Petco... once more.

[Toxoderidae]

Seems to me that a few phone calls to the right places might bring about some changes. People see the name "Petco", most know it's "pet friendly" and sponsors a lot of adoption events, so most assume all of their animals are being well taken care of. A simple email to a Petco higher up, or a few simple emails, regarding instances of seeing Sick and mistreated animals, might "inspire" some changes as well. This is a huge company that is revolved around animals and taking good care of them, their reputation is important to the survival of their business, if the public believes they mistreat, and sell Sick animals, their company will lose money, and furthermore, the respect of pet lovers. So sometimes just letting people higher up the food chain know about these kind of things, will bring about awareness and changes.

The issue is we've tried that. @viper69 and others called and talked to them during the tarantula huts thing. We got OW tarantulas off their list that they're selling, but that's it, despite them saying they'd change it. They don't care.

 

[socalqueen]

The issue is we've tried that. @viper69 and others called and talked to them during the tarantula huts thing. We got OW tarantulas off their list that they're selling, but that's it, despite them saying they'd change it. They don't care.

I'm ever the optimist, so at least you caused enough of a stir to save one type of animal. Realistically, calling and emails have to be done in large quantities, enough to cause them some discomfort and worry, in order to bring about change on a larger scale. A call to a local newspaper and emails to local news channels could also help, they eat this kind of stuff up. Just some ideas. But congrats to you both for your efforts and succeeding in the removal of OW Ts from their stores, that alone is awesome!!!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Ah ah, in Italy there's an old like hell adage that say "Morto un Papa se ne fa un altro" and I think that's the same for those.
"Morto un Petco se ne fa un altro" for that Petco is like the Pope... unbeatable

 

[user 666]

everything about your profile is screaming troll.. lol

Does it?

Well, shoot. I use this handle on a lot of sites. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[user 666]

The thing with hermits is they are large colony animals that need a ton of space to explore and climb, and they need a good beach environment along with the forest floor/mangrove environment. Petco simply can't supply that it seems

Plus, Petco sells land hermit crabs in painted shells. The hermit crabs have to be forced into the shell, and the ones who don't comply end up dead. And both Petco and Petsmart sell hermit crab supplies, including wire cage enclosures, which are guaranteed to kill the hermit crabs. Also, all hermit crabs sold in the pet trade are wild-caught from limited populations - breeding them in captivity is so difficult as to be almost impossible.

Basically, both Petco and Petsmart are operating on the ethical level of puppy mills, treating the animals they sell as disposable merchandize. But of course you already knew that from their treatment of herps and tarantulas.

 

[Venom1080]

Does it?

Well, shoot. I use this handle on a lot of sites. Thanks for letting me know.

Does it?

Well, shoot. I use this handle on a lot of sites. Thanks for letting me know.

You're absolutely right, I just thought your profile was funny. People may think you're trollibg when a 116yo, named user 666 who lives on a rainbow, says something.

 

[Toxoderidae]

Plus, Petco sells land hermit crabs in painted shells. The hermit crabs have to be forced into the shell, and the ones who don't comply end up dead. And both Petco and Petsmart sell hermit crab supplies, including wire cage enclosures, which are guaranteed to kill the hermit crabs. Also, all hermit crabs sold in the pet trade are wild-caught from limited populations - breeding them in captivity is so difficult as to be almost impossible.

Basically, both Petco and Petsmart are operating on the ethical level of puppy mills, treating the animals they sell as disposable merchandize. But of course you already knew that from their treatment of herps and tarantulas.

Really only a few species of hermits can properly live in captivity, and they need an enclosure the size of a monitor lizard's at minimum

 

[RTTB]

Forget places like PetCo. Utilize private dedicated sources and small businesses with ethics and heart.

 

[user 666]

Really only a few species of hermits can properly live in captivity, and they need an enclosure the size of a monitor lizard's at minimum

How big is that?

i usually recommend a 10g tank, at a minimum (a 20G tank would be better).

 

[Toxoderidae]

How big is that?

i usually recommend a 10g tank, at a minimum (a 20G tank would be better).

For a proper colony that thrives, I'd go with a 50 gal at minimum. When I had mine, they lived in a circular 200gal (had to sell them when I moved)

 

[SlugPod]

If the snake in your picture was the one moving strangely, it's most likely due to the fact it's a spider ball python. ALL spider balls (and subsequent morphs utilizing the spider morph) have neuro issues. Head wobbles. All of them. Some so severe they can't even eat. IMO they shouldn't even be bred but breeders only care about making that money.

Honestly this is why I AVOID large chain pet stores at all costs.
They never take care of their animals and shouldn't even be allowed to keep them.
Problem is, they aren't regulated in most cases because they don't carry "exotic" animals (whatever qualifies as exotics I'm not sure) and therefore can do whatever they want.
Most of the time store employees can't even refuse a sale of a live animal even if they know it's basically being sold to it's death (IE selling a betta to someone who bought a bowl for it. Or someone who just bought 5 goldfish to plunk into a 5 gal aquarium. Or a bearded dragon going to live on sand, though since most of the time they keep their reptile on sand even when that's been shown to kill them, I doubt they care).
The reptiles are often in the WORST kept conditions whenever I've had to visit a large chain. Multiple animals in one enclosure (BIG NO NO), either kept on sand (causes impaction and leads to death) or on bedding that just isn't suitable for the animal, live crickets still with them (crickets have been known to literally eat the animals if they are left in the enclosures).
Fish are kept no better, over stocked, literally just dead fish floating around.
Not to mention the just complete lack of knowledge from employees. They're put in charge of taking care of animals they know next to nothing about, and then are literally told to "make things up" if they don't know the answer to a customers question.
The stuff they do know is often times misinformation that they just spread to the customer.
Plus MOST of the cages and toys and even food they sell for animals are just plain cruel if not life threatening. Some of the small animal food they carry has literally been known to kill the animals, yet some how they are still selling it.

Honestly, big chains don't care about animals. At all. Sometimes the employees do and actually do know what they're talking about, but at the end of the day they're forced to sell animals to people they know are going to put them in conditions that are going to result in a premature death of the animal because of company policy.
Take your business elsewhere if you can. Don't support large chain pet stores at all. PetLand, PetCo, PetSuperMarket, PetSmart. All awful.
Just recently I watched in horror as petsupermarket employees sold a hamster to a homeless woman who was begging for money all week long in front of their store to buy food for herself because she "hasn't eaten (her words)". Kept asking "how big the hamsters got". Didn't even buy the poor thing food.
I don't even think she had plans to keep it that long...
Still sold her that hamster though, because who cares whether it goes to a proper home or not? It's all about money!

Part of the problem is the people that go in there, think they're somehow rescuing an animal by purchasing it. They're not. They're just giving the store more money to plunk another animal in those conditions.
If people would stop buying animals, they wouldn't be making money off of animal sales and would, in theory, stop carrying them.
Another problem is all the ignorant people who go in and impulse buy. Like do some research before you bring home a living creature?

Large chains are just bad in every way and need to be avoided.