Angry at Petco

[mustang]

i bet u could do a hell of a lot good if u call and complain to them...my friends and i did that to pepsi and we got a a 5 dollar discount caus the whole vendingf machine expired...too a few tries but we did when joy played as mats mom and yelled at the lady and matt gave her the right adress ....the other times had errors like
1)me laughing caus friend was faking a gag reflex
2)the snoody lady hung up on us when we gave her the code on the bottle and she figured out it really was expired
3) i know there is one more failed attempt but i forgot about it

[GarterGeek]

Petsmart is just as bad as Petco. Petsmart sold me an Appalachicola Kingsnake as a "Regular Banded Kingsnake". I guess I sort of lucked out.

Where do these stores buy their animals from, and why are they so often mislabeled? I have a hard time imagining that happening if they were buying from breeders...

[gregmonsta]

Back when Petsmart carried reptiles over here I used to go and drool over their garter tank when I was younger ... looking back it was truely terrible ... 20+ garters stuck in one display tank ... majority parietalis and ... one young vagrans from what I can remember .... a WC parasite breeding ground! (and vagrans buffet to boot).

[mustang]

if i work there ill fix up my location good....but first if im gonna $hit on em i gotta be high up(old moral story) in other words if im gonna yell i better be in upper managment

[emceefisherprice]

I could not agree more. I bought a Columbian Boa from the Petco in Norwalk Connecticut. I checked him over thoroughly before I took him home but as soon as I got him into his new enclosure - mites everywhere. They must have smelled fear @ Petco and then come out when we got home. It was such a horrible infestation the poor snake caught a nasty bite inside his mouth. It caused such a horrible inflammation that the snake suffocated to death with his jaw completely deformed. It broke my heart. I literally wrapped him in a warm blanket while he was gasping for air, pulled out at least 3 grams of solid puss from his wind pipe and before I could clean the top of his mouth, he died in my hands. Needless to say I was FURIOUS. Columbian Boas are too beautiful and delicate to be subjected to that kind of torture.

So I went back to Petco, explained the situation, and looked at the same tank. I noticed now there were 4 fresh Columbian Boa hatchlings all covered in mites, emaciated much like you described with big skin folds all over each younging. I called for the staff and was greeted by "Mike" the g.e.d.-level pseudoherpotologist. I explained to him that he was killing the snaked but not he, the asst manager or the store manager seemed to give 2 shits. I hate to FIGHT to get my money back with a now-frozen deceased Col. Boa in my hands and a mouth that looked like it was run over by a tire. The ******* goes "did you step on him?"

That is the last time I will EVER deal with that place. How can a corporately owned place with supposedly reputable breeders/dealers allow such unsanitary conditions at their store?

I currently have a ball python who's just shy of 8 months old and i noticed he's got some mites now. I keep a VERY clean cage for him so somehow one must have jumped off my arm and into his cage when I was dealing with the dying Hispanic. Here we go again.

The plus side - pythons, especially ball pythons, are pretty hearty and can handle the repetitive beta-dine baths but i can't seem to get him completely clean. i'm going to keep bathing him until i see no mini-mites on my hands, THEN and only then can he go into his new 55gal tank.

seeing any animal suffering - especially reptiles - brings such pain to me.. i wish there was a demiting vaccine for them.

Any tricks anyone? I've heard a bath of beta-dine, mineral oil, and water will drown the mites.. and it did drown the big guys.. guy the micro-mites seemed to come out from under the scales. how many baths until my boy is clean? it sucks squishing them and seeing Montel's blood on my finger (thats the python's name, Montel W. Python, W for Williams.

emcee fisher price

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I could not agree more. I bought a Columbian Boa from the Petco in Norwalk Connecticut. I checked him over thoroughly before I took him home but as soon as I got him into his new enclosure - mites everywhere. They must have smelled fear @ Petco and then come out when we got home. It was such a horrible infestation the poor snake caught a nasty bite inside his mouth. It caused such a horrible inflammation that the snake suffocated to death with his jaw completely deformed. It broke my heart. I literally wrapped him in a warm blanket while he was gasping for air, pulled out at least 3 grams of solid puss from his wind pipe and before I could clean the top of his mouth, he died in my hands. Needless to say I was FURIOUS. Columbian Boas are too beautiful and delicate to be subjected to that kind of torture.

So I went back to Petco, explained the situation, and looked at the same tank. I noticed now there were 4 fresh Columbian Boa hatchlings all covered in mites, emaciated much like you described with big skin folds all over each younging. I called for the staff and was greeted by "Mike" the g.e.d.-level pseudoherpotologist. I explained to him that he was killing the snaked but not he, the asst manager or the store manager seemed to give 2 shits. I hate to FIGHT to get my money back with a now-frozen deceased Col. Boa in my hands and a mouth that looked like it was run over by a tire. The ******* goes "did you step on him?"

