I went to PetSmart today

[ZoeRipper]

For my fish, I wanted to get them another hidey hole for Christmas. I took a gander to the reptile section, and I was like "Surely they wouldn't have any chameleons." Sure enough, they do. Two baby vieleds, about three inches each. IN THE SAME CAGE. I may be new, but one thing I've learned from reading these threads is that that's a no-no. The manager was right there, and here's how our conversation went:

Me: "These really need to be in a bigger enclosure."
Him: "Oh don't worry, they're just babies."
Me: "Yeah but there's two in there.. They shouldn't be together."
Him: "It's big enough."
Me: "And they shouldn't be in glass either, they need to be in screen."
Him: "It's acriliyc."
Me: "How do you know?"
Him: "...Look, if you want them to be treated better, buy'em. If not, get out."

God I hate that.

Edit: I forgot to tell you I measured the dimensions of the cage, roughly.
9"tall, 8" wide and 10" deep.

 

[Chase]

Good try. Sometimes they don't listen. Hopefully someone will purchase them, and hopefully they have some chameleon knowledge before buying it.

 

[Syn]

I love how they do that, and they always price them 400% more than they should be.

 

[Courtney]

they are still young enough to be housed together..( people keep clutches in baby bins) you are pretty right about the glass however some people keep babies in glass etc to maintain humidity. im not justifying them in any way though. they care they give sucks. even if you but them they will most likely die within a year. they lack the general knowledge of chams and what they are in hasnt ever been cleaned between different species so there is no telling how sick they are geting by the day.

 

[justjumpit621]

yup, they're idiots. I adopted Molly from petsmart, that is I rescued her for free because she was "defective and going to die soon anyway" as they said. She was so sick an we're finally getting somewhere.

 

[samthecham]

Yeah, I saw the same thing at my petsmart. Tried to tell them to change the setup, and I got the same thing. They don't listen.

 

[ZoeRipper]

I would love to have bought them both, take them home and try to give them a good life, but sadly I don't have $200.

 

[pssh]

Its because keeping chameleons any other way in a pet store is impractical for business. They want to make money and chameleons are not easy to make money off of. The good news is, with large chain stores like petsmart/petco the babies usually get bought really fast. The bad news is, they don't give out care sheets with proper instructions and offer bad advise. I have found that the petsmart/petcos near me do sell screen cages and real plants with drippers, automatic misters, waterfalls, substrate, UVB lighting, and heating With the animal though. They try to sell as much as they can to make up for what they spent feeding the lizard. It's just some of what they sell is bad for the lizard.

I disagree with the statement that they will most likely die within a year. My last chameleon was a pet store veiled and he had wonderful neon turquoise colors with yellow bars and he live to be almost 7 years old! It's all about how you take care of them and if you make sure they're healthy when you buy them. I believe jannb's Louie is a petsmart veiled also and he's wonderful!

 

[devilyellow]

The bad news is, they don't give out care sheets with proper instructions and offer bad advise.

I've been reading about panther chameleon's for awhile now and am hoping to get setup with one next year. I was at a Petsmart today for cat food and litter and walked by the reptile area. There were care sheets up for various reptiles. One for a Jackson Cham, bearded dragon, etc ... I picked up the one for the Panther Cham and it read thru it, it was nearly identical to everything I've read so far.

 

[justjumpit621]

I've been reading about panther chameleon's for awhile now and am hoping to get setup with one next year. I was at a Petsmart today for cat food and litter and walked by the reptile area. There were care sheets up for various reptiles. One for a Jackson Cham, bearded dragon, etc ... I picked up the one for the Panther Cham and it read thru it, it was nearly identical to everything I've read so far.

The problem is they don't tell you key points that are essential for keeping your chameleons, I have also read through the panther care sheet. It was very vague.

 

[pssh]

Exactly, that's where the proper part of my post comes from. I've read the care sheets too, and they have most of the things you need to know but they don't really explain it. Ex: mist it a few times a day so that it has water. What does a few mean? How long? What kind of water? With what?is an automatic mister required? How often? They answer one question but leave so many more.

 

[renzo0684]

Whats really sad you get a lot of the same answeres if you got into a regular pet shop... If I had the money I would go to my local pet shop and buy the male meller, female jackson, male graceful cham, and 3 (yes I said 3) week old veiled.....It makes me sad that I cant help these chameleons.....

 

[OOOst16]

yeah petsmart is natoriuos for seeling chams in the rong cage ....petsmart and jacks aquarium are idiots....i had the exact same convo with a store worker. they sell all vields...babys or older for 99 dollars...they dont sex them for you ( so unnolligble people dont know to get a laying bin in the futuer or not...and not to mention the increased calcium needed when a femals pregnant...and so on)....and the babys have burn scars on them ...and all sorts of crap....the one near me had one with sunken eyes....i fell so sad because one there expensive ....so people dont buy them so easily....and 2nd people dont know how to take care of them. so they just sit in there glass cage with a waterbowl and small woodchip substrate....thing is i go there to buy supers and crix....so i have to see the poor chams ....i cant buy them all!( the cham i have.... i saved from a jacks aquarium and pets....he didnt even have a stick to climb on in his cage....he also had a waterbowl....crist it sickens me....he was literly forced to walk on the floor)

 

[jessica]

I read " I went to PetSmart today" and knew it couldn't be good

It is completely unfortunate, corporations don't want to spend the couple extra dollars to properly treat there reptiles (though there guniea pigs cages aren't perfect either)

The thing that has ALWAYS baffield me is alot of them have a Banfield Vet office and groomer attached and the animals are not properly housed or cared for.

