Pet Warehouse Pics Included *UPDATE *HAPPY ENDING

So my hubby and I and his friend were out running errands earlier this evening and my last stop was the local Pet Warehouse (as my shipment of crickets didnt come this week because of the holiday) so I needed to get some crickets cuz my beardies were HUNGRY lol. Well while the girl was getting my crickets hubby and I were looking at all the animals. We get to the beardies and I got sick to my stomach. There in the cage on the bottom of the tank IN THE SAND was a beardie all black and laying next to a sandy puddle of puke!!!!!!!!!!! I said to the guy down the aisle " SIr something is seriously wrong with your beardie" He comes and looks and says oh hes fine and walked away. I thought my hubby was gonna go hit the guy!!! I ran over to the girl who was getting my crickets and saidf something is wrong with this beardie. She came over and opened the cage and grabbed him out and I grabbed him out of her hand. He was freezing, and lifeless and limp!!!!!!!!!!! The girl says he was fine this morning and got weaker this afternoon and another girl shoved a dropper in his mouth and squirted Jump Start into him. Then she goes on to say how this beardie can not walk only crawl as his front legs have given out and his back legs were starting to do the same. He has no muscle tone whatsoever in any of his limbs. I said how much do you want for him. SHe said I dont know I have to call my manager the manager says well he cant really sell him as he is so sick. The girl says I wish I could give him to you but I cant. She says what can I do for him. Hubby says do you have a tub so we can bathe him. She goes and gets a tub with luke warm water and we get all the sand off him. Mind you it is stuck in his eyes, around his mouth and all in his beard as he was laying in it so long. I said has he pooped lately cuz in the bathe I can feel a lump in his belly she says well no. So hubby gets some oil at the store next door. (I forgot to tell ya that the food in the dish is covered with sand). We kept him in the bath for about 20 mins he just laid there no movement there was many times I thought he was dead. But every so often he would open his eye and look at me. It was breaking my heart . We couldnt get his mouth open to get any oil in him but while the girl and I tried hubby found a aquarium and got a heat lamp off the shelf and set up a tank for him. LOL WE TOOK OVER THE STORE!!!!!!!! They had a temp gun and hubby measured the temps in the cage the beardie was originally in and since he cant climb could not get close to the light and the warmest temp the beardie could have ever gotten was 82 degrees!!! He could not bask or anything. I dried the beardie off and hubby had the tank set up and the temp was at 100 and we put paper towel down and put him in there and within minutes the little guy was up and trying to get as close to under the light as he could. It was so sad he just scooted the best he could all over in there. He has no control over any part of his legs from the elbow down so they just dangle around and get in the way. We were there for 2 hours and the girl thanked us over and over again for all the help. I told her we will be back in the morning to check on him. I so wanted to take him home. Hubby got some pictures of him on my phone when they werent looking. He promised me he would do his best to get the manager to let us have him. We will even buy him we dont care it was so sad and we were so MAD. When we paid for our stuff the assistant manager thanked us and gave us a 10% discount on our purchase OH GOODY lol just let us have the beardie and we would have been happier!!!!!!! Sorry its so long of a post but I am still very angry and very worried about this little guy. Hubby is going to turn them in to the ASPCA but who knows what will come of it.

Omg,how sad! I can just imagine you guys taking over the store though,that was very nice of you to take care of him.Please let us know how the little guy is doing when you check on him tomorrow ok??
I sure hope they let you take him home! *crossing my fingers*

OMG!!!! That just brings tears to my eyes! Thank God for you guys. I hope to ***** that you can get him.

It was horrible I about started bawling in the store. Here is some pictures they arent the best hubby was trying to hurry and my camera phone sucks .

THIS IS ENOUGH!!!!! I went to pet warehouse and saw a beardie with his elbows backwards. YEA BACKWARDS!!!!!!! I almost blew up at the manager and it made me cry!!! I HATE THEM! :evil:

So Sad! Poor little guy! I hope they let you take him home! let us know how he is doing today!

He sure looks weak in those pictures

Oh, what a said story. You would think that the beardies condition would be proof enough that something just isn't right about the set up it's in!
There has to be something you can do. I understand the point about the manager saying he can't sell him to you - it's a thing of selling a knowingly sick animal. BUT, you obviously know more about the correct way to care for the beardie than they do. I would go back and discuss the issue in person with the manager - no going through an employee. State your experience and knowledge of bd's and also make it known that you know the bd is sick, you know and understand that they are technically not supposed to sell him to you, but you also know that if you don't take this bd home it will most likely die. Even state that if they do not sell him to you and you find out that the bd died you will be contacting aspca (which I would do anyway). You could also make out a contract thing stating on that you understand that the store is not supposed to sell sick animals, but that you are willing to buy it regardless religuishing the store of any responsibility so you can care for the bd properly.
We have those same type of "rules" at my work, but if someone like you came in and had that much knowledge to save a bd (but they wouldn't be like that in fist place at my store!) I would give it to you their on the spot and the store would simply have to deal with me!

I went into a neighboring Petco to visit some people I know and they had not changed the bd's to carpet yet, which was recentlty appoved to be done. I had a fit!! I knew the store manager and just totally went off on him, lol! He ws kinda like wth, what are you talking about.... I was so upset that I just started plurting out all kinds of things not really giving him a chance to undrstand my words. I finally explained to him the issue and told him that I will visit again soon and if those beardies weren't on carpet we were gonna have issues!! LOL! This manager isn't MY manager, but I still could get into some trouble! He seemed so astounded by all the information and knowledge I was spitting out at him, including the fact that it was approved by corporate to be done, I think he will be making the change soon. If not, oh boy we got trouble!

