truley upsetting !!!!!!!!

[Ann]

well went to my neighborhood Petco tonight and wanted to check out their reptiles. Usually they are ok not great and i come away very disheartened. everytime I handle a snake they are cold. The redtail Boas were being quarentined last time I went cause thery had mites. Well this time they had not a one redtail. They had about 5 balls in a cage and I held one as i was putting them back I noticed that the 4 others had white heads and looking closer I saw that they were extremly wrinkled. The guy said that they were dehydraded and having trouble shedding he was going to have to hand shed them ... DUH I HOPE GIVE THEM WATER ALSO>> AND I HOPE HE SOAKS THEM BEFORE HE TRIES TO SHED THEM>.!!!!! I wanted to take all of them home. it made me sick. How do balls have a chance to get that bad???? Are they able to be rehydrated. Needless to say I will not buy one more thing from that store. It Was not very clean also and the reptiles did not look very good, the lttle leopard geckos had skinny tails and one looked not alive. The KID who worked that depart claimed he had snakes of his own and did rescues also. SCARY ....... Thats a little about my trip to petco. I have to say this though I had went to the EAST BAY VIVARIUM TODAY ALSO and it was the nicest well kept reptile store I had seen. THEY care about their animals!!!!!!
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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[XzyluM]

Glad you have decided not to go back to them. Petco is one of the most disguisting petstores around. They don't have any knwoledge on owning or caring for reptiles. I rarely visit any petstores and that is the reason why. I have learned to only buy from people I know and respected breeders. I've also heard good news about East Vivarium. Hey and WELCOME TO RTB!
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Most likely they are wc balls. YES they can possibly be rehydrated under the proper care for such, BUT will most likely not receive what's needed in order to accomplish such from where they are atm. They get that way from the whole situation of how they are"raped" from the wild and then imported and it only follows through with where they wind up also. I think wc balls are like 3-10 bucks a piece from importers in quantity..soo that prolly has a lot to do with it ya know. Why care for them when they are so cheap and readily available as imports ? Their only a living creature that's cheap and easily replaced , from the stand point of a lot of establishments that deal with the importation of them. Another good reason to NOT buy wc reptiles such as the ball python. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]
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[Dr.Oviparous]

After a really bad deal with buying a tegu from petland, I am also vetoing it. Da^m! there are no good herp shops here (actully there is just one decent herp shop). that's why I am going to open my own shop. just give my 3 years, mabye 3.5. I'll be open. I'm really glad to hear your not going there anymore, did you tell them why? I'm going to write a letter to the owner of petland, and tell him exactly why I'm not going there anymore. -Juggalo

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"Well, it didn't look like a one horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly!" -Eulisses E McGill

[Ann]

The east bay Vivarium has many types of reptiles all in very good condition. I got to hold and anaconda which was amazing and a femal adult ball python who was kind of cold and the reptile guy got right on it to find out why. I was impressed. all the kids who work there seem very knowlegeable and love reptiles and amphibians and arachnids. It was good to see that. I will definatly visit them again. Also you should go to there website at www.eastbayvivarium.com. they are a little pricey with some things but its well worth it for the quality. Anyway My balls I bought recently came directly from a breeder and I am very happy with them.... Let me ask this are fat tailed geck0s agressive? Petco told me theres is it bit a boy but i held one before and the breeder told me it was very tame. I love one but I will not get anything agressive. they are too cute to be agressive [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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[CaptainHowdy]

I marked this topic sticky, just to give an example of what MOST Petco's are like, and why they are often associated with very negative feelings and opinions, and bad experiences.
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[Drax]

hey all,
yea i stopped going into Petsmart (same as Petco) a while ago and only occassionaly got into see how bad the herps are. last week i went in and was a bit suprised to see a pair of veiled chams in seperate setups with bubbling water, thermometers and hydrometers (which read optimal temps/humidity), lots of vines, and lots of fake plants. there were some beardies again under good contitions. there were also some leos with nice fat tails and good temps. i was quite impressed. just goes to show i guess that there still are some exceptions.

which brings me to my main topic. i work at a Petland and before i started working there the reptile dept was in shambles. we had amphibeans and iguanas dying by the day, dirty cages, animals huddled against the farthest wall because there cage was too hot or just huddled in the middle because it was too cold. i've spent a lot of effort in getting the herps up to optimal conditions and trying to convince the boss (and everyone else) that each lizard needs different sized crickets in quantities larger than five or six, and that this animal needs more humidity, or that this animal needs to be dry, or to get the baby beardies and leos off of sand because sand is evil. oh and that the iggies need greens, squash, zuccinni, carrots, fruits, etc and not just a diet of romane lettuce and squash. but the main problem is that the boss has lumped the fish and reptile departments together into one job. there aren't enough hours in the work day to do fish and help the reptiles. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif[/img] Argh! people make me so MAD! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif[/img]

sorry i started ranting...anywho everyone that comes in looking at the WC balls, or the WC box turtles, the WC savanas/niles, or the ribbon snakes i tell them they will be much happier with another selection. oh and i get alot of people who rethink their ideas of getting an iggy when i show them my wrists [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]. everyone who comes in with questions i answer with how to setup a cage, when/what to feed, etc and then refur them to RTB [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] even if they don't buy an animal they walk away with more info than they walked in with. i just can't get it though my boss's head that an informed customer is much better for the herp community than an ignorant one.
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	Iguana Iguana

	Wild caught wild caught

[Dr.Oviparous]

Good on ya Drax! now if only more people that worked in the industry owned pet shops. or at least convince the owners to let you TAKE CARE of the herps. nice to hear your making a difference! -Juggalo
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[Ophiophagus-hannah]

The Petco around my way had cricketsinside the cage with the Ball Pythons!!! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif[/img]
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[StaticKaos]

PetSmart around my area is a very good store.. Each animal has a nice setup and seem well kept.. On the other hand, Pets Plus SUCKS..Animals are caged in way to small enclosures, heated badly, everything wrong.. juss puttin some insight into tha discussion.. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[kirkje]

i live in indianapolis, IN and was wondering if any one knew of a good pet store to buy reptiles at. i will not go back to petco for anything. thanks

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