PetsMart vs Petco

[Iowa T Keeper]

There is a big Petsmart coming into the area. I was wondering if people thought any better of petsmart than they do of Petco (which I've heard of referred to as Deathco)


I wasn't sure where to start this discussion so feel free to move it to where it's appropriate mods

 

[David_F]

I don't think Petsmart sells Ts. Might be the other way around though. :? I haven't been in either one for a while.

 

[Bark]

Petsmart doesn't sell T's. Their crix are a bit cheaper than Petco's though. They do sell Kritter Keepers, hides, wood (I don't know if it is cork or not), and other supplies that can be used on or with your Ts.

The worst thing I have ever seen at a petstore happened at a Petsmart. For unknown reasons they had a bunch of feeder goldfish on top of a tank. There were probably close to 50 of them there either flapping around or already dead. I asked the woman if she was planning to put them in water because duh fish need water. Her reply was, "They are just feeder fish".

I guess she has a point. If a cricket escaped and someone just smashed it, I wouldn't be upset. Taking fish out of water seems kind of cruel to me though.

 

[MilkmanWes]

On the average we have found cage and enclosures to be cheaper at Petsmart. They do have a lot of exo-terra products and the local one here has a better selection of hides, dishes, ornaments, and temp/humidity hardware. They do have corkbark, but it is more expensive than going cross town and buying it at another shop. The staff at the two Petcos I go into takes better care of the animals than Petsmart does and is more knowledgeable. The local petsmart here keeps 3 - 4 different lizard species in one habitat. They also do not tailor the habitat to whatever is inside it, just throw the animal into a standard display environment. At least the petcos keep one specie to a tank and regulate it closer to appropriate.

The one here did not have crickets. Don't know why, but I get them closer to my house anyhow.

 

[Nerri1029]

Here's a good topic for discussion...

Businesses need redular costumers..
I buy most of my stuff from a local Petshop whom I trust.. ( he stocked the Keepers Guide )
even though his prices for tanks and other things is a bit more..
If he's not there ( closes ) because of PetCo ( new one in town )
then where do I go?

sure you can get a 10 gall tank at Walmart for 6.99 or even at PetCo for 7.99 but I'll pay 9.99 and keep my local shop open.. They've special ordered my T's gauranteed me a female and didn't add to the price.. It's a great store..

So My advice to you is .. first try and find someone who knows there stuff..
IF it turns out to be someone at a PetCo or Pet Smart than great..
but NOTHING can beat a store owner / worker who cares enough to learn about the critters they care about and treat them properly..

Play it one store at a time..

PetCo hires LOADS of people.. you do the math on how many might know anything about T's..

 

[xanadu1015]

Petsmart and Petco

Both the Petsmart and Petcos near me are pretty good. The Petsmart in my area in South Jersey doesn't sell T's and have really good stock as far as supplies. The Petco in Newark, DE does sell T's though they couldn't identify a T to save their life. They usually have them in seperate keepers instead of the "standard bark substrate and no hide or water dish" display that I see other pet shops go with. These two places seem to treat their pets better and with more respect than I have seen elsewhere. Plus, they are very good at taking advice if you point out something they need to fix.


Laura

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

I guess she has a point. If a cricket escaped and someone just smashed it, I wouldn't be upset. Taking fish out of water seems kind of cruel to me though.

I take it you're not a fisherman then? lol ;P
I do this on a regular basis when im fishing, I do have to say it does, slightly, bother me...but, what can ya do.

~Crystal

 

[Bark]

Nerri1029 has a point. If you can do your business with a mom and pop shop, I suggest doing so. None of the Ma and Pa shops around me sell T's so I am SOL. There is a nice one that sells lizards, hedgehogs, and other small animals. I buy crix from them even though its more expensive because they keep up their shop and take good care of the animals.

I take it you're not a fisherman then? lol ;P
I do this on a regular basis when im fishing, I do have to say it does, slightly, bother me...but, what can ya do.

~Crystal

Nope. Went fishing one time when I was younger and that was that. Didn't catch anything. I always wondered why fishermen use rods and lines instead of dynamite... ;P

Well in truth, you are going to eat the fish you catch. You don't leave them in the boat just to die and be thrown away. They can't sell 50 dead goldfish so I am sure they get tossed out. Besides didn't PETA go crazy on the movie Total Recall and the music video "Epic" by Faith No More for video taping a fish out of water?

 

[Mad Hatter]

Nerri1029 has a point. If you can do your business with a mom and pop shop, I suggest doing so.

I agree, but how do you find the mom and pop shops?

 

[Nerri1029]

I agree, but how do you find the mom and pop shops?

I suggest the yellow pages .. pay them a visit and just look around... talk to them.. it'll be obvious to a T fan if they know their stuff..

My local PetCo carries B smithies but not one single book or even a pamphlet on their care.. so..??

might I buy a T from them?? maybe..

I'm skiddish about buying T's from online dealers..

like when I had herps.. I would watch them eat, get a feel for how they are fairing after the journey.. A local store will usually let you do that.. They absorb the casualties from shipping..

just my opinion

 

[Vampire]

Good advice

May I add my 2 cents to the Mom & Pop suggestion? As for finding them, I got lucky and was refferred to a great one in my area.....I go out of my way to shop there and skip both the Petco and Petsmart which are closer.