That is the last time I will EVER deal with that place. How can a corporately owned place with supposedly reputable breeders/dealers allow such unsanitary conditions at their store?

I currently have a ball python who's just shy of 8 months old and i noticed he's got some mites now. I keep a VERY clean cage for him so somehow one must have jumped off my arm and into his cage when I was dealing with the dying Hispanic. Here we go again.

The plus side - pythons, especially ball pythons, are pretty hearty and can handle the repetitive beta-dine baths but i can't seem to get him completely clean. i'm going to keep bathing him until i see no mini-mites on my hands, THEN and only then can he go into his new 55gal tank.

seeing any animal suffering - especially reptiles - brings such pain to me.. i wish there was a demiting vaccine for them.

Any tricks anyone? I've heard a bath of beta-dine, mineral oil, and water will drown the mites.. and it did drown the big guys.. guy the micro-mites seemed to come out from under the scales. how many baths until my boy is clean? it sucks squishing them and seeing Montel's blood on my finger (thats the python's name, Montel W. Python, W for Williams.

emcee fisher price

order yourself a can of provent-a-mite. I had a mite infestation once about 2 years ago. That stuff works wonders. You simply treat the substrate of the snake's tank as per the instructions, and the mites will be all dead within a few days. I now use provent-a-mite as a preventative, because mites can hitchhike under the scales of new acquisitions without either party knowing they are there!

[mustang]

stupid petco outsmarted me i gotta be 18 to work there! and i probably know more than half them idiots! i go to 2 locations one of the is ok the animals dont look sick or anything (this manager cares) but the other is horrable !!!! they misslabled a ribbon snake as a garter(i believe it was a ribbon ) 5 or 6 of those in a cage! and i saw that one of the bearded dragons was having a hard time shedding beceause of all the cr@p on his skin! i compllained to someone and she said ....o im not the animal caretaker here ....Q number two ..do u even clean the cages?
o occasionay we rinse em out
o boy was i mad if not for my mother being there i would have ASKED to see the animal caretaker!

[mustang]

One of my good friends has become a regular thorn in Petco's side; apparently their corporate headquarters know her by first name. It's amazing what going to the city newspaper can accomplish! Corporate probably couldn't care less about individual personal complaints, but when it hits the local mainstream (like a negative article in the paper), well lookie lookie... we haven't seen corns being fed crickets in quite some time now!

wow i havent even thought of that ...i rarely even read the paper tho beceause of a few bias opinions and an article about poaching that turned into a anti-hunting kill the nra kinda article....stupid idiot...maybe she runs petco!...

[ConcinusMan]

contact your local animal control agency also....file a cruelty complaint, they can send someone to help straighten them out....

I did that. Twice in a year. (Private reptile shop). They will ask you to put your concerns in writing, and they will ask you if you talked to the owner first. Nothing seemed to change after complaining except that they quit leaving dead animals in the enclosures for months at a time. I think animal control has trouble recognizing cruelty when it comes to reptiles and/or they have higher priorities. I think you'd have better luck talking to someone higher up in the company.(petco) Putting it in writing is the most affective way. Might want to point out that the mite problem will spread to other animals if it hasn't already, and will persist in the enclosures if not properly dealt with.

Much of this has to do with their reptile sources rather than fault of the keeping. What I mean is, animals are usually there a short time. If there are health issues, it's usually because they got the animals that way. The store is intended to be a temporary place until the animals are sold. You purchase mite-infested snakes, then that's what you get. Not only that, it spreads to healthy, clean animals. I agree that what you saw is cruel. The snakes are in immediate danger and suffering, and likely can be saved. To do nothing amounts to cruelty.

In petco stores around my area, the facilities are immaculate, clean, and conditions appropriate for the individual species, and the animals are in excellent condition. You can't always judge a pet store based on staff knowledge of the animals, or the condition of the animals. The SOURCE of those reptiles is as much, if not more important than proper husbandry while they are in the store.

Blabbering about it to staff and storming out is useless. It's best to set aside emotions and ask to see a manager. Calmly and effectively explain your concerns and offer suggestions. Explain that your concern is mainly for the suffering the snakes are enduring, and they wouldn't let a puppy suffer from fleas. Explain that a call to animal cruelty authorities is best left as a last resort. A manager doesn't have to be knowledgeable about the snakes, but it's their job to address customer concerns.

EDIT: was it the bremerton store on wheaton way?

[ssssnakeluvr]

I think animal control has trouble recognizing cruelty when it comes to reptiles and/or they have higher priorities.

you may have found an officer that doesn't know any better, but not all animal control officers know a lot about reptiles. best to talk with animal control and see if they have anyone that knows about reptile care.... some of us animal control officers DO know about care and do enforce cruelty laws on stores.

I am one of them that does know...and will enforce cruelty laws on any animals that are treated improperly....but, a BIG part of our job is education....a lot of these people have no clue about caring for critters....