what are they thinking

[mattk]

Well i dont usualy rant about petstores but this past weekend i was in northern delaware with the wife(she wanted to go to the mall) after we were done i like to stop and check out the petstores up this way. well i stopped in one(cant remember the name) and i saw they had a reptile department, im thiinking cool maybe i can find something new. well let me say disappointed wasnt the only thing that came to mind. they didnt have but 2 tortoises a red foot and a sulcata oh they were only 250 dollars a piece. well i was just disgusted how they had them housed, they were on what looked like some kind of wood shavings and in a very mall tank. i tried to talk to the people but got to disgusted and walked out. i why do these places treat there animals like that.

 

[Tropical Torts]

Its a sad thing to see, really. These petstores typically only care about the money not the animals. Unfortunately tortoises seem to be the most neglected. To add to it they hike up the price for a tortoise that has been mistreated and could very possibly die on you after you buy it.

Pet store staff generally know next to nothing about tortoises and dont care either. I have tried to to talk to them before and all I get is a look like Im nuts.

I can relate with you about the feeling of disgust and frustration.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

Indeed. I spent 10 years of my life working in petstores. They only care about money. They may say otherwise, but at the end of the day, they only care about money. And they certainly do not care about learning how to care for their animals better. They think they know it all (or at least know enough) and its not worth their time to learn more.

 

[mattk]

The bad part of all this is i remember this store from a few years ago when i was into fish and i remember they werent this bad or expensive. i mean 250 dollars for a baby redfoot or sulcata. i feel so bad for all their reptiles in there wish i had the money to rescue them all.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

The really sad thing is that there is really nothing that can be done. If you were to buy up all their herps (even with the noble intentions of rescuing them), they would just make profit and fill their salefloor with more herps and barely care for them. As long as people still buy from them, petstores will always exist.

 

[Raymo2477]

Yes there are bad pet stores...but there are also good ones! I am a manager at one and we have some people with a great deal of good herp knowledge.

Painting all of them as bad is not fair.

I agree that $250 for a red foot is high (we have one for $110) but if we buy one from a breeder say for $40-60, then pay shipping, heating, lighting, food, and a person for 15 minutes of care per day it adds up... Say it's $1 day to keep it and then we hold on to it for 3 months before it sells...then it cost us more money than the animal is worth.

Btw most pet stores make the money on dog and cat food...the reptiles are more of a draw to get people in the store and we make some money on the reptile supplies.

Places that keep their animals (whatever the type) should be shutdown and if you don't know how to properly care for an animal how can you sell it??

---

Yes there are bad pet stores...but there are also good ones! I am a manager at one and we have some people with a great deal of good herp knowledge.

Painting all of them as bad is not fair.

I agree that $250 for a red foot is high (we have one for $110) but if we buy one from a breeder say for $40-60, then pay shipping, heating, lighting, food, and a person for 15 minutes of care per day it adds up... Say it's $1 day to keep it and then we hold on to it for 3 months before it sells...then it cost us more money than the animal is worth.

Btw most pet stores make the money on dog and cat food...the reptiles are more of a draw to get people in the store and we make some money on the reptile supplies.

Places that keep their animals improperly (whatever the type) should be shutdown and if you don't know how to properly care for an animal how can you sell it??

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

Ray, I apologize for using a broad brush when speaking about petstores. I know there a few good ones out there that take good care of their herps, but they are just that: very, very few. I daresay they represent less than 5% of all pet stores in the country...and I'm probably being generous.

My opinions of petstores mostly stems from my working experiences in both a LPS here in my hometown and in a nat'l big chain (rhymes with "Let's fart!"). Plus, everytime I'm on vacation, I do my best to visit any LPS in the area I'm in that carry herps, just out of curiosity more than anything else. While I'll certainly not admit I've personally inspected every single pet store in the entire nation, this has allowed me to see a fair number of them throughout the southeast. Needless to say, I am discouraged by the quality of pet stores we have in the South. Perhaps they're not as bad up north.

I'll tell ya this though...regardless of anything else, any pet store that still carries heat rocks and those stupid little kidney-shaped turtle lagoon death traps....gets my stamp of disapproval.

 

[mattk]

I agree not all bet stores are bad. Believe it or not our local petsmart is actually pretty decent they actualy do take very good care of the reptiles. I just wish that more petstores took better care of their animals. As far as cost I understand that it cost money to care for them but to me overpricing an animal just makes them stay in the store longer. When I lived in Vegas my good friend who owned a pet store never overpriced his animals the reason he told me is that he doesn't expect to make money off the animals but off of the supplies. He would even order animals for 10 percent over his cost. I guess those days are over for most pet stores now it seems like all they care about is making a buck. Ok my ranting is over

 

[Angrycowgoesmoo]

Yeah last time I went to pet smart and I saw a russian tortoise in this wet and damp fish tank and there was about 4 grown ones and the tank was waaay to small! it was also a forest themed! like there was a little tiny stream and like a forest back ground and stuff but russian tortoise live in dry places right? (I think )

 

[Raymo2477]

Yes there are a lot of bad ones...I would say 75% are bad...but there are good ones. IMHO sulcatas (sp?) should never be sold in pet shops, and red foots are even questionable. Tortoises and turtles are a big responsibility and most stores don't know what they really need.

They should really just carry anoles, white's tree frogs, and corn snakes. Almost anything else is way beyond the average person. Parents make big mistakes buying kids things they don't understand.

The real problem is lack of knowledge is the big problem and to be fair pet stores carry a huge variety of animals that they have to understand. Years ago when I was 14 I worked at a store...G&G Unique Reptiles in mt. Laurel nj and we specialized in herps and that was great...but I don't know of any herp only places now. Too much money in dog food I guess.

I'm rambling . . . I love and hate pet stores...some are good...most are bad but most of all I hate irresponsible people who get pets they don't understand. There are too many pets in shelters looking for a home.