Appropriate reactions to bad husbandry

[Dry Desert]

I totally agree. I’m sorry about your Curly hair, though. Losses always suck

Every time a creature is "rescued" it's only replaced by another.

Nothing at all will change.

 

[Gevo]

I think you did what you could. You say that this person wasn't selling and was just displaying a personal collection, so the mislabelling is irritating but not fraudulent, and to my knowledge, most animal welfare laws recognize very few invertebrates as sentient (e.g., certain cephalopods), so they're generally not protected by any standards of care. If this were an expo or it was being promoted as an educational event put on by a local organization or something, you could file a complaint with them, but it sounds like telling the person about the improper setups and encouraging them to do more research on these species was about all you could have done. Hopefully they took what you said to heart and are busy rectifying their husbandry and are showing a little more interest in learning about their animals.

I really don't understand how some people can be so lacking in curiosity!

 

[SpiderEspresso]

I decided instead to reach out to PetCo with a letter about the treatment of their animals and a free offer to redo their enclosures. Will that do any good?

Nope.

Instead you just say you saw a dead reptile or two and they have been left in the cage for a few days.

That will trigger someone to come down on the store. Most Petco’s don’t follow their own internal policy on animal care. It’s not great but, fine for temporary holding for animals.

The problem is whether or not they have staffing hours to do proper care and/or someone in that role that is suppose to enforce policy in that district.

The best way to judge a Petco is by their fish. If the fish are good (for a big box retailer) and have more variety, that means they have staffing and funding to do proper animal care. If they got the same selection as Petsmart, don’t touch that store. Rescue spiders if you want though if they are discounted. It means they won’t order them for a while because it sat too long.

 

[gabrieldezzi]

I couldn’t imagine seeing T’s in a condition like that. Every expo/event I’ve been to so far has had pretty good husbandry (other than the tiny containers but they’re temporary anyway). However most of these places like the other users said don’t really care unfortunately. It’s important to rather, educate the newer generations in the hobby, and even continue to learn as seasoned veterans. We can’t always know everything, but it’s best to do our best and learn along with everyone else. Eventually and hopefully, we’ll have another generation (an even bigger one!) of people that truly care for T’s the same way we do.

 

[Frogdaddy]

The topic of "gate keeping" comes up occasionally in every animal hobby. I'm a firm believer that not every person should own any particular type of animal. Some people just aren't equipped to deal with the husbandry, or attention to detail that some animals require. Others just ignore advice given by seasoned keepers. I place these people on the pay no mind list because they aren't worth my time or effort trying to educate them.
It's sad that any animal has to suffer at the hands of a human who has no business owning that animal. For example just Google the news story about a tiger being kept in an NYC apartment. It's animal abuse and I have less than zero tolerance for that.

 

[Motherofspiders112707]

The topic of "gate keeping" comes up occasionally in every animal hobby. I'm a firm believer that not every person should own any particular type of animal. Some people just aren't equipped to deal with the husbandry, or attention to detail that some animals require. Others just ignore advice given by seasoned keepers. I place these people on the pay no mind list because they aren't worth my time or effort trying to educate them.
It's sad that any animal has to suffer at the hands of a human who has no business owning that animal. For example just Google the news story about a tiger being kept in an NYC apartment. It's animal abuse and I have less than zero tolerance for that.

I have trouble understanding why people won’t take advice from seasoned keepers. I think anyone who wants the best for their pets should listen to advice and criticism, not ignore it

 

[Frogdaddy]

I have trouble understanding why people won’t take advice from seasoned keepers. I think anyone who wants the best for their pets should listen to advice and criticism, not ignore it

I agree. I don't get it either.
Whenever I'm considering a new animal I do copious amounts of research including joining forums and seeking out those that have kept/bred said animal. The ironic thing is with the Internet literally at our fingertips we have such an easy path to information. In the history of humans we have never had faster, easier access to information than we do now. So I guess those people are just lazy.