Has this ever happened to you,,?

I went into a pet store today I had never been in. I was short a few pinkies,,, so I thought i would pick up a few.( had some frozen, but a few picky snakes prefer live) anyway,,, i walk in,,, and am greeted by a guy who asks can he help me,,, i said yes, i need a few pinkies,,, he looks dumbfounded,,, and i finally explain what i need and i walk back to look at his reptiles...
It was deplorable... bearded dragons with no heat lights,, no uvb overhead lighting,,, piles and piles of crap in the aquariums,,, and veggies,,, but they were cut so big the little guys would choke if they tried to eat them,,, they were housing 14 inch beardies in 10 gallon aquariums,,, the snakes were just as bad,, 3 little ball pythons,, one with stargazers disease,,, i inquired about the little guys and he said they would not eat,,, no hiding places,,, and no heat... green iguanas,,, with no over head heat,,, and he told me he was feeding them pinkies,,, and crickets,,, no veggies,,, the only animal that looked at all decent was a columbian redtail,,, it was about 2 ft or so,, and after inquiring about it,,, he finally did tell me it was regurgitating,,,, i felt so sorry for the poor animals,, when i kinda in a round about way tried to let the guy know the bearded dragons needed over head heat in the 105-115 basking range, and uvb lighting also,,,, he did not really like it,,, when they found i knew something about reptiles,, they started questioning me about there customers animals that would not eat,,, they were striking at anything that moved etc,,, and a poor little water dragon that was to weak to even hold its head up,,, and a small little water bowl was the only water in sight,,, and had him on sand substrate,,, with no over head light,,,

I left there and had to think a few hours before i could even write this,,, I was so mad,, and yet I know this goes on all over the country,,, when you take responsibility for an a animal you owe it the best care you can possibly give it,,, it depends on you for everything,,, and some people just don't get it,,,
Such A Shame..

Sounds like Petco. I had to stop going in to pet stores completely because I would get so traumatized and enraged over what you are describing. It took me over a year of solid activism to help get many of the stores in th SF area "shut-down" for selling reptiles. I actually went in to these places and took photos! Here's a link:

http://www.sfgov.org/site/cityattorney_page.asp?id=1306

I commend you for following up against petco...
it was the right thing to do..

I am gonna try and take a different approach with these guys,, I am gonna go and try and offer my services on how these animals, should be kept,,, i think they just don't know any better... and if I can make it better for the animals,, and maybe for a customer that buys from them, and doesn't know any better,,, then maybe in a small way, i am helping to make the situation better,,,, I am also gonna try and help get the ball pythons eating,, ( they needed a meal) maybe they will be receptive to the help for free.. and maybe not,, but I at least need to try,,,

It took me over a year of solid activism to help get many of the stores in th SF area "shut-down" for selling reptiles.

That... was... spearheaded and participated in by a Fauna User?!

You're a very bad person Marcia... very very bad.

I read this thread shortly after your reply was posted and I had to calm down before I could even reply, had I written my true sentiments, my ability to post here would have been yanked, Rich would have been left with no choice.

What you did... or helped do... or supported the doing of... Is one of the worst blows the pet industry as a whole has seen in decades, you helped to damage every single person who has anything to do with the sale... or breeding... or ownership... of any animal ANYWHERE on a magnitude I don't believe you're even aware of as it the ramifications have not yet finished unfolding.

How can you possibly be proud of something like that?

My... disgust and loathing for your actions is growing again just thinking about this... I'm going to stop at this juncture, but I will be back to complete my thoughts and finish expressing my displeasure after I have calmed down a bit.

Very bad person.

My... disgust and loathing for your actions is growing again just thinking about this...

Seamus, I really don't care about your opinion, and your disgust and loathing of me pales in comparison to the disgust and loathing I have for Petco and it's management in this area.

You know absolutely NOTHING about the 2+ years Trace from Gexfiles and I spent trying to deal with Petco's chain of command... all the way up to the national level. You would be overwhelmed with the the amount of written correspondence, meetings, and photographic evidence that I have accumulated over this issue. You are CLUELESS to the fact that I volunteered my personal time to work with Petco on a Corporate level by going into several of their stores and training and educating employees, including store and district managers on the proper care of reptiles. You have absolutely NO IDEA on the facts that were presented, and Petco's continuing blatant abuse and neglect of reptiles.

