Petco NOT the place where pets should go

[RaeAnn]

Hello all,
I wanted to share with you guys a frustrating experience I had today.
My girl ran out of phoenix worms today so I decided to run by my local petco to see if they had any treats to offer her while I wait for the new shipment to arrive. Turns out they had calciworms, supers, and wax worms. I opened up a pack of calciworms to see that they were not only all dead but also had mold growing inside of the container. I thought to myself "they can't all be this way" and started checking other containers and yup! Nearly all had mold. So I politely let the manager know about this so that no one could purchase these worms (in case someone did not check first). She says to me "it is not mold" and tells me that they are fine and goes on to inform me that they feed them to their reptiles. I assure her it definitely is mold and that they are also all dead! She finally throws them all away. So than I become curious to go have a look at the beardies. These tiny babies have calcium sand as a substrate, had crickets near 1inch in size hopping around in their cage, and were literally walking around in their feces that had been left in their cage for only God knows how long. One of the little guy's hip bones and rib cage was sticking out. Its was an awful thing to see! I know people say to stay away from pet shops but my God! Even our petsmart and local pet shops at least have them on reptile carpet with the proper sized food and at least what appears to be a clean living environment. Don't know if all petcos are this way (i really hope not) but this one was horrible. I just figured to be such a large and well known company they would be much more professional and at least pretend to care about the well being of the pets they sell. I left and made it clear that a place with such horrible practices like that will never get my business.

 

[Bobbi]

Oh wow, that is horrible. The PetSmart and Petco here aren't much better. All of their baby dragons have yellow spots on their backs, which I'm assuming is yellow fungus.

Sent from my LGL62VL using Tapatalk

 

[Cori]

As a Petco employee I can say not all are that bad. We are required to use calcisand in certain districts unfortunately, but we have a vet that says as long as they get proper lighting and heat it's not an issue (not saying I agree though). I think a lot of it depends on what the employees know. We have generic training videos that go into the care for animals but who says what the employees actually pay attention to. But we have regular and surprise walks from corporate that grade us on our animal care. Too many bad grades (a bad grade is 90% or less) and people start getting fired. But we get them super young and sometimes in horrible condition, so I wouldn't completely blame the store. You can call customer service and complain though. I would

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[CrazyLeopardGeckoLady]

There's the opposite as well, I agree that pet stores need to be at a higher standard then what they are
Personally I prefer the petco near me rather than the petsmart, for a few reasons one petsmart puts reptiles that are of different species together in the same tanks and they don't listen when there's something to be concerned about (or at least mine is like that)
But at the petco near me while there are problems I have pointed out repeatedly (sand, lack of vines, etc) they at least scoop out the geckos I point out that look to be sick or starving instead of brushing me off
But I have a friend that near him it's the opposite, but these are matters that should properly be addressed because no animal should live like that


-Maisie

 

[laswabbie]

We have the same issues at Petco here. The other day I counted 26 poo piles in the beardie habitat. It's very hard to understand as all the employees seem to be fairly knowledgeable and they have really nice reptiles, birds and small mammals.

 

[Cori]

We've gotten in trouble for having one poop in our enclosure. Idk how these stores get away with it

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[RaeAnn]

Its awful to see any creature be placed in captivity to only be neglected in some form. Places like this shouldn't be able to sell animals. I realize it's a lot of up keep in stores like this bc they do have a few species to care for but it's still no exucuse.

 

[mxw0rld]

I total agree with everyone here! My PetSmart and Petco are awful here in Ohio! I had been saving money to buy hermit crabs for my grandson. I got together $185.00 and went to PetSmart to get everything I needed to get started. Well I have learned so much through my own research that everything I bought had to be thrown away! They sell everything that is wrong and could potentially harm the crabs. I cried as to me that's a lot of money to just throw away. Since then I have found a few places online that I now order my supplies through and I adopt hermit crabs thru people who no longer want them.

If any of you want to see something that will make you sick go on YouTube and watch Peta at PetSmart and Petco! They let this baby bird starve to death in the back. It was awful. They show the breeders where these animals come from and how they are abused. If the baby beardies get loose they put down duct tape so they can catch them and leave them to die. I will never never never again but anything from PetSmart and Petco! They have awful practices. The employees aren't trained properly but at my PetSmart every day there was someone new working so I understand they can't keep people long enough to train them. But damn these are lives we are talking about!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RaeAnn]

As a Petco employee I can say not all are that bad. We are required to use calcisand in certain districts unfortunately, but we have a vet that says as long as they get proper lighting and heat it's not an issue (not saying I agree though). I think a lot of it depends on what the employees know. We have generic training videos that go into the care for animals but who says what the employees actually pay attention to. But we have regular and surprise walks from corporate that grade us on our animal care. Too many bad grades (a bad grade is 90% or less) and people start getting fired. But we get them super young and sometimes in horrible condition, so I wouldn't completely blame the store. You can call customer service and complain though. I would

