Bad Guy Petland's neglect of a bearded dragon

[jdsnake1]

Unfortunately as mentioned earlier in this thread the picture doesn't show much about the animals condition and the problem you my have is that alot if animal control officers have little experience with reptiles so unless the beardie is almost starved to death or is living in extremely dirty cage the authorities can't or won't do anything but it can't hurt to try and then just take your business to a different store and not support this store and hope with a lack of business they close

 

[Chris2013]

I'm sorry But If You can't tell this Dragon is Sick or something is wrong with it.... You may need some help. 1 Wrong Bedding,2 Dehydrated,3 Looks Skinny and Needs Food. Over all telling someone to Speand there hard earned Money to Go buy this and Support this Store is Wrong... I sell Reptiles to a Petland In Mo and There stuff Looks 10 X better!! Maybe the Management of this store needs Help, If you have the Experience with the Reptiles Go in and talk to them. Try and help them that way first and if they don't like the Advice take some Pics and Call the Corp Office and Explain your Going to Be posting Pics of there animals there not taking care of ON Boi Pages and Facebook and Other Site. They do not like those Kinda of things done and Normally will Address the issue. Good Luck

 

[Lucille]

Because the picture, although there are some items in the background I cannot really see does not have identifying marks as being from this pet store, and because I believe the pet store should have an opportunity to respond, I have sent them a link to this thread.

 

[Chaseakamrmute]

Unfortunately as mentioned earlier in this thread the picture doesn't show much about the animals condition and the problem you my have is that alot if animal control officers have little experience with reptiles so unless the beardie is almost starved to death or is living in extremely dirty cage the authorities can't or won't do anything but it can't hurt to try and then just take your business to a different store and not support this store and hope with a lack of business they close

I did get a hold of the humane society, and yes, they did say that I could send more pictures of the lizard. So that's what I'm gonna do

 

[jdsnake1]

Very good I hope they do something about it for you

 

[GMTIRRILL]

I'm sorry But If You can't tell this Dragon is Sick or something is wrong with it.... You may need some help. 1 Wrong Bedding,2 Dehydrated,3 Looks Skinny and Needs Food. Over all telling someone to Speand there hard earned Money to Go buy this and Support this Store is Wrong... I sell Reptiles to a Petland In Mo and There stuff Looks 10 X better!! Maybe the Management of this store needs Help, If you have the Experience with the Reptiles Go in and talk to them. Try and help them that way first and if they don't like the Advice take some Pics and Call the Corp Office and Explain your Going to Be posting Pics of there animals there not taking care of ON Boi Pages and Facebook and Other Site. They do not like those Kinda of things done and Normally will Address the issue. Good Luck

Ok #1 I can recognize a sick animal I have done it many times at petco and if you read my post I agreed that the bedding was wrong and also said that he may be dehydrated we don't know what was in the food bowl since it was not pictured clearly and without an overhead shot you can not tell how skinny the beardy is since the tail fat is indication of health. also since the animal looks like an adult that the store took we do not know what condition the animal came to the store in.

#2 if you think I am wrong for telling to buy the animal is then maybe a good look in the mirror since you sale animals to this corporation are you supporting this store with animals that may be put into the same situation down the road?

 

[Iguanalady]

I have rescued a couple of iguanas from pet stores, BUT ONLY if they gave it to me. I would never buy a sick animal. Buying sick animals from places like this, tells them they can get a pity sale and the animal is replaced by possibly more sick animals. I try my best to educate the store managers and employees rather then purchasing the animal. I explain to them what the animal needs to survive. Sometimes they don't listen, but for the most part, I have had great success. Approaching a manager or an employee in an aggressive way, puts them on the defense. I usually will say something like "you know, your iguanas would do much better if....". They will listen to you most of the time, at least at the mom and pop places. Big corporations have a set guideline that they have to follow and your only choice is to write or call the corporate offices about a situation.
It is like someone told me once, "we can't save them all". So we do what we can to make things better.

 

[Lucille]

It is like someone told me once, "we can't save them all".

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, ”Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

 

[Lucille]

Over all telling someone to Speand there hard earned Money to Go buy this and Support this Store is Wrong.

I understand the 'feed the machine' concept, but if someone gives advice about saving a life, I do not think that is wrong.
Perhaps this debate would be better continued in the forums.


