big chain pet stores should not be aloud to have reptiles

So, I was in petco in fargut yesterday and saw this poor little guy, believe it or not its a leopard gecko. I thought about trying to save it but I think its to far gone

That's awful and I think you're right. The stress involved in being moved would probably be enough to kill the poor thing. I don't see how anyone can just ignore something like that. I understand that pet store mentality is supposed to be SALES! but no one would buy that except out of pity.

It isn't due to the "big pet store chain" it is due to the ppl there not doing their job. I work for petsmart and for a little back ground i fucking hate petsmart. They were just the first ppl to call me about a job. The general care taking of reptiles is lacking but if the employees do what they have been taught or what they read on how to treat reptiles, then the reptiles will be fine until sold. People think that we only feed our snakes like once a month to keep them small. We........more like I feed every week. Then if the snake is still hungry it gets fed twice weekly. That is horrible looking and they should have some one report them. If nothing else you should get the employee to get you a manager and.........point things out. Be as polite or impolite as you want. It is their job to deal with customers. It might not get the gecko any extra attention, but then again it might so you should always try. Customers come up to me all the time to tell me the snake is dead because it isn't moving or the water dragon is stuck between the water dish and the glass. All of which I go check out, even though I know they just don't know what they are talking about.

btw where is this place I don't think I have ever been in it.

I completely agree with u about the employees not doin there job, but that in part is y they shouldn't be aloud. Most of the employees just don't care, its just a "job" to them. Now I understand that there are the select few that do care. The ones at this store were just rude and lazy. It's the petco off of 11(or Kingston pike I think) right as u get into fargut on the right

I also want to add on that lots of large chains shouldn't have animals not just reptiles. I have seen some nasty looking cats and dogs. The puppy place near chucky cheese gallaher view area is puppy mill puppies from what i have heard.

I have never been to a petco.

Um, I wouldn't have been able to leave the store without saying anything! I live really close to this store, and I have a mind to go down there and check on this poor thing and say something about it if it's still alive, even!

Then go do it.

I think this is the same store that Eric got pics of pathetic looking baby leos all crammed into one cage.

So I don't live any where near this place but I decided to make a trip out there to see this leo. He is most likely dead, he wasn't on the floor. However I am going to have to say that almost all of their reptiles were well maintained. All were at proper temps besides the top left tank was like 5 degrees too cool for a bps day basking spot. The humidity was nice in the crested's cage and they had sprayed it down that morning from what i could tell. Prices weren't bad either. Somethings cheaper than petsmart some things crazy more expensive. The leos they had there were plump tailed and had some good color. A couple were interesting morphs too. I am not saying it is a right that they had a gecko that looked like that, I am just saying you never know what might have happened. They could have gotten the little guy in like that from their shipment. It does happen. The little guy could have just refused to eat and they don't have a vet to take him to, to put him down, hell I bet they don't even have a sick room. It was wrong that they had that gecko out on the floor for a customer to see, they should have been reamed out from it. However, I don't think the store should be singled out for this one incident.

Devin,

that's really good to know! I have been in their store before, and the only thing that bothered me is that some of their salt water stuff wasn't being taken care of properly. I saw a dead fish, and a dying fish, but salt aquariums can be really touchy, so I didn't worry too much about it.

I still think it was totally inappropriate of them to have that gecko on the floor, though!

Dude there's no excuse for the shape that lizard is in. I work at a pet store, but thankfully our employees care about the animals and are very particular about their treatment. I agree, places like that really shouldn't be allowed to sale reptiles

What pet store do u work at? If they keep them as good as u say, then I might be more willing to get more from pet stores

I work at the Pet Supplies Plus in Oak Ridge. I only work on weekends, but through the week our guys do routine maintanance every day like cleaning, humidity, water, etc. I typically change bedding every weekend. I check each reptile for abnormalities in behavior, sores and other things that could be possibly be wrong with them. I mean, we really really try. I try to take care of them the way I take care of my herps at home. But I don't blame you about being that way about pet stores. Most really don't care for their herps and I like ours and all, but I only buy from breeders.

I agree that in general big chain stores shouldn't have reptiles but there are some stores that have ppl who will take good care of them. Like this gentleman who just posted. I work at a large chain pet store and do my best to take care of the animals the way should be but I know I am not there enough, and I know my Co workers who will leave them without water or will leave one leopard gecko with 50 large crickets in it's tank. I actually see more sick hamsters and Guinea pigs than anything. In a lot of the cases it is the provider of the animals. We have a quarantine time before a pet goes to the sales floor. We get animals in all the time that are sick with uri or ring worm. It is just what the store decided to do about it in most cases. We have a vet in our store that we partner with.it is a messed up situation when corporate meets pets. They are treated as inventory not pets. You are getting mass quantity bred sub standard animals. If that is ok with you then come on in. If not find a private breeder.

btw herpman is that pic taken at the obed?