Another pet store tale

[dolcedragon]

Most of us have been upset by the poor care that many pet stores provide bearded dragons. I have never seen such locally, until now.
I snapped some shots while the employees weren't looking.

Here is the information page I was shown:
Adult Bearded Dragon
Adult size- 16-22in
Habitat- 40gal(min)
Diet- crickets, worms, pellets, vegetables
Lighting- heat and UVB
Temp- 80-85
Price- $150
Some of that is accurate, I'll give them that. But the temps? and the fact that there are only pellets in that cage? and there are 3 dragons in that tiny aquarium... I don't know what the substrate is, and that stale water looks pretty gross. I didn't even see any real ventilation. I saw one with a terrible eye infection that wasn't for sale last time I was there and now it's gone... did it die?
I am not pleased. The part that upsets me the most is that the store keeps breeding these dragons, selling their hatchlings (which are all housed together in a 10gal) and giving misinformation to customers. I don't know what to do. They don't look malnourished. Should I stay out their business?

 

[dragonphoenix36]

Good Lord!..this just makes me sick and angry to see this. Do you want my honest opinion Dolce?..I say no..do not stay out of their business..you should be all up in their business!..LOL. If you sit by and don't say anything..who's going to? Of course..it's easy for me to say this..I'm fiesty and confrontational, and I will speak up if I see something that is wrong, or I don't like...and maybe you're non confrontational and would rather not. Okay..so call your local MSPCA and tell them what's going on..show them the pictures..and print out how to really care for a dragon care sheets and show it to them...and let them deal with it. I just cannot understand WHY these people are allowed to basically do whatever they want and get away with it. Don't these stores have random unannounced checks on their stock?..If not...I think they should..then stuff like this wouldn't happen. And pellets?..what in the heck is pellets?..is it some type of food or vitamin? I've never heard of it. Ugh..
un-buh-lievable!

 

[dragonphoenix36]

..And why they probably don't look malnourished YET because they haven't been there long enough to suffer the effects of improper diet,..you know..whatever that is in their bowl mixed with SAND... and only that nasty stagnant water with god knows whatever that is floating in it to drink. Give it time..it'll happen

 

[Freeie]

Reminds me of Zeros viv when we got him. His 45gal viv came with him. The whole floor of his viv was smeared with poo if you turned over the carpet it was smeared all on that side too!! It stunk so bad. His water dish was caked with dried green stuff and his food dish had dried up veggies that would take 2 to 3 days to get that way. I wish we would of thought to take pictures. We totaly forgot to because we was worried about his health and just cleaned it out and put all new furnishings in. You would honestly think that they would want to keep their vivs clean and the pets well cared for so they could sell them better.

To see those pictures just makes me mad!

 

[dragonphoenix36]

..I'm sorry to have "gone off" yesterday, but stuff like this makes me see red. I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around what is so difficult about taking proper care of an animal. For example..I have a German Shepherd, 2 lionhead bunnies, 4 goldfish and a beta. In less than a half an hour this morning...I washed the dog bowls out and fed the dog, cleaned both bunny cages, gave them fresh food, timothy hay, and water and cleaned three 5 gallon fish tanks, and fed the fish..IN LESS THAN A HALF AN HOUR..so if they can't/won't even provide appropriate space for the poor things, they could at least keep their environment clean.. and feed them properly..it's not rocket science.