As for the BOI part, the OP has seems to have ignored advice to talk to the pet store, and as I pointed out, the original photo did not identify the store. Did this in fact happen?

 

[Chaseakamrmute]

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, ”Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

I like that story. Very inspirational. Thanks.

 

[pssh]

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, ”Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

As much as I love this story, I don't think this applies to pet stores. Throwing starfish back into the water isn't going to cause someone to purposefully put more out to die in sad conditions.

I personally don't think people should buy the animals. If you can get them for free, then by all means, take the animal in and care for it. Otherwise, just stop supporting the store and tell your friends to do the same.

 

[Lucille]

As much as I love this story, I don't think this applies to pet stores. Throwing starfish back into the water isn't going to cause someone to purposefully put more out to die in sad conditions.

I personally don't think people should buy the animals. If you can get them for free, then by all means, take the animal in and care for it. Otherwise, just stop supporting the store and tell your friends to do the same.

I think this debate might better be continued in the forums.

The OP has not addressed those who advised talking to the manager, and has not posted additional pictures as proof that the pictured critter was indeed in this pet store.
Presumably he has additional pictures because he is saying he will send additional pictures to the humane society.

I'd like to see more proof, is anyone near this Petland and can they corroborate conditions there?

 

[chazzz]

Well just going off the one photo and what the OP has said, I hardly think calling the Humane Society was the best first approach to the situation especially if we're talking about HSUS. I don't think I need to go into why contacting HSUS is probably one of the worst choices to address this situation, as that topic is better suited for the discussion forums. I'm not sure why the OP just didn't talk to the manager of the Pet store and discuss proper husbandry for the Bearded Dragon and also get the history on the animal which might have explained their concerns. From the photo I don't see an animal on deaths door or an abused animal. I see a bearded dragon that is not 100% possibly stressed, slightly dehydrated, not severely under weight at least from what can be seen from the photo. The yellow around the eyes, as someone else mentioned, appears to be the color of the scales not something associated with an illness as thought by the OP. The color of the dragon seems drab as one would expect from being stressed or kept in subpar conditions. It's even possible that the Dragon is impacted from being kept on Repti-Bark, something that should have been told to the manager and gauge how the manager responds and how quickly the manager fixes this issue and any other husbandry issues.

I really think it's in poor taste to at least not confront the manager with concerns regarding the Dragons health and how it's being kept before coming here and claiming neglect then contacting the Humane Society! It's possible this Dragon was dropped off at this Pet Store fairly recently with the whole setup. It's also possible that the manager and employee's don't know much concerning the care of Bearded Dragons and could use some helpful tips. As far as they know there is nothing wrong with the setup if someone did drop off the dragon with its cage or traded it for store credit, and told the manager that's how it has been kept since it was a baby and that it needed nothing else. All these questions could have been answered if the manager was asked. Perhaps they just received it that day or the day before or even a few days before and have not gotten around to changing the setup so that it would be more suitable for the dragon.

Basically there are a lot of unanswered questions due to the fact that no questions were asked, that would have justified the accusations or put a stop to the assumptions before creating this thread.

A big question that I have for the OP is, how did the rest of the animals look in the store? Was this dragon the only animal in the store that looked unhealthy, or in your words neglected? Also did they have other reptiles and amphibians in the store? If so about how many and how did they look? Was this Dragon kept in the section where the other reptiles were? Also did the cage look like the other cages they had their reptiles in? Meaning were all their reptiles kept in glass aquariums just like the one the bearded dragon was in? Or were the other reptiles kept in some type of display case or anything that didn't match the Bearded Dragon cage?

To me it seems odd that you would claim neglect on only one animal in a Pet Store. I would think that if they truly are neglecting their animals there would be more than one questionable bearded dragon. But I guess you would have mentioned the other animals that looked neglected and took photos of them as well and not just the Bearded Dragon.

Don't get me wrong I think it's a great thing to look out for the welfare of animals and how they are being treated. But I also think there is a proper course of action before slamming someone's business without giving them the slightest benefit of the doubt. Meaning bringing their attention to your concerns and offering advice as to the proper husbandry needs of the animal as they might not know. If they tell you to get lost or you don't know what you're talking about or just brush off your concerns and do nothing then by all means let them have it and hit them where it hurts!