What you did... or helped do... or supported the doing of... Is one of the worst blows the pet industry as a whole has seen in decades, you helped to damage every single person who has anything to do with the sale... or breeding... or ownership... of any animal ANYWHERE on a magnitude I don't believe you're even aware of as it the ramifications have not yet finished unfolding.

You tell me, how does helping to hold a company accountable for it's actions in any way damage the pet industry? I have seen many of this forum's members jump on the bandwagon to uncover several other retail businesses that neglect and abuse it's reptiles.

This is quoting YOU directly from other posts:

Most Petsmart/Petco stores will be a bit sub par for those who really know what they are doing, the store is not a "Pet Shop" it is a "Pet Retail Establishment"... They make most their money off dry goods under the course of normal operation, everything else is pretty much just added so that people have something to buy dry goods for...

All in all though, unless you luck out and land a decent chain store near you, the best bet is usually your local place. MOST local places were started by someone who has a genuine interest and knowledge, trains and educated their own staff, works in their own store, knows the business from all sides and really does need the help of every avaliable consumer in order to stay open, because the chain stores are essentially like Wal-Mart in many areas.

So, you said it yourself... Petco/Walmart should stick with selling pet food and supplies and NOT animals.

So, you said it yourself... Petco/Walmart should stick with selling pet food and supplies and NOT animals.

Should... Ideally... Does not equal

"Please encourage government interference in the pet trade and give lunatic animal rights activists a toe hold for the reptile ban while simultaneously making it harder for EVERY SINGLE STORE in the area in addition to the specific chain to sell animals, no matter how healthy, by bringing some really ignorant and negative press onto the issue of keeping reptiles as pets."

What you have done is damaged the ability of every individual engaged in the pet trade to successfully run a buisness. You have promoted legislation that sets a very dangerous precident for not just the remainder of California... but the remainder of the COUNTRY. You have performed actions that really make me think of you in the same camp as PETA, HSUS and that wretched... word that isn't allowed... Kraplin.

You have performed an action which, however well intentioned, was simply pure unadultered evil.

Do you plan on apologizing to the innocent bistanders who's businesses you have already damaged?

How about after there are more lawsuits with less specific targets?

And when those laws come rolling in as modifications to existing nonsense banning the ownership of reptiles (or all animals) across the boards period, end of story, no more pets... Will you apologize then?

Some people really amaze me, I mean... they act like people who deserve respect, they're smart for the most part, well spoken... then they go do some of the absolute STUPIDEST things humanly possible... just... amazingly ignorant things.

Astounding.

You're a very bad person Marcia... very very bad.

give lunatic animal rights activists a toe hold for the reptile ban

You have performed an action which, however well intentioned, was simply pure unadultered evil.

Some people really amaze me, I mean... they act like people who deserve respect, they're smart for the most part, well spoken... then they go do some of the absolute STUPIDEST things humanly possible... just... amazingly ignorant things.

Seamus,

You have gone too far. You have called me a bad person, a lunatic animal rights activist, evil, stupid, and ignorant. I WILL NOT tolerate this type of verbal warfare. STOP it now.

I can see both sides of this argument... unfortunately I can not see which one is right in the big picture.

What I have seen, is "PetNO" campaigns by PeTA that are taking advantage of this. And that I can say without a doubt is a bad thing.

Keep the discussion civil, please.

I do expect some discussions will get VERY heated in here, but they will not be tolerated if they get too carried away. I don't have a problem with deleting entire threads in here if I find it necessary.

Thanks.

Marcia
Don't you see what Seamus was talking about, granted he might have been a bit over-passionate in his wording.
How ever well intentioned your actions were they may have started that snowball at the top of the hill to start rolling.
We have a petco here in Ypsilanti Mi. and through the diligence of myself and a few other herp 'nuts' the store has greatly cleaned up their operation with still some work to go
cooperation works...it may take some buttering