Petsmart/Petland/Mom&Pop

[Vince]

Things like this piss me off. If we can turn in our neighbor for neglecting a dog. Why cant we turn in our local pet store for neglecting several chams.

If i were to see this in our local pet store i would tell the owners how big of pieces of sh#$ they were, for sure! Especially after they have been told what they are doing is wrong.

 

[viaje]

My thought is.. why not do it yourself? If you work at a pet store and have access, why not give an extra mist to the reptiles? The store manager should be pleased that you are a real go getter and going above the call of duty, eh?

There was a chick who was asked to sell a chameleon at our Petsmart and she actually stood up and said she wouldnt sell it if they didnt supply/buy the right products. Her boss told her it didnt matter, she couldnt refuse a buyer so out the door with a 10 gallon they went..

Having worked there for over a year, that girl is ABSOLUTELY allowed and should be ENCOURAGED to deny sales to people who aren't equipped to care for the animals. There is no question about it, PetSmart reserves the right to refuse any sale. So you should have a talk with your local PetSmart about why they're sending animals home to die.

Right now would be a great time to make a fuss about an employee you don't like- PetSmarts everywhere are letting tons of people go, and they're looking for any reason to do it. (trust me, I know.)

 

[viaje]

I'd also like to add a rather infuriating visit I had to PetSmart about a week ago. Since I was 'let go' I can't get my own crickets anymore, so while I was waiting I wandered over to the reptile habitat and looked at the two veileds- one good thing I can say is that although Sandfire Reptiles stupidly sent the store a double shipment, I had taught the employees well enough that the veilds had to be separate- which they were.

They were very obviously male and female, and the male was showing some signs of irritation in his right eye, which I hope was easily flushed out.

Now, the girl working at the time used to be my best friend, I got her the job and told her EVERYTHING she must to know or read up on to be able to work there. I walked over to her and (assuming she had learned all about veilds, like I told her to) said "someone should take a look at the male veild's right eye, it looks like it's bugging him." The girl stares at me dumbfounded, and after a few seconds "...which one?" me, furious, yelled "THE MALE!" and left her to figure out which one's which. If she had done what I had asked in the first place, she should have known every animal in the store inside out.

My point is, although there are employees who love helping people and go above and beyond with things that no employee is exactly expected to know (trust me, I was one, and I know plenty more) there are airheads like this girl who simply couldn't care less- and are just there for a paycheck.

 

[blackbetty]

Viaje:Sorry you lost your job.

yea, we wanna open a store but know its not the time. We have pretty much only one decent store here. Not a chain and its pretty popular but pretty far out. One that I have reported, and then Petsmart. Here is what i posted in another thread for anyone wanting more info. I cant remember exactly how I contacted the animal people for my state but I did.

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I called the local state people who overlooked the petstore and their laws about it.. Gosh the title slips me..They said they can only fine in the case of cats and dogs but they could TALK to the store.. well, the pet shop STILL has the skeletons of 2 Tokays in the tank that have been there for well OVER 3 months now.. they did remove the dead geckos since they were in plain view an I complained.. Its unfair how these animals are ranked differently because they are not common. (This is alocal pet store that I wont even step foot in anymore. It reaks and they sell mutts and pass them off as designer breeds)
Here is a link I found:

http://www.petstoreabuse.com/laws.html

http://www.petstoreabuse.com/cando_print.html

http://www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a1_petshoplaws_state.php

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/petstore.htm

 

[Todnedo]

Looks like petland is in some hot water http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29763251/

I have built several petlands for a company I used to work for and have met some of the "Big wigs" from petland corporate and its very clear they are only out for the money.

They sell a store for about a million dollar to a franchisee!
The one in my home town has folded 3 times in 5 years,
which I love because the franchisee owns the merchandise and will sell it at 50-70% off to try to recoup some coin.

 

[kuskye25]

thank god none of my local pet stores carry chameleons or theyd all be dead, they cant even keep a leopard gecko right, around here they have them on anything from eco-earth to calcium sand all totally wrong, and they say its company policy and cant be changed petco,petsmart,mom&pop i have them all and none do it all right. i hate how everyone handles fish, 1. fish should never touch the air, do what it takes, make it happen jes its not hard....

anymore i dont care i just go to all of them and pic the best one and bitch them out to high hell, telling them over and over if they do something wrong.

end result paying someone $6 to $8 an hour they wont know everything about every animal they sell... period. i know noone that does it all perfect for all the animals they sell in retail pet stores. some are good in certain areas but never good in all and to work that job you have to be.

i tell them all the time hire me for $12 an hour and youll need almost noone else and shit will be researched and done right and policies broke to make it right if need be..

anyway thanks for the post i relieved the tension built up for a while, hahahah

 

[Dave Weldon]

...I called the local state people who overlooked the petstore and their laws about it....They said they can only fine in the case of cats and dogs but they could TALK to the store...

