petco

alright so i was in petco last week with my little bro getting a few fish for his aquarium and i decided to look at their over priced poorly kept reptiles. a young boy (around 11 or so) asked an employee if he could put his bearded dragon in with his newly aquired baby corn snake. the employee told him " sure, just dont feed them at the same time and make sure they dont breed". so right about now im wondering how stupid you have to be to think that 1 you can put a snake and a lizard in the same enclosure and 2 that a bearded dragon and a baby corn snake can breed. so i told the kid that the bearded dragon would harm the baby corn and his mom told me off. so i went to the manager and informed him about his not so educated employee and he told me the same thing that was told to the boy. anyways today i was in petco again (once aain more fish) and it just happens that the boys mother is raising hell because the beardie killed the corn. she then asked for a refund fo the animal andwas rejected. i talked with her for maybe 10 minutes and now i have a new customer. she baught a young albino corn from me and i gave the boy a baby motley(corn) for his troubles. now my main question is. how can people be so stupid and get a job at a "pet store"? anyways i had to get that out. lol

My local Petco is immaculate, well stocked, with experienced and knowleadgeable helpful employees.

Petco probably pays minimum wage and may not be able to find more experienced people in some areas. I do not think these people are stupid, they may be inexperienced and just repeating something they heard from someone equally inexperienced.

It is possible that if you go to the manager and volunteer some time, you might make a positive difference in the lives of a bunch of critters. I see 'bad Petco' posts frequently and I just don't think it is helpful to call them stupid.

It sounds like you care, and it sounds like you have some good knowledge. Maybe you can be one of the ones that gets good change.

What you and everyone else need to understand is that Petco (as well as Pets Supplies Plus and Petsmart) aren't pet stores. They are feed stores with a few pets. Figure it like when you go to a video store to rent a movie and they sell candy. The video store isn't a candy store it just sells items closely related to it's core business to increase it's revenue.

Were the Petco's and others actual pet stores they'd have more pets then food and or supplies. Unfortunately it seems the pet stores of old are a dying breed with hobbyists and breeders selling animals cheaper then a store that has to sell enough to pay for the rent, utilities, employees, etc...

They're just there for a job, if they don't choose to do their research then it sucks for the animals. I've gotten into it with employee's at the local PetSmart before one that still stands out with an employee that was telling a mother an her son that feeding a baby dragon 10crickets a day was fine, along with lettuce O.o, I'm pretty sure they took my advice over hers since they had come back because they had a nipping problem with their 2 young dragons. And I don't believe that employee has a job there any longer..

They Sell animals, then their employee's should still be educated on At LEAST the basic requirements for the animals they sell there, no different than any other product at any other store, except these are living things.

so i went to the manager and informed him about his not so educated employee and he told me the same thing that was told to the boy

I'd make a complaint to corporate. The stores have care sheets on the animals nearby. Obviously, the management needs some training and a lesson on how to read the care sheet if in doubt of an animals care.

yah, petco is not a very good chain pet store company. when i went in there about two weeks ago i saw 5 dead and sick leopard geckos in the cage.

I think as wierd as it sounds it depends on the area the store is in because we have a couple and ones on the southside and ones on the west side and you can probably guess wich ones better ,cleaner,and has more stock!(West Side one is much much fancier)
I guess it depend on geographical area n wich is not right but it is what it is!
I usually go to the south side for convience because I am a East sider wich does not rank much higher than a southsider I guess! Its just the facts of DesMoines where I live!
I also think the westside store wich in our town is the Older,Richer,Doctors,Accountants...........etc side of town has a Older 40-60 year old employees wich do traditionally take more pride in their Craft or Trade!

Originally Posted by Melinda

I'd make a complaint to corporate. The stores have care sheets on the animals nearby. Obviously, the management needs some training and a lesson on how to read the care sheet if in doubt of an animals care.

But-have you actually READ some of them??

The crested gecko care sheet is HIDEOUSLY WRONG!

Wrong temps, wrong foods, wrong substrates...the best way to KILL a crestie is to follow PetSmart's care sheet!!

PetCo isn't as bad, but it still needs work.

Originally Posted by tinmantribe5

I think as wierd as it sounds it depends on the area the store is in because we have a couple and ones on the southside and ones on the west side and you can probably guess wich ones better ,cleaner,and has more stock!(West Side one is much much fancier)
I guess it depend on geographical area n wich is not right but it is what it is!
I usually go to the south side for convience because I am a East sider wich does not rank much higher than a southsider I guess! Its just the facts of DesMoines where I live!
I also think the westside store wich in our town is the Older,Richer,Doctors,Accountants...........etc side of town has a Older 40-60 year old employees wich do traditionally take more pride in their Craft or Trade!

I agree. I think it all depends on how the store is managed, and who it's being managed by. The Petsmart near me does a phenomenal job of properly feeding, cleaning, and maintaining their herps, but the Petco is absolutely hideous. They're managed by different people who follow different procedures.

I also agree with Dand, we all need to remember that these stores were not built to sell reptiles, or pets at all. They are feed and supply stores that happen to have a few animals here and there to increase their profit.

Originally Posted by robincopereptiles

alright so i was in petco last week with my little bro getting a few fish for his aquarium and i decided to look at their over priced poorly kept reptiles. a young boy (around 11 or so) asked an employee if he could put his bearded dragon in with his newly aquired baby corn snake. the employee told him " sure, just dont feed them at the same time and make sure they dont breed". so right about now im wondering how stupid you have to be to think that 1 you can put a snake and a lizard in the same enclosure and 2 that a bearded dragon and a baby corn snake can breed. so i told the kid that the bearded dragon would harm the baby corn and his mom told me off. so i went to the manager and informed him about his not so educated employee and he told me the same thing that was told to the boy. anyways today i was in petco again (once aain more fish) and it just happens that the boys mother is raising hell because the beardie killed the corn. she then asked for a refund fo the animal andwas rejected. i talked with her for maybe 10 minutes and now i have a new customer. she baught a young albino corn from me and i gave the boy a baby motley(corn) for his troubles. now my main question is. how can people be so stupid and get a job at a "pet store"? anyways i had to get that out. lol

I know it's a sad story and I should be mad, but I can't stop laughing after reading this