Not really cham related so move if necessary. While buying some Crested Geco food i saw a little Anole for sale, cheap $6.99. So waiting 20 minutes for assistance the girl says do you have a cage for him? I said i have a Greenhouse for him to free-range in. She says i can't sell you the lizard unless you have a cage. I said i have a Zoo Med cage for him [i do i'm setting it up for a dart frog]. She said no good, you told me you had a GH so i need proof. Thankfully i had a pic of the tank on my phone. She says do you have any other animals in there? I said no, she said fine i will put him in a box and you can sign the contract. Contract for a $6.99 Anole? Wasted an hour in the store, what a way to do business.
Pet Smart weird policies
- Thread starter jpm995
- Start date
Sherbertsmysunshine
Chameleon Enthusiast
my first cham came from Petco, the only thing they said was that he was a female, (witch he wasn't) and he was around 5 months, turns out he was maximum six weeks old.
Sherbertsmysunshine
Chameleon Enthusiast
they did have two chameleons that seemed very active today, it even hissed at me. (usually, the ones I see are too tired to move, I took this as a LITTLE improvement)
BleuSaphir
Chameleon Enthusiast
You always had to sign a waiver form regarding of any reptiles, small animals and birds.
That form just states they are not liable of animal health upon after purchase, there is return and exchange policy. The form also is written manually of animal you bought.
That form just states they are not liable of animal health upon after purchase, there is return and exchange policy. The form also is written manually of animal you bought.
I was thinking of this while waiting for her to get forms, i was standing in front of the betta bowls and most of them looked terrible. Not moving some sitting on the bottom, some on top not paying attention to the ones right next to them. They seemed near death. Guess what, he's running around in the greenhouse plants right now. Just shut the lights out, bedtime for the repts [except maybe Crested Greko].That is crazy! You need proof of an enclosure, when you are going to free range safely yet THEYcan put betafish in a child’s size cup for their life and that’s ok??Glad you got that sweet little anole.
Seems crazy for a $7 Anole. Do many stores do this? Pretty sure my local pet shop doesn't.
BleuSaphir
Chameleon Enthusiast
Doesn’t matter the cost. Most pet stores don’t. I think it just their way to remind customers they are not responsible of the health of the reptiles/ birds/ small animals after the animal been sold.
Mendez
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree with you, the cost of the animal is irrelevant. A $7 anole and a $1,000 anole are the same. An animal's quality of life doesn't change based on how they are perceived by humans.
Personally, I'm glad that some pet stores have a policy where a picture of a controlled environment (terrarium or other) has to be shown before you can buy an animal. I just think that their policy has to be updated and their employees need to be educated. A greenhouse can make a perfect environment for an anole. A proper greenhouse should be acceptable. But since it's not, I agree with you all: this policy could have robbed a lizard of having an amazing life in a greenhouse.
But I have heard countless anecdotes time and time again of people walking into pet stores and trying to buy animals they are not ready for at all. In a recent Project Herpetoculture podcast episode, Phil, one of the hosts, describes his time working at a pet store and some lady came in asking to buy an iguana. He asked if she had an enclosure and she was dumbfounded that iguanas needed an enclosure. She said she was planning to let the iguana sit on her lap and roam around the house (she lives in Colorado where temps and humidity aren't suitable for a free-ranging iguana with no enclosure or basking light year-round). It should absolutely be a policy at every pet store that they ask for proof of an enclosure. They just need to update their acceptable enclosure list to include greenhouses and any other suitable environment.
With that said, I'm definitely not defending PetCo or PetSmart. They are horrendous and should stick to selling dry goods like dog food and whatnot. The way they keep some of their animals doesn't just border on animal abuse, it full-on crosses the line. Your anecdote proves this:
I get that @jpm995's story shows the ridiculous nature of this policy. But just because a policy exists, and is poorly crafted, doesn't mean that the policy should be removed. It just means that the policy should get updated as herpetoculture changes and progresses.
I see a growing negative sentiment around laws and policies, whether it was created by a pet store or by the government. Our response as keepers can't be to strike down every law, regulation, or policy that potentially hinders our ability to keep reptiles. I firmly believe that we can increase the freedoms we have while eliminating the worst parts of our community with laws, regulations, and other policies. Without them, we are doomed. We have to help educate and form these laws ourselves. No one wants an animal to get MBD because the owner had no idea what they were doing since nobody asked if they had a proper enclosure or a basking light. Policies like this try to prevent this. We just need to make these policies better, not eliminate them altogether.
BleuSaphir
Chameleon Enthusiast
Their enclosure for everything is horrendous. Petco is decent but both companies have all this expansive commercial space to showcase a good enclosure. It mind boggling they can’t feature a good proper setup and can look professional to get interest. Especially with Petsmart. They provide tiny enclosures that so hard to view reptiles and not to mention is not and enough for most. And hard water stains are left. Especially now with their freshwater fish. They gotten smaller in size with their upgraded aquarium stack unit.
Mendez
Chameleon Enthusiast
Agreed, I hate how they display their animals. The leopard gecko caves are always facing the glass, which forces them to sleep out in broad daylight. And occasionally I'll spot a dead fish on the floor that somehow escaped a tank. I will say that some Petsmarts are better than Petco and vice versa. But they are all bad. A lot of it depends on the management of the individual location. Just like some Fast Food restaurants are bad at one location and are decent at another. I've even seen an almost full-grown veiled chameleon stuffed into one of the tiny display boxes that they usually have anoles in (the 6-inch wide display case)
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