Disaster at PetSmart. Saddest thing I've ever seen.

[Allee Toler]

So I went to PetSmart today, to buy a new UTH. And I looked at the baby leos as usual. They had three in a, maybe, 3 gal sectional. Two were laying on their bellies. One looked pretty healthy. But the other two were not even 2 inches. They had barely any movement in their arms and legs. They were so sad looking.

The lady there let me hold them. And my middle finger, for size reference is 2 1/2 inches long. So you can see how tiny this little one was.

He didn't even try to run away from me. Or jump off of me. When I held the bigger one, healthier looking one, he tried to jump away like a normal juvi reaction. He was about 3 1/2 inches long too.

I called the manager after I got home, after telling a few employees. And she said they were trying to take care of it. That "there's no room in the back, and there's no adequate (sp?) funds to pay for a sick gecko" and that she was hand feeding both of them some sort of antibiotic liquid.

=[ I want to take them home. But I'm not paying $30 each for all three (since the other one was a clutchmate and housed with the sick ones) when chances are they're not going to make it. They're too skinny. The healthier one can be contaminated. But if he is, there's a better chance of him getting over it if someone takes care of him now.

Crypto?

 

[Irathe]

For geckos that size.. stress kills.. Being in a small environment (no heat regulation plus I KNOW petsmart keeps the tanks very humid) they rarely if ever give the correct size of crickets and they leave them in there constantly (too many crickets = more stress). If they were using sand that could also cause impaction (if I remember right petsmart uses mostly cage carpet right?).

So you got your choice of stress,respiratory infections, impaction, parasites (gogo small tank and jammed full of geckos) and maybe even crypto. And the liquid she was probably feeding her is a product called jumpstart.. its a very thick mollasses type liquid that imo causes more harm than good (any little bit that gets in nose or lungs dries and becomes impossible to remove).

If you do adopt one of them the best thing to do would be get a 10 gallon (and keep them isolated)(in a case like this bigger does not = better she will have a hard time moving around and catching prey) have a small heat mat set to 91-92 on warm side several hide boxes (at least 3 4 would be better toilet paper rolls are awesome for this) so that she does not have far to travel to get to the next hide. As for food try everything and anything you would think she would like (but stay away form crickets the first day or 2 to let her settle in). When I had one I saved that was in that condition he literally bounced back within a week and he had stuck shed on toes (he only has 2 claws left rest of em are stubs) was on antibiotics for a RI and pancur for pin worms... since he started eating tho he has never stopped hehe.

 

[Allee Toler]

I wish I could adopt them. I have enough supplies for them all. All three. =[ Well I'm off to the pet store again.

 

[MattL]

:roll: Yet another case of pet store "sadness" threads. When are people going to realize, few large company pet stores take good care of their reptiles.

Buying them doesn't help at all. They are only going to die a few days later. Don't buy them. Call the manager and complain. Buying them just makes them think they can sell sick/unhealthy geckos and will continue on doing so.

Turn your head, forget it. It's pointless. Look at the big picture. You wouldn't be saving them.

Matt

 

[Irathe]

I agree with yah Matt.. got sucked into the saving them thing when all it does is reinforce what they have been doing all along (poor care overall). Thankfully I was apparently loud enough to be given 3 of the sick geckos (aka shutting me up by giving me something for free) of those 3 only 1 of them made it though. I still make it a habit to go in there weekly and bitch them out though (only pet store in town that has mealies.. not gonna order em in bulk for 1 gecko haha). But i never buy any animals from them anymore.

 

[Allee Toler]

I didn't buy them. I'm not going to. I called the headquarters and complained. They're going to do nothing. I called the vet and told them about them, they said they'll take them off the floor.

 

[Kazska]

Thats so sad! I can't stand stores that don't look after their animals properly! Someone needs to go bang their heads together! :fight:

xxxXXX

 

[leoaddiction]

haha yes kaska i agree.
the best thing we could do is not support these stores and try to buy from quality breeders, and hoe theyll increase as irrisponsible petstores decrease.

 

[Zilla]

Not all Pet Smarts are like this. They try really hard to not let these things happen and how you got a photo and got out I am baffled.
Its not as if they let it happen just remember that as small as he was that he was probably sent to them that way.

 

[cliff_f]

That is sad. When I see stuff like that I just complain to the manager that is really the only thing that is going to help. If enough people complain and give bad publicity eventually some stores might start taking a little better care of their reptiles. Don't ever buy the sick animals. They just need to take a loss in the pocket book where it counts to them. Then maybe they will try to take better care of the animals when the see people are not going to shell out the money to "rescue" sick animals.

This part is sad but true but some pet stores don't mind the sick animals because they will sell quicker because of the people "rescuing" them.

 

[erica21]

It just peevs me off!
There are many petstores out there that are just trying to make a quik buck with out really caring. I don't know how many countless geckos and other reptiles I've seen in my local pet stores. Alot of them are usually under weight and not taken care of. My local PetSmart thinks jungle bedding is okay for everything. Most of these stores hire kids that don't know much about the animals that are sold there and I think that adds to the problem. My local petland has done better at keeping their reptiles because one of there employees is into reptiles and helps with trying to keep them in good condition. I can only speak for one petstore that I like because it is owened by a friend and she likes reps as much as me and only gets them from breeders. Complaing is one way to get their attention and to be presistant.

As for rescuing them, I have only done it once and I rescued two gekko ulivoski and got them both for $10 (originally 40 a piece) after some bitching for them being so skinny. They were so under weight and I couldn't help myself so I bought them. Luckly my vet doesn't charge that much (most I've ever paid is $35 for visit and meds). After some deworming meds and a good diet they bounced back and are know healthy spoiled guys.

