their research before giving advice but the information that they got from their research may be incorrect or incomplete. There are so many care sheets out there that are either completely or in part incorrect. Even published books can give incorrect information. I have a quick guide that I use for a reference that has bearded dragons listed as not recommended for beginners and green tree pythons as recommended for beginners. Outside of that there is little in the book that I found that was inacurate. Sites that are given out as reputible can also have problems. I am going to "step in it" right now, but if you have ever been to Melissa Kaplin's site you will find blatent exaggerations and misleading information yet it is one that I have been recommended as one of the best out there.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

I do not blame the employees alone....management is at fault as well...the system needs to be changed...I am furious that animals are treated so badly wether large chains, family owned or individuals that mistreat pets...I know a local pet store that had several, at least 10" long iguanas all in a ten gallon, with a kheat rock and algae in the water...Pazuzu I got from the same petsmart I mentioned...I didn't plan on getting another beardie but felt I had to give him the home he deserves...one where he is actually cared about...as he is a living creature...how can an animal be considered nothing but a commodity, for it is life...and it is not just the reptiles...I've seen sick fish, mice, etc. I have had the employees also try to sell me incorrect products for other pets...I think that those of us that truly do care do need to start speaking up or things will never change...I see no problem with selling animals as pets but treat the animals you sell with care and knowledge, not just look at the $$ it infuriates me that in their commercials they try to come across as if they are experts when they are not...ok, enough is enough
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1.0.1 Bearded Dragons - Smaug and Pazuzu
3.1 Bettas - Jason (R.I.P.), Ori, Fishy Fishy Fishy, Faith (R.I.P.)
1.0 3 Legged Bullfrog - Jeremiah Sim Choy
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Spike
0.1 Guinea Pigs- Oreo and Bunny