Another reason to hate petco.

[Warren Bautista]

Okay, so today I went to petco and I saw an avic sp. for sale. When I went down to look at its substrate was bone dry. So then I looked at the rosea they had and it was in a KK about as big as the T itself and its substrate was soaking wet! My god, I think petco is a work of pure evil. Evil!

 

[HcUnderoath]

i feel ya our petco treats the pets pretty good but the prices... MY GOD they want 2.50$ea for frozen feeder mice somethin like 12cents ea for crickets and everything they have there is 2x+ overpriced i havnt been there in a long time since i found a good pet shop, 1$ for large frozen mice 5cea for crickets and they sell lots of T's for better prices then what you can find here at arachnoboards

 

[mcliff1]

i feel ya our petco treats the pets pretty good but the prices... MY GOD they want 2.50$ea for frozen feeder mice somethin like 12cents ea for crickets and everything they have there is 2x+ overpriced i havnt been there in a long time since i found a good pet shop, 1$ for large frozen mice 5cea for crickets and they sell lots of T's for better prices then what you can find here at arachnoboards

I know in my area - local pet shops are drying up - driven out by the Petco and Petsmart stores.

 

[HcUnderoath]

ya in my area all the local pet shops went out of business except 1 (the one i noted) which is doing better then petco and petsmart

 

[arachyd]

Our local pet shop is also going out of business. Petsmart moved in 3 blocks away and that was the beginning of the end for them. It's a shame, they were a teachable pet shop that would listen to advice and implement changes needed.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

I think petco is a work of pure evil. Evil!

I think it's more "stupid" really. The evil bit comes in where the corporation doesn't care enough to STOP being stupid, and so even the occasional well-meaning employee often won't be permitted to change enclosures to better suit the animal.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

their prices are ridiculous, but as long as people are still paying them, why lower them?

in fact, their prices on live mice have been increasing a lot. I remember when they were like, $1.59. Then they were up to $2.29. Now they are up to $2.49, which is ridiculous. And their frozen aren't much lower. I spend twice as much when I buy feeders at petco than when I do at the local reptile store... and i'm always wary about the quality of the feeders. I don't do it often... But I do work in petco stores (not for petco, though), and sometimes it just works out that way.

And their animal care is seriously lacking. But as long as people are still buying, why change that? The biggest problem is that the people that buy from petco listen to the petco employees, and don't know any better. They don't know that they are being ripped off, and are given incorrect information. And they don't know that the animals they are buying are already half-dead from being cared for improperly.

 

[brothaT]

I've got to give kudos to the Petco near my house for the care they give their tarantulas. Today I went their for the first time to get some crickets, and of course I had to check out their Ts. They were all terrestrials with plenty of space, a couple inches of coco fiber, a large watering dish, and a large hollow log hide. The lighting was also quite mild.

For all the crap these stores take, it's nice to find one that goes above and beyond.

 

[Tweak Sairaxx]

their prices are ridiculous, but as long as people are still paying them, why lower them?

in fact, their prices on live mice have been increasing a lot. I remember when they were like, $1.59. Then they were up to $2.29. Now they are up to $2.49, which is ridiculous. And their frozen aren't much lower. I spend twice as much when I buy feeders at petco than when I do at the local reptile store... and i'm always wary about the quality of the feeders. I don't do it often... But I do work in petco stores (not for petco, though), and sometimes it just works out that way.

And their animal care is seriously lacking. But as long as people are still buying, why change that? The biggest problem is that the people that buy from petco listen to the petco employees, and don't know any better. They don't know that they are being ripped off, and are given incorrect information. And they don't know that the animals they are buying are already half-dead from being cared for improperly.

Well I would have to agree with you somewhat............Yes Petco's prices are a bit redicilous, Petsmarts are a bit better but all the retail shops, not just the corporate pet stores are feeling the trickle-down from the burn of the gas prices. Though the frozen prices have been wack no matter what the occasion.
Generalizing that all the employees dont know what they are talking about is not all to accurate. Having worked for Petco and now managing a Petsmart i can vouch that the training programs for both stores are none more than a brief introduction into the basic care requirements for the animals, and considering the average employee is more than less a teen looking for a part time income, I can see why you have had bad experience. But I can promise you there is good stores and people out there, come into my store and I promise my team will not give you any bs answers and you will leave satisfied. But unfortunatley, like you mentioned I do know that some stores need to get a new crew.

