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Post by ~●ℓєgσℓαѕ●~ on Aug 4, 2017 18:43:21 GMT -5
There are definitely some family owned pet shops that are decent, but there are some that are just awful. And pretty much all chain pet stores are bad. Overcrowding cages, not keeping proper temperatures and humidity, improper substrate, the wrong food, sick animals, filthy cages, employees giving out the wrong information, etc. These are pictures from 4 completely different stores. One is a chain pet store which I'm sure you can recognize, and the other three were just local shops. Just... everything is wrong with this one. There were two of them but the picture of the other turned out blurry. You can tell the water bowl has been empty for ages. I would say this was a fluke, but I've been to this store plenty of times now and none of the animals ever have water. This snake actually looks decent though, hydration wise. There are some other animals (especially ball pythons) that you can tell are completely dehydrated. Chameleon in a glass tank. They need to be kept in screen cages. They need a lot of ventilation, so this can actually be life threatening. Over crowding plus the gecko has stuck shed. Meaning they've probably got the wrong temps and humidity. I didn't see any hygrometer or thermometer in the cage.
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Post by Snappppppppppppp on Aug 4, 2017 19:09:24 GMT -5
Is the ball python from petco?
I work at Petco, im actually going to be the small animal manager in about a week when the old one leaves. Some things are policy and there is no way to change it (such as chameleons in glass tanks) but that ball pythons dish is NOT right. He should have an XL rock bowl. If it is Petco (hell, even petsmart) please report it.
By no means am I disagreeing with you, petstores suck. But how our animals are displayed is entirely up to the staff. Either they dont care of they are just untrained, some things are not right. Policy wise there is stuff that we HAVE to do that I dont agree with (mainly the overcrowding issue) but when it comes to the care and cleanliness of the store policy says it should be spotless. I got points taken off my animal walk from my district manager because my ferret cage has some hand prints on it.
Overcrowding is an issue I have with petco. They are okay with having many animals together, because they have to sell. A favorite phrase of my bosses is "if its not on the sales floor it cant be sold" But policy says if there is ANY issue with that many animals being together (chewing on one another, bullying, etc) either remove the bully or remove the one that is being bullied. Also at Petco if an animal appears to be medically not sound, a vet must be called and treatment has to be started within 24 hours. Its not my money, it doesnt count against my work. I WILL pull any animal off the sales floor and call a vet immedietly. I dont care. If the animal needs to see a vet I will call every vet in town until that animal is sold.
This turned out way longer then it needed to be but I just wanted to explain to you so hopefully you will report that petstore (We have that exact bowl we use for ferret food, hence why I asked if that was petco lol) I also want people to understand some policies cant be worked around and anything involving care is most likely entirely on the staff.
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Post by ⌭ ᑕᖇᑌIᑎᑎ ᔕᗩOᒪ ⌭ on Aug 4, 2017 19:26:03 GMT -5
This is just sad.
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Post by ~●ℓєgσℓαѕ●~ on Aug 4, 2017 19:36:02 GMT -5
Snappppppppppppp I was so confused reading that at first. The snake is not a ball python lol. It's a red tail boa. The picture of the leopard gecko is from Petsmart, the rest (including the boa) are from various local shops. The bowl is fine, it just needs to be cleaned and filled with water. I understand that employees can't always control everything that goes on in the store, although there's a good percentage who know nothing about the animals and don't bother to do any research because they just don't care. But I said pet shops, not pet shop employees. I personally believe that if the store can't give the animal a proper environment and diet, they just shouldn't be keeping them in their stores and selling them. Animals like chameleons, iguanas, monitor lizards, and large species of snakes should not be being sold in chain pet stores either way. They are not beginner reptiles, and most of the people who purchase animals from Petsmart or Petco know nothing about reptiles. If they did, they would be going to a breeder and not a chain store. Trust me, I have tried reporting things directly to the manager and even to corporate. I've even spoken directly to corporate, in person. They just don't care. And each store seems to have different policies. And I know this, because each manager you speak to has a different story. Hundreds of people have tried reporting and not one has ever seen any change. No, they probably never will stop cohabiting animals. But even reporting things like wrong temps and humidity, which could possibly be deadly, does nothing. I'm sure many people will continue reporting these issues and hoping for change, but as long as the stores are making money, it's very unlikely that they'll do anything. Also, many of the employees are not trained properly. That's not their fault. But what is their fault is choosing to make up false information just because they don't have a real answer. It happens more frequently than not. I'm not trying to argue, and like I said, I mostly blame the owners of the companies/stores and not the individual employees.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2017 20:11:58 GMT -5
No kidding though?? When I went to the petco to buy my mouse I saw a female with a huge red wound on her back. As an employee was handing me the papers for the mouse I'd already picked out I asked her who was in charge of the mice and she, happily, said "Oh, they're actually my responsibility."