Even though its hard sometimes when you see the poor little things the best thing to do is not to buy them and just report it to the managmnet.

 

[SarkkaS]

Isn't there such a thing in the states as animal welfare? In Finland (and most of Europe I think) there is a list of 'controllers', or folks that can be called to check out a store or private keeper's animals. If they find something isn't correct, action will be taken. Cruelty towards animals is against the law here. If you break the law, you pay for it. I assume it's the same for the U.S.


-Sale

 

[Royal-City-Reptiles]

Isn't there such a thing in the states as animal welfare? In Finland (and most of Europe I think) there is a list of 'controllers', or folks that can be called to check out a store or private keeper's animals. If they find something isn't correct, action will be taken. Cruelty towards animals is against the law here. If you break the law, you pay for it. I assume it's the same for the U.S.


-Sale

Nope. Canada is the same. Unless it's cute and fuzzy. But truthfully, they still get away with it. The punishment for animal cruelty is laughable.

-Nate

 

[Keitone]

I work for Petsmart. What the "manager" told you about not having funds to care for the sick animal is not company policy. I have spent HUNDREDS of company dollars to save a $5 mouse. All stores are supposed to follow the same guide lines but there are exceptions. I am not trying to justify this, just stating that the animals are supposed to come first. We dont always have the best suppliers but there is nothing we can do about that at store level. As far as the animal not have the proper humidity and what not. It is my job as a manager to educate the staff on proper care of the animals. I take my job very seriously, and would feel horrible if something happened to one of the animals.

 

[Xanadu1]

Isn't there such a thing in the states as animal welfare? In Finland (and most of Europe I think) there is a list of 'controllers', or folks that can be called to check out a store or private keeper's animals. If they find something isn't correct, action will be taken. Cruelty towards animals is against the law here. If you break the law, you pay for it. I assume it's the same for the U.S.


-Sale

Yes, we have animal welfare agencies. I called one on a pet store that wasn't taking proper care of their birds. An officer went in right after I called and then called me to let me know what happened. Then he went in 2 weeks later to check and see if they corrected their "errors" and they had changed everything. I went back to the store and the birds were in such better conditions. I was so happy I called. So, yes, there are places you can call. Here in California, there's SPCA and some other places. I'm sure Allee can check and see what agencies there are in her state and call them. That's what they're there for. There are different agencies for homes and different ones for stores. So, if you get the wrong one, ask for the phone number of the correct one. They should have all the info you need even if they're not the right agency. GOOD LUCK!!!

Heather

 

[JennaYoung99]

ya it's sad, so glad you called the manager to complain. the worst thing you can do is nothing.
it sucks that the SPCA doesn't care as much about reptiles as they do about the fuzzy critters. i think it mostly has to do with them not knowing much about them, to them if they have food water and shelter they are doing fine, they don't take into consideration the amount of care that needs to go into these animals.
i try to tell people not to purchase an animal out of pitty or wanting to "save" them. this will only cause the store to bring in more of that animal, and they too will end up not being cared for properly. it's sad, but for the welfare of the other animals you need to just walk away and try to help another way.

 

[Allee Toler]

I did call the local agency here. They took care of it. I should of updated. I went in a week later to check on the little girl. And she wasn't moving. I thought she was dead, then I picked her up and she was sniffly and making bubbly noises through her nose. About an hour later she passed while we were feeding her. The other one came out fine. She got adopted the day after I complained. One of the customers overhead me complaining and she followed suit. They gave the other girl to her for free. She called me to let me know how she was doing. We both kept checking on the little girl left in the store. The one who survived is named Lila. And she's now a whopping 19 grams! went from 6 grams to 19 grams in a little under a month.

 

[hyposhawn]

That is just to sad

 

[youngin720]

I have to be honest and say i work for petsmart also and i have taken numerous geckos to the vet i myself own two that have had some serious mishaps. My managers don't ever question me when i say something needs to go to the vet, they have an almost unlimited alowence for things like that. a good example is my female leopard gecko she has a front leg that was amputated. When i started at my first store she looked like the one in the origional picture I asked the manager why she was out my manager said she didn't know anything was wrong she told me to pull off the sales floor whatever i thought she needed. I fed her repti-aid chicken and sweet potatoe baby food and hills high protien dog food for about 5 weeks and she finally started eating on her own she got a shed restriction during all this and we had to have her leg taken off. I adopted her wasn't gonna let them give it to some one who had no idea. My albino loepard i got at my 2nd petsmart she was house with 3 other leos who where larger in the smallest cage they had she had a horrible shed restrict on her feet lost all the toes on her hind feet. I guess what I'm getting at is they don't provide enough info on the animals they sell to the people that work there. What does need to be addressed is not so much petsmart but the company they get the reptiles from. Maybe someone here has the knowledge on how to do that. I would love the help all i can do is fill out a health feedback form that never solves anyhting. At least 90 % of the reptiles i get in my store have something wrong with them when they arrive, it's sad. I have an in store vet who checks a fecal on every reptile that i get in i take them to her b4 i will sell, unless someone insists then i call with the result. It work our loss is almost none in the reptiles because im a stickler.

thank for reading my novel lol

 

[Allee Toler]

Seriously? Lol. This thread is so old.

But as another input, I managed to contact the state manager, and they corrected it. They tore out the whole rack system, and put it in. Along with that, I got 10- 100worms cards.

So yeah, speaking up works. It just takes many many letters and a petition, then harassing the district managers. Lol.