Pet Store Horror

[Rocky]

Ok so a month or so ago I posted about a pet store offering a "parsons" chameleon that turned out to be an Oustalet. Well I went home for the weekend and went to that pet store with my little sister to get her a fish and I saw one of the most horrific chameleon's I have ever seen.

There were 2 "veiled chameleons" in a 10 gallon glass aquarium with the bottom lined with a coconut substrate and one vine in it hanging from the top and then a stump in the middle with a vine wrapped around it. These 2 chameleons looked to me like a flapneck chameleon and had a bad case of MBD. The casque looked like it was leathery and all deformed. They were both walking around on the ground. 1 was walking ok, but the other could barely walk. It looked like his legs were going to fall off when he was walking because they were shaking so badly. You could even see lumps on their legs. While I was looking at them the guy was standing behind me saying ya these little guys are doing great! Then he asked me how much they should be eating because I told him I had a veiled that looked nothing like these.

Sorry I needed to rant about this it just really makes me mad when I see pet stores that have no idea what they are doing. I directed them here when they had the "parsons" because I didn't think they were taking good enough care of them but apparently they didn't do any research on their new chameleon's because these looked horrific I tried telling him to go look up better caresheets but I doubt they will.

I wish there was something i could do for them

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

Ok so a month or so ago I posted about a pet store offering a "parsons" chameleon that turned out to be an Oustalet. Well I went home for the weekend and went to that pet store with my little sister to get her a fish and I saw one of the most horrific chameleon's I have ever seen.

There were 2 "veiled chameleons" in a 10 gallon glass aquarium with the bottom lined with a coconut substrate and one vine in it hanging from the top and then a stump in the middle with a vine wrapped around it. These 2 chameleons looked to me like a flapneck chameleon and had a bad case of MBD. The casque looked like it was leathery and all deformed. They were both walking around on the ground. 1 was walking ok, but the other could barely walk. It looked like his legs were going to fall off when he was walking because they were shaking so badly. You could even see lumps on their legs. While I was looking at them the guy was standing behind me saying ya these little guys are doing great! Then he asked me how much they should be eating because I told him I had a veiled that looked nothing like these.

Sorry I needed to rant about this it just really makes me mad when I see pet stores that have no idea what they are doing. I directed them here when they had the "parsons" because I didn't think they were taking good enough care of them but apparently they didn't do any research on their new chameleon's because these looked horrific I tried telling him to go look up better caresheets but I doubt they will.

I wish there was something i could do for them

We all wish there was something we could do. I think the best thing you could do is not give them any business. That is hard to do if they are the only thing around.

 

[Sang]

get a picture of a healthy vieled + enclosure and a unhealthy with that enclosure.

"these guys are doin great"

i hope you said, are you F'n kidding me man? these things are the two worst lookin vieleds i have seen in a while. *go on to explain the problems*


tell him they'll be dead in a few weeks and that if they were to sell these they'd be doin the customer and especially the animal no favors..*well maybe the animal if it gets better care*

 

[Eyal]

get a picture of a healthy vieled + enclosure and a unhealthy with that enclosure.

"these guys are doin great"

i hope you said, are you F'n kidding me man? these things are the two worst lookin vieleds i have seen in a while. *go on to explain the problems*


tell him they'll be dead in a few weeks and that if they were to sell these they'd be doin the customer and especially the animal no favors..*well maybe the animal if it gets better care*

Sang is 100 % correct, try to just fill them with information, and eventually , MAYBE they'll give them to you

 

[Jam]

THere have been two cases where I have bought animals out of petstores that were obviously going to die or were being mistreated

In one case a worker I was familiar with (it's the only place I could buy decent feeders at in the area so they saw me regularly) pulled me aside and explained the situation to me, thought that I would be a good owner for the animal (a parrot) and explained that they would not be getting in any more larger species because he had taken so long to sell. I bought him, and it was a good decision. Yes, I "supported" the pet store but I saved Mojo who is now a sweet, well adjusted parrot.

The other time (different store) was with a bearded dragon baby. I quietly purchased her and once she was purchased and in my hands I calmly explained to them that the only reason I had purchased her was because she was obviously suffering and death was impending and I at the very least did not want to see her suffer any long. I explained the things (calmly and constructively) that they were doing wrong. She pulled through and I brought her back a few weeks later and showed them the difference. They had already implemented some of my suggestions based on my critique of their set up and after seeing her actually did change the rest.

sometimes, if you can approach them in a non-confrontational mannor it can help. If you just yell at them, tell them they're stupid, etc. it will only make them defensive and shut you out.

 

[Eyal]

sometimes, if you can approach them in a non-confrontational mannor it can help. If you just yell at them, tell them they're stupid, etc. it will only make them defensive and shut you out.