I pointed out the white female with the wound on her back and the employee suddenly gets really aggressive and jerks the papers away from me (thankfully I already had my mouse in hand) and goes "Yeah, well, we'd have to call in a tropical vet and these are new so it's just from the travel."
and it's like?? she's literally almost bald. Her back is blood red and it looks like the skin is cracked. Also?? Tropical vet? The vet down the road takes cats, dogs, rats, mice, hamsters, pretty much all common animals and.. they're not special.
I really wish I could have gotten the female, but we wouldn't have had the money to treat her and I feel like it'd just make it worse if she were to die alone.
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Post by ~●ℓєgσℓαѕ●~ on Aug 4, 2017 21:41:39 GMT -5
Nochi That's awful. Not mice, but I witnessed a couple of gerbils fighting at one store. The employee said they were just playing, but one had a cut beneath its eye. She just pushed them away from each other, but a couple moments later they were fighting again. Even if they were playing, it was way too rough since one was already injured. I have noticed they do get pretty defensive about it. A lot of people online have said they've been kicked out of the stores when they try to get photos of the sick/injured animals. Apparently the employees always claim that they don't want to get in trouble with any animal welfare organizations. But if you think you're going to get in trouble for something, wouldn't that mean you know you're doing something wrong?
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Post by ✲ριкαƒυєу✲ on Aug 4, 2017 23:06:24 GMT -5
Pet stores make me incredibly sad. Especially with how they keep their Betta fish--which is beyond cruel, and downright evil. I can't stand seeing the bearded dragons at stores too. They all look so unhealthy and dull
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Bisexual
Tᥲffყ
I might be human, but that's not guaranteed
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Post by Tᥲffყ on Aug 4, 2017 23:23:46 GMT -5
✶ᴏᴏᴄ-This hurts my heart. Poor little babies ✶ɪᴄ-
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Post by Salted Squid on Aug 4, 2017 23:43:18 GMT -5
Don't a lot of pet stores get dogs from puppy mills too? Not sure if it's true, it's just what I've heard
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Lesbian
falconfire
currently watching/reading/playing: haikyuu, avatar: the last airbender, animal crossing new horizon
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Post by falconfire on Aug 4, 2017 23:57:23 GMT -5
yeah.. i've been doing some reading into animal care/welfare recently and i've realized that larger pet stores tend to sell animals that are sick, injured, or just not doing well because of less-than-optimal conditions.
it's a bit disenchanting for me, lol. i once had a leopard gecko that we got from a larger chain store and he was pretty neat, though in retrospect i feel bad since i was probably too young to have my own pet, so my dad ended up doing most of the feeding and cleaning for him pfft.
we also got one of our current dogs through an adoption event related to a local chain petstore, but that's of course a different sort of deal.
i wish there was a way to help improve the quality of care for these animals. it would be one thing if the animals were in non-ideal conditions for just a short time before moving to a more optimal situation, but idk how long most animals stay in pet stores. and, seeing the setups in some stores, even the most well-meaning but uninformed customer might not have a good idea what the ideal habitat for the pet in question
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Post by ~●ℓєgσℓαѕ●~ on Aug 5, 2017 0:32:10 GMT -5
✲ριкαƒυєу✲ I think it's safe to assume they don't take care of any of their animals. Even the furry ones which you'd think they'd know more about. I mostly know about reptiles, birds, and inverts (out of the ones they sell) so I notice that the most. But I doubt they take proper care of any of the other animals. Although some smaller pet shops that are specific to certain classes of animals (reptile stores, bird stores, fish stores, etc.) are significantly better. Still almost never perfect though. I think one of the most important things is educated employees though, because misinformation spreads fast. The employee gives out the wrong information to a customer, then the customer tells their friend... Especially since the internet exists. I've seen care videos for certain animals on YouTube and every piece of info is completely wrong. Tᥲffყ Yeah, it's very sad. ): Salted Squid Depends. Petsmart and Petco have cats/dogs for adoption. Each store works with a different rescue. But actual pet shops that just sell dogs and cats usually buy them from mills. I'm in Arizona and there was a law passed in Phoenix that all cats and dogs in pet stores must be from shelters or rescues. Then a couple other cities passed the same law. Our governor has even said he supports puppy mills though (because he supports businesses being successful), so he put a stop to all of the cities that had the law or were trying to get it passed. Now they're back to selling animals from mills. ): falconfire Yeah, adoption is way different. I wish there was something people could do as well, but so far nothing has worked. The thing is, some parts of the animals care are just necessary, so even for a short period of time, you'd have to meet those needs. If there's no possible way that they can do that, they just shouldn't sell them. But as long as people continue buying the animals, they will continue selling them. Not much can be done unless animal welfare laws become more strict, but I doubt they will, at least for small pets.
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Post by Salted Squid on Aug 5, 2017 0:41:27 GMT -5
~●ℓєgσℓαѕ●~ Eyy I'm in AZ too cx But yeah, like I said I wasn't exactly sure. It stinks that the governor supports puppy mills though because they're usually so cruel. It makes me sick thinking about it
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