worms at petco "buyer beware"

[MrWhite]

I like to treat my dragon with a few wax worms a couple times a week. because I use low volumes, I usually buy from my local petco. The container says 50ct but it always seems a lot less so I decided to count them. I counted a total of 30 . the other thing is I had to go through 3 containers until I finally found a container that had actual "live" worms.

I also wanted to buy a 100ct container of meal worms for my daughters leo... that situation was even worse, it took me opening up about 6 containers before I found live ones and I guarantee there was way less than 100, I would highly doubt there was even 50.

this is just a "buyer beware" post
open the containers before buying!!!!!

I started a colony of wax worms but that's a subject for another post :mrgreen:

 

[Kidster96]

Solution? Buy from worms from Petsmart

 

[MrWhite]

Solution? Buy from worms from Petsmart

I've never bought feeders from Petsmart, it's a much longer ride for me. I can't see spending $10 in gas to buy a $3 batch of wax worms.

I think my solution is just breeding my own, cost about the same as 2 tubs of wax worms to get all setup(that includes the price of 25 fat wax worms), now I just have to wait...

 

[randommonks]

I think the problem is that Petco will return anything that your beardie doesn't eat. I bought a small tub of micromealworms for Darwin as a treat, and I had asked if they were returnable if Darwin didn't like them. The cashier said, "Absolutely, but I doubt that he won't eat them."

So it may just be that someone fed the waxworms to their animal, found out it wouldn't eat them anymore, returned them, and Petco just put them back on the shelf. I'm sure if you brought it to their attention, though, they'd find some way to rectify the situation.

 

[Snowball0807]

I too have had problems with buying feeders from petco.. Every time I've ever bought feeders, there were not near as many as there should have been, or they were almost ALL dead.. I'd definitely say this is why petsmart is better, lol.

 

[Cath1068]

I am a dog groomer at Petco I will agree with the above posts. However our store keeps any returned worms and uses them on our own animals. We dont put them back on the shelf for resale.

 

[ocrage]

yeah my petco is TERRIBLE when it comes to worms. they tend to have all sorts on stock and plenty, like supers, mealworms, cali-worms and waxworms, but EVERY, yes EVERY single container is full of dead worms, or if its a cup of supers there MAY be like 5-10 alive/decent worms while the rest are either dead or eaten.

actually, they're terrible when it comes to anything really. they have 1 good fish guy who has a lot of his own tanks/set ups and i hear him constantly helping people out. but the reptiles there are kept so poorly, especially the leopard geckos. they just straight up look dead/dull in there. so so so so sad.

 

[forum1983]

I've also had problems with both Petco and Petsmart. Hardly ever do I get healthy feeders, I've complained once and they just gave me a free container of worms. But when this is the norm every time I go there I've stopped buying from them. My local reptile shop also sells feeders but they are a little bit of a drive so I only go there when I feel like making the drive, otherwise I just order online. Many sites online offer healthy feeders.

 

[lizbeth5655]

I have this trouble at any petsmart i try buying feeders from. I complained about it once and the girl actually took three containers of half dead/half alive supers and combined just the live ones all together. that way I only got live ones and she gave me more than the 50ct i paid for and threw in 12 free crickets.
All you gotta do is ask

 

[xmikeyx1026]

I worked at petsmart and it will be the same way, but they keep the worms in the back and never check on them so it will be even worse. When you get stuff like that tell a manager and have them discount the item never pay for what you don't get.

 

[Vermundor]

I've never had the problem with dead worms. I always check the containers as well as the dates they were packaged. Make sure you're not grabbing the worms off the shelf from almost a month ago. At my petco, they have some labeled "on sale" because of the date they were packaged. If you go for the newly packaged worms and check on them, that might help lower the dead worm count.

 

[jemiluc]

I bought a 50 count cup of mini super worms from Petco without checking first. I got home and counted 13 I called the store right away, but wasn't able to go back to the store for a few days. I went in and the sales person had to get 3 containers to fill one with 50. Every time I go in there, I check now. Two times they've been good. But then another time, not so good... 2 containers of mini super worms were all dead and 5 containers of the calsi-worms were all dead with flies and mold all over the tops of the containers. I walked right up and gave them to the cashier and asked her to call the manager over. I don't understand it, it only takes a few minutes to open and check inside. Over the weekend I stopped in and now they actually have dates on the tops indicating when they arrived at the store.