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Glad to hear not all petcos are as horrible as this one. I think it has so much to do with the staff. The workers at this One are awful. The manager mumbled a few cuss words under her breath over the fact that I informed her there was mold in the majority of the worm containers. I assured her it was not a personal attack or an attack at all for that matter that I was just simply trying to tell her about the situation. She stormed passed me obviously very angry. So it was clear she didn't care very much. Are petsmart on the other hand is pretty decent. I only say that because the staff is so helpful and they will tell you straight up if you should stay away from one of their products, I value someone that puts honesty over profit. But I have herd horrible things about petsmart, shows what a good staff can do for a place

 

[Hdrydr31]

It is a shame that the lady was saying it wasn't mold!!! come on lady really??
I hate seeing any of the critters in poor to horrible living conditions I got both of mine from our Petco and they actually do a good job for the most part. and when I was there this past weekend a veiled cham had a piece of mulch stuck hanging from his mouth lol pretty clear he ate a bug and a strand stuck to his tongue, he was trying to get it off with no luck so I told the manager and by the time I got back over to see him a worker was on it removing it from an now agitated cham lol they thanked me for telling them.

 

[RaeAnn]

I total agree with everyone here! My PetSmart and Petco are awful here in Ohio! I had been saving money to buy hermit crabs for my grandson. I got together $185.00 and went to PetSmart to get everything I needed to get started. Well I have learned so much through my own research that everything I bought had to be thrown away! They sell everything that is wrong and could potentially harm the crabs. I cried as to me that's a lot of money to just throw away. Since then I have found a few places online that I now order my supplies through and I adopt hermit crabs thru people who no longer want them.

If any of you want to see something that will make you sick go on YouTube and watch Peta at PetSmart and Petco! They let this baby bird starve to death in the back. It was awful. They show the breeders where these animals come from and how they are abused. If the baby beardies get loose they put down duct tape so they can catch them and leave them to die. I will never never never again but anything from PetSmart and Petco! They have awful practices. The employees aren't trained properly but at my PetSmart every day there was someone new working so I understand they can't keep people long enough to train them. But damn these are lives we are talking about!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow thats horrible! Thankfully when we got our beardie the people were honest with us. They told us that the uvb they had that came with the tank was crap and what to purchse. I valued their honesty so much. But I will say this, we are now convinced our baby may have parasites! We are making a vet appointment asap for her. Even though the staff here is great that still doesn't mean the animals came from a healthy environment

 

[CrazyLeopardGeckoLady]

It's very upsetting, I enjoy going to the pet store because I am able to see reptiles I would never get a chance to see any other time but I am very vocal when I'm there and a few of the employees know me because I'm the girl who brings in her bearded dragon on occasions (he likes to get out and go for walks)
I'm normally the one dragging an employee down to point out if a leopard gecko has shed on their toes and need help or if they could have parasites and the employees normally scoop them up right away (I had one man though who stuck his hand into the enclosure and pushed around the skinny baby telling me he could move and he was fine, boy was I furious!)
But apparently mine have a new rule where the chameleons aren't allowed to have vines! I made a point to bring it up several times and the employees explain that they can't do anything (which is understandable because the owners decide how to run things sadly)
I have made friends with a few of the employees and a lot of them have GOOD information, it makes me so proud when I can have a conversation with a worker without having to mention that sand Is bad
But a lot of the time the problem comes from the owners of the stores that don't actually know how to take care of the animals they sell, it's a shame really these are lives that shouldn't be treated like that


-Maisie

 

[mxw0rld]

Wow thats horrible! Thankfully when we got our beardie the people were honest with us. They told us that the uvb they had that came with the tank was crap and what to purchse. I valued their honesty so much. But I will say this, we are now convinced our baby may have parasites! We are making a vet appointment asap for her. Even though the staff here is great that still doesn't mean the animals came from a healthy environment

I got my beardie from PetSmart the same time we got the hermit crabs and he was riddled with pinworms!! Make sure you get your baby to the vet soon! Mine almost died. He was on Panacur for 4 weeks but stopped eating cuz the Panacur was a bit strong for him cuz he was so small. So i had to make the probiotics, baby food, Pedialyte, bee pollen, and powders slurry. Just last week he started to eat on his own and ate greens for the first time. It had been a ROUGH road. Please get her to the vet please!! And if they do put her on medicine make sure you get some probiotics!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Draeju's_world]

All i can say is take pictures and send them to corporate along with a complaint. Could be employee/management issues with particular stores.

