PETCO Beardies Looked TERRIBLE!

[jamesraby]

I went into a Petco to day just to look. As I am away from home working, and just seeing some beardies helps. But it just made me sick. They have these 2 babies that are about 4-5" and they looked terrible. They have a big dish of mostly dead meal worms in there with them, they are housed on sand, 2 things that cause impaction I would bet anything that is whats wrong with them. I wanted to just buy them so I could try to rescue them, but really dont have the money. I talked to one of the managers and they "acted" concerned but I'm pretty sure it was an act. I am however going to try to get by there tomorrow and check on them again. Has anyone in here ever heard of Petco maybe giving away sick animals so they could be saved? Because I would definatley take these guys just so they have a chance, but dont want to spend $120 dollars and them be to far gone. What should I do??

 

[jennixpxp]

im not sure if they would give them away. i live far away from a well known pet store. but the ones around my area dont have bearded dragons....

 

[Overmind04]

Yeah it is horrible. The Petco near my house is the same thing, very skinny and not very active and down right just look horrible. It's very sad to see them like this but like you I wish I could take them in my care but it would just be to much money for me right now (college lol). Same food is in there cages as yours, mostly dead mealworms and I believe they were on some type of bark. What really cracks me up is they had a sticker or a pledge next to the cages but I dont remeber what it says exactly but something like "we take care of all are animals" or something like that, yeah whatever! Very sad.

 

[jamesraby]

Is there not some kind of organization for the safe keeping of reptiles??? You would never see a dog or a cat housed improperly, someone would definitely raise hell. Just because they are reptiles and a lot of people don't have a clue, they get away with it. There has to be something that can be done!

 

[xmikeyx1026]

the petco by me made me sick they had like 10-15 beardies in a 10 gallon tank. there was one that had a foot and leg missing if i had a job and money i would of bought him also he had the saddest look in his eyes.

petsmart is just as bad by my house they have like 2-4 beardies in a tank thats even smaller. the last time I went in there I talked to the manager about it and she offered me a job when I turned 18 to look after the reptiles.

 

[ATLBeardedDragons]

I am good friends with some of the employees as our local PetCo, just from being a customer at that location for years and years. They tell me all "behind closed doors" stories. That The Reptile Wholesale Company that they are contracted with, usually sends them NON FEEDING or Malnourished Reptiles in Hope that they staff will deal with them(as animal lovers) and work hard (as it what their job entails) to rehabilitate them or in some cases like the one you are explaining... REVIVE them! Its such a ightmare story, but I have seen some crazy HEALTHY Large sized juveniles at some Petcos as well. Those of course were ones that arent selling for a long time and just keep growing in their tank.


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www.AtlantaBeardedDragons.com

sincerely,
ABD

 

[articwolfgirl]

omg i cant tell u how sad i was the other day i walked into the petco where i live and the were selling alitterall baby beardie. they had 5 in the little in closure most were 3-4 inches one was 5 inches it was the biggest in there. The last one was LITTERALY 1 inch long. I talked to the manger and hes like "There eating great and we only sell ones that are 2 months old. 2 MONTHS OLD? Can you beleive his crud. 1inch at 2 months I wanted to shoot the idot.

 

[jeritta]

our local Petco is not as bad as some. They do have people that work there that have some very nice and well kept beardies. They do have some rather small ones at times but the staff work very hard to keep them safe. My only real complaint with our Petco is sand in the viv. Amigo came from Petco and was 9" when we got him and we got him as they were putting him in the viv. Our Petsmart on the other hand usually ends up putting me on the verge of tears when we go in
there because theirs are so malnourished. They had one the other day that had a broken front leg. The guy said oh he's fine it hangs like that all the time. I wanted to grab the ***** and tell him that of course it does you ***** it is broken. But instead since we had no money to buy and rescue the baby we left with both of us wanting to cry.

 

[nair88]

i refuse to even walk by the dragon enclosures anymore when i go to petco. i've frequently seen 10 or more babies housed in a 10-gallon tank before. granted, i got falkor from petco before i knew better. fortunately, i got lucky with him - he's quite the hardy dragon. when i was looking at the different dragons they had at the time, falkor really grabbed my attention - partly because he was bigger than the others they had and partly because he was almost totally white/grey (later found out that he was getting ready to shed). anyway, after learning so much from this site, it's too painful to see the dragons there anymore. like everyone else, i just want to scoop them all up and take them home. unfortunately, it's a losing battle. buying from them would only mean that they're going to continue stocking more to sell. the only way to really stop them from selling them would be if no one ever bought from them anymore; sadly, that would mean that many dragons would die in the process before they finally figured out that no one was buying them. it just feels like a lose-lose situation :-(

 

[dragonxxxx]

I have been reading this forum for a while and have found it very interesting, and this will be my first post. The Petco in our area is fairly good, and my son and I have even noticed the beardies are more colorful, not as many as the just plain greys, however they seem do be getting smaller with each new shipment. With that said, in responce to jamesraby about dogs and cats getting better treatment just because there are more of them and people would be in an uproar if they where treated as poorly as reptiles. Even after years and years of public outcry there are still puppy mills all over the country selling sick and abused dogs to major pet stores. I think there is much room for improvment in the care of reptiles, but compared to dogs, reptiles are way ahead of the curve. How was that for a first post?

