Need advice, quickly!

[kaverifriend]

Okie dokie, compared to most of you, I'm a beardie novice. But I KNOW that the dragons at the pet store in town are not doing well. =( They had five full grown dragons, male and female, in a tank the size that a juvenile would live in. One of them died a few weeks ago and just sat in the tank, rotting. I went there today and they finally had it cleaned out, and had replaced the sand with a mat-type thing that the rest of their reptiles have. They still don't have an artificial sunlight lamp, though, even though the rest of the reptiles do. They aren't being fed vegetables, and they have a bowl of water, which they obviously are not drinking from.

Anyway, one of their beardies now is obviously very sick. =( He has some sort of a scale problem all around his mouth, he's very dehydrated, and his stomach on one side is completely caved in, like he's sucking it in from pain or something. It's so sad. =(

I don't have enough money to get him at the price he's at now, which is $150. Would it be reasonable to try to get the price down since he's so sick? How low do you think I could get it? I really would like to help him, and my grandmother has a 55gal. tank that I could have. Does anyone have any suggestions? And, if I do get him, does anyone have some really good techniques of getting a beardie healthy?

I think the sooner I can find all of this out, the better, but I don't want to get him without having sufficient knowledge of what nursing he needs.

Thanks,
Kaveri

 

[AJay09]

yeah there should be some sort of price drop,obviously they dont know how to care for them did u tell them that u saw the dead 1 jus sitting there in the tank let them know if they dont already that you have been watching them care for the dragons and they should not be housing sick ones with healthy ones thats how things spread they should have removed the sick one already. honestly they should be ashamed i would push ur case about what u do know ,if you go in there with more knowledge then them which aparently isnt much you should have them pushed into a corner even better if you point out there issues with customers around :lol: I have done it 2 a local shop in my area went in 2days later everything i said was wrong was fixed and i was happy cuz they all looked a lot better.
keep me posted on what goes on

 

[ashesc212]

Honestly, they are just going to keep doing this to beardies. I'd call in the ASPCA to revoke their reptile selling licenses.

 

[kaverifriend]

Oh, yeah, the dead dragon was gone today when I went.

Okay, thanks for the advice. I'm going to see if I can pursuade my mom to take me there again on Monday and I'll see what they have to say. I think my mom's one complaint was that I already have a dragon and when he gets older he was going to use the tank that I would put this guy in, but one of my friends has another 55Gal. that she said I was welcome to. The thing about calling and getting their licenses revoked is that all of their other reptiles look fine. They all have the proper set ups and everything, it's just the beardies who are dying off. I think they would be fine if they sold quickly like all the rest of the animals, but they don't, so they aren't getting enough special attention. The thing that is very frustrating is that they even have their own vet there. I hope that just having it pointed out will help the situation, and perhaps tell them that not fixing things up could lead to having their licenses revoked.

I'm going to try very hard to get him!

 

[kaverifriend]

Well, I called the petstore (my mom told me to call before going) and said I would pay $100 dollars for (specifically) the beardie with the impaction (pointed that one out specifically, because the other two are also sick but not as sick as this fella) and the employee was like "Uhhhhh......You'd have to call back and talk to the owners....I can't make deals." I doubt she even knew what I was talking about. So I said okay, and pointed out how sick he looks a few more times before saying goodbye. I guess I'll have to go there if I want to talk to someone who can actually help me out.

 

[Grommet]

Thank you Kaverifriend for taking interest in those poor dragons!!! When you go, request a meeting with the manager or store owner and present them with as much printed information that you can manage! Care sheets and compiled information you've come up with while bringing up your baby. Hopefully, the owner will take into consideration the special care that beardies need to live healthfully. Bring a parent too, for support.

Another idea is to offer your time to the pet shop. You could volunteer your time to the owner, if your mom and family were okay with helping you with transportation once or twice a week. With your help and information you could help enlighten the employees about proper dragon care and give the bearded dragons some socializing time, which, you could tell the owner, would be very helpful for him in the long run. Well mannered beardies that are good with children are prime sellers and will bring him money.

Good luck and stay strong! It's not easy to see beardies being mistreated. I admire your faith and courage.

Kailin

 

[dolcedragon]

Your passion is wonderful, but unfortunately if you buy from this shop, you will be helping it stay in business, only adding to the problem. They will get another beardie to replace that one and it will be mistreated as well. What needs to happen here is for them to be reported. Contact your local ASPCA and get them shut down. Then get a beardie from a nice rescue organization. I know it's tempting to save them, but it's only hurting them in the long run.

 

[kaverifriend]

That poor girl (found out she was a girl) died today. =( Me and my mom are going tomorrow to talk to the managers. She had an incredibly obvious respiratory infection (the gaping, popping, mucus on the mouth and bubbling from the nose), and was also very obviously not getting enough food, since she was in an I'm going to guess 20-30Gal. with two big boys, another girl and an Uromastyx (or however it's spelled). Thank you all for your advice. I will take in beardie care sheets and if they don't listen (at this point we're not sure if it's a matter of them simply not knowing how to care properly, or ignoring the proper care) then we will be calling the ASPCA. It's just so sad. =( I had been wanting another beardie, but now I, along with the rest of my family, will not be buying from that store any more. I'm very, very glad the store that I bought my baby from was a good one. Too bad they turned into just a pet supply store. They really knew their stuff. =(