But, I would go back and fight - do anything I could to get that bd! Say that you will stand outside the store and protest the issue and the way they care for their animals letting all the customers know just what they are about. I bet you you will come home with that little dude!!
Good luck! I also have my fingers crossed for both the bd and you!

I just wanted to say that what you both did truly shows us that there are still good people in this world.You know as well as I do that most people(with or without knowledge of bd's)would have looked the other way and did nothing.KUDO'S to you!!! In my eyes and in the eyes of a helpless baby beardie you are ANGELS. Good luck with getting him. Hopefully the mgr. will have a heart and bend the rules for the sake of the beardie.

Serious kudo points to both you and your husband for caring for the little guy. After all you'd done for him, the manager should've given him tou you for free and thanked you for wanting to save the little guy's life. What a *bleep bleep*

Your husband should report the manager, not so much the store itself, to the ASPCA. He should not be allowed anywhere near any living being.

I hope you'll be able to take the poor guy home and give him the life he deserves. Keep us posted.

Emily, it must have been very difficult for you and Dave to see that beardie like that. We know how special your beardies are too both of you. Give you LOTS of credit for taking over, changing the light, giving the bath. Doesn't sound like the little one would have lasted much longer if you hadn't gone there when you did.

He does look extremely weak in those pictures and needs to be rescued. Sure hope they let you get him out of there and please report them to the ASPCA!

Well I went back to the store this morning and it was different people working. This girl asked me if I needed help with anything when I walked in the door I said I was here last nitght and took care of a sick beardie I came to check on him. She says oh hes fine and led me to him. He was sadly back in the cage with the sand not moving and totally black. . She took him out and said see hes fine his stress marks were so bad it was unreal. I had my 12 year old with me and she was in shock. I said when are you taking him to the vet she said we did and the vet said he was fine and him being black was normal and he was just born with no control over his legs. Which is a lie cuz the girl last nite informed us that he had Not been to the vet and that when they got him he could move around perfectly. She still refused to sell him to me even though he is in the publics view and in a cage with a tiny tiny baby beardie that they are selling. She wouldnt even let me hold him as soon as I asked she put him on his food dish which again all the food was covered with sand and locked it up. . So my daughter and I came home and told my hubby he was like enough is enough he called the police station who connected him to a detective who he talked to and told him the situation. Minutes later a officer from the ASPCA called my hubby back and he told her everything about what we did last night and the conditions last night and today. Hubby then gets off the phone and we jump in the truck and head to the petstore. We sit in the parking lot until the ASPCA officer arrives and I stay in the truck(cuz the employees knew who i was lol) so hubby goes in cuz neother the officer or employees that are there know him. The officer asks for a manager which the only one there is from another store and she says she wants nothing to with it so she leaves and the girl that helped me talks to her. The officer asks her if they have taken the beardie to the vet and she replies yes. The officer said let me see your documentation. The girl says there is none. The officer says well if you have a pet store you are required to have that. They couldnt even give the name of the vet they supposedly took him to!!!!!!!! The girl tells her that it just happened and took credit for everything my hubby and I did last night . The officer called her out on that lie though lol. THe officer says I already know who took care of her and how they did so try again. The manager of that store refused to come to the store claiming to be out of town. So the officer told her to remove the beardie and put it in the back in a set up that was appropriate for the beardie. And told the girl she will be back off and on the next couple days and will find the manager and if she stops in in an hour or 2 hours or a few min. whenever she felt the need to look she will remove the beardie and shut them down!!!! And that tomorrow she will be in to speak with the manager and will issue him a ticket and will bring more officers to check all the other animals. The officer called us after she left she stayed to make sure the set up was correct for the beardie and told us she will keep in contact with us and hubby told her if they take it we will take it and foster him if they need us to. I am not happy with the beardie still bring in their hands but I think I can sleep better tonight knowing that they are being watched and something will be done.

Wow.... I'm glad that the officer was sooo demanding. I can't believe the manager left and the actual store manager refused to deal with it. That's just wrong!

Not to sound like the pessimist of the pessimist.

But by the sounds of it what the pet store will do will be to get "rid" of the bearded dragon (BD.org members know that I'm not being mean by saying rid) and say they sold it to a loving family who will take great care of it and offered to take to the vet to be checked out.

While the poor dragon passes away...

Wow pet stores can be heartless.

I don't mind corporations when it comes to wal-mart but when it comes to people's lives...just sad.

<I held my breath while reading your update and was absolutely mortified by the outcome>

Being the worst pessimist in the world, I agree with Poisoned1. Given the manager wouldn't even speak with the officer and the employee taking full credit for the change in setup, they are not going to do anything to take care of this beardie and probably will lie to the officer when she goes back that he died.

If it was me, I would've ran out of the store when I held him last night, and dealt with the consequences of theft. Then again, given the horrible condition of the little guy, I'm sure any judge with a beating heart would side with the consumer and not the petstore.

I'm glad your husband called the authorities and they acted on your claims. I'm truly sorry that your daughter had to see that and listen to the girl lie.