Petsmart dragon today

[Beardednoob]

While I was at petsmart today I went and took a gander at the dragons as I can never resist. They had 4 small dragons in there, and I mean small. 1 was about 5 inches 2 were roughly 4 inches then there was this little tiny one about 3.5-3.75 inches... selling hatch-lings to the general public seems like bad practice in it's own right but, anyways this little tiny dragon was laying down on the carpet at the bottom of the enclosure. I thought it was dead, eyes closed couldn't see it breathing. I found a manager and asked if he could get the dead dragon out of the tank please, he said abruptly "what?" like I stuttered or something, I reiterated to him, there is a dead dragon in their enclosure can you remove it. He went and found someone else, who came up to me with a clipboard, you know the one that has the adoption papers. I was like no, I think this dragon is dead, I want it removed. He was nice about it brought the tank out and as he was doing this the larger of the 4 babies stepped right on the one in which I had thought was passed on. Fortunately it moved, I was like I think it moved. Then I picked the smallest dragon I had ever seen in person up. I thought it was going to fall apart. I told him as I am looking inside I have never seen this sort of thing at this store before but, looking at this one and another one they are closing their eyes. I suggest you check your UV source. By this time there was another petsmart associate there and the two were talking about getting a enclosure set up in their sick room. There were also about 5 other customers who were all watching and talking to each other about how it doesn't look well and such. I just hope this little one makes it. Poor baby.

 

[pogvitt]

Poor little tyke! I saw a similar little guy at petcetera the other day - for the most part big chain pet stores treat their reptiles terribly!! I'm lucky in that there is a small pet shop in the town where I live that actually sells healthy, happy dragons (I know, a pet store selling healthy dragons, weird . . .)

 

[Beardednoob]

Poor little tyke! I saw a similar little guy at petcetera the other day - for the most part big chain pet stores treat their reptiles terribly!! I'm lucky in that there is a small pet shop in the town where I live that actually sells healthy, happy dragons (I know, a pet store selling healthy dragons, weird . . .)

I was in a local pet shop today too, on top of going to Petsmart. They have 4 corner tanks put in a circle. Their UV lights which are reptisun 10.0's but sitting on top of glass. This is where their Uro's are and they also have a 700$ green tree monitor in one of them. Great practice if they didn't treat me so well or if I didn't need to go there to get my stuff I would have raised a stink but, I am going to approach this more tactically then just rushing in and yelling LOL

 

[jenn1116]

aww that poor lil guy *sniffle*

 

[BeTheChange]

Aww, I am such a sucker when it comes to situations like that. I probably would have brought him home.. I ended up with one of my dogs like that A blind Rottweiler puppy housed with +75 dogs.

 

[TwistedCrayon]

Sad to say even if they do take the little guy to the vet, in the condition you say he's in they will humanly euthanize him....

 

[Beardednoob]

Sad to say even if they do take the little guy to the vet, in the condition you say he's in they will humanly euthanize him....

Maybe I will see if they still have him and see if I can get him instead of this happening.

 

[BeTheChange]

Please keep us posted! <3

 

[TwistedCrayon]

How do I put this without sounding like a total jacka$$? Please don't buy him. If they are willing to adopt him out, then by all means. Petsmart is a business, that's all. If people keep buying there sick dragons under the guise of "rescuing" them, they are still making a profit!! Perhaps if they start loosing money on them they will either stop selling them or request that the breeder send them out older, and most likely healthier dragons. I'll say it again, I've hatched out bigger dragons then Petsmart gets in thier normal shipments. The people working in petcare have very basic general knowledge on a broad assortment of animals. They are not required to do further research and really know what they are selling.... And the specific requirements of individual animals.

 

[Beardednoob]

How do I put this without sounding like a total jacka$$? Please don't buy him. If they are willing to adopt him out, then by all means. Petsmart is a business, that's all. If people keep buying there sick dragons under the guise of "rescuing" them, they are still making a profit!! Perhaps if they start loosing money on them they will either stop selling them or request that the breeder send them out older, and most likely healthier dragons. I'll say it again, I've hatched out bigger dragons then Petsmart gets in thier normal shipments. The people working in petcare have very basic general knowledge on a broad assortment of animals. They are not required to do further research and really know what they are selling.... And the specific requirements of individual animals.

This is a good point, I just felt so bad for the little guy and would wish him better. I am hearing your advice and have no qualms with it however I may still go and see if he is there tomorrow.

 

[jenn1116]

how old (generally) are the dragons that you usually find in petco/petsmart?

 

[BeTheChange]

how old (generally) are the dragons that you usually find in petco/petsmart?

I haven't ever seen an adult..

 

[bluebattosai]

how old (generally) are the dragons that you usually find in petco/petsmart?

They will tell you a month or two months old, but I've seen some that look like they've just been hatched a week ago.

 

[fresnowitte]

Bluebattosai even sadder than that they will be the same size the next week when you go see them.
Babies can not grow without the right amount of protein, proper UVB, and warmth.

 

[Fuzzyviper]

Unfortunately, we really don't have any control on what size the reptiles are that we get and if we send them back, they either send them to another store or just put them down. Hopefully that dragon is in the sick room and getting some TLC. We have two nice sized young water dragons right now in my store and we got a teeny, tiny little baby in the other week. I made him a tank in one of the back rooms and put a "Don't you dare put him in with those big dragons, they will tear him to shreds!!" sign on it. Luckily, they listened to me and he's keeping all his fingers and toes.

With your little dragon, he won't be for sale if he's been taken back to the sick room and adoptions are usually only done if the animal is deformed, from a birth defect or injury, or has a chronic non-threatening medical problem (we've had a couple hamsters that get weepy eyes regularly). Either the supplier sent a incredibly tiny dragon that was unhealthy/underweight before it got there or the store is not making sure he is getting enough to eat. If he's still for sale, I would honestly just take him. While you are giving them money for taking poor care of the animal, the animal is either going to die (in the sick room or once it's back on the floor) or be bought by someone who likely won't know how to care for an animal that young.

It breaks my heart to hear these stories about other stores having sick reptiles. We'll get sickly shipments in at times but animals that come here healthy, usually leave healthy (Though we did have a water dragon savage a couple smaller ones about a month or so ago. Luckily, only cosmetic damage was done.). I'm probably driving them crazy but I stress "UVB, UVB, UVB!" with the other pet care employees. 90% of the time, people that come in and complain that their animal is not eating or lethargic, don't have UVB lighting. I'm developing a following at the store though and customers are learning to ask for me when they have herp questions.