Ok, need the opinions of you guys/girls on here.

[SoCal Soldier]

So today I went to visit my local Petco to walk around and check on the animals. Today I get a text saying one of their veiled are half off due to "his" size, so I went in to check it out. When I got there I saw that it was not a male but a female, looked about a juvenile about the size of my palm. She seemed really sweet so me and wife thought about going with this cham rather than getting the baby panther we saw for sale.

Ok this is were I need your help, so upon holding her I see she has MBD in all of her limbs. The front right is pretty bad, the others 3 do not look as bad.(Sorry forgot to take pictures I will take some tomorrow) See was shaking when she was walking on my hand, it broke both my heart and my wife's. What really got us is when she fell from her little try and could barely get back up

So I explained to the Asst. that she has MBD, and they did not know what that was. So we are debating on adopting her, to try and nurse her back to health. I know we want a panther but I would rather save a animal in need. So tomorrow I am meeting with the GM and the Asst. to talk about this problem, most likely trying to get her for adoption rather than a sale. My question is has anyone dealt with MBD were it is not so severe and can get her on the right nutrition to a better health. I saw a post where one was so bad the arms were like a U and it showed 8months later they were better but not perfect. Sorry for a long post

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Yes, many people on the forums, including myself had nursed animals that had severe mbd. As you prob know it cannot be reversed, only halted. With young animals there are plenty of risks and just providing optimal care sometimes is not enough. Sometimes it is just too late. In my opinion, if they let you adopt her for no cost, I would say do it. But in my experience they rarely part with animals for free, it is a business. I know because I rescued a jax that was face down in the dirt at a petco with bad mbd. He is much better, but still requires much more care and monitoring than my other chams. He causes a lot of worry. So just know nothing is guaranteed with health but anything is possible.

 

[Uberob]

Go for it.

 

[Battlecat29]

It's already half off- so they may let you adopt it since she is sick or give you more off - that would help with vet bill by saving on initial cost of chameleon. Good luck

 

[Montium]

I'll be the bad guy here and say that buying it will only encourage them to get more animals that they have no clue how to keep properly. If they will give her to you, go for it. If they recover any cash at all they will just buy more animals to slowly kill off. Harsh but true.

 

[SoCal Soldier]

To everyone who replied thank you for your input, and I am going to try to get her for free. If I do end up paying for her, well I can tell you that 15 day period where they send them to the vet I will take advantage of that.

I know it is sad that no matter what they do not care its money to them. The girl who I am cool with there said the manager there does not care so she is telling me to talk to the GM and we can work something out. After this I am going to do as much as I can to educate one of the sales Asst. who I talk to every time I am there. I just do not want her dying in their worst case scenario I can make her comfortable if the worst happens.

 

[AlbertEinstein]

I got my Jacksons from the Petco near here, but I live in Oregon so our Petcos are very well managed. If they weren't, they would have hippies protesting outside, lol. Regardless, my petco gave me 35% off for giving us the wrong age of Albert and they were super nice. I also have returned probably half of the things I've bought since I've been constantly learning more and more since I bought him and optimizing his living conditions and every single time I go in and it's super fast and convenient.

My friend works at the Petco in Salem, Oregon and they have a very strict policy regarding returns on pets that are not well. You return them within 15 days of purchase, they then put them into a Wellness and Care room specifically for nursing sick animals, they then have 24 hours to get the animal you returned to a vet with knowledge in that particular animal, then they have the most experienced employee at that store administer the medicine and care for the pet until it is healthy again, at which point they call you and let you know so you can come buy it back.

I'm just saying, for one, at least at our Petcos, the animals they purchase HAVE to be examined by a vet and shown to be healthy prior to be on the shelf. So, if there are sick veileds with MBD in their shelves then it's their fault and you need to call corporate to get a full investigation done. In the mean time, you could possibly save an animal by buying it and immediately giving it back to them saying you want to return it for a vet examination.

 

[ir0k]

I'll be the bad guy here and say that buying it will only encourage them to get more animals that they have no clue how to keep properly. If they will give her to you, go for it. If they recover any cash at all they will just buy more animals to slowly kill off. Harsh but true.

to some degree I totally agree with you, but from past experiances with places like petco, it wont matter. if that animal dropped dead they'd just throw it out. If a vet walked in there and told the manager it still wouldn't matter.

At least in this situation, the animal has a chance. cause leaving it there in petco, its demise is a sure thing.

 

[rshewfel]

I agree with montium. I would not buy her. They will have one for you to "rescue" every month, if you buy them.

 

[SoCal Soldier]

Ya, as time has gone by we are sure we are going to get her. hopefully talking to the GM they can make a new protocol on these animals.

AlbertEinstein ya I do the same with my stuff, I go there a lot for little things and my dog food, so they really work with me. This is how I got to know that this girl was half off. If it comes to buying her then at least I can bring her right back to get that treatment started at Petco's expense. I might just buy her so I get that 15day because IDK if I get her under adoption will I get the 15 day?

Ya so after tomorrow I am going to make sure they change this cause they have 4 more babies in another tank and I would hate to see them all develop MBD and be tossed away. So corporate might be getting a call

 

[AlbertEinstein]

Ya, as time has gone by we are sure we are going to get her. hopefully talking to the GM they can make a new protocol on these animals.

AlbertEinstein ya I do the same with my stuff, I go there a lot for little things and my dog food, so they really work with me. This is how I got to know that this girl was half off. If it comes to buying her then at least I can bring her right back to get that treatment started at Petco's expense. I might just buy her so I get that 15day because IDK if I get her under adoption will I get the 15 day?

Ya so after tomorrow I am going to make sure they change this cause they have 4 more babies in another tank and I would hate to see them all develop MBD and be tossed away. So corporate might be getting a call

If the managers are not cooperating with you to make sure their "product" is healthy and well taken care of, then you'd be surprised how much corporate will work with you to make sure an investigation takes place. Petco gets a really bad rap because of poorly managed ones in high population areas, but they have no choice but to care if you put some effort into it.

If you get her for free then I doubt you can get the 15 day health guarantee. What I would do is literally go in, buy her, and immediately return her right there saying she has MBD and needs to be treated. They have no choice but to follow protocol and if they don't then they're risking their jobs, especially their managers. Do this, document everything, take pictures, and if nothing changes then talk to corporate and give them all your evidence.

 

[SoCal Soldier]

[

If you get her for free then I doubt you can get the 15 day health guarantee. What I would do is literally go in, buy her, and immediately return her right there saying she has MBD and needs to be treated. They have no choice but to follow protocol and if they don't then they're risking their jobs, especially their managers. Do this, document everything, take pictures, and if nothing changes then talk to corporate and give them all your evidence.[/QUOTE]

Ya doing some thinking I would rather just buy her so I can get that 15day, I mean she is 45$ and I have 10$ rewards so really I am paying 35$. plus I can get that 15day guarantee.

 

[AlbertEinstein]

That would be my suggestion. Just be sure to document everything.

 

[SoCal Soldier]

Sorry for the late response. So I went in to get her and long story short the "reptile expert" who was in charge of the area pulled her off and was going to get the health treatment started. So I may not have been able to get her but she is on a pathway to some much needed treatment, I am going to poke my head in to check on her. Also I was able to educate the employee about what they need and what they where doing wrong, I told them that they need to change because I do not want to see their four babies they have end up the same way. As long as they change and continue I will not file a complaint with corporate and file an investigation claim.