Petco Now Selling Baby Beardies - Unfortunately

[Beardie4me]

I just came from my usual Petco store in North Kansas City, MO. Although I was there to buy dog and cat food, I can never go into any petstore without perusing the reptile section! To my dismay, they are now selling baby beardies. They had seven babies in a small enclosure and they were on about 2" of sand. They all had sand on them, and they had drug sand into their water dish to where there was no water whatsoever in the bowl. I promptly went to the aquatic supervisor and told her that the baby beardies were in desparate need of attention - no water, filthy (feces/urine) enclosure and that putting babies on sand was a major no-no and that they were setting them up to get impacted and possibly die. I also told her that these babies would eventually start "biting" and "sniping" at each other which would result in deformities. She said she personally knew that they were not supposed to be on sand but that "corporate" makes them do it. She did immediately go and clean the sand out of the water dish, but that was it. I asked her if it would help if I e-mailed their corporate office and told them they should never put babies on sand and she said, "Go ahead. Maybe if more people spoke up they would let us do it right." I did. I also told them everything that was wrong and that if they were going to sell reptiles that they should do extensive research :study: and have at least one person come onto this website to ensure happy and healthy beardies. Not sure if it will do any good, but if we all e-mail Petco with this complaint, maybe they will listen????

 

[Beardiemommy137]

You know, I never thought to do that. It might work...or it will just tick them off, but who cares right?my husband talked to an associate at our Petco not too long ago because the temps were not even near 80* in the tank and the kid said someone was coming that week to fix it and they did. We were there today and there was 3 in the tank and the one was so tiny...I couldn't believe how little he was!!! But my husband reminded me that our little guy was that small when we got him from there and I'm just thankful we got him out of there when we did!!! If I could take them all home I would, but they would just stock more when they got them. I'll try to email them about it and hopefully more will jump on and do the same!!!

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

The ones in Philadelphia have always sold them.
Sometimes they look great other times not so much.

 

[bambichik39]

The kansas city one off Noland has always sold them, in the same terrible conditions. I dont think they'll ever learn

 

[Rawr]

What is their email.

I always hated Petco with a passion.

 

[keschete]

More people need to complain and complain loudly. When I was in college and Wal mart sold rabbits and guinea pigs here locally, I would go in once a week and take pictures and then call for a manager and make a scene in front if the disgusting living conditions of the animals. I would threaten to get the local paper and humane society involved....I even asked the manager if he would let his kids stand in crap all day, when I discovered the bedding in the rabbit cage was basically just feces.

The crap comment made all the customers near by stop an listen and make their complaints heard also.

I also wrote a formal letter to Wal mart and after a few year of being harrassed by human societies and people like me, Wal mart stopped carrying anything besides fish in our area.

It took many people to accomplish this. You have to be loud and demand to talk to a manager, take pictures with your cell phone, threaten to speak to the human society and generally make a nuissance of yourself. Post the pictures on myspace or facebook and let the manager KNOW you are going to post pictures.

Also don't just email corporate head quarters, write them an old fashion paper letter. Send that letter certified/ return receipt requested.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! But you can't be afraid to take a stand and sometimes that means fussing and carying on with a manager.

 

[Beardie4me]

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! But you can't be afraid to take a stand and sometimes that means fussing and carying on with a manager.

I agree. The next time I go there, I will ask to speak with the store manager, not just the aquatic manager, let him see me taking cell phone picks and tell him I am going to contact our local Humane Society. I will also let the corporate office know that I am contacting the Humane Society. It just breaks my heart to see these poor little things in these filthy, unhealthy conditions.

 

[keschete]

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! But you can't be afraid to take a stand and sometimes that means fussing and carying on with a manager.

I agree. The next time I go there, I will ask to speak with the store manager, not just the aquatic manager, let him see me taking cell phone picks and tell him I am going to contact our local Humane Society. I will also let the corporate office know that I am contacting the Humane Society. It just breaks my heart to see these poor little things in these filthy, unhealthy conditions.

