Petco: Who Breeds for them?

It's really a matter of perspective.

There are the oddball chain stores which are quite good, sell healthy animals and deal with the inherent difficulties involved in retail animal sales quite well.

There are murderholes of disease and neglect.

Both of these are the minority, the majority of the chain stores (as with all petstores) will be mediocre. Animals arriving in varying conditions, kept in something less than what would be ideal but generally meeting and exceeding the minimal requirements to technically maintain the animal in good health. There are a certain number of animals which will simply fail to thrive and certain numbers of losses which are inevitable. They need to be able to carry a volume of animals to meet the requirements of their customers or they lose sales, lose market position and are shut out of business... Killing pet retail is not a good solution to husbandry issues, since it will in effect deal a deathblow to 85%+ of the industry. If nobody is buying leopard geckos, nobody is selling. Nobody selling means nobody importing or breeding. While there is a good amount of internal trade (animals for animals or money) in the herping game, it can't be sustained at it's current level purely internally. Shutting out Joe Firstgecko by cutting off the chain stores means his kids Frank SecondgeckoIwantOneOfThoseBrightOrangeOnes and Susan ThreeHundredForAHypoCarrotTailWithExceptionalMarki ngsOkYouGotADeal! never get interested.

Most states issue petshop licences, which is probably the inspection process which has been hinted at but not yet explained... Again, this can go either way depending on who does the inspection and what their standards are. If the individual responsible for performing the inspection doesn't know anything about reptiles, it will probably allow some negative practices to continue. If they do, then it might be mentioned that something needs to be corrected or, if conditions are bad enough, animals can be confiscated and licenses to sell livestock revoked (or not renewed) in most states. Each one is slightly different in their laws and how they are applied.

So... is petco ever going to meet the standards of health and husbandry that a high quality small breeder will? Of course not, it's stupid to even consider or to expect. However is a high quality breeder ever going to match Petco's prices or the production numbers which have put reptiles (Mostly leopard geckos really) into the homes of tens of thousands of Americans and brought our hobby (industry, science, passion) into the eyes of mainstream american culture? Not a chance in hell.

I have said it before and I'll say it again... the approach someone takes in trying to deal with a petco or petsmart (or ANY other petstore) about something they feel is an issue will play a huge role in how that issue is resolved. Demanding to speak to a manager and going on a tirade about the terrible conditions (a day or two worth of feces maybe, or an animal here or there which didn't make it or is showing signs of illness) won't get positive results. It takes you out of the realm of "Hey, here's how you fix that fungal infection on the cichlids..." and puts you into "Lunatic animal rights activist vegan psycotic PETA member spouting off." even when it isn't true. If you see a problem, suggest solutions conversationally. I can't believe that I (an abrasive and generally fairly loud individual) have to mention this but... You get better results if people believe you're trying to help them than when you're trying to abuse them. Although asking obscure herpetological questions of petstore employees can be either amusing or a pleasant surprise depending on their answers.

About a month ago I went into a local petco, encino ca. to get some dogfood. I always take a walk through the reptile section to see what they've got.

This time what they had was a BUNCH of sick baby leopard geckos. Skinny shrunken tails, no meat on their little legs, eyes closed and just sitting about the cage. It was overcroweded, about 30 of these little guys in an appx. 24'' x 18" space.

I pointed it out to the guy who said he was the manager and he said they looked ok but had come in not too long ago. I pointed out to him the skinny tails and so forth, not as I do when dealing with of my "friends" here, but as a guy concered about the lizards who actually knew a little about them. The manager said he would pull them and put them in the back and get them to the vet.

And with that assurance I got my dogfood and went home.

A week later I stopped by there to see how the little guys were doing. There were more geckos in the cage than previously, a couple that were actually dead, and a LOT of sickly looking ones.

Once again I ask, in a nice way, to talk to a manager. A different one comes out and I show him the geckos and he says "yes, they have crypto somethingorother" according to the vet. And they were still for sale.

He did call one of the slaves over to pull out the dead ones and say that he would take them to the vet again and we did talk a bit about hygiene and overcrowding and he seemed to listen.

I had to get dogfood again today so I made the drive to that store and they had NO babie leos at all. I couldn't find out what happened but you guys shopping for those petco specials might want to be extra careful.

This is a $19.99 Petco leo.
I got it at the Berlin CT store.
One of the few that actually has nice animals.
It stuck out from all the other babies and now is really turning into a beautiful little girl.

You can buy geckos like that for $20-$25 at reptile shows.

I was merely stating that there are some Petco's out there that do have nice animals.

It really does depend on the management at Petco.(or any store) There are bad ones, and there are good ones. Just like there are bad breeders, and there are good ones. The quality of care, the facilities, and animals speaks volumes for whether or not it is a good Petco. I go by what I see. There is a mom and pop store locally that is horrible....filthy....nasty....dead things...Petco is great.
And other places it is the mom and pop stores that are great and the Petcos that are bad.
My advice to all is do your homework on whoever or wherever you are planning on buying your Leos from. Stop by the store a few times to see the condition of the animals. Talk to the breeders....
I've gotten some nice Leos from Petco and reptileshows, and breeders!
The only bad Leos I have ever gotten were from breeders. I didn't ask enough questions or ask for better quality pictures...Had I done my homework....

Petco is very cool. I bought a sub- adult shtct at Petco for only 29.99!!!

Regarding Kellis comment, I'd sure like to know who put down 30,000 leos......

Originally Posted by TopShelfExotics

Regarding Kellis comment, I'd sure like to know who put down 30,000 leos......

Same here.

I purchased two baby albinos from our local Petco in December - they're turning into gorgeous, friendly critters.

Back in '96-'98, I used to be an assistant manager at a Petco in MD. When I started, the only knowledge I had of reptiles was of my frog and salamander catching escapades as a child, and the mountains of reading I did at the library regarding same. When I started at this Petco, I realised that no one knew *anything* about reptiles in that store. They're not gerbils. I went out and updated my knowledge, and became the district Reptile Chick. Our top seller became Leopard Geckos instead of iguanas. Our reptiles were healthy and well taken care of. We made it a point to even take out the nasty Burmese that had been sitting in a cage for god knows how long before I started working there - because everyone was scared of them. They became really cool animals, and finally sold. I've seen HORRIBLE Petcos. Definitely agree that people who see those should complain to corporate.

When we ordered animals (it could be different now, but I'm guessing not, because of the corporate aspect) we ordered them off the computer - the intranet. We'd get an availability fax from the supplier, and enter the SKUs into the computer to order them via Petco corporate. Whatever supplier corporate was hooked up with, we got our reptiles from. We were with some smaller companies for a while, then switched to Zoo Med. I think it's dependant on what they can get for the best price. They're constantly checking the competition to see where the can save money on the corporate level. Maybe these days they have contracts - but back then they didn't, and we could order from ZooMed one week, and get reptiles from someone we've never heard of the following week, then back to ZooMed after that. We occasionally had the chance to order some REALLY COOL stuff back then.

I'll be checking the local Petco to see if they have any more $30 exciting colors, but other than that, I plan on buying from a local and/or home breeder from this forum simply to put my money with the "little guy."

The one thing I miss about Maryland is the monthly reptile shows. There's NOTHING here in Colorado. So bummed.

Just got back from Petco and picked up a beautiful albino for $20. They're having some special with the "pals" card. Woo hoo.