 

[lizmotobike]

i have three mom and pop stores in my area and i use two of them. the third has t's but doesn't seem to care for them terribly well. not horrible mind you just too well lit and no hides. good water tho. they also don't label correctly. they have a t guy that supplies them and does the stocking and maintinance. the one that does the best has only one or two at a time. they carry mostly reptiles and fish. thats scales and tales. the third takes real good care of its crickets but the lady that owns it is afraid of the one g. rosea they have. she is very willing to let me help her tho. mom and pop stores are great nine times out of ten if your reasonable and polite, you can teach them to take better care.

 

[Stagger-Lee]

if i had to make a choice id pick deathco over petfart any day thank goodness theres local shops with nice selections of Ts in good health round here

 

[Joe1968]

I went to Petco once to get some supplies and one of the sales guy told me its cheaper to buy at Petsmart.....I compared the prices on both places and he's right about it.

dont be fooled even if you have a PALS card from Petco, you still paying quite a bit.

 

[D4RK-3L3M3NT]

As a former Petsmart employee, prices are probably 25% lower than Petco - mostly the same item found at Petco can be purchased at a Petsmart at a much lower price. You can save even more because Petsmart has a price match guarantee incentive, you just have to look around both companies.

Petco however, do neglect their pets more often. In the time I was in Petsmart I never once witnessed any neglection towards the animals.

 

[LAking]

Well, if you ask me, they both suck, but i think we all know that. If I had to pick one over the other i would say Petsmart because they are a little cheaper and i just find that their stores are generally cleaner. Just yesterday i was looking for a tank for a snake I was about to adopt (Just got him/her today!). I was specifically looking for a 15 gallon tank. The closest Petco was more expensive than petsmart. Petsmart just lowered their prices on their 10 gallon fish tanks to $7.99 which is awesome. That beats the 10.99 or 11.99 at Petco. They also lowered their 20 gallon tanks to $20, and that's one hell of a deal anyway you look at it. I ended up not buying anything, but that's because i'm trying to save some money at the moment and i also work at a mom and pop pet store, so i can get discounts on our overpriced tanks.

As far as animals, once again, they both sucks. Petsmart usually carries very little reptiles and no T's at all. Petco carries more but i have never seen a Petco that actually cares for them properly. I get depressed looking at their reptile section. I saw a Nile Moniter in my local Petco yesterday. That's one of those animals that a store like that just should not be selling.

Here's the thing on Mom and Pops, most aren't much better than Petco and Petsmart, but at least you might be able to talk to the owner who has many years of experience in the pet trade. I'm fortunate to work at one of the best Mom and Pop pet stores i've ever seen. My boss is the nicest guy, keeps the store extremely clean, makes sure the animals get great care, knows a great deal about all of the animals in the store, and has many many many years of experience. He also knows when to admit he isn't an expert and will refer the customer to someone who is, whether it be a vet or breeder or whomever.

That being said, our store is still very pricey. Granted it's in a somewhat high income neighborhood, but it's still got pretty steep prices on certain things. But you can't really blame a store like this for the prices. It's not that they are trying to squeeze every penny out of their customers wallets, it's just that places like Petco that make huge orders from their distributers can get much cheaper wholesale prices and then a store that order less than a dozen of any given item.

I want to give Tom (my boss) my business, and do as often as possible. However, i'm still a poor college student and even with my employee discount some things are still more expensive than Petsmart. Especially on tanks, which i'm interested right now. On fish and reptile tanks the markup from wholesole isn't very much to begin with so my boss can't give me much of a discount or else he wouldn't make any money. It's a hard choice sometimes.

 

[D4RK-3L3M3NT]

Very good point there, LAKing - I would suggest most of us give a helping hand to more mom and pop stores than the big corporations. Best of all, mom and pop stores certainly do have a much friendlier approach to their customers and that is one of the main reasons why I choose mom and pop stores over big corporations that just thrive on driving out smaller competition.

 

[metzgerzoo]

We try to stay away from both of them if at all possible. PetCo sells Ts but the Ts are smarter than the employees, PetSmart doesn't sell them and both places are horrible about their feeders.
There's a local fish store in town that has just about any and everything you could want for a T....except for the Ts themselves, but thanks to my hubby, that might change
I can't stand either PetSmart or PetCo.

 

[Xanzo]

Which store is that Metzger?

 

[Lycanthrope]

As a two year employee of Petco, I wont say the company is flawless. What I will say, is that there have been dramatic improvements within the company over the last two years, and it is continually improving today. If there is a store near you with questionable practices, take it to the GM. If the GM doesnt fix it in a reasonable amount of time, go the the DM or higher. IME, once you reach the level of DM your concerns will be addressed promptly. As a company Petco has grown. Is there still room to grow? Yes. Are there still stores in some areas that haven't caught up yet? Yes. Is whining and complaining about bad conditions on an invert based message board going to fix anything? Hell no. Everyone wants to attack Petco and demonize it, but nobody ever mentions the MILLIONS of dollars raised by the company every year for animal organizations and disaster relief. Yeah it sucks that specialty shops are closing down everywhere, but guess what, big fish eat little fish, thats life.