Howdy Amanda,

Sometimes it turns into a case of: "Be careful what you wish for" . Someone reported the local reptile store regarding some small issue about a rabbit and the State(?) inspectors wrote them up for not having water dishes in the chameleon enclosures whose water supply came from a $200 mist system that I installed for fun . It took me about 5 phone calls to get things turned around. Like I always say: "No good deed goes unpunished" .

 

[Syn]

Howdy Amanda,

Sometimes it turns into a case of: "Be careful what you wish for" . Someone reported the local reptile store regarding some small issue about a rabbit and the State(?) inspectors wrote them up for not having water dishes in the chameleon enclosures whose water supply came from a $200 mist system that I installed for fun . It took me about 5 phone calls to get things turned around. Like I always say: "No good deed goes unpunished" .

That's ridiculous. Obviously the inspectors are clueless.

 

[desultadox]

One thing I don't understand is how they can sell the animals for so much money but can't afford to take proper care of them. Our site sponsors can sell Veileds for ~$35-$40. Certainly the big chains can get bulk discounts on these animals and probably get them for next to nothing. Everything else they use should also be bulk discounted; food, cages, equipment, etc. So why do they have to charge over $100 for these animals? A proper setup would pay for itself over time as it could be reused over and over as new stock comes in. Generally the way retail works is the main product (in this case, the animal) is sold for little to no profit while accessories (cage, lights, food, etc.) with extreme mark-up are recommended. At over $100 they must be making a healthy profit off of a Veiled. Those profits could easily be used to take better care of it.

Oh and as for not allowing a customer to leave the store with a 10 gallon aquarium for a chameleon: How could you possibly tell them no when that's exactly how you have them setup in the store?

 

[new2me]

I will never buy a pet from petco/smart. I prefer to suport my local pet stores because they give far better quality and price actually. I do buy the "extras" from petsmart though like dog toys and fish food or lights. Now that I think about it I guess I did buy a pet from petco. I got my clown fish from them because it was getting beatin into the corner of its tank by the larger fish it was housed with and the careless workers wer'nt going to do anything about it. She took over my tank and was happy as can be. Anyways, the crickets bought from co/smart only last 2-3 days and my local rep. store last at least a week. Plus he gives way more than I ask for at the same price. Another nice thing about the local guy is I still get to see my leopard gecko that I traded him for the veiled. (it ended up his daughters)

 

[kuskye25]

I will never buy a pet from petco/smart. I prefer to suport my local pet stores because they give far better quality and price actually. I do buy the "extras" from petsmart though like dog toys and fish food or lights. Now that I think about it I guess I did buy a pet from petco. I got my clown fish from them because it was getting beatin into the corner of its tank by the larger fish it was housed with and the careless workers wer'nt going to do anything about it. She took over my tank and was happy as can be. Anyways, the crickets bought from co/smart only last 2-3 days and my local rep. store last at least a week. Plus he gives way more than I ask for at the same price. Another nice thing about the local guy is I still get to see my leopard gecko that I traded him for the veiled. (it ended up his daughters)

i still find though even at my mom and pop ones they dont know shit when it comes to a professional level of care esp for everything they sell, they all bitch about forum people saying all forums do is tell them their shit isnt right i tell them its because apparently it isnt right... hahaha

 

[new2me]

Ha Ha I've actually never talked to my locals about forums. It is funny that you brought up the pro level though. The one shop that breeds a lot of nice reptiles actually gave me wrong advice when I bought my first cham years ago. She sold me the wrong calcium powder and my cham got a deficiency and ended up back at the store for a "credit".

 

[kuskye25]

Ha Ha I've actually never talked to my locals about forums. It is funny that you brought up the pro level though. The one shop that breeds a lot of nice reptiles actually gave me wrong advice when I bought my first cham years ago. She sold me the wrong calcium powder and my cham got a deficiency and ended up back at the store for a "credit".

thats messed up man, someday someone will see my level of care and hire me in for some crazy amount and ill clean up their hole f-ing store and do the research they are unwilling to do for some reason, i think its fun learnng whats the right thing to do for all animals...

