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PetCo - too many problems

King21

King21

New member
So today i went into petco to check out thier corns. They had two normals for $109. waaaaaay too much for me.:sidestep: But anyways, the next viv over, there were two baby florida kings cruising around....kinda. As I looked closer, all i could see was thousands of mites crawling around the poor little guys. The people a petco are so incompetant!!! They shouldnt even be allowed to sell pets!
 
They are all run differently. I have never seen a single mite at any of my local stores and the snakes are housed mostly appropriately. It depends on where the mites came from to begin with. They are terrible to try to clear up.
 
All Petcos are 'different'.

First of all, the price for those corns are extremely high. My local Petcos sell the all the corns (striped, amel, snow, anery, normals, etc.) for $39.99.

The Petcos and PetSmarts are generally geared for 'traditional pets' (cats, dogs and fish) and do not really specialize in reptiles. I've purchased some healthy New Caledonian Crested Geckos at my local Petcos and PetSmarts. I've seen some very nice healthy looking Corn Snakes at my local stores.

I've read a lot of 'horror stories' throughout the various reptile forum sites I am a member and I believe that most stories are true. In my opinion and observations and like the previous post from 'Dionythicus', all Petcos and PetSmarts are different. It all depends on who is assigned in taking care of the reptiles and how knowledgeable they are in herps. I've been to Petco stores where the staff take very good care of the reptiles very well and I've been to some that don't. The ones that have knowledgeable staff and keep their enclosures clean and sterilize empty enclosures before putting a different reptile from the previous one in it, are the ones I fequent, only because I know that the animals and reptiles are well taken care of.

There was one Petco store that I went to recently that had very nice baby Corn Snakes. I asked one on the young staff members if I could check them out. When he opened up their tank, he appeared hesitant and scared. One baby corn snake was a little feisty and attempted to strike at the young staff member. It was well understandable, since baby snakes can be a little fussy. The young staff member started to throw aspen at it and said, "how do you like that?!" as he kept on throwing aspen shavings at the poor cute little corn snake. Needless to say, I got upset and was disturbed by his actions that I told him to stop and leave the baby corn alone. I told him the snake was startled by his quick movements and the way he was handled and to just leave it alone! It's not going to help any future customers want to get any of their corn snakes if he continues to agitate the snake. After talking with him a little more, he did not know much about the reptiles that they have. I suggested that if he is going to continue to work at Petco, that he do some more research on the animals and reptiles, so that he can be more helpful to potential buyers. After talking with him, I talked with the manager about one of her young employees and what he did to the snake. She said that she will talk with him. If I was a manager at a Petco or PetSmart, I would hire someone that has adequate knowledge and experience with the animals.

If you see a dead animal/reptile or notice something wrong with them (like mites or lack of humidity) in one of the enclosures, then address your concerns to the store manager. They usually take care of the issue right away. If they ignore the concerns and are obviously negligent, then report it to the proper authorities.

As for mites, it can be a pain in trying to get rid of them, but it is treatable (sometimes, its not as fast as we want it to be).
 
Let them know. With the greater emphasis that's being put on animal welfare in pet stores, Petco's policies have changed quite a bit. I would be surprised if they don't take it to a vet ASAP, or at the very least, not sell the mite-infested snakes (return them to the vendor, etc.).
 
Harleybabe said:
If I was a manager at a Petco or PetSmart, I would hire someone that has adequate knowledge and experience with the animals.
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Speaking from experience, they're not interested in knowledge and experience. They're looking for inexpensive bodies. I ran the animal department of the York, PA PetSmart (opened it, MOF) for a year. They made it clear that I had to follow their policies & procedures, or I would be terminated. They didn't care if their information was inaccurate and conflicted with the books they sold in their stores, their expert corporate Vet board wrote the caresheets, so that's what they followed. :shrugs:
 
They have the same type of thing going on in their saltwater fish department. They cram incompatable fish together, disease is rampant, dead fish all over the place, etc etc.

They're in the business of selling livestock and supplies, and making money. They're not in the business of listening to people's complaints and following their advice. When the almighty $ is affected, that's when they will change. When people stop shopping there and buying from them. Until then, it's business as usual.
 
The Petcos near in my area are actually run very well. Their animals always apear happy and alert and their enclosures are always prestine. I bought Kahn from Petco for 39.99. The only thing I'll never buy from Petco is fish. I bought a Koi from them once and it ended up breaking out with Ick and killed off my whole tank of show Koi! :angry01: My fault for not quarenting the fish though....live and learn.
 