 

[Brokenwings]

This does not go just for Beardies. Almost all reptiles in every pet store is kept poorly. It's discussing to see dead crickets left there, old veggies rotting, and most of all ; sand. The worst is putting males in the same tank when their older. that, or putting a bunch of lizards in the same small cage (seen it before..) The managers won't do **** for **** all (im sorry for my language, but this really pisses me off) Because they don't know squat about reptiles.

Something has to be done. Reptiles are a kind of animal. They are pets. Just like a cat or a dog.

If no Anti Reptile Cruelty association exist, they need to make one. They as in us, or someone.

My friend's sister owns a turtle, it needs earth to bask, and to relax from swimming. she puts it in a small water tank with nothing. the water pellets dissolve in water and blackens the water. One day i went to see my friend and the turtle was swimming in pure piss. the water was YELLOW. Without hesitation i cleaned her tank. i cleaned the turtle. She never realized i cleaned it. I feel like swearing even more, there MUST BE SOMETHING WE CAN DO!

 

[Rukii]

Pet stores just kill me My good friend used to work for a Petco and she said they didn't care who you sold the animal to, as long as they met their quota for sales. How stupid is that?! My local Petsmart is like that too, their animals just don't look cared for. I noticed that the beardies had the same humidity-hood thing over their tank that the chinese water dragons and leopard geckos had, and the other reptiles like snakes and turtles had spotlights for basking (even though they provided no basking spot..) The beardie's humidity was just a little lower than the water dragons! And their temp was at about 80 in the whole enclosure. They had a nice big water bowl and another with crunchy big pellets or dried up dragon-bites stuff. It makes me so mad. Then when you say "Excuse me, these are not cared for properly" they'll either say "I assure you we are, don't worry" or "Oh, we'll get right on that" When you know they're walking away rolling their eyes when you leave.

 

[dragonxxxx]

We reptile owners have to take responsibility for the way reptiles are kept, because as owners we create the market for reptiles to be sold in the first place. What 20, 30 years ago a bearded dragon was sitting on a rock in some Australian desert just minding his own business and now some generations of captive breeding later they are kept as pets and turned into a business, and unfortunately when it comes to business profits sometimes out weigh care. Now what can be done aside from not purchasing beardies in the first place is to get people to stop buying reptiles from Pet Co, Pet Smart etc. You can stand outside the store and scream about the horrors that are taking place inside the store to customers as they go in. You can buy all the beardies that are suffering (but than the store actully benefits) and give them a loving home.You can stand and wait for people who are looking to buy a reptile and tell them what a mistake they are making. You can get jobs there and fight a losing battle or you can just realize that you as a reptile owner are the reason there is a market for reptiles and as long as there are people buying there are goimg to be people selling.These creatures are so far removed from their natural habitat that there is going to be vast differences of what is right and what is wrong. We just have to realize there is good and there is bad in everything and most people do the best they can under these cicumstances. Also breeders arn't always the best care givers either.

 

[Rukia1988]

I got my bearded dragon from a petssmart and she was very healthy. I think we are one of the lucky ones to have a good pet store that cares for their pets. I still think they are clueless when you talk to the people there but alot of them own reptiles and know how to take care of them. I actually got my older dragon from a pet store that is local and it is even worse than the petco's and petssmarts.

 

[jamesraby]

"Compared to Dogs Reptiles are way ahead of the curve." I dont agree with this. So lets close our eyes and use our imagination for a minute. We setup a display in the middle of a crowd. On one side we put a cute little puppy, in this puppies kennel for a pad to sleep on we put some cactus, and to to eat some lettuce and tomato. On the other side we put a baby beardie and for substrate we use sand, and for food meal worms. Which do you think we are going to get more comments about??? I guarantee that 99% percent of the passer-bys complain about the puppy before they complain about the beardie. Thats all I'm saying, Petco along with other pet stores get away with housing reptiles poorly, in improper conditions, with improper food, and get away with it!!!