Ye, i was just joking.. its both bad buying pets at this kind of pet store, cos they will buy a new parrot, dragon, cham and they will get badly taken care of.. so i wouldnt buy animals there

 

[cLoNe]

there should be a way that if they don't fix the place of living n bring back to health that it can be consider animal cruelty n someone that knows about them n can take care them take them without paying. . cause pet stores should be would spun up with info before acquiring certain animals. . . its just not right. .

 

[Sang]

i wonder though if the BBB and like i dunno the humane society could set something up for proper care for animals within a pet store, this sadly seems to be a trend amongst a few.

there should be standards that all stores must follow and they should have an organization to check them, fine them and help correct problems * i know the amount of money to do this would be astrinomical*

 

[ciafardo 4]

if a store was treating dogs or cats in this manner bet they wouldnt get away with it !

 

[ciafardo 4]

chameleons do not belong in pet stores period a expierienced keeper has a tough enough time with these animals does anyone think your local jerkoff in a pet store can provide them what they need ! simply put we have to tell everyone we know never buy chams from a pet store if they dont sell there stores wont buy them wishful thinking i guess

 

[Sang]

i bought mine from the petstore, hell i coudl of bartered and haggled with them if i wanted to.

well my petstore specializes in fish and reptiles, been in business for 25 years and since then has gotten rid of the birds, dogs, cats and other small mammals other then chincillas , ferrets and sugar gliders as they still sell fairly well and quickly.

i think you have petstores and you have specialty petstores.

arizona seems to focus more on the specialty petstores 3 reptile stores that i know of , 1 mom and pop pet store, petsmart and petco.

 

[hawaiianice99]

depending on where you live you can forward a caresheet and healthy pic to your local animal control, spca. and tell them about the pet store and what is wrong so they can check it out.

But some states dont regulate the care that pet stores have for their animals, so the pet store can let the animal die and its not against any law.

Washington is one of those states!!

 

[Champhibians]

The worst part about this is, you can tell people what to do. But you can not make them listen. I sold 10 veileds to a local pet shop, told them how to care for them. Gave them caresheets to hand out with them. Offered them 2 screen cages to use. They said the were good on the cages and had them. I went back to the store 2days after this, and the had all 10 in a 10gal. I took the last 6 out, paid them what they paid me. They were not to happy about it and got the cops called on me. It was great. But the chams came home with me 4 hours later, and $60 more than they paid for 10. So with that being said I have never sold to a pet shop again and will never.

 

[tryme]

I thought over in the U.S things would be different and you would have a good system to stop these things happening and not just that a good system to help the animal etc. In the U.K, there is LOADS of ''reptile shops'' that actually know bugger all about them and cause them unnecessary suffering. (not that any suffering is at all necessary). But back to my point, in the U.K theres things like this going on all the time and nobody does anything about it.

 

[Sang]

you'd think for any animal that cost over 35 bucks they would be willing to provide better care for these animals.


especially some that cost upward 300 or more. i can't understand some of these petstores sometimes, ive been lucky to the fact that i have only seen on bad store in AZ. but they only carry cheaper reptiles stuff that wouldn't be more then anoles and geckos.

 

[Rocky]

ya i would want to buy these chameleons but they were 120 each. I didn't understand how he could say they were doing great because the chameleon that wasn't walking weird and acted a little healthier had a bad problem with his upper lip and it looked like he had an upper beak or something.

I live in a really small town and the owner is actually a cop and the human society is pretty crummy so I doubt they would do anything

 

[Champhibians]

I sold mine for $25 each to them and they had them priced at $175. Probley why they were not so happy I took them back

 

[Champhibians]

I live in a really small town and the owner is actually a cop and the human society is pretty crummy so I doubt they would do anything

Wow I really cant believe this. If I was you I would just call the cops and make him look like an Idot either way

 

[Rocky]

i will probably be going back home for the weekend and i will definitely bring my healthy veiled by and let him see how a chameleon that is doing good really looks.


I have recently been just utterly disgusted by all pet stores in general. I goto school at Texas Tech University and I took my girlfriend and her friends around to the humane society/pet stores to look at dogs and while we were at the store where I got my veiled from they heard someone saying that they had boxers in the back, so they asked to see them because it was the only kind of dog my girlfriends roommate wanted so we went to look at these dogs they had and they were less than 6 weeks old in a little dark cage in the back. The dogs were not warm at all and there was caked on feces all over the cage. It was horrible. We asked how much they were selling them from and the guy said the owner wouldn't go under 350 for them...

We talked to the guy a little bit more and got the full story and apparently someone brought them in and the owner told them that he couldn't give him very much money for them because they were in such bad condition and the guy wound up leaving them there and they paid absolutely nothing for them. They have had them for a week and I really doubt any of these dogs will survive to be sold due to their conditions. We offered to pay 150 each for all of them just to take them out of that environment and put them on some milk but the owner wouldn't budge at all he was firm on the $350



I now want to drop all of my studies and open up a pet store that actually takes proper care and does adequate research on all animals they hold.

 

[Rocky]

not really sure why it posted that again