Veild at Petsmart

Jahnna64

Jahnna64

Member
yup, so this is it again- the famous Petsmart chameleons. This poor guys health doesn't look too bad but he's litterally a fishtail. Do they not understand that chameleons DONT drink still water no humidity in there whatsoever and not to mention his shed looks like it's been there for a while. Poor guy. Anyone in the Sacramento area want to help this guy? Wish I could
 

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Saw a similar situation at a petsmart in the Memphis area. I spoke to one of the girls working there and explained to her (at least what I knew from my own experiences) what was wrong. I didn't take a picture, but the veil was pretty badly bent and the front legs looked fractured. She did immediately change some things around and removed the plastic that was over the enclosure, blocking the UVB. We lingered around the store for a while to see if she'd do anything, and she did. She did thank us and told us that a co-worker was going to buy the veiled. We're trying to make it out there tomorrow just to check on her.

I hope someone is able to help both!
 
I am a firm believer that neither Petsmart or Petco should sell chameleons. But, if you are, why not have the proper enclosures for them. That's the part that drives me crazy the most....besides the fact that most don't know how to properly care for them at all.

A Petco near me sells chameleons quite a bit and it aggravated me to see them in these little tiny glass block with no airflow. I was nice about it, but I did tell the manager that keeping chameleons that way was detrimental to their health. The last time I went in, they had brought in one of the big cylindrical parakeet enclosures, you know the 8 foot glass tubes, and put the chameleons in that instead. So they had tons of room, good airflow and they actually had proper lighting on them as well. I'm not saying that what I said to the manager aided in this decision or not, but the fact of the matter is, even the staff at these establishments don't know proper protocol for chameleons. But, I have found that the majority of them do care very much about animals. So, IMO, it is a good idea to kindly tell them the issue with their husbandry...because they may just surprise you and change it! Knowledge is everything!

Those that won't listen to you....feel free to throw a gigantic fit if needed :p
 
Its only been in the past week (having been on the forums) that I've realized the Veiled at my local petsmart, the one I used to stare at as long as my parents would stay in the store is in really bad shape ;(. I'm going back asap and see if I can give them some tips with my new knowledge.
 
Yes that is why I now have 2 I could not watch him in there with no water or anything an prettty skinny just wasn't right only lasted about 2 weeks and. I went and got him lol
 
The issue with trying to buy the Petco/Petsmart chameleons as "rescues" is that it incentivizes these stores to stock chameleons. They may be keeping them in poor conditions because they don't care, or just because they don't know better, but the goal of the store is to sell animals.

My personal belief is that the correct course of action in this situation is to inform the store manager of what they are doing wrong and why, and hopefully an appeal to reason will encourage them to correct their husbandry issues. However, I feel strongly you should not buy the animal. If the store is selling out of chameleons, they will just restock and keep them in the same crummy conditions. Big box petstores should not be allowed to profit off of the empathy of pet owners by holding exotic species hostage via incompetent husbandry.
 
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The veild at my Petsmart near me looks fine to my knowledge he doesn't have any burns or any thing looking out of shape, but his enclosure is sooooo small with barely any plants all he has is a small 3 inch tree with a water bowl in a 3 gallon tank
 
I think Petco/Petsmart are terrible for exotics. Sometimes they're passable for easy to keep species, but more often than not it's just a 5-10 gallon sized enlosure with about five times as many animals crammed into them than the size can actually support. Bearded dragons or leopard geckos can survive this abuse over short periods of time, but less hardy species just can't. Chameleons are often just thrown them into the same crappy enclosure type they use for every other animal. I tried talking to management at a Petco about two Jacksons they were housing together in a small cage with about 30% humidity, no access to water, and excessive heating and they just blew me off.

The real issue is that these animals are being sold as impulse buys. Nobody who does sufficient research ahead of time would buy an exotic animal from Petco. Maybe there are competent branches out there, but I sure haven't seen one yet. That's why I try to avoid shopping there whenever possible and I would discourage anyone from buying animals from them, even as an attempted rescue.
 
