Jackson Cham @ Petsmart in AWEFULL conditions!

[DJexotics]

So I went to Petsmart today, and found a female Jackson in aweful conditions! It was in a VERY small glass cage with no humidity... It had tons of stuck shed from being so dry! It had tons of kinks down its back & on its tail! The lady didn't know anything about it, and said that she needed to be soaked in water so she will shed properly! (Is it even ok to soak??).
The back legs didnt work properly, and the lady just reached in and tried to grab & pull it all crazy! I had to interviene and say that I would get it, cuz I know how to get ahold of them! I told her they are slow, and you gotta do things on their time!

I didnt say much, I just kinda played dumb, so I could get all the information that they had on it! But I am planning on going back tomorrow to speak to the manager!
I wanna give them a care sheet and offer to adopt it, since it is in such aweful condition! I wanna take my male in, and show them how a healthy one should look, and how the bones shouldnt be showing if it is eating properly!

***If there is any info you guys could give me I would greatly appreciate it! Any caresheets would be awesome also, and any advice on what I should say would help! (I am a wimp at confronting people!).

~Thanks for your time!

 

[Playdo]

They have similar care needs as other chams though they do like it to be colder during the night time( mine seem to be comfortable in the low 70s-high 60s) that's the only thing I can think of at the moment. As for the shedding they can do a couple extra mistings(if they even do mist them) directly to the Cham lightly to help release the shedding easier. Hope this helped

 

[DJexotics]

Yea the lady told me that they should have done a misting earlier in the day, & that she would do another one when she got to it!! She coulda just taken an extra minute to do it then, but she had to get back to the cats!!
So I doubt they are misting more then once a day!!

 

[yeahbuddy661]

Petco/petsmart should not sale chameleons.

 

[Baby Lobie]

Petco/petsmart should not sale chameleons.

i agree.. every time i go to my local petsmart and i ask about chameleons they say "I really dont know much about chameleons.. honestly.. so i couldnt help you.." but yet they have a chameleon for sale every time! so i wonder how they take care of it... hmmm... ??!! and they dont even sell screen cages.. all glass! i was looking for a cage for my panther once and they recommended a tank.. !? i just went home and hopped on here for any questions. from what i have seen.. they advise to house the chams like the beardies..

 

[stasisb5a4]

I went to petsmart a couple weeks ago and took this pictures of a Jackson, this was taken in the afternoon.

Sleeping? at 2 pm?! Bowl of water?

 

[SarahcoadunatioZac]

Report this to Animal Control, they will do an investigation and look into the well-being of the reptile.

Happened twice when I worked at Petco (both times unwarranted, we didnt sell any expert-keeper reptiles.) they show up unannounced, handle and look at the conditions of the reptile/animal.

 

[FrankTheTank]

Should be more stringent laws against selling reptiles without any real knowledge of the animal. Sucks that people are only in it for the money and not for the well-being of the animal. They don't care as long as it gets sold

 

[Decadancin]

It's unfortunate that they sell chams. I know of one Petsmart store that is near me that has an awesome cham guy, but it is rare. He is the guy that probably spends his paycheck on chams before he gets it . The difference is, he owns chams. They should have to train in the basics and should be required to have proper set-ups, but that's not how pet stores work. Think about their fish tanks. Nothing is set up for what fish are safe with others, and then you bring them home. DISASTER!

 

[AngieL]

Here's a great care sheet to print out and give to them https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/hoj/634-montane-chameleon-care-info.html

I hope they listen to you and fix up the poor girl!

 

[FrankTheTank]

It's unfortunate that they sell chams. I know of one Petsmart store that is near me that has an awesome cham guy, but it is rare. He is the guy that probably spends his paycheck on chams before he gets it . The difference is, he owns chams. They should have to train in the basics and should be required to have proper set-ups, but that's not how pet stores work. Think about their fish tanks. Nothing is set up for what fish are safe with others, and then you bring them home. DISASTER!

I got my guy from petsmart b/c I had never seen a cham for 60 bucks. He was on sale and was the cutest little lizard I had ever seen so I just had to get him. They didn't know much about him other than he was a he. But I took him home and quickly did my homework. I still have some work to do to his cage but I converted my custom-built all plexi iguana terrarium and put screen on both ends to help with ventilation, and am in the process of designing a whole new setup that will be taller ( possibly floor to ceiling)

Back to my point....most major pet chains don't know JACK about the animals they sell. If its a reptile they pretty much treat them all the same. You'd think a store manager would at least do a little homework on the animals he sells and properlly train his/her employees

 

[ChameleonMom]

That is so pitiful. The big box stores are always looking at the bottom line with regards to profit, with no consideration given to the animals themselves. I bought an 11 week old veiled back in January from PetSmart and 'he' was actually a she and she had pneomonia that wasn't actually caught until the summer. She is fine now and prospering but ya, I'll be hard pressed to buy from a big box in the future. When I see them in those little glass cages I just want to save them all!

I hope you can enlighten the store and perhaps save the Jackson. Good luck!

 

[Calypso]

Petco is hopeless. I've been wanting to file a report to the SPCA on the one here for a while. Nothing much is going to change the fact that they don't have people capable of taking care of their animals. It's just a sad fact of life.

 

[Calypso]

Oops sorry I went off in my Petco tangent, but the Petsmart here isn't a whole lot better either. The last three Jackson's they've had have died.

 

[justjumpit621]

petco and petsmart are bad, but pet supplies plus is worst! I just rescued an anole from them, here is what he looks like. Poor little dude... When I started working there I was appauled at the condition their adult male veiled was in. He was laying on the ground, dehydrated, and looked like GUMBY! His ribs and legs were all broken and bent and he stopped eating, also had gout AND gular edema. Needless to say he passed about a month after I started.

and no I don't work for the company, I am a pet food representative.

 

[lovepicasso]

I can't complain about our local petsmart......the reptile manager there is a Herpetologist and keeps the reptiles there looking great.....if we had not known she was a herpetologist we won't have bought Picasso there....they have a program there with the vet clinic, All Creatures and each animal is given a check up before they are sold.

 

[justjumpit621]

I can't complain about our local petsmart......the reptile manager there is a Herpetologist and keeps the reptiles there looking great.....if we had not known she was a herpetologist we won't have bought Picasso there....they have a program there with the vet clinic, All Creatures and each animal is given a check up before they are sold.

That's good. The ones around here won't hire me and I'm assuming it's because I am actually knowledgeable with reptiles and they don't want to deal with me.

 

[FrankTheTank]

Just went to petsmart to get a few crickets to hold Franklin over till my shipment gets here and saw this poor Jackson hiding in the cage with a bowl of water. His poop looked strange. Like it was Orange. I took a picture but it won't let me upload through the phone

 

[lovepicasso]

That's good. The ones around here won't hire me and I'm assuming it's because I am actually knowledgeable with reptiles and they don't want to deal with me.

That could be true plus they may think you would demand more dollars than they want to spend, when can can hire some young kid to do the job, do it and not khow what they are doing.......this really upsets me when I see these people taking care of these animals and don't have a clue.

 

[Chameleonsthecoolest]

I'm lucky we have a pet store in my local area that only sells reptiles and they know what they are talking about. I have got all my reptiles there except for 1 that I got at a repti con. They are great I get all my feeders from there. Usally give me more than I pay for when petco and petsmart don't even give me 3/4 of what I pay for plus petco and petsmart are more expensive