The Petco here goes through it's phases. right now, the reptile section has been pretty good. It all depends on who is running it.
I'll never buy fish from petco, either. their tanks always have dead fish in them. and the tanks are way overcrowded. the fish are always floating at the top gasping. or they have ich.
my gf once bought a pair of angels from there and put them in our tank. they died in less than a day. and apparently they infested my tank with ich. we took the dead fish back to petco and the manager on staff was a jerk. he asked us for a water sample. he wouldnt give us our money back if my tank water was bad. there was some water in the ziploc bag with the fish. he attempted to test it, and the results came back ok. i told him that perhaps he should test their tank's water. i pointed out the tank that the angels came from and half of the angels were dying or already dead. he got all angry and gave my gf back her money and told us to leave. i dont think he works there anymore.
 
blckkat said:
Speaking from experience, they're not interested in knowledge and experience. They're looking for inexpensive bodies. I ran the animal department of the York, PA PetSmart (opened it, MOF) for a year. They made it clear that I had to follow their policies & procedures, or I would be terminated. They didn't care if their information was inaccurate and conflicted with the books they sold in their stores, their expert corporate Vet board wrote the caresheets, so that's what they followed. :shrugs:
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That sucks!!!! It sounds very irresponsible and unethical to me. There are a few employees that I know of who are knowledgeable by talking with them (most of whom own reptiles, themselves). They are the 'few' of many employees who don't know anything about the animals they have...not to mention the employee turnover rate.

I still believe that every PetSmart/Petco is run differently. It depends who's the manager, who's in charge of the reptiles...small animals....birds....ect. Some are better and more knowledgeable than others.
 
The Petco's around these parts have normal corns go for $59.99, and $69.99 for an "albino" which is sometimes an amel, sometimes a snow. Sometimes the amels are considered normals (they cohouse them), it depends on the store. Anyway, it does depend somewhat on the manager and who he/she hires, etc. Unfortunately I saw an albino king in an "albino" corn cage, eating a snow corn. I think it was feeding day and some idiot put it in the wrong cage, (giving him the benefit of a doubt). I told an employee in the fish area, and showed him. Boy was he mad about it. I've also seen a big lizard, not sure which kind, burrow under to the tarantulas cage. Grrr. They really do need to show more concern about there care.
The worst things I've seen in pet stores have definitely been in locally owned ones though. Mites, small housing for big animals, yucky substrates, feeding live big mice/rats in front of children and on substrate, cohabitating (even different species and reptiles), etc... I really could go on, but wont.
 
My last experience with Petco the sales person told me corn snakes were very aggressive, with huge teeth. :crazy02: But than our local rep store sexes adult corns by looking at their tail and comparing to a picture in a book. Actually since I found this forum I have learned so much compared to any pet/rep store.
 
susang said:
My last experience with Petco the sales person told me corn snakes were very aggressive, with huge teeth. QUOTE]
:laugh01:

That is hilarious!!!
Maybe he was thinking of a king, but even then kings have tiny widdle toothies.
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Harleybabe said:
First of all, the price for those corns are extremely high. My local Petcos sell the all the corns (striped, amel, snow, anery, normals, etc.) for $39.99.
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I know that sounds high but they were full grown adults for 109 each. I personally only buy from reptile shows. I dont buy from petco, just look. Thats not even the point of this post!
 
I also totally agree on the fish form petco! They are always dead or dying fish in there. I once saw a shrinp in thier saltwater department that was so covered in algea that it couldn't move. He looked like he was covered in fur. To give a desription....his legs are nomally about 1/16th of an inch wide. The algea made each of his legs over 1/4 inch wide. Poor thing. and no one even cared. EVERY tank they have is absolutely covered in algea.
 
King21 said:
I know that sounds high but they were full grown adults for 109 each. I personally only buy from reptile shows. I dont buy from petco, just look. Thats not even the point of this post!
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If they are adult snakes, then I understand (about the pricing). I fully understand your point! :) I will still say that every commercialized petstores are run differently. I'm not contesting that there are some stores that are just really bad (like the one you stated in your initial post)...in taking poor care of their animals, fish, herps and birds. Just the same and in all fairness, there are some specialized pet shops and breeders that may have some of the same poor pratices. It's sad to say, but its true.

Regarding the baby kings with mites...did you inform an employee/manager about your concerns? If so, what did they say?
 
Harleybabe said:
Regarding the baby kings with mites...did you inform an employee/manager about your concerns? If so, what did they say?
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Unfortunately I was not able to get into all that with a manager at the time. I was kind of in a hurry. I might just go back there today and check them out again. I might have to speak up about it.
 
we had an adoption event at petco last weekend. so i took a walk with a dog around the store and stopped by to check out the reptile section...there was a garter snake in the cage labeled "corn snake". there was a sign inside the cage that they put in there when they are sold out of that animal and the water bowl was upside down. two cages down was a cage full of garters. i think this one snake "escaped" and squeezed in between the dividers into the corn snake cage. i went up front and quietly got the attention of one of the employees. i told him about the garter...he said "not again!" ummm i think they need to fix their cages. in between the garter and the corn cages is the red tail boa cage. luckily it wasnt a king snake cage.
 
I worked for Petsupermarket

while in college. Out of the big three, PetSmart, PETCO and Petsupermarket, Petsupermarket was the best store on average. After I left they began to experiment with reptiles. I filled in at different Petsupermarkets and they were as bad as some of the other two. But most in my area were great.
I agree all they care about is a "cheap" body. I went to PetSmart while I was waiting to start my career. Was there for ten months. After 5 years of Asst. Manager/Manager experience, they stuck me in stocking. Although I spent most of my time answering questions in the animal dept. Did their job for less pay.
 
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