 

[JayzunBoget]

These are all good reasons to support your local pet stores, where your input can make a difference.
The problem with the pet chains is that even when the employees know their stuff and want to properly care for the animals in their care, the people who make the decisions about that care are all in a board room in Texas, somewhere, far removed from the animals that they are responsible for.
Unfortunately, the local pet stores find it very hard to compete when there are so many people on the web selling the same animals and inventory that the local pet stores sell, but at mark ups of only 10 to 30 percent above the wholesale prices the pet stores are paying.
I work for an uncommonly good specialty pet store in Lansing, Michigan (Preuss Pets) and time after time I see the customers that I have helped to get educated about this hobby eventually learn about the boards (arachnoboards, dendroboards, kingsnake, etc...) and then I've lost more than half of their business.
Oh, I know I'll get them back for feeders and small dollar supplies that aren't worth the shipping. But in the end, the sale goes to whoever is the cheapest, not the best.
That mentality spells eventual extinction for the local pet stores, and I fear it is inevitable. Maybe that is just evolution in progress, but evolution sucks when you are cro-magnon.

 

[hairmetalspider]

It seems that in general, the people who b**ch about the most are rarely the ones doing anything about it.

Be proactive. Write letters, make phone calls, do your research if you can't fix it with one simple talk. Stop whining and do something.

 

[sadistic_spydr]

I agree, the chain pet stores do not treat their animals well. I've worked for Pet"Smart" (I love how they changed it to smart a couple years ago...) for the past three years, and I've done everything in my power to change the way we house the animals we sell at our store. But unfortunately, we have to follow policy because it was designed by the "experts". It frustrates me to no end because right now I'm majoring in zoology, so obviously I have a passion for every animal- especially fish and reptiles, and I see how they are suffering and I can't do much about it except occasionally slip in a change here and there unless I want to get fired.The ironic thing is that if you've ever taken a look at the care guides we hand out and the tags that are placed under the cages describing their requirements (and if you've ever gotten the chance to check out policy...), the information contained in all three contradicts each other. And sadly, well meaning employees who actually take the time to become familiar with all the animals through research and experience are so few compared to the dillweeds that just make up an answer so they don't sound stupid. Lol...that was really long. Sorry 'bout that.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

Well I would have to agree with you somewhat............Yes Petco's prices are a bit redicilous, Petsmarts are a bit better but all the retail shops, not just the corporate pet stores are feeling the trickle-down from the burn of the gas prices. Though the frozen prices have been wack no matter what the occasion.
Generalizing that all the employees dont know what they are talking about is not all to accurate. Having worked for Petco and now managing a Petsmart i can vouch that the training programs for both stores are none more than a brief introduction into the basic care requirements for the animals, and considering the average employee is more than less a teen looking for a part time income, I can see why you have had bad experience. But I can promise you there is good stores and people out there, come into my store and I promise my team will not give you any bs answers and you will leave satisfied. But unfortunatley, like you mentioned I do know that some stores need to get a new crew.

Oh, I know not everyone is uneducated. I've met plenty of petco employees who do actually know what they are talking about. I've also been at a lot of stores where nobody seemed to know anything.
Saturday I kept hearing a lot of employees giving really terrible inaccurate information about all the reptiles... And the manager of that store is experienced with herps. So there was really no excuse for that. But I've also met a few very passionate hobbyists working at petco. I just wish more of them would be like that...

 

[blazetown]

Petsmart bought out Super Pet(canadian owned) at least in London here...god I hate them. Rarely good selection and yes very very overpriced. That and they say they only have captive bred animals but i've seen things there that are supposedly rare or impossible to breed. Any fish keepers out there will understand what I mean when I say they had "captive bred" farlowella catfish. Which aren't even easy to keep alive long enough to breed have the time lol.

 

[ShellsandScales]

Petsmart bought out Super Pet(canadian owned) at least in London here...god I hate them. Rarely good selection and yes very very overpriced. That and they say they only have captive bred animals but i've seen things there that are supposedly rare or impossible to breed. Any fish keepers out there will understand what I mean when I say they had "captive bred" farlowella catfish. Which aren't even easy to keep alive long enough to breed have the time lol.

Captive hatched maybe in a pond somewhere but definitely not tank bred/raised. Which would be truely captive bred in fish talk.

 

[Jeri]

The one and only time I stopped in a PetCo, I had a very different experience. It was just as stupid, but very different. I stopped in the PetCo in Robinson Town Center, near Pittsburgh, partly out of morbid curiosity from the horror stories I've read here, but mostly to see if I could get lucky and find a low priced mislabeled T, like so many of the other stories I've read here. I walked around the whole store and couldn't find anything close to a T. There were very few other animals apart from fish. Finally, I found someone who worked there, and she turned out to be a department manager (I think). I asked her if they carried any T's and she told me that they didn't have any, and that she didn't think any PetCo anywhere carried them. She said that if they did, they would be listed in the company's care manuals, and they weren't. She did tell me that the other pet store had some because she had just been around to check what their competition was selling a few days before.

Jeri

 

[arachnoid]

Well if there is one thing you can love Petco for is when a goof up is made and the next thing you know, you're walking out of the store with a 2" B. Smithi that was labeled as a $19.99 G. rosea.