Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here in FL we have a pet store chain called PetLand. I went into my local one the other day and had a look around. To my surprise they had a mali, but in horrible condition. They had a regular light bulb in there, calci sand, a water dish and another dish filled with romaine. He was just lying there very emaciated. I quickly ran up to the clerk and began telling her everything they were doing wrong, and she said she would tell the kennel staff that cares for the reptiles. I went in yesterday (first day I've been able to since then)to bring them a care sheet, but he wasn't in his cage, only wilted romaine. I asked an associate and he shrugged it off, "Must've been bought." I feel so bad, but apparently from other people on here this is more common then i would like to think. Just sharing. I wish there were some way to prevent this.

That does sound like a very sad situation, but I do want to come to the defense of some of the big chains because I think is SOME circumstances they get a bum rap. When my wife and I were doing research for purchasing a Mali, the thought was basically "go with a breeder instead of a chain". I kind of had the same the misconception that the customer service and product from a chain would be less. Unfortunately, I can't speak for the product, but emails were never returned and there just seemed to be a general lack of communication from the more prominent uromastyx breeders. That being the case, I happened to go to Petsmart, and I was VERY impressed. Bruce (my Mali) was very well taken care or. He was in excellent healty, fed an appropriate diet, and was genuinely loved by the staff. They had even given him a name and several of them saw him off and said their goodbyes when I purchased him.

Every chain I am sure is different. Same for every store within a chain. All that said, I really think PetSmart deserves credit for the way this particular store cared for the animals. Just my two cents.

JR

I have seen better from PetSmart, you're right.

it's not just the big chains who treat their animals like crap, just ask helga my mali!
but in defense of the breeders, can you imagine being one of the few specialists trying to answer lots of emails and taking care of all those animals. it would have to be hard!
-----
vonnie
***The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.
— Mark Russell***

there's a local 'pet supplies plus' its a large chain, there's one in town and they carry mali uro's on a regular basis, they seem to sell good because everytime i'm in there, they seem to get a different one in, they also have a egy. mali. its small, around 3" but they all seem to be well taken care of. but i've also been to other 'pet supplies plus' stores and it just sickens me to see how they take care of there reptiles, it has nothing to do with the chain, it has to do more with the store mangment and how much the 'reptile' people in the dept know.

Andy

As someone who used to work for petsmart, for the most part there are incompetent people working there. The majority of managers and associates know nothing of reptile, fish or bird care.

I have seen employees aspirate birds, burn holes thru a cockatoos crop becasue they use basically boiling water when making handfeed formula and then not let it cool down enough.

I recently went to the 3 petsmarts in my area. In one reptile enclosure they had 7 sick and dying leopard geckos, all housed on walnut shell bedding, the manager moved them all to the back after I told her they would die soon.

In another store they had 8 baby uros on walnut bedding, where they were all trying to eat their dried poop.

In another store they had 3 cockatiels that were weaning. One was so sick it stayed at the bottom of the cage and could barely open its eyes. I asked the manager about it and she said it had a cold and they were cleaning its nostrils everyday. She didnt say anything about medicating it, so I figure they werent and its probably dead now. It was housed in the sales part of the store with the other 2 healthier cockatiels. Not in a back room with a heat light as it should be and on medictaion.