why dont pet shops do this?

[Livey]

Why dont pet shops ever ask you questions about the animal your buying?
like what substate are you using?
you need to feed it this many crix a day?
Im sick of seeing people carring for a beardie inproperly all becuase the pet shop canrt be botherd.
When i got Nunu, the owner was a breeder, and she gave me a 5 page essay on how to care for nu, and ALL is correct.
Then purchesing , tiny,fluff and tango i was given no advice nothing, just handed to me,
I find it prettty apolling,
tbh i think i law should be introduced to all pet shops, to give customers a detailed care book from an experinced breeder, not just them selfs making stuff up,

 

[punkrockprincess]

I am an employee at a pet store, I can't speak for every place but this is my answer. I am not stating that all these scenarios happen at my store but I have heard of them happening in other pet stores anywhere.

Answer 1: I will tell you that Beardies aren't always the hottest sellers and rather a gamble because of how fast they grow. Most orders of them are about 2-5 as ordering just one hatchling is not profitable. What happens if they don't sell? Most basic pet stores have a 10 gal or 20-30 tank at hand to house beardies. The stores do not intend on housing adult dragons and hope to have all sold by the 4th or the 5th month mark. Now imagine 3 months down the road only two hatclings have sold...the space is gettng smaller and the beardies are getting bigger. The store has a problem on its hand now and somtimes in desperation employees will push a sale by practically throwing a dragon at the customer for the good of the remaining ones. I myself, am known as the "Beardie Expert" at my store and throughly grill all customers.

Answer 2: Some employees are new or unskilled in Beardie care but they won't admitt it espcially if the big boss has been making the rounds. Working in pet care you are expected to know everything about the 40 or so kinds of fish, birds, small animals, and reptile kinds you have. That's a effload of info to store in the head. I myself, can only tell people the basics when it comes to birds because my speciality is reps. Can you imagine how hard it is to be knowledgeable about every animal in the store? Sometimes you bump into the employee that is, for example, absolutly steller in his knowledge of fish but when asked a question about a snake he hasn't a clue. What's worse than saying "I don't know" to a customer? You feel like **** for letting them down when you don't know the answer so...most employees lie. Again, lol I am always honest when I don't know. Pet store workers are in entry level jobs, they don't need any qualifications but a love for animals, a thrist to learn about animals, and animal handling skills. It is a high turn over business so 3/4 of the time you are seeing a fairly new employee.

Anwer #3: Confession: The info they feed their employees is wrong...very wrong. Employees are often given care guides and the store stocks itself in books that all agree with the careguides as a rule of thumb. I fell victim to reading the wrong books and when it came time to buy my first beardie I felt so confident in my knowledge but quickly got knocked down several pegs. Did the books mention adjustment stress? No. Did they tell me that housing two beardies was bad? No. In fact one book said it was recommended to house two. Did they tell me the proper amount to feed them? Not really....and the pet store trains to you ration crickets as they cost it money. This fourm has practically saved both of my Beardie's lifes. You can hardly blame a ill-knowledged employee, afterall, they've been fed the wrong info from day one. BUT now thanks to this fourm I have turned the beardie care for all beardies in the store around 100%. I still argue with my boss about many things but I like to think with my small array of correct knowledge that I am taking a small step forward for pet stores.
Hope this helps

 

[DragonMomSandy]

If you really truly want to see a change in the way pet stores care for animals in their care as well as the care info they are giving to new owners, then join into the petition:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=116494&hilit=
By getting more and more herpers to join in on these petitions and letters, we can hopefully get these bigger petstores to make changes and the smaller stores will follow suit. Or start a petition of your own and get people involved.

There are a lot of issues with petstores that we'd all like to see change, things that will benefit the animals they keep and sell as well as the new owner. The problem with making it a law to provide certain care info and teach new owners is that even the smallest laws like this can be tagged with additional restrictions which are not beneficial to herp owners here in the US. Our government doesn't pass single laws addressing single issues, they tag on extra odds and ends that they'd like to sneak in with it. That's why we are all so apposed to HR699 or any other bill that tries to ban or restrict ownership of any herp, it can lead to bans and restrictions on pets like our beloved beardies, or any other reptile we choose to keep. I prefer to make the decision myself as to which pets I will keep and which I will not.

Most reputable breeders will take the time to educate the potential new owner. Guys like Lance, Tom, Brian and many, many others on this forum will go to great lengths to help the new keeper get their vivs set up correctly, with correct lighting, substrate, etc , as well as feeding requirements, calcium/vit supplement info, and general care. Having said this, I fully believe that ANYONE who chooses to bring a pet home should DO THE RESEARCH BEFORE YOU BUY!!! If you plan to have the animal, learn how to take care of the animal-this means doing some legwork yourself and don't expect the petstore to be the sole source of info. Any animal you take on is relying on you for their survival. It would be great if everyone could buy from a reputable breeder, however, many newbies don't know that they should be looking for one, they generally have no idea that it's not the best choice to purchase from a petstore. The best thing we can do is become well educated ourselves so that we can help to educate newbies. Whether it's here on this site (or others), at a petstore, a friend who's considering a dragon, etc...We can take that opportunity to share our knowledge, experience and love for the species.

We all know your frustration! It would be great if every single new owner could be well educated prior to bringing a new dragon home!

