PetCo for T's?

SpiderTwin

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 17, 2003
Messages
910
I have always felt that no matter what kind of creature a pet store sells, there should be someone working there that is knowledgable on them. So many pet stores I've seen sell tarantulas and know nothing about them and don't even want to touch them. My beef now is with my local PetCo. They usually have the basic T's, ( rose hairs, red knees and pink toes). My store had a pink toe that was obviously a mature male that looked like he molted some time ago. He looked bad and I told one of the employees that if I were them, I would'nt sell it since it would'nt live much longer. They told me they would let management know, well three days later he is still there on display. I told another employee today and he said " oh well, those things don't live very long anyway". Needless to say, I won't be buying any animals at PetCo any time soon.
 

Bob the thief

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
285
Common knowladge petco does not care.
The peta has been fighting for them to properly treat animals but the peta has become a joke defending only the cute and fuzzy animals.

They attacked the ats for keeping spiders and several people were called slave masters. If the rainforests of the world disappear where will the future for these creatures lie?


Dont shop at petco they dont care
 

Deathreaver

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2003
Messages
51
Personally I notice petco does care about any of there animals. I've seen everything from mal-nurished rabits, tanks filled with dead fish, and even dehydrated spiders. I just whish there was something we could do to bring this too the attention to the general public, but I guess the saying , egnorance is bliss, is true.......
 

D-Man

Arachnochicano
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2003
Messages
356
Petco is a joke

All Petco's throw their T's in a tank with dry bark a water dish with a frickin sponge in it and a bright halogen lamp beating down on the poor T. They're set up for sale, not a long term stay. It's a real test for the hardiest of spiders - too bad, huh?! I hate seeing that, but they don't do a damn thing because it's too costly to care for them properly - cuts into their profit margins.


:8o :( It really blows!
 

slice9

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Messages
35
Thats the problem with "chain" pet stores. Most pet stores which actually have people that are knowledgable are ones that are owned privately, because the people that own them have a passion for animals. I read somewhere on a arachno board of a petco employee telling their management that the conditions we're completely wrong for their Ts and that they should be changed. Management told them that it was "protocol" for the setup to be that way and it could not be changed. Just yesterday I was in petco to buy a fake plant and their poor redknee had himself sitting in the waterdish (with a sponge!) obviously trying to keep from baking apart. The kritter keeper the redknee was in was INSIDE the cage of a small snake (I'm not good with snakes I don't know what kind (white&black striped, somewhat small)). The snake was literally crawling all over the cage. Its too bad conditions are like this, perhaps if more people complained to petco management something would change.

Click here to complain to them!
 

Bob the thief

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
285
They dont care if you complain they will think your from the peta , the peta has made the complaints they recive be ignored now sadly :mad:.

Been done before
 

Baphomet

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
65
PET - NO...er, I mean Petco...

I wouldn't shop there if I were given a ten minute free shopping spree. The lack of knowledge that the staff have, in combination with their grossly lacking husbandry and equally pathetic animal stock is nothing short of pathetic.

Their only criteria for hiring a "professional" is the first moron who is willing to work for minumum wage and can arrive on time for their shift.

With so many private breeders of quality animals out there (snakes, scorpions, T's...everything); why would anyone feel compelled to patronize such a disgustingly pathetic "big-box" pet store such as Petco...Pet Smart is just as bad.

The sad thing with stores like this is that they cater to the uninformed and inexperienced pet owner, many times duping a customer into believing that many "less-than-mainstream" animals are too hard to care for due to the absurd death rate of many of these animals that people purchase from them.

For example...take a "50-50" Cal-King. Miantain a clean cage of proper size and temperature gradient(s), and you will have a long-lived pet for many years.

Buy one from Petco that is infested with mites, kept in crowded conditions (can we say "stress" and "bacterial infections"), add on top of that improper heating, husbandry and food items; and PRESTO...you have purchased a animal that would be lucky to live more than a month!

Of course, we can't forget the "professional" advice that their animal professionals deal out!

Among the things that I have seen with customers who have purchased an animal (mostly reptiles) from a local Petco and ended up at our shop for advice are:

• Thermal burns
• Mite infestations
• Internal parasites:
Cryptosporidium serpentines
Infectious Stomatitis (Mouth Rot)
Respiratory infections
Septicemia or toxemia
Cloacoliths
Amebiasis
Blister disease

...Petco...the Aushwitz of pet care. :mad:
 

sunnymarcie

Celestial Spider
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
1,294
......Petco...the Aushwitz of pet care.
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Their not the only one's like that, I know of a private shop (or2)
that are the same!!

I went into one of them for crickets, just the other day........
I told the clerk that the T's did not have ANY water in their bowls
and do you know what she did:confused:
She took a fish container and went to the feeder tank for the water!!!!!! They treat that water with ALL kinds of chemicals and
that stupid B@#*#, used it for the T's!:mad: :mad: :mad:
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 5, 2003
Messages
1,428
PETCO near me is pretty damn good!!!

SERIOUSLY! Listen:

I went into the one in pittsburgh (south hills, near Century3), and i was over looking at the T's.... Two employees came up to me and asked if I wanted to buy any -- we started talking, and it turs out they both are part of ATS and are big into T's/Inverts... And to make a long story short, they talked to the manager who pretty much said that if they had the time,t hey could do whatever the want with the T's in the store! And the T's in the store look great! No sponges, not the same kind of lights, nice LARGE enough hidiing places, not 25 crickets roaming the cage ... The staff there has a list (each 2 weeks) of what kinds of T there are in the store, and some good basic info on them...

