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Petco does it again

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XReptileGirlx

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Petco dead animal article


This is sick, i worked at Petco in NJ, and got a HORRIBLE case of mites(scabies, chiggers) on my leg from the animals, hense i cant work at a death camp for animals anymore,..petco is disgusting..i cant stress that enough
 
I hear that one...I worked at a Petco many many moons ago...with the terrible management and the fact that I never got what I ordered from Cal Zoo....not to mention half of it was dying when it came in...handing in my keys was the best thing I ever did.
 
I recently went to a local petco, and was agast at what I found.  They had ONE snake, and it was a medium ball python...the only lady working in the store had no idea about any of the reptiles, and the one ball looked acted like it hadn't been handled in weeks.  I put on a glove (b/c she wouldn't touch him), pulled him out...as soon as I touched him he started hissing very loud.  I looked him over, he had mites all over him, and had either a mite or tic in one of his heat pits.  I brought this to the persons' attention, but she showed no interest...just went back to cleaning the bird cages.  I went back about 2 weeks later, and no change.  This time the snake looked like it was struggling to finish a shed...the humidity is null.  I will never step foot in that place again.  I couldn't believe my eyes!
 
I agree.  Something should be done about this, like maybe they could hire employees that actually know what they are doing instead of teens that are just looking for money and do not care for the animals.  I have purchased about 5 animals from petco and all of them I purchased because they were in terrible conditions and needed to be helped I also purchased both bci's because they were amazing looking animals.  3 of these animals were ball python babies, all of which were loaded with mites, and the other 2 were bci's  both of these were loaded with mites also but I actually got a good deal on them because one was very high pink and the other is hypo, He proved this when I breed him to a hypo female of mine, I have no idea why petco would have a hypo but I had to get him.  I have not gone into that store for over a year now because I'm afraid that if I do I will end up buying another animal because of the poor conditions it is in.  I feel sorry for all the animals that die in petco stores every day because of inexperienced employees and neglect.
 
I should add that some employees do know what they are doing and do care for the animals but the severity of the problems with these animals is too overwhelming for one dedicated employee.
 
Petco sucks.

WE have them here and , with the exception of one that had a reptile knowledgeable person in it, they were ill staffed, with kids that had little or No knowledge(What you going to get for $6<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':0'>0/hr?) and the reptiles were imports that wer rouigh and ill kept in BIG shiny cages that were used to promote the sale of the animal and not its well being. I wouldnt sell them my cornsnakes. And I hate cornsnakes.

                                Fred Albury
                          Aztec Reptiles
 
Fred,

Are you allowed to say "I hate cornsnakes" on Rich Z's site like that?  You can sell them all to me at a price reduced according to the degree of your hatred!  LOL

Darin
 
Anothing this is when i worked there..

the baby iguanas came in in little fish bags!

how were they supposed to breathe?

the good thing is from working there i got to adopt peoples animals that they didnt want cause petco wouldnt take them THANK god...

i got this big girl from someone, shes gonna be a mommy...at least shes in good hands..
 
In related news, today on Animal Planet and National Geographic channels I saw ads for Petco.  I watch these channels all the time and this is the first time I have seen these ads.  I would suggest to the advertising and public relations departments of these channels they may not want to associate themselves with a company like Petco.  I e-mailed them, I think eveyone else should too, you can get the addresses at discovery.com and nationalgeographic.com.  To see an ad from a company that routinely neglects it's reptiles during a show about asian water monitors was ridiculous.  Just a suggestion do with it what you will.........
 
Darin,

I NEVER come in as politically correct, as I dont curry favor. Rich Z has a GREAT reputation among friends I know that have bought crons from him. I hate most corns, so I dont buy them from him or anyone else. this doesnt take away from his business integrity one iota, it is just my preference, and trust me, if i had any corns, theyd allready be on a FedEx truck going to your house C.O.D.! !

                                           Always,

                                          Fred Albury
                                         Aztec Reptiles
 
I dont know about any of you, but i've been getting emails from herp people about signing the petition to ban petco from selling live animals.
While I agree that most petcos are pretty shabby, especially for reptiles, I cringe at the idea of trying to ban them--we ban one outlet, doesnt it open the door for support to an all out ban of reptiles?  Sometimes it seems that us reptile people do the most damage to ourselves.  How about a push for education, not a ban.
Dana
 
another note on Petco..

when i worked there they sent us to other petcos for  "classes' (5 hours of videos) on animals, NEVER once was thier a reptile care video, and even so the other videos were FAR less than satisfactory.

-Melissa
 
I just want to say that yes, Petco. has problems. Let's look a little closer though. Many of the animals come in to their store in bad and negleted shape. Is that their fault? Maybe they should look for another dealer or better screen what comes in. I'am in no way excusing Petco. for the mistakes they have made or continue to make, but not all the fault is theirs.
I also agree with the many other people who have posted and said that Petco. needs to hire people who actually know something about what they are caring for. A high school student who has never even owned a reptile should definitely not be caring for them. They should also have two people for reptiles. I happen to own 12 lizards, 3 snakes and two toads. To care for them and keep them all healthy, clean and fed is a full time job and I do it alone. With as many animals as Petco. has on a regular basis they need more people caring for them.
I just think that there is better ways to get a store to better their self then slamming it on a message board somewhere(yes they do deserve it sometime). Spend a little time and send your e-mails to Petco. owners and shareholders. Maybe with enough effort and time we could get them to change their ways rather then close them down.
I also want to point out that there is thousands of other pet stores out there that treat their animals just as bad. Because they are small family owned businesses and not a nation wide chain they do not get the medias, or your, attention. Just a little food for thought.
 
When you only 6 or 7 bucks an hour its can be hard to find experienced people.  Still though, they should have appropriate training.  

As far as being a full time job, if all the petcos are similarly stocked as the two near me, an hour, 2 tops is all that would be needed to take care of the reptiles.  with the way they have them set up it would be very easy to care for them.

As far as banning reptiles from petco, like Dana said, bad idea, if you ban this, it makes it much easier to ban other things.  A precedent of sorts has been set.

Education is the way to go.  Proper training is the way to go.  Talk to the managers, maybe they will allow you to set up a trianing program (doubtful, but its worth a try)

Steve Schindler
Tropical Oasis
 
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