sometimes things are just disappointing

[Hummingbird2]

well i went to the petstore today (have mentioned how much i HATE petstores?) to look for some new stuff for my white's tree frog cage so i can re-do it (it has mites ). i went back to look at the poor herps as usual. there was a baby american alligator for sale - i didn't look at the price. he couldn't have been more than 9 inches long - INCLUDING TAIL! he was tiny. and in the *same cage* with him were 3 adult female RES (red eared sliders). nobody will give them a good home, i know it, and no one CAN give the alli a good home. but there they sit all together in what amounts to 5 gallons of water.
there were also 2 baby iguanas. one was a bit bigger than the other. there was this stupid woman there looking at them and i noticed so i said, really nice, "oh are you looking at iguanas?". she kind of nodded and i said (again really nice and friendly) "they get pretty big as adults and need a lot of care and really big cage. i have 2 of them and they are a LOT of work." she ignored me and the girl working at the petshop opened the cage from the behind-the-scenes-employee-only area. when she opened the cage the larger ig scurried up the plants to the top of the cage. this incited the idiot woman to yell out "oh my God - why he runnin' like that? that thing is CRAAZY!! how much they cost?" and the girl told her $25 and the woman said "no i want that small one down there he ain't as mean or crazy looking. oh my God!" so the petstore girl comes around to the customer side of the glass and the idiot is like "dang those things are nuts! my son would LOVE one" and i'm about to beat her over the head with a turtle basking ramp. then she says "do you have any smaller lizards?" and, as i walked away in grief, i heard the petstore girl say "we have baby bearded dragons". oh yeah, lady, THAT'S what she needs; a bearded dragon! the petstore girl didn't ONCE tell the woman ANYTHING about ig's OR beardies (that i heard, at least). she didn't give a rat's rear about anything except a sale and it makes me sick. i know that if that woman bought anything that she doesn't know a darn thing about the animal and that it's gonna live it's entire life in a 10 gal tank with no light and only eat dried pellets or cat food and die of kidney failure or mbd.
i'm almost in tears. i just can't stand petstores and the fools that run them and nobody cares because $$$ is being made. and from what i've heard from other people, reporting stores to the aspca doesn't accomplish anything. i feel like just throwing a crate of molotov cocktails through the window of the store to put all the animals out of their misery and hopefully the store will close and stop endangering other animals.
sorry for my rant and thank you for listening. any encouraging words would be appreciated.

cynthia - wants to open a central ohio reptile rescue (none currently exist) more than anything now.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[natas]

Oh man we have all heard stories like this.

Just to be fair Humminbird2, remember the people that work there almost never know anything about the reptiles. Think about it, no professional herpetologist is going to work there because the pay is terrible. The best case I have seen in the employees at the store was a college student who needed a side job and figured it was perfect sinced he loved reptiles.

I blame the owners of these shops for not educating the employees

FYI: If i made any spelling errors get used to it....I am well known to be a terrible speller

[toker]

that is very sad... very very sad

[LdyDrgn]

I know you are really upset Cynthia, and I'm sorry about that. It happens everywhere.

but could you watch your language on this site, please. I went through and edited a couple of words. Thanks.

[Ed_r]

Amazing that the petstore would have a gator on diplay for sale, Sad how people that want a disposable pet turn directly to herps. sounds like she had the attention span of a 2 yr old.

Unfortunately yeah petstore are in it just for the money, which of course is important. But just think when the animal dies in a week the uneducated woman will blame the store and give them a bad reputation, which in this case is very well deserved.

Are gators legal in OH?

[Hummingbird2]

hey natas, yeah i totally know that these people aren't trained or anything. they probably own a dog so they think they love animals and should work at a petstore. sorry. it don't work that way . . . or at least it SHOULDN'T. i also blame the owners. they are the ones responsible for controlling and training their employees. they could use the first day with an employee to go through and show them the animals and tell them all about them. and why can't they have signs on the cages that give all the info about them to help the employees out (what they eat, how big they get, whether they need uvb, etc)?

hey ldydrgn, thanks for the reminder and thanks for changing my post for me before any virgin eyes saw it. :P

ed - yeah this petstore has at least 1 alli for sale every couple months and they disappear so they are apprently being sold. i've never seen one for sale there for under $200. and yes alligators are illegal in most ohio counties, unfortunately not all (i don't know why in the world they are not). the petstore probably just makes you sign some paper that you promise you won't take the alligator into any of these illegal counties or some crap rule that no one pays attention to.

	Shane The Man, The Myth, The Mystery that is RTB!!!

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[natas]

why can't they have signs on the cages that give all the info about them to help the employees out (what they eat, how big they get, whether they need uvb, etc)?

Then they wouldn't be able to sell as much. I know that sounds harsh, but I wouldn't doubt that its true

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[reptigirl04]

I know exactly how you feel! ugh! all the pet stores here are the same way. Almost every time i go there, i see people of all ages (who know nothing about herps) asking the "all-knowing" employees about iguanas, aquatic turtles, beardies, etc....and the employees telling them that they are good beginner pets. Then the people walk out the door with the animal, a 10 gallon tank, or worse, a critter keeper....
I'm actually thinking about getting a job at the pet store in hopes to educate even one person.

[Hummingbird2]

r u kidding me? you'd just give yourself a coronary dealing with stupid people all day, reptigirl.

yeah i know it's true, natas. if they gave the info they'd sell less.

	Shane The Man, The Myth, The Mystery that is RTB!!!