The T's look great, and i buy many T's from them. I wouldnt, though, from any normal PETCO... i know this one is a minority, but its cool! I even see these employees at local Reptile Shows... Its really cool that for once, the animals are getting treated well.

Oh yes,and NO LITTLE 6 YEAR OLD DIRTY KIDS POKING FINGERS IN THE TANKS!! i see that shi^t all the time at some petstores, and i don;t know HOW any pet dealer can pull that off.. i'd love to see the court case of "Pokie vs. Bratty 6 year old"...

anyways, if youre gonna buy from a chain, and the T/tank looks alright, ask around to see if anyone "specializes" in inverts.. You might be surprised that there's an underground movement in that store -- that, or come to pittsburgh to see some mighty nice clean, fresh, "happy", healthy T's in a PetCo... crazy, huh? =D

peace,
Dave
 

Professor T

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Messages
722
Don't buy to rescue animals!

There are bad chains, and bad smaller shops. There are good individual shops within a chain, and there are good smaller pet shops. It varies with the people working there.

I think you SHOULD NOT buy an animal from an abusive pet shop to rescue an animal that you feel sorry for, because that rewards them for abuse. I will flat out ask management if I can fill the water bowl of an animal that is dry, and won't leave the store until its full. I really DON'T take later for an answer. They respond quickly because its not worth the hassle to argue with me(Type A personality). I always ask them if they're thirsty how long does it take before they get a drink for themselves? :mad:

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM PET SHOPS THAT ABUSE ANIMALS!
 

Immortal_sin

Arachnotemptress
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 17, 2002
Messages
3,952
Originally posted by RugbyDave
PETCO near me is pretty damn good!!!

Dave
Dave,
same here, but only after I made an absolute stink about it!
The district manager, AND the store manager called me back, and I told them what my complaint was. Now, the Ts are housed properly, and look much better. They even took the stupid sponge out of the water dish. I go in and check up on them all the time, I think they secretly don't like me, cuz they know I'll report them again :)
 

conipto

ArachnoPrincess
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 27, 2002
Messages
1,256
Originally posted by Immortal_sin
Dave,
same here, but only after I made an absolute stink about it!
The district manager, AND the store manager called me back, and I told them what my complaint was. Now, the Ts are housed properly, and look much better. They even took the stupid sponge out of the water dish. I go in and check up on them all the time, I think they secretly don't like me, cuz they know I'll report them again :)
Heh, I have a small shop here like that. Through some complaining, and dirty looks, everything is peachy now. I can just see the "Oh crap, here comes that wierd spider guy again.." on their faces when I go there... But, success is success :)

Bill
 

SpiderTwin

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 17, 2003
Messages
910
Sounds like I'm gonna to have to push the issue further at my local PetCo. The employees don't seem to know or care, but I hope the management will. If they don't, I will find a district manager and complain to he/she. I just think that if they sell animals, they should be cared for and the employees should be able to answer your questions CORRECTLY!

I they don't listen further, I will start telling everyone I know not to buy animals at PetCo. I just feel bad for the poor suffering animals.
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 5, 2003
Messages
1,428
Hey!!

Nice to see there's other fighters out there!!!
yeah, it sucks when you go into a pet shop where you made a big thing, cos you know they're like "oh did you see the new wierd spider guy yet? yeah hes f-ing wierd", but who cares -- the T's are happy and you're happy, and if they get a good selection, they may have a new customer!!!

peace,
dave
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 5, 2003
Messages
1,428
man,just called all the petco's near me and here's what i found


1) "Rose- Hairy"
2) "Pink Toes"
3) "White Zebra Leg"
4) "Cobalt"
5) "Fire Leg"
6) "South American Red Knee"
7) "Red Leg"
8) pink zebra beauty

i know their not invert dealers, but stil, it'd be nice if some of them had the right names :) I especially love the "rose-hairy" huh? and the South AMerican Red KNee? Man, if you go by Petco's names, you'd think they had their own species!

but its cool!
at elast its not just G.rosea and A.avicularia. PLus they can order T.blondi's which is pretty damn cool (only $150 for an adolescent near me!)
peace,
dave
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 5, 2003
Messages
1,428
hot damn, i meant "THEY'RE" not "THEIR" man.. and im in speech-language-pathology too.. damn :)
 

Deathreaver

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2003
Messages
51
I have an idea, instead of complaining to just the individual stores why don't we e-mail this to the ower and see what he thinks about some of our comments. If that fells to work we could always get the media involved, they are always iching for "public interest" story about a place that is not doing stuff right to people or animals and they confront the owner of the stores about it. Just an idea though.......
 

conipto

ArachnoPrincess
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 27, 2002
Messages
1,256
Public interest is to have these animals stepped on, Deathreaver.

Bill
 

D-Man

Arachnochicano
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2003
Messages
356
Fight on brothers!!!!

Good to hear all this positive action many of you take. T's are not even remotely looked at in the same regard as dogs or cats by the public in general. But, people like us can effect change in our own reaches and at least raise some eyebrows and enlighten the people who sell what they know nothing about. Good job guys!!!

Peace :D
 
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