When I first was getting a tortoise i didn't know if I should get it from petco or not, but I started visiting more regularly and he was always walking around and always had the vitamins he needed, but I wasn't sure if he was sick. But, eventually I bought the tortoise and now I have had him for 5 months and he seems happy as ever. So I don't really know if petco has the best tortoises, but I really like the one I needed up with.
PetSmart Tortoises
- Thread starter Reira Evenstar
- Start date
Then it's all good!!
Samantha Fritsch
Member
I hate this topic, only because it's a real tear jerker.. their shells are always translucent, their only fed store food from containers.. it's appalling
Alaskamike
Well-Known Member
This issue surfaces all the time. I'm into dogs too , & it only takes a cursory look at the puppy mill trade to make one ill.
Buying or not buying to me , is kinda like becoming a vegetarian in the hopes it will save animals lives - it won't. There are 100ds if not 1000ds of other folks who are ignorant of the practices of pet stores who WILL buy as well as follow poor care instructions - buy tons of stuff they don't need & is harmful - going on their merry way & never know of tort forum or look up care info at all.
It is the way of commerce.
And it's not just pet stores. It's also folks breeding , especially sulcatas in their back yards & flooding the market with babies will little care who buys them or how they are treated.
Petitions , letters in local papers , talks with store owners , may have some impact. But ...
I don't even attend reptile shows anymore. The ignorance amoung breeders & wholsalers is appalling.
Several years ago I typed up a simple basic care sheet for Sulcata after an appalling coversation with a pet store clerk ( not Petco, it was a large private owned shop ). I even talked with the manager. Made up a 100d copies so all they would have to do is hand one out with each Sulcata baby sold. Simple.
Two weeks later when I went back in no one could find the papers. The manager wasn't interested in where they were. Probably just tossed them out.
But like the fable of a kid seeing starfish - washed onto a beach after a storm by the 1,000ds and .....gramps seeing him pick one up & throwing it into the sea .. Says
" You know son , you can't save 'em , it won't make a difference ".
And the kid , picking up one more , tossing it back says " Maybe , but it'll make a difference to that one "
Buying or not buying to me , is kinda like becoming a vegetarian in the hopes it will save animals lives - it won't. There are 100ds if not 1000ds of other folks who are ignorant of the practices of pet stores who WILL buy as well as follow poor care instructions - buy tons of stuff they don't need & is harmful - going on their merry way & never know of tort forum or look up care info at all.
It is the way of commerce.
And it's not just pet stores. It's also folks breeding , especially sulcatas in their back yards & flooding the market with babies will little care who buys them or how they are treated.
Petitions , letters in local papers , talks with store owners , may have some impact. But ...
I don't even attend reptile shows anymore. The ignorance amoung breeders & wholsalers is appalling.
Several years ago I typed up a simple basic care sheet for Sulcata after an appalling coversation with a pet store clerk ( not Petco, it was a large private owned shop ). I even talked with the manager. Made up a 100d copies so all they would have to do is hand one out with each Sulcata baby sold. Simple.
Two weeks later when I went back in no one could find the papers. The manager wasn't interested in where they were. Probably just tossed them out.
But like the fable of a kid seeing starfish - washed onto a beach after a storm by the 1,000ds and .....gramps seeing him pick one up & throwing it into the sea .. Says
" You know son , you can't save 'em , it won't make a difference ".
And the kid , picking up one more , tossing it back says " Maybe , but it'll make a difference to that one "
I avoid pet shops with tortoises.My water turtle came from a Pet Smart, but he was free...although I did have to sign a paper saying they were not responsible for his current state and I basically can't blame them for anything.
He was in a small tank in 1 inch of water with an african side neck (super aggressive species, and 3x his size) biting him into a corner.
His shell was burnt and filled with bacteria, he was pooping and vomiting blood which was apparent in the tank (later figured out it was due to multiple types of parasites), he was missing nails , had a huge burn wound full of puss on his head, and later found he had a bacterial infection in his lung due to aspirating dirty water.
Anyway, at the time I told one of the clerks that 1. this guy was totally sick, and 2. they should at least separate the turtles. He just laughed and said yeah that big guy is a tough one, and said they would bring him 5 steps over to the vet later.
The funniest part is, there was an animal hospital attached to the pet store. I guess a $5 map turtle wasn't worth their time or money.
I'd like to say I've seen plenty of good pet stores, but bad pet stores exist too, like most of you know. it just depends on the manager and whether their employees truly care about animals....ALL animals.
Oh and, the turtle has since survived the pet store ordeal and is super healthy now.
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