PetCountry Bearded Dragons

[Nihilist]

This is why I will never buy pets from Grange Co-op PetCountry I was told this Bearded Dragon was 5 months old, I have no idea what's wrong with its tail and they are keeping them in beard seed.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...the poor dragon has tail rot, which often requires amputation up to the point just beyond the infection. Without amputation, the infection may travel up the tail + cause death. Best case scenario is it breaks off at that point + the infection stops.

The bird seed is the preferred substrate for uromastyx lizards [ safe + they eat it, it's used by the best breeders in the business ] but may be harmful to beardies if ingested....but not well documented for use with beardies.

 

[HKzForDayz]

I personally do not like to see animals for sale in a store , period. I've worked as a groomer and cashier for Petsmart, and a reptile manager for petco, so I have seen firsthand the levels of care the animals receive in such environments.

Anytime I have ever seen anybody that is interested in getting into breeding bearded dragons, we make sure to remind them of the kind of commitment theyre signing up for, the amount of work it requires, and the meticulous care intructions required for raising little baby dragons. With that being said, I just dont see how a store with so many other things on their plate, ie selling stuff, could be an ideal environment for baby bearded dragons.

It seems the three most common issues you see with keeping bearded dragons in stores, instead of being sold by the breeder directly are:

1-Inadequate or Improper UVB (Petco and Petsmart generally run a t8 5 percent uvb bulb, of whatever their house brand is, over all 3 or 4 enclosures at once
2-Inadequate or Improper feeding (Petco policy was 10 crickets per beardie per day)
3-Inability to give proper level of attention to catch any medical issues and sometimes even inability to provide vet care to animals with health problems


Now I realize I picked probably the two worst pet stores out there for example, but anytime that animals are sold as a retail item we generally run into these same issue, even if they are on a smaller scale.

 

[Nihilist]

I hate most pet stores but our local Petsmart has a few good employees. A couple have actually told me not to buy their products but go to a website and buy them or don't buy a zoomed T8/T5 hood from them but buy a cheap one at Walmart or Lowes. One in particular is a breeder of pythons and has great info on them. Compared to the other local pet stores, even mom and pop ones, this Petsmart is the best place a animal could hope to be sold from around here. I don't know how I will buy my next reptile, probably not from a store, but I was lucky on my Beardie purchase there. I did get sold a few things I didn't need but the manager let me return them when he didn't have too.