jane_bukowski
New member
i am seeking some feedback from fellow animal lovers concerning their experiences at petco petstores. in the past couple of months, myself and a few of my friends have had some horrible experiences involving a particular Indiana store location, and the management of this store has refused to take any sort of action regarding our complaints. here is a brief list of the herp and non-herp related concerns that we have:
1. EXTREMELY SICK PYTHON: exhibited open mouth breathing, unable to control movement of head, laying on its back, worst skin condition i've ever seen (peeling, flaking, WAY TOO DRY). this animal was being kept in a tank with 4 other ball pythons. one looked 'okay', the other 3 also had very poor skin condition. talked to the manager about it and was told that "all snakes behave that way when shedding, we'll turn the humidity up a little." (that is absolutely asinine). i asked when the animal was fed last and they would not disclose the information.
2. sick birds: nostrils inflamed, open mouth breathing, tail bobbing, toe nails that have apparently never been trimmed, warped beaks. when i brought this problem to the attention of store management, i was told that these behaviors/conditions are "normal" and that they "care for" and "medicate" their animals when they deem appropriate. (i have a bird: NONE of these conditions are "normal" unless the bird is very ill, and all of these conditions requite immediate treatment)
3. dead fish: pick any type of fish in the store. look in the tank. EVERY tank had a minimum of one very dead fish. i understand that fish are very prone to stress, but this is ridiculous. there were also extremely sick fish in a few tanks. management informed me that they were 'unaware' of dead fish, and that the fish i thought were sick were probably just 'resting'. (healthy fish are not fuzzy. nor do they have pop-eye, nor do they have ulcers).
i realize that petstores face many problems. i realize that animals may be delivered sick. i realize that shipping causes a great deal of stress for animals. but EVERY time i have visited this store in the past 2- almost 3 -months, all of these problems continue. none of the sick animals are being kept in quarantine, none appearing to be getting better, and management refuses to deal with me. they are conveniently "unavailable" whenever i request to speak with them. has anyone faced similar problems with this chain of stores? or is this particular store just especially horrible? what does anyone suggest i do about this? i plan to contact the corporate offices, but is there anyone else that i can report all of this to?
1. EXTREMELY SICK PYTHON: exhibited open mouth breathing, unable to control movement of head, laying on its back, worst skin condition i've ever seen (peeling, flaking, WAY TOO DRY). this animal was being kept in a tank with 4 other ball pythons. one looked 'okay', the other 3 also had very poor skin condition. talked to the manager about it and was told that "all snakes behave that way when shedding, we'll turn the humidity up a little." (that is absolutely asinine). i asked when the animal was fed last and they would not disclose the information.
2. sick birds: nostrils inflamed, open mouth breathing, tail bobbing, toe nails that have apparently never been trimmed, warped beaks. when i brought this problem to the attention of store management, i was told that these behaviors/conditions are "normal" and that they "care for" and "medicate" their animals when they deem appropriate. (i have a bird: NONE of these conditions are "normal" unless the bird is very ill, and all of these conditions requite immediate treatment)
3. dead fish: pick any type of fish in the store. look in the tank. EVERY tank had a minimum of one very dead fish. i understand that fish are very prone to stress, but this is ridiculous. there were also extremely sick fish in a few tanks. management informed me that they were 'unaware' of dead fish, and that the fish i thought were sick were probably just 'resting'. (healthy fish are not fuzzy. nor do they have pop-eye, nor do they have ulcers).
i realize that petstores face many problems. i realize that animals may be delivered sick. i realize that shipping causes a great deal of stress for animals. but EVERY time i have visited this store in the past 2- almost 3 -months, all of these problems continue. none of the sick animals are being kept in quarantine, none appearing to be getting better, and management refuses to deal with me. they are conveniently "unavailable" whenever i request to speak with them. has anyone faced similar problems with this chain of stores? or is this particular store just especially horrible? what does anyone suggest i do about this? i plan to contact the corporate offices, but is there anyone else that i can report all of this to?
