First off, let me start by saying that I have lived in California and recently moved to Florida. I have shopped at PETCO and PETsMART at many different locations. I have a bachelor's in Animal Biology from UC Berkeley and I LOVE animals. I'm in school again taking some more courses before I apply to the University of Florida's vet school. I want to be an exotic animals vet.
Now, down to business. A lot of you complain about the bad conditions that you see at your local PETCO and PETsMART stores and there are some petitions floating around about this. Well, here is my experience with PETCO and PETsMART.
I have purchased quite a few animals from them. I am not going to say that I "rescued" them from the stores like a few of you say you did. I feel like some of you really liked the animal, but are ashamed to say that you purchased it from PETCO or PETsMART because of the way they are perceived as "bad."
I purchased the following from PETsMART at different locations:
- 3 Red Eyed Tree Frogs (2 in one location, 1 in another)
- 1 Crested Gecko (Ocala, FL)
- 2 Pictus Geckos (Culver City, CA)
- 1 Gold Tree Frog (Torrance, CA)
- 1 Leopard Gecko (Gainesville, FL)
- 1 Crocodile Gecko (Downey, CA)
- 1 Bearded Dragon (Gainesville, FL)
- 1 Dumpy Tree Frog (Jacksonville, FL)
All of the pets that I purchased from PETsMART were healthy and their husbandry was correct. The only gripe I had was the small cage size, but I spoke to one of the "Pet Care" managers about it and he explained that the cages are small because it is only temporary housing for the pet. If the pet gets too big for them to house, they will adopt it out to someone for free. The employees that I talked to had an idea of how to take care of the pet. Albeit, a small bit of knowledge, but they knew something about it (feeding, housing requirements, temps, humidity). That is enough to give the buyer an idea of the level of care of the pet. It is the responsibility of the buyer to research and find information about the pets themselves.
Now, the point of my post: If you are going to sign a petition, please be sure that you are being fair and honest about it. I research before I buy a pet and I know if the set up they have at the pet store is correct or not. As far as I know, none of the stores that I purchased pets from had anything wrong with the setup of the pets that I bought (or else I would have not purchased them). Do not sign a petition because it is trendy or because everyone is bashing the stores; sign it because you actually have seen the bad conditions first hand. I've had nastier experiences at mom and pop pet stores. One of them that I went to in Los Angeles was feeding iceberg lettuce to their iguanas.
At this point in life, I would sign a petition being sent to PETCO because they do keep their beardies on sand. I did go to the PETsMART in Signal Hill, CA and the employee that I spoke with did not know much about the pets, but I will not generalize and say that "ALL PETsMART EMPLOYEES DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE PETS THEY SELL" or "ALL THE PETCO EMPLOYEES ARE RETARDS BECAUSE THE ONE I SPOKE TO DID NOT KNOW ABOUT BEARDIES."
I am not defending these stores, I am just calling it the way I have seen it. You guys should too.
Now, down to business. A lot of you complain about the bad conditions that you see at your local PETCO and PETsMART stores and there are some petitions floating around about this. Well, here is my experience with PETCO and PETsMART.
I have purchased quite a few animals from them. I am not going to say that I "rescued" them from the stores like a few of you say you did. I feel like some of you really liked the animal, but are ashamed to say that you purchased it from PETCO or PETsMART because of the way they are perceived as "bad."
I purchased the following from PETsMART at different locations:
- 3 Red Eyed Tree Frogs (2 in one location, 1 in another)
- 1 Crested Gecko (Ocala, FL)
- 2 Pictus Geckos (Culver City, CA)
- 1 Gold Tree Frog (Torrance, CA)
- 1 Leopard Gecko (Gainesville, FL)
- 1 Crocodile Gecko (Downey, CA)
- 1 Bearded Dragon (Gainesville, FL)
- 1 Dumpy Tree Frog (Jacksonville, FL)
All of the pets that I purchased from PETsMART were healthy and their husbandry was correct. The only gripe I had was the small cage size, but I spoke to one of the "Pet Care" managers about it and he explained that the cages are small because it is only temporary housing for the pet. If the pet gets too big for them to house, they will adopt it out to someone for free. The employees that I talked to had an idea of how to take care of the pet. Albeit, a small bit of knowledge, but they knew something about it (feeding, housing requirements, temps, humidity). That is enough to give the buyer an idea of the level of care of the pet. It is the responsibility of the buyer to research and find information about the pets themselves.
Now, the point of my post: If you are going to sign a petition, please be sure that you are being fair and honest about it. I research before I buy a pet and I know if the set up they have at the pet store is correct or not. As far as I know, none of the stores that I purchased pets from had anything wrong with the setup of the pets that I bought (or else I would have not purchased them). Do not sign a petition because it is trendy or because everyone is bashing the stores; sign it because you actually have seen the bad conditions first hand. I've had nastier experiences at mom and pop pet stores. One of them that I went to in Los Angeles was feeding iceberg lettuce to their iguanas.
At this point in life, I would sign a petition being sent to PETCO because they do keep their beardies on sand. I did go to the PETsMART in Signal Hill, CA and the employee that I spoke with did not know much about the pets, but I will not generalize and say that "ALL PETsMART EMPLOYEES DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE PETS THEY SELL" or "ALL THE PETCO EMPLOYEES ARE RETARDS BECAUSE THE ONE I SPOKE TO DID NOT KNOW ABOUT BEARDIES."
I am not defending these stores, I am just calling it the way I have seen it. You guys should too.