 

[LSepkowski]

yeah petsmart is natoriuos for seeling chams in the rong cage ....petsmart and jacks aquarium are idiots....i had the exact same convo with a store worker. they sell all vields...babys or older for 99 dollars...they dont sex them for you ( so unnolligble people dont know to get a laying bin in the futuer or not...and not to mention the increased calcium needed when a femals pregnant...and so on)....and the babys have burn scars on them ...and all sorts of crap....the one near me had one with sunken eyes....i fell so sad because one there expensive ....so people dont buy them so easily....and 2nd people dont know how to take care of them. so they just sit in there glass cage with a waterbowl and small woodchip substrate....thing is i go there to buy supers and crix....so i have to see the poor chams ....i cant buy them all!( the cham i have.... i saved from a jacks aquarium and pets....he didnt even have a stick to climb on in his cage....he also had a waterbowl....crist it sickens me....he was literly forced to walk on the floor)

Is there any way that you could maybe volunteer like 2 times a week to go to the pet shop and take care of them? Maybe the chams aren't in the right cages and everything, but you could at least give them vines to crawl on and just help the ignorant employees how to take care of them, by using drippers and stuff.

 

[pssh]

Is there any way that you could maybe volunteer like 2 times a week to go to the pet shop and take care of them? Maybe the chams aren't in the right cages and everything, but you could at least give them vines to crawl on and just help the ignorant employees how to take care of them, by using drippers and stuff.

Type up a care sheet and ask an employee if they will take a look at it. Show them pictures. I've found a few employees that wanted to learn more about chameleons when I had to bring mine in. I had to stop by a pet store after a vet visit and didn't want to leave him in the car so I wrapped a jacket around the tub, but the employees were curious about how I got him to grow so big and why he didn't die.

 

[OOOst16]

i did speak to both jacks and petsmart about care. everything i learned on the forums went into the managers heads. they both said they would do research. i referd them hear to this sight as a matter of fact. i basicly told him what he needed to correct in his housing. no substrate vented cage.ect.... they did have plenty of foiliage/ vines....but they had a waterbowl and substrate and a glass cage. he said the babys did get misted....so that was a relief. 3 times a day ,but the temp in the cage was at 90 degrees! im suprised they didnt burn up!. so im hoping they have made the correction. im going there tonight. i shall see if they are still there....and if they have made the changes.

 

[Carlton]

Sometimes a particular store will be lucky enough to have a caring interested employee who wants to learn. Most stores won't be so lucky. I've found most stores who don't know me as a repeat customer won't listen to my "advice". After all, why should they trust someone who walks in off the street? I've found if I come back with copies of a good caresheet or copied pages out of a published husbandry book they are a bit more receptive. I don't lecture or threaten, or get rude. There's no quicker way to turn them off, and really the point is to help the cham not stroke my own ego. I've also cultivated a relationship with a local store that tends to carry chams regularly. I chat the employees up, introduce myself to the manager in a friendly way, buy some supplies, offer to do some care research for them, and very casually start passing on husbandry info. Once they know they have a customer who is interested in them and in their stock, it helps a lot.

I have volunteered at pet shops before. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Pet stores who were more likely to care about their stock were glad to have my time and help (but probably would have listened to good care info anyway), but bad stores didn't bother either way.

Much as I HATE to leave chams in poor stores, I try as hard as I can NOT to buy them. Having animals die is a financial hit for the store and might convince them not to buy more animals in future. I will not "rescue" a cham unless it is obviously sick or going downhill...(I'll take it off your hands for half price). It doesn't matter what the original price is...$200 or $50.

 

[Chamlo]

In the mall near me there is a private owned exotic reptile shop. They have everything from chams to sugar gliders. Even better 70% of what they sell is bred by them. They have a vast knowledge of everything there and will answer all questions right. The animals are a little pricey, I paid $110 for my Monty, but all of them are healthy and very well cared for. They are probably do high priced because they need to pay to stay in the mall and keep up with all the supplies they need to private breed the chams. They're called Rasmussen Reptiles. It's a great place and I'd stay there all day if I could. They even referred me to a get chameleon vet. In the front you even get to see the incubators for chams, geckos, beardies, and snakes. It's a great break from seeming the poor chameleons at petsmart when I need cheap crickets. Oh and RR has a great feeder selection like roaches and silkworms. Sadly they are also pricy. I really hate petsmart and petco.....

 

[Hoj]

Just a fyi this thread is 3 yrs old