Another PetSmart Post

[1537PaperStreet]

I went to PetSmart for some RepCal powder today. They seem to have a good selection of board recommended products. I always check out the animals when I go, whether it be cats, reptiles, birds, or other small animals. The one I go to seems to usually have active and alert beardies despite the monumentally incorrect habitats. Today though, the beardies I saw there were smaller than my pointer finger. They looked like they had hacthed two days ago. I was dumbfounded as to how they ended up there at such a young age.

 

[Rukii]

Yeah :/ My local reptile/feeder/tropical fish place is awesome and all, but some of their animals, mainly beardies, come in at an incredibly young age. We got our male beardie Ziggy when he was able to fit on my pinky comfortably. He was one of the smallest dragons I've ever seen. Hence why you'll see some dead beardie babies here and there in the tanks that the place. They definitely sell them too young. My Petsmart sells them very very small too. I wish there was something we could do about it, but we just have to deal with looking at it I guess. :|

 

[Jess]

Where I live, the Petsmart is actually really good- They had great looking beardies (even a leatherback) and they had a pretty good set-up. All of the animals in the reptile section looked really healthy. I was just there today, and I got to hold a pretty large frilled dragon, and a gargoyle gecko.

Petco, on the other hand, is pretty awful.

 

[Rukii]

I think all pet shops have their pros and cons unfortunately. :|

 

[jeritta]

we were at petsmart tonight and they had a whole tank full of babies. I have hornworms here that are bigger than the babies they had. They were very active and alert and running and playing and jumping but soooooooo tiny. Wow.

 

[imaginarium]

I actually work at Petsmart (as a groomer, not on the floor) and I got my little guy from there. Unfortunately the problem with all major chain petstores is that they send us the pets from mass suppliers that don't make money keeping babies around. I can honestly say though that the store I work in has a very knowledgeable pet care manager and all our people try to keep all of the babies comfortable, even keeping them off of the main floor if they are too small and stress easy. We have a vet on site that's a reptile and exotics specialist that we take any sick or injured animals to see immediately, and we adopt out any animals that outgrow their tankmates. I'm actually really proud of how our stores handle any missteps from higher up to keep all the animals safe and healthy, we take it really seriously.

 

[CLucas976]

That is actually my biggest problem with chain stores. Mass breeders of animals have no concept of humane, healthy, or safe treatment or care...they just see dollar signs. I won't buy an animal except maybe a fish from a pet store for that reason.

Believe me, my dog came from a pet store (not by my purchase) and I have encountered every breed specific tendancy as far as healthy except ears and eyes, which is probably soon to come, she's just still young.

My local pet depot impresses me. I actually have made somewhat friends with one of their sales associates (by that I mean we talk freely and he likes seeing us come in) It's about the only place I feel I could put in a complaint or suggestion towards care of their animals and it would be taken seriously and into consideration. I plan on doing this actually, because their ferrets are in wood bedding, which is horrible for them and causes respiratory problems.

i was at a petsmart monday (where I "saved" two feeder fish ) and their beardie was so small, I could not find him initially and had almost given up until I saw the tip of his toe. he was in a 5 gallon tank roughly, and it was actually appropriate in comparison to his size.

you just gotta hope they go home to someone who knows what they're doing.

 

[Rukii]

Yeah. My Petsmart had about 8 (very small) baby beardies in a 5 gallon with a humidity box, sand, and mealworms. You could see the humidity on the glass! I always laugh when I see their "We love animals and we know what's best" things posted everywhere. :roll:

 

[lovemylittleyoshi]

It's super sad... I can't even walk into petstores without getting teary eyed and/or angry. My first beardie I bought at PetSmart, mostly because I didn't research beardies as much as I should have before getting one. I felt like I knew enough to own one... I bought a baby at PetSmart and he was the size of my pinky!!! I knew he was little but didn't know anything about how young he was. He ended up dying within a week and a half... it was very very hard because he was soo fun and cute while we had him! When I went back to tell them what happened, I told the manager the beardies are way too young to be selling (I did some more research on this site!) and she insisted they are not too young and that none of the other ones from his batch died. It's so ridiculous... they just do not understand!! They had about 10 hatchling beardies in a 5 gallon tank with those stupid "juvenile" pellets for food!! Maybe we can sue PetSmart for animal cruelty...

 

[RowenJade]

I was checking out Petco's dragons the other day comparing prices for tanks (Which petco seems INSANELY expensive even compared to Petsmart) and I noticed their dragons were on calcium sand and was like wth one was curled up in the corner looking half dead and one was on the basking rock with his eyes closed. There was no one on the floor except for the cashiers and unfortunatly i didnt have time to ask for a manager as I don't have a car and rides to get stuff for him tend to be very quick and thorough :roll:

 

[boxers]

I work at Petsmart and we get ours from Sandfire Dragon Ranch. I went and looked on their website, and it says that they "only sell beardies that have lived outdoors in the California sun for a month !!!" or some BS. They all looked like week-olds. And the single baby we have now is even tinier than what we used to get. It's awful.

 

[ziggy23]

I've learned to avoid looking at the reptiles. There is one petsmart that I buy from occasionally that isn't too bad. the tanks are small like 5 gal. and there's 2 larger ones they normally keep turtles or water dragons in. I've never seen more than 1 or 2 animals per cage. They're kinda cramped with decorations but with the high stress situation they're in that's probably not that bad because it gives them lots of places to hide.

but what I do like is they have free pamphlets on care with shopping list that isn't that bad. I think there was only 2 questionable points on it. And in each section there's a sign saying what stuff is and why you need it. They don't sell coils, they do have repti-glo tubes and mvb though but it's a start. And they have a very wide variety of furniture and supplements at decent prices. They also have the aquarium decorations in the facing isle, which is nice because some of that stuff could easily be used for reptiles as well.

 

[reptilemaster]

At the pet shop where I got Basil the dragons (including mine) where very small, but Basil has gotten so much bigger.
Oddly his siblings did not seam to grow at all and the last one is still the same size.

 

[BaskingBaby]

I was in there the other day and they had like 3 babies who were literally SMALLER than my hatchlings were when they hatched. I couldn't believe it. Poor little things

 

[Firevine]

The PetSmart here is luckily, pretty good. They have an employee who actually is a herp hobbyist, and knows a lot, and takes good care of the reptiles. He breeds his own Dubias, and has helped me with a lot of questions. The enclosures are a bit cramped, but I can only recall ever seeing one lizard that was obviously unhealthy. Now, the supplies are what is questionable. I hate seeing hotrocks and other crap on the shelves. I haven't been to Petco in ages since it's pretty far away, so I can't really comment.

Now, its Pet Supplies Plus that has earned my ire. I went in one day, even though my girlfriend told me not to because I'd just get upset. I should have listened to her. Nothing they had was being taken care of worth a crap. Listless, malnourished herps, including a nearly dead Uromastyx. Dead rodents in cages. The fish tanks were a disaster area too. Half the feeders were dead. Oh yeah, then I ran into my friends skanky ex that kept cheating on him. I really should have listened to my lady. :silent:

There was a small local store that had a GORGEOUS, super sweet male Ig, that was their own personal pet, but all their sales stock was in wretched condition. Water dragons housed with iguanas, and both just emaciated and sickly looking. Snakes with eye infections, starving beardies, etc. They had some mountain dragons that looked great one day though. They must have just come in. I was going there for feeders for a while, but I got to a point where I just would not put another dime in their pockets. They went out of business, along with a partner here, that when they closed, left lots of amphibians IN THE CLOSED DOWN STORE for who knows how long! Countless animals lives have been saved by these dirtbags closing down!