 

[RaeAnn]

It is a shame that the lady was saying it wasn't mold!!! come on lady really??
I hate seeing any of the critters in poor to horrible living conditions I got both of mine from our Petco and they actually do a good job for the most part. and when I was there this past weekend a veiled cham had a piece of mulch stuck hanging from his mouth lol pretty clear he ate a bug and a strand stuck to his tongue, he was trying to get it off with no luck so I told the manager and by the time I got back over to see him a worker was on it removing it from an now agitated cham lol they thanked me for telling them.

Lol poor little guy, but it shows that they actually care. Wish I could say the same about our petco. I'm not one to really bash a company I usually just keep my opinions to myself but the way the staff acted and handled situations was shocking. It was an experience that words can not really describe lol. I'm just glad to discover this is not how all petcos are.

All i can say is take pictures and send them to corporate along with a complaint. Could be employee/management issues with particular stores.

I did, corporate contacted me today in order to obtain more information. They really seemed very concerned and angry to hear about the situation. I gave them the store location along with my contact info and they assured me the problem will be investigated and handled quickly. I really hope they just roll in with no warning so that they can see exactly what I saw.

 

[RaeAnn]

I got my beardie from PetSmart the same time we got the hermit crabs and he was riddled with pinworms!! Make sure you get your baby to the vet soon! Mine almost died. He was on Panacur for 4 weeks but stopped eating cuz the Panacur was a bit strong for him cuz he was so small. So i had to make the probiotics, baby food, Pedialyte, bee pollen, and powders slurry. Just last week he started to eat on his own and ate greens for the first time. It had been a ROUGH road. Please get her to the vet please!! And if they do put her on medicine make sure you get some probiotics!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The only reptile vet anywhere near me is out of town until next week which really bothers me. She's acting fine and healthier than ever, I would just like to get her in asap! Her poo is super smelly, like probably the worst poo I've ever smelt in my life. I only recently read that this is actually a sign that something could be wrong, and on top of that it has been much more runny than I think it probably should be After reading that obtaining a pet from places like pet smart raises the likelihood of parasites, I immediately thought it's time to go see the Dr. I'm just super worried. If she does have something I have herd the medicine can take a lot out of them

 

[mxw0rld]

The only reptile vet anywhere near me is out of town until next week which really bothers me. She's acting fine and healthier than ever, I would just like to get her in asap! Her poo is super smelly, like probably the worst poo I've ever smelt in my life. I only recently read that this is actually a sign that something could be wrong, and on top of that it has been much more runny than I think it probably should be After reading that obtaining a pet from places like pet smart raises the likelihood of parasites, I immediately thought it's time to go see the Dr. I'm just super worried. If she does have something I have herd the medicine can take a lot out of them

It does take a lot out of them. It almost killed my little guy. I LOVE my beardie but if I had to do it all over again I think I would have gone to a breeder instead of PetSmart. Don't get me wrong I love my Wally and he's stuck with me now but this has been a HARD road.

Just make sure you get the probiotics and start those immediately if they do start her on the medicine for parasites. You are correct, smelly OMG wants to make you throw up poop is a sign of parasites. And yes you are right Pet store beardies can be sicker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[laswabbie]

If love could heal her I'm betting she would be as healthy as a horse (I don't know where that saying comes from.) already. You sound like a very concerned parent.

I went through my Petco to pick up some grapevine pieces for my new leopard gecko habitat this morning. The beardie enclosure was actually clean & neat for once.

 

[RaeAnn]

It does take a lot out of them. It almost killed my little guy. I LOVE my beardie but if I had to do it all over again I think I would have gone to a breeder instead of PetSmart. Don't get me wrong I love my Wally and he's stuck with me now but this has been a HARD road.

Just make sure you get the probiotics and start those immediately if they do start her on the medicine for parasites. You are correct, smelly OMG wants to make you throw up poop is a sign of parasites. And yes you are right Pet store beardies can be sicker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know exactly what you are saying. I wouldn't trade her for the world now, but if I had been more educated at the time I got her I would have definitely went through a breeder. I really hate the thought of seeing her sick and an really hopeing things will go somewhat smooth if she needs treatment. Thank you for the advice, it really means so much coming from someone that's been in this situation already. I will be sure to get probiotics for her. Do you have any specific recommendation of what to get and where? Or is this something the vet will most likely discuss with us and prescribe?

 

[RaeAnn]

If love could heal her I'm betting she would be as healthy as a horse (I don't know where that saying comes from.) already. You sound like a very concerned parent.

I went through my Petco to pick up some grapevine pieces for my new leopard gecko habitat this morning. The beardie enclosure was actually clean & neat for once.

our little girl is very loved and spoild rotten. I'm really hoping everything will be ok we are pretty attached to her.

It's so good to hear that lol. Let's hope one day these types of places will always have clean healthy environments for all of the critters they sell. Wishful thinking I know, but maybe if everyone just starts complaining every time they see something cruel occuring we can drive these people crazy enough to clean up their acts. Even if it's just to avoid hearing any more complaints at least all animals will have proper care lol