 

[Docility]

I work at a petland, and do a lot of research on all the reptiles we get in, and know how to take care of them the best i can due to the limit on what i can actually do for them. i just make sure they get air, and keep their humidity up. if i want their food dusted i have to buy the dust myself since he doesn't see it as important enough to validate the expenditure, but 1 bottle of that stuff lasts forever. We use the regular exoterra 12x12x12 cages the only get a heat source, and he wont use new uvb bulbs. so i sneak them out side when i can to let them get some sun, and they enjoy it they will stretch out on my shoulder and bask, but the only thing he cares about is selling, and i try to move them quickly to keep them healthy. when i sell a reptile i make sure they buy all the required things to house him correctly, and a smaller little thing so they can transport him home, and set up his cage. so he has a small carrying case for vet visits too. normally use the largest plastic containers IE like a cricket keeper style (better than nothing anyway)

 

[Bessiexj9]

PetSmart Saga

I'm glad this thread is here as well.

You see, I bought my beloved Jenny at PetSmart for $109.00.

For starters, I didn't know SQUAT about chams....much like many who say, "Oh what a cool lizard!" and buy it.

However, I immediately found Cham Forums and I'm AM SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOU.

My Jenny was sold to me as a 3 month old cham. I took her to the vet and she is more like a 6-7 month old cham. Which is fine - doesn't really matter.

However, Jenny was very stressed when I moved her to her new screened 24x24x48 enclosure. She was misted everyday, watered, fed etc. Well, she promptly ceased to eat or drink. She was very stressed. In PetSmart, she had been kept in a small glassed tank with improper lighting and misting. No wonder she was blown away by her new 'kingdom'.

However, I must say - there was one knowledgable lady at PetSmart who helped saved my Jenny's life. She gave me her phone number just in case. She had been cham breeder before and when Jenny stopped eating and drinking, I called her. She told me what to do in the crisis. Afterward, I took my veiled to the vet. That said - I will never buy another cham from a pet store chain.

Luckily, Jenny is eating/sleeping/drinking normally now and quite happy. However, if it wasn't for Cham Forums, I doubt she would be alive.

So thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who gave me advice on several *crisis* threads I posted. I love my cham and cannot imagine not having her.

Alison

 

[kuskye25]

I work at a petland, and do a lot of research on all the reptiles we get in, and know how to take care of them the best i can due to the limit on what i can actually do for them. i just make sure they get air, and keep their humidity up. if i want their food dusted i have to buy the dust myself since he doesn't see it as important enough to validate the expenditure, but 1 bottle of that stuff lasts forever. We use the regular exoterra 12x12x12 cages the only get a heat source, and he wont use new uvb bulbs. so i sneak them out side when i can to let them get some sun, and they enjoy it they will stretch out on my shoulder and bask, but the only thing he cares about is selling, and i try to move them quickly to keep them healthy. when i sell a reptile i make sure they buy all the required things to house him correctly, and a smaller little thing so they can transport him home, and set up his cage. so he has a small carrying case for vet visits too. normally use the largest plastic containers IE like a cricket keeper style (better than nothing anyway)

i have found alot of employees willing to do more like yourself but just cant do to the owner, all in all ive still never seen a store that is pro care on everything they sell not just chams... pisses me off, either employees arent allowed to excell or the variety of animals is to great for them to understand it all.... either way though both easy fixes theres just never a store owner willing to do it..

 

[Docility]

i have found alot of employees willing to do more like yourself but just cant do to the owner, all in all ive still never seen a store that is pro care on everything they sell not just chams... pisses me off, either employees arent allowed to excell or the variety of animals is to great for them to understand it all.... either way though both easy fixes theres just never a store owner willing to do it..

yeah when i try to do more i get punished, and then i just laugh at him while my hours get cut lol, but i always get my hours back, because the store manager likes me, and shes the one that actually makes the schedual. I would do what i could if i had the money, but only making 7$ an hour i cant afford to do what is nessicarry, and it rather pisses me off that i have to buy any food supplements, or if i want a uvb light replaced. i do the food supplement, but im not the one raking in 3 million a year from the store (thats our average sales per year) and yet he treats his employees like crap =(, but anyway at least i try and learn about the things i sell, and make sure people who leave the store know the proper husbandry for them. after that its in their hands