Like I said, I have been doing this since high school and college. I see plenty of obnoxious people complain at stores about ridiculous things, so I figure I have a right to complain about something important and basic like an animals living conditions!

I don't ever feel bad about it because at least I am complaining and carrying on about a living breathing creature being mistreated. It's not like I am complaining about a steak that was cooked wrong.

People fuss and complain all the time...and what do retailers do? Usually they acomodate the person who got a bad meal or slow service. So if we all stand up and complain about something really important and threaten to expose cruelty, many retailers will reform. But, it takes all of us to speak up if living creatures are being mistreated!

There are a lot of posts here that mention the poor pet store conditions. If we all channel that back to the store managers and the retail corporate headquarters, we could make a difference.

The biggest thing is writing that letter on paper. I have had a horrible time for years with the postal service. I won't go into all of that, but the postmaster failed to fix it over the last 3 years. So I wrote a letter to the postmaster general and the inspector general, return receipt/certified.

I had a big wig calling me up on the phone within a week and the problem has been almost completely corrected. So dont underestimate a type written letter.

PM me if you want hints on inventive ways to complain without getting thrown out of the store

 

[BDMom22]

our petsmart had them

 

[Ethelia]

How upsetting.

I doubt my email would help at all as Im from the UK but Im happy for you to attach photos of my dragons to help prove your point about what happens with multiple dragons in improper enviroments.

Ruben.
Rescued at 3 months old.
Two missing limbs. Now requires specialist care.

Dexter.
Rescued as an adult.
Missing part of arm. Missing toes. Stunted growth.

All the best with your campaign.

Holly x

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Awwww they are so adorable!!! And the petsmart here in Reading also sells them, they don't look to bad a bit young but good condition! And this store believe it or not is clean!! They clean their cages all day everyday ( or at least on the days I was there).


Lance

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

I work for Petco (yes.. I know can't help it - hate petco, love my job).... as a matter of fact it has been approved for some time for it to be each stores personal choice on whether to use calci-sand or carpet. Now this was just reassured with an article through the portal (an information land by computer for associates), and I posted about it viewtopic.php?f=1&t=107604.

Emailing corporate may help in excluding the use of sand period, but your initial wish has already been granted. Now, it is a matter of getting your store (each store) to realize that carpet is the way to go over sand. I would suggest accumulating all the info you can and taking it to the store manager and having a talk with her. Maybe call ahead, tell her/him that you would like some time to discuss some things with her and see if you can set up a meeting so that you won't be interrupted.

Good Luck!!

 

[jarett_harrison]

i was at petsmart the other day and the beardies had moldy beardie pellots! i got a pic with my phone. ill post it later. i told a manager bt he didnt seem to take me seriously because im still what most would call a kid. all he said was, "ok thanks." and walked off. i had to leave after that.left my cart full of reptile stuff. even two new tanks! if they are not going to respect what i have to say then they dont deserve my buissness. even if i am a kid! i generaly spend 50$ a week there buying food for all my animals. now i order everything online.

 

[keschete]

I found a dead baby beardie at Petsmart today being walked on by the other sad 3 inch beardie baby, and I found a dish full of meal worms at petco today in the beardie cage.

I will be calling corporate tomorrow and I did make a stink at both stores about the dead baby and potentially impacted babies.

If I see this again, the letter writting will comence.....

 

[xkitxgirx]

The Petco here has always had beardies. Though I dont think they started carrying them until around the same time we got Keladry. They are still using sand, and its not calci sand or anything. Its like sand with granules and very small rocks in it. Ive been wanting to say something but they never have enough people working and there is never anyone to talk to. I will probably say something next time Im there though. They also use red heat lamps on all of their reptiles. And I heard that they leave them on all night though Im not sure how accurate that is. We had a red light in the past and it would keep Keladry up at night and she ended up being so exhausted that she became lethargic and wouldnt respond to anything until we got a new light. I also hate how small these beardies being sold are. When we got Keladry she was small and she was still at least 6 inches long. These guys are more like 3 and SO fragile.