Alphakenc read all these pet store story way too many times......let me put it this way,Will you folks buy a Filet mignon steak in a hot dog stand or get ur boy/girlfriend a ring in the Toy R Us store?? :rolleyes:
 
The price or quality of the cham doesn't matter. What MATTERS is whether you want to support the corporate policy of bad husbandry, bad information supplied to buyers, sourcing from mass producers who may not give a hoot about their breeding stock, and basically little concern about the fate of the animals they sell. What MATTERS is preventing future suffering of more chams marketed by these companies. If it means sacrificing some animals actually for sale in order to improve their future, so be it. That's the tough call.
 
I think big pet stores selling chameleons is an ugly situation. If they insist on selling reptiles, they should be obligated by law to provide adequate conditions and education to buyers. Chameleon purchases should require the purchase of an accurate care book and perhaps buyers should answer a small questionnaire about how they plan to keep the chameleon. Why animal rights laws seem to overlook corporate stores and reptiles in general, I don't know.
 
jpowell86 said:
I am a firm believer that neither Petsmart or Petco should sell chameleons. But, if you are, why not have the proper enclosures for them. That's the part that drives me crazy the most....besides the fact that most don't know how to properly care for them at all.

A Petco near me sells chameleons quite a bit and it aggravated me to see them in these little tiny glass block with no airflow. I was nice about it, but I did tell the manager that keeping chameleons that way was detrimental to their health. The last time I went in, they had brought in one of the big cylindrical parakeet enclosures, you know the 8 foot glass tubes, and put the chameleons in that instead. So they had tons of room, good airflow and they actually had proper lighting on them as well. I'm not saying that what I said to the manager aided in this decision or not, but the fact of the matter is, even the staff at these establishments don't know proper protocol for chameleons. But, I have found that the majority of them do care very much about animals. So, IMO, it is a good idea to kindly tell them the issue with their husbandry...because they may just surprise you and change it! Knowledge is everything!

Those that won't listen to you....feel free to throw a gigantic fit if needed :p
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To just keep everything real and you guys know me better I will tell you that when they said there is nothing they can do, I took her. Right there. She said, "you could put in to adopt her. She's been here 5 months" I reached in there and liberated her. Here she is 3 years later. She lives in this special habitat cause she never got her grip back
 

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"Rescuing" animals, by purchasing them from these places is not rescuing. It's giving them the money and incentive to perpetuate the same abuse on another chameleon. Offer them care advice, point them to some good resources, maybe even a chameleon book they sell, and walk away. It's tough, but they won't carry what doesn't sell, so not paying for the animal is the only way to get the message through.
 
Extensionofgreen said:
"Rescuing" animals, by purchasing them from these places is not rescuing. It's giving them the money and incentive to perpetuate the same abuse on another chameleon. Offer them care advice, point them to some good resources, maybe even a chameleon book they sell, and walk away. It's tough, but they won't carry what doesn't sell, so not paying for the animal is the only way to get the message through.
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Obviously you didn't Read my text. No money was involved. I agree with you. I would never buy a chamy from those guys.
 
The big chain petstore to me is only a "emergency supply" pet store,I will never give them my business unless they change the whole environment on their live animal.
And sure there are some nice chams that people purchase out of that place,but there are more negative comments that I read from this forum regarding their purchase thru all these big chain pet store.
As far as the supply by demand,if each of us will stop buying the chameleon from there,then soon they will have to either change those "cham in the glass tank" to someting more suitable like cages.Im not saying all petstore are bad,It just their policy are not in chameleon standard (living environment),or they will have to stop carrying all those poor chams that suffer in those glass tank n waiting for some kind hearted person or impulse buyer to come in and purchase them.
Bottom line is Alphakenc will boycott all the petstore place unless they can maintain the quality life for all these precious chamies!!
 
I buy dog food there. I don't get anything chamy in there. I buy insects from a pet store called Jurrassic Pets. They are not superior chamy people, but they try.
 
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