Poor dragons

[dragonjim]

I thought Petsmart and Petco were supposed to be the best pet stores

biggest =/= best

is that supposed to be biggest not equal to best?
if so then what is the best?

 

[randommonks]

Are you talking about best in terms of selection, animal care, knowledge/advice, food, etc.?

 

[Carnivorouszoo]

Petsmart and Petco are the best for cats and dogs thats all.

 

[dragonjim]

Petsmart and Petco are the best for cats and dogs thats all.

then what is the best for reptiles, rodents,fish

 

[Carnivorouszoo]

fish, speciaty stores, rodents? good luck I have no clue. For reptiles? breeders.

 

[dragonjim]

fish, speciaty stores, rodents? good luck I have no clue. For reptiles? breeders.

breeders? and where would you find a breeder near you?

 

[Claudiusx]

Online is the best place to buy stuff IMO.

Cheaper usually, and buying from breeders online for dragons usually gets you much healthier dragons than petshops could give you.

-Brandon

 

[dragonjim]

Online is the best place to buy stuff IMO.

Cheaper usually, and buying from breeders online for dragons usually gets you much healthier dragons than petshops could give you.

-Brandon

okay thanx any recommendations of breeders

 

[Pixall]

Petsmart and Petco are the best for cats and dogs thats all.

HARDLY. Ever look at the foods and stuff they sell? They have no idea about dogs or cats either!

 

[Carnivorouszoo]

Petco and Petsmart are the only stores in my area that carry ANY of the higher quality GOOD canned cat foods. They are way more knowledgeable about them than any other animal they carry for sale and they work with rescues to find these pets good homes. The small shops sell mill dogs and off the street kittens. So yeah they are the best for cats and dogs when it comes to pet stores. IMO no pet shop is the best period end of discussion type, the perfect petshop does not exist.

 

[kittyfiend]

Some PetSmarts actually do have staff that know their stuff about beardies. But like anything, it varies from store to store based on the employees they have. Like anything it is a matter of shopping and comparing. I am fortunate in that the 2 PetSmarts near me have employees that actually have their own beardies and are very knowledgeable. Even to the point of recommending getting certain supplies, lights, etc. elsewhere. I have not had the same experience with Petco. Also, I have found Petco to be more expensive. So far the beardies I have seen in the stores have been well and properly cared for.

 

[Pixall]

Petco and Petsmart are the only stores in my area that carry ANY of the higher quality GOOD canned cat foods. They are way more knowledgeable about them than any other animal they carry for sale and they work with rescues to find these pets good homes. The small shops sell mill dogs and off the street kittens. So yeah they are the best for cats and dogs when it comes to pet stores. IMO no pet shop is the best period end of discussion type, the perfect petshop does not exist.

You misunderstand. I am not saying they are /bad/ just that they are not the best. Yes, they carry some premium diets (wellness, Blue, etc) but when I worked at PetsMart they wanted me to be pushing two brands, Authority(their proprietary brand, utter crap), and Hill's Science Diet(Expensive utter crap). However, if you know what makes good food good and crap food crap, they do have some nice brands.

Every pet store has their specialty. The little independent pet shop I worked at specialized in birds, but the staff was VERY knowledgeable in small animals. Some of the employees knew of dogs cats and reptiles. The OWNER, however, did know a lot about all the animals she carried(NO DOGS OR CATS). She only sold one brand of dog & cat food; Precise. Look them up, they are pretty darn good. All the reptiles had good lighting and substrate as well as food items. If I had one problem with the way she kept the dragons it would be that she would keep up to 7 babies in a 15gal tank. However, she kept them well fed and handled frequently. She would only carry food and supplies for all her animals that she had done research on. And she fed the animals in the store the highest quality diet she sold. She understood a happy healthy animal equals happy healthy customer relationships.

That being said, she was only an 'expert' on birds. She knew that she needed to be constantly learning.

 

[dragonjim]

One lady at my loxal Petsmart has 6 beardies

 

[Pixall]

In the same tank?!?! lol jk. I love hearing that some petcos and petsmarts employ educated people. Unfortunately my local ones do not.

I told the manager of my local petco his calciworms had gone bad, and he went and started throwing out mealworms. x-x the packages are clearly marked, too. Some people just shouldn't work in pet shops. LOL

 

[Carnivorouszoo]

As I said, in MY area the Petsmarts and Petcos only know about dogs and cats, they push wellness and Blue foods. They are *****s on everything else. Makes me sad and angry that they won't hire people with experience with animals. The "Other" shops in Springfield sell puppy mill puppies and kittens brought in and given to the store (happened while I was there) Their reptile expert (at the store that took and then sold kittens) thought that beardies were colony animals, that corn snakes would only eat CORN FED RODENTS. Ick. Said that UVB is BAD to ALL animals. I'd love to find an intelligent shop that had people who knew about each section of critters but sadly that doesn't exist.