 

[lacy_black]

Honestly it's not JUST the pet shops fault when people don't care for the animals right. Most people don't want to take the time to do research, they're lazy and generally seem to spur of the moment buy an animal.
I've always done my research because it was how I was raised but most think if one person tells them how to do it then it must be right, which is where they go wrong.
Or worse it's parents buying kids the animal cause the kid whines etc and most kids aren't responsible enough to do research and the parent figures it's not their job cause it's the kids animal.

Personally I think to buy any animal or even get one from a shelter you should have to fill out a questionaire proving you've done research. And to breed you should have to do it by a very strict guide line that is amended yearly as more research is done on the animal(s) you breed.

 

[sjsexotics]

I dont know if it is california or just in my area but the petsmarts by me have to give a print out of proper care with every sell. It is not the best care sheet in the world but is not to bad

 

[MandiceP]

I worked at a Petco for 5 years and I was one of the three people in the store who did actual research on my own and tried like heck to go behind corporate's back and do what was better for the animal. I now work at a one location family owned store and we do our best to put the animals first. I myself will refuse a sale if I think the animal is not going to a good home. I had a woman want to put a hermit crab in a tiny critter keeper and I said no. She complained to my boss. He told the woman to bring in her container and we'd see what she needed. when she brought in the tiny thing, he was on my side! We all the time have people come in with their 5 year old kids and say, for example, do you sell turtles... First thing out of my mouth is "do you have a setup?" and when they say "no" I inform them politely that a turtle setup can cost well over 200$ and requires lots of work. Their eyes usually bug out of their head and they think twice. I then will try to educate them fully on many of the different types of pets that we sell and try to pick one that will work best for them! I've taken over the reptile department since our expert left. I'm doing my best to keep up with research and make sure everyone is cared for correctly and that the other employees all know what is going on so that the customers buying them can be told. We have our own care sheets that we've made and give those out with sales. We also encourage people to buy whole setups with their new pets from us by giving them discounts so that we can be sure that they are getting everything they need. Beardies especially! I am the first to admit if I'm not sure of something and I tell the customer "would you mind if I go look it up?" and run to the internet! We also buy all of our animals from local breeders and hand pick everything down to the live shiners we sell for bait! So we strive for good quality and local support. And, there is a low cost exotic vet that is very close to our store that we use and recommend on a daily basis! So I hear you that there are terrible places out there, but know that there are also some stores working very hard to make their customers aware of correct care and info and who put the animals first before the sale!

 

[Aznrainbowdime]

yep.. I'm no one to judge but I was one of those 'lazy' people who wanted a beardie just because they were cute. I had NO IDEA what so ever. When I walked in to the pet store, I picked one out , etc... then I got to the register and the guy said "ok now i need you tell me what your setup is like". And I said to him I was going to keep her in a cardboard box. Let's just say we got into an argument as he refused to sell me the beardie. Then I found this WONDERFUL site and did my homework and research, came back and actually BROUGHT him pictures for proof, and that's when he agreed to sell my babygirl to me. I think it depends on the employee, not so much of the store.

 

[fez09]

RAINBOW!!! A cardboard box??? :shock:

 

[Aznrainbowdime]

RAINBOW!!! A cardboard box??? :shock:

yes.. sad to say.. i know. It's not a proud thing to say but damn I've came a loooonng way !! I didnt even know beardies existed until I saw one of my co workers. Then I thought hmm.. that's cute ! You know, I was one of those ppl who believed reptiles aren't really pets, theyre just .. for show. Sad I know. But I can say one thing now, I'm a very well trained slave !!!

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Good for you Rainbow! You did it right, you found out what you needed and put the effort into it!

Mandi, Not all petstores are bad. I've seen a few small, owner/operator shops that are doing it right. But, sadly they are few and far between. The bigger chains are everywhere and spouting bad info daily. Granted, even in the chain stores you will occasionally find someone who is knowledgeable.

All petsmarts give out a basic caresheet, however their info is quite lacking, outdated and has a lot of incorrect info: for example (the last time I saw one of their care sheets anyway) it said feed 1 cricket for every inch of length of the dragon. Can't help but wonder how many baby beardies out there are starving to death because of that bad info!

 

[Livey]

I did all my research as most poeple would do,
but it wouldent hurt the pet shops to find a decent breeder aand ask them to a care sheet print out, therefore tthe staff would be become knowlgeable and the custemer,
when i applyed for a job at the pet shop, i did all my reaserch into the animals they sold, but the only question i got asked was,"can you use a till"
i was pretty disapointed,
I have joined sevreal pettions ( i dont no wether it was this one AND i dont live in the US but i still did it) and i hope a good outcome comes from them all .

 

[MandiceP]

Mandi, Not all petstores are bad. I've seen a few small, owner/operator shops that are doing it right. But, sadly they are few and far between. The bigger chains are everywhere and spouting bad info daily. Granted, even in the chain stores you will occasionally find someone who is knowledgeable.

I wasn't saying all petstores are bad. I was trying to say that there are some good ones out there, or at least some with a few good employees. I am one of those employees that tries my hardest to make sure people know as much as possible or are directed to websites with good info (i.e. this one!!)

 

[punkrockprincess]

ask them to a care sheet print out

If they don't do this at petsmart an employee can lose their job.

 

[jerryvaz]

Hey livey I do agree with you. The pet shop employees don't give any information when you buy a beardie. They don't give any information about the eating habits or how the environment should be for it. They should atleast give a little information about it.

 

[Livey]

thank-you
you normally have to ask, and when you do ask most get it wrong