Put off

[clarkee_04]

I know everyone has their problems with large pet shops and such, but I've never really had a problem, until today. I walked into the local store store (*) to get a new heat lamp. I decided to go back and look at the reptile section and what do I see? A full grown veiled chameleon. The only problem was that the animal was being kept in a 10 gallon tank with a tiny little water dish and veggies. I understand that the store can't keep the animals in optimal conditions (correctly sized tanks and such), but they could have atleast given it something a little taller. On top of all of this, there was no foliage, branches, or anything to climb on. I was so put off by this that I refuse to go to that store again, ever.:main_thumbsdown:

 

[Barbel]

The thing about those stores (*) is that they have a little book with pretty pictures of what the store is supposed to look like, this way when you walk into a store in California it looks exactly like one in Florida which looks exactly like one in Minnesota. I know this because I used to work at one (the latter). My manager ordered a Chameleon once and we tried to set it up in a screen enclosure and were told "NO" because it doesn't follow the book. She didn't order another one the rest of the time I was there. I worked at two different stores and both had employees that knew a decent amount of information, but couldn't do anything about it, because of the store policies. :main_angry: It was frustrating. Another example is we had an uromastyx which doesn't need a water bowl or humidity. We wanted to take the water dish out because it was raising the humidity, but couldn't because all enclosures require a water dish, which is why the cham you saw had one. There is also a humidity issue with desert species because they are kept right next to tropical species and sometimes the humidity crosses over. They also tell the new employees to read the care guides if they unfamiliar with a species in the store, but I have found a lot of the guides to be inaccurate. Proper feeding and cage maintenance are the responsibility of the employees so if that is wrong that is the employees fault, but most of the time it is the big corporate heads that keeps the animals in those conditions. If they would allow for a bit of flexibility instead of worrying about their cook cutter image, I am more than certain that a lot of reptiles in their stores would be in much better condition.
Another thing that annoyed me about those policies is that not only were the animals being kept in properly at the store but trying to explain the proper way to a customer when it is displayed wrong in front of their face was very difficult. They would think, well it's like that here, so it can be like that at my house.
Even though I think that the one I worked for is 1000 times better than the other, they still need to make some improvements.
Anyway, I know that was a long rant, but I just had to get it all out!

 

[snakegirl]

these pet chains can be very hard to work with. My shop near me a few years back..i walked in came to the repitles..and was very mad...Not one..was cleaned or had food..(unless you mean countless of old dead crickets) and one snake was DEAD. yes, a ball python dead. the one next to it...just about ready to die. they were down to there bones..no food...i was so mad. i told them right then and there they need to care for them...(we dont sell mice) i was told. and there fine on crickets. well a few phone calls later and E-mails. i got them to re-due,clean, and feed all New??? animals. Yup thats right. they got rid of all the other animals and replaced them with new ones...And once again there back to being Not cared for...Basically they keep there animals till they die. Then replace with new....Makes me sick.

 

[d13t_p3ps1]

I work at a chain pet store. Myself and the other employees do what we can for the reptiles, and they're not that bad. But it could be a lot better, if corporate rules were updated to reflect what we know about keeping reptiles now. It seems to me like the care guidelines for pet store animals were written in the 80's, before a lot of current information was available. And then the guidelines were just never updated.

It's a shame, really. I work with a lot of smart people, and I know that if weren't restricted by corporate cookie-cutter bullcrap we would both sell more animals to appropriate homes, and have a better reputation in general. It stinks that the people that run the company don't think about that.