Chagrined pet store snob

[hallenhe]

Last summer I moved from Lansing to Lincoln. Lansing has a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful pet store. You could go there just to look at the animals, and it was as good as a museum or a zoo. Each department had their own personnel (so reptiles were sold by reptile people, not people who primarily worked with fish or birds or ferrets). They usually had chameleons (mostly veiled), and these were kept in screen cages, with drippers and appropriate UV-B lighting.
Lincoln has next to nothing (or maybe I haven't found the truly wonderful one yet). A couple of rather sad and sorry fish stores. PetCo and PetSmart. But PetCo's nearby, and they have a decent array of feeder insects, so I find myself going there. And here's the thing: if I bought 150 crickets from my beloved pet store in Lansing, I was back buying more in 10 days - 14, tops. Here I buy 150 crickets and it's a good month before I have to go back. I'm not keeping them differently. I'm not feeding any fewer off. Some die off in the cage, but much, much fewer. PetCo - at least the one on 48th and O in Lincoln, NE - has discovered the secret of Indestructible Crickets.

 

[laurie]

Grief what size crickets are you buying? A cricket only lives 7 weeks. Are you sure these are live crickets, maybe they are selling stuffed crickets.

 

[Carlton]

Either that or their supplier's stock didn't carry the cricket virus that has killed off so many others.

 

[ChameleonRave]

Last summer I moved from Lansing to Lincoln. Lansing has a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful pet store. You could go there just to look at the animals, and it was as good as a museum or a zoo. Each department had their own personnel (so reptiles were sold by reptile people, not people who primarily worked with fish or birds or ferrets). They usually had chameleons (mostly veiled), and these were kept in screen cages, with drippers and appropriate UV-B lighting.
Lincoln has next to nothing (or maybe I haven't found the truly wonderful one yet). A couple of rather sad and sorry fish stores. PetCo and PetSmart. But PetCo's nearby, and they have a decent array of feeder insects, so I find myself going there. And here's the thing: if I bought 150 crickets from my beloved pet store in Lansing, I was back buying more in 10 days - 14, tops. Here I buy 150 crickets and it's a good month before I have to go back. I'm not keeping them differently. I'm not feeding any fewer off. Some die off in the cage, but much, much fewer. PetCo - at least the one on 48th and O in Lincoln, NE - has discovered the secret of Indestructible Crickets.

Welcome to the mid-west! We have the worst pet stores... Try coming to South Dakota! There is literally nothing! The owner of our petshop knows next to nothing, acts like she knows everything or as my friend would say "ERRTHANG" lol. I always try to tell her about stuff I learn on here and she snubs it.. She say they aren't correct. One day she was telling me that my chameleon eggs aren't going to hatch out and if any do half will not hatch out and the ones that hatch out, half of those will die off! WHERE IS SHE GETTING THIS BULLCRAP!? Ugh.. I know exactly what you mean.. She gets in these animals, says that she cleans the enclosures before she puts a new one in, and she obviously doesn't.. she just had some sort of plated lizard in a 20 gallon long, with a UVB and basking light, wood chips and a water dish for it to get into.. Well the same exact things where in with the lizard... UGH. and then she charges WAY too much for things! 15 bucks for a fake plant that cost like $5 at Petco or Petsmart.. ugh she rips people off right and left.. She always asks about my Chameleons and turtles and then when I tell her about them she tells me to change their habitat... and she rolls her eyes as if she is always correct and I'm wrong.. But the last time I checked she breeds dogs and rodents and she will NEVER touch a reptile.. not even a turtle.. Yeah she sure knows her facts.. I am always trying to get a different petshop here. Even if its a Petsmart or Petco to get rid of the crappy petshop we have.. I have tried to get a job there but she will not hire me.. she says its a family owned business... she has only one kid and no husband/boyfriend.. I think she is discouraged because she knows I will tell people to do their research and to buy somewhere else.. I'm on to her.


End of rant! But I can't go to Omaha! BOOOHOOOO. I was looking forward to it.. I guess I can go to one in Oct.

 

[hallenhe]

Zac, bummer you can't go to Omaha; sure the snow won't have cleared up by Sunday? Either way, they'll be there in October.
Laurie, I'm buying large crickets; for whatever reason, they just last and last... I'm not complaining. Neither is Beatrix. McGinty says he'd rather have a worm.

 

[ChameleonRave]

Zac, bummer you can't go to Omaha; sure the snow won't have cleared up by Sunday? Either way, they'll be there in October.
Laurie, I'm buying large crickets; for whatever reason, they just last and last... I'm not complaining. Neither is Beatrix. McGinty says he'd rather have a worm.

I hope it does! But I doubt we will still go.. I just got an interview for monday for a new job so maybe I can start ordering new things again

 

[Elizadolots]

I've found that PetCo has the best crickets here too. Maybe they have one provider nationally. It's rare for me to have any die at all and when there are, it's very few. One or two in 2 weeks. And, these are the nice brown crickets, not the scary black ones.

 

[djfishygillz]

im sorry but i have to say petco and pesmarts have the worst crickets ive even bought. they are over priced and die in like 2 days. i have local small pet shops or I order online and they are healthy and gut loaded. not starved from some highschool kid who doesn't know how to do his job. lol

sorry just mho

 

[Spunky]

The closest petsmart to me is over 50 miles away and the crickets i get there always die rather quickly

 

[hallenhe]

im sorry but i have to say petco and pesmarts have the worst crickets ive even bought. they are over priced and die in like 2 days. i have local small pet shops or I order online and they are healthy and gut loaded. not starved from some highschool kid who doesn't know how to do his job. lol

sorry just mho

Nothing to be sorry about, LOL! I'm sure it differs from store to store. I was just bemused that, in this case, the big chain, mediocre store seems to be providing me with much better crickets than the locally-owned, top end store.

 

[KatiLemons]

We have a semi mom and pop pet store that is managed by a local grocerie store chain. They have really healthy meaty crickets. I usually buy from the local petsmart but I think that I am gonna start purchasing from the local store!! I think that the petsmart inventory is nice but I feel like i have to prove myself to some of the staff with knowledge on Chameleons. Its almost like they are "testing" my information when they are the ones with a male vieled in a glass terrarium with substrate and not very good ventilations......

 

[Elizadolots]

I would always buy from a local store if I could get the nice brown crickets, however, the local "mom and pop" stores here all seem to have the mean nasty black crickets. Until I'm forced to, I won't be buying those.

 

[KatiLemons]

All the places around here sell the brown crickets. I never really thought about the difference. I probably would buy the brown over the black too!!! They are pretty nasty lookin....

 

[Elizadolots]

The black crickets are a different class of cricket entirely. They bite! People here have been bitten. They eat each other in preference to other food, that I've seen.

While I hate all of that, I could probably get over it if it weren't for the fact they don't climb to the top. You really have to rip their legs off and cup feed them (and, you don't want to know what happens in the cup...it's nasty).

Left to their own devices, they congregate on the bottom and stage mortal battles that end in cannibalistic orgies of gluttony.

In a world that's "not pretty" these things are downright ugly.

 

[Texas Ranger]

There supplier is Timberline. when we went to the NARBC show in Texas they were giving away free feeders.

 

[KatiLemons]

Well..... I am really glad that I dont have the black crickets around here if they bite! I was feeding my cham a couple superworms (for a treat) the other day and I had no idea if they bite and that got me thinking about what feeders do actually bite that are commonly fed to chams? I was not a fanof how fast those superworms are either!