Mistreatment.....

[megaglaze]

I just realized we joined on the same day :lol:

 

[Oki05]

:lol: thats funny

 

[ILoveLemmonade]

I have been to petsmart every day this week as Lemon has needed some supplies and they are currently on sale. I now turn away and hurry past the beardies as I cannot bear to see them in such horrible condition. Today, though, I couldn't hep but look at the poor creatures. Not only were all of the beardies lying inactive, but the freeze dried vagetable garbage they had was at least twice the size of their head. Far far worse was what I didn't notice at first. I was horrified to see a tiny tiny dragon floating almost dead in the water dish (barely breathing.) I informed one of the employees and was told that it was simply sleeping. I left without buying anything and will not go back. My local pet store may not be as nice but at least they keep their animals safe. I joined this site but 10 minutes ago for the sole purpose of supporting this. Pet stores cannot be allowed to get away with this negligence.

 

[zandi202]

@ ILoveLemmmonade:

That is just terrible! He's sleeping in the water dish? I think not! I can't believe what these pet stores can get away with. Sadly, I have no local pet stores, just chains, so I go to the one that has treated the reptiles the best as far as I could tell.

 

[Oki05]

He's sleeping in the water dish? WTF! And then the employee recognized it and was like oh he's sleeping its fine. If I was you I would of been like Bitch he is not fine if he is going to drown himself. God can I please go tell people off

 

[disturb3d0n3]

I always get angry when I'm in pet stores. The local petco (Carbondale, IL) usually houses about 3-4 baby beardies in a small tank on sand and has mealworms in the tank (on the sand) as well as crickets. I applied at that Petco to be a reptile specialist a long time ago explaining my years of experience and knowledge of multiple types of reptiles and never got a call. I honestly think they rather hire people who don't know much about reptiles in hopes they won't argue with them on their setups.

Another local pet store that isn't part of any chain really made me angry when they had an Iguana housed with a monitor. They're from different parts of the world and one is tropical, the other more desert, one a herbivore and the other is a carnivore! I was infuriated enough to say something to the employee but I know they probably continued to house them.

This is why I buy from breeders because I instantly feel the need to adopt every animal I see that's being mistreated. My friend bought two beardies, one from petco and the other from a local petstore. She did her research and had everything set up right and they only lived a few months. That's horribly sad when these guys can thrive for quite a long time!

 

[zandi202]

I'm lucky that my two local Petco's aren't that bad. It's the local PetSmart and PetPlus that are terrible.

 

[hoopyscoop]

Petsmart...

I was simply going to get Fredericka some crickets. And of course naturally I come over to the beardie cage, people were looking at one of the lizards so you know, I smile and wave and then turn to look at the beardies... Ones probably dead, and the rest look sick! They had veggies that were bigger than their bodies!! The pellets they had look like they would become lodged in their tiny throats. Not to mention they were 3 inches, and they had woodchips in their hide... No live food... One came up to me and started glass dancing like "Please get me out of here." And then a bigger one came over with gorgeous orange highlights on his back and watched the smaller one as he got stuck between the wall and water dish, his little stomach was pushing in so much from being stuck I was sure he was going to die there. while he was stuck I leaned over to my mom and was about to say, "go get a employee I'm taking this one home." Then he got unstuck... I wasn't able to take him home because of how little space we have and all the animals. But trust me, I would of just grabbed him from that horrible place, figure out how to fit his tank in my room and get all of his supplies. Sadly I have no space and definitely not enough money. I hope that little guy is in a better home now. They were so skinny too! I was about to go find hte manager and demand he give me all of those beardies. Even the possibly dead one, I was staring at his small and fragile body for at least 5 mins, trying to see if he would breath or not. His breaths were so far apart, at least 15 seconds apart. And he was breathing really shallow. I hope he's okay now.

 

[ILoveLemmonade]

Petsmart...

I was staring at his small and fragile body for at least 5 mins, trying to see if he would breath or not. His breaths were so far apart, at least 15 seconds apart. And he was breathing really shallow. I hope he's okay now.

This is how the one floating in the water was. It's ridiculous that this is not even an isolated incident. It's at every petsmart/petco! Not only that, but we're also only talking about the beardies because that's what we KNOW are being mistreated. But I'm sure a lot of the other animals there are not housed correctly either.

 

[hoopyscoop]

Petsmart...

I was staring at his small and fragile body for at least 5 mins, trying to see if he would breath or not. His breaths were so far apart, at least 15 seconds apart. And he was breathing really shallow. I hope he's okay now.

This is how the one floating in the water was. It's ridiculous that this is not even an isolated incident. It's at every petsmart/petco! Not only that, but we're also only talking about the beardies because that's what we KNOW are being mistreated. But I'm sure a lot of the other animals there are not housed correctly either.

I can't believe people just... GRR! I don't know what to say anymore. Other than the fact I'm about to jump out of my window and go take allllllll of the beardies home.

When I was at petsmart, and I know this isn't really a beardie but they were just putting in a leopard gecko, and the poor thing was so skinny! After she dropped him in, (she didn't do it gently either...) he ran into the hide almost instantly, as I said before about the beardies looking at me like they needed help, a blue-grey colored gecko came out of hiding and gave me this sad look and walked back in. I've seen healthy geckos, and that isn't one.

 

[zandi202]

It's at every petsmart/petco!.

That's a little harsh. Every is too extreme. Not every store is bad, just almost all of them. It isn't fair to group the few good with all the bad.

 

[Oki05]

It's at every petsmart/petco!.

That's a little harsh. Every is too extreme. Not every store is bad, just almost all of them. It isn't fair to group the few good with all the bad.

Your right Liz not every store is bad there are some that are very nice and have healthy animals and when the animal gets sick they do anything they can to help it recover. But 9/10 stores are bad and there is only 1/10 that actually might not be bad. There was a local store about 30 mins form me that actually was nice enough to take care of their animals but they got shut down because Petco moved in down the block

 

[Tonja]

I went to a petsmart to get some vitamins for my 2 dragons and was looking at some Chinese Water Dragons in a tiny tank when an employee came up to me and I asked if I could hold one. I was handed a lively little dragon but was told he was going to be put down. I asked why...the dragon apparently had a bacterial infection that ate to the cartilage on its tail. it was seen by a vet and treated and the infection cleared up but it did leave a tiny tiny dent in the creatures tail. Also his tummy is bronze, not green so they were going to put him down as damaged. I talked them into letting me adopt him. Gemmy is now shedding HER tummy and its the prettiest green ive ever seen. her tail is fine and she never lost any length off it. But her adoption papers say she was unsellable due to being "damaged"! Made me so mad she was going to be put down due to a bronze belly and <no its not scale rot but retained shed that is coming off with proper care and humidity> a dent in her tail that you cant see unless its pointed out!

 

[zandi202]

Both my Petco's are great, it is just the PetSmart that is bad. There was this one reptile specialist who spent his own money to take care of this baby thought I thought was dead. Sorry, I know this is supposes to be a trashing thread. But I think it's wrong to say all are bad.

 

[ILoveLemmonade]

It's at every petsmart/petco!.

That's a little harsh. Every is too extreme. Not every store is bad, just almost all of them. It isn't fair to group the few good with all the bad.

I suppose I was a bit caught up in my rant when I said EVERY. Of course, not all of the stores will be the same, and I am sure some are very good with their animals. What I meant was that it is not just my local one but many others on here have experienced the same thing. Because the stores are franchises, each one is different. I just wish there would be some set rules from higher up on how to treat the animals.