# Petstore Adoptees



## smarch (Dec 1, 2014)

Ok so i'm always hearing people post bad things about pet stores. Yes a majority of them aren't great and don't know what they're doing, but this is where many first time tort owners end up. 
I got my Franklin from a Petco, and I'm not trying to advocate pet stores as the place to go, i'm just trying to give light to them since they're not completely evil. 
I understand my Franklin is wild, he was terrified of me to start. But he adapted and is not terrified of me anymore and actually adjusted quite well to pet-hood. 
Franklin's been to a reptile vet, one a old co-worker friend who's into exotics brings his sulcata so i knew they were good. He had no parasites... nada! (minus typical ones that live in Russians and go undetected but can effect other species type thing). 
I'll admit i didn't get great advice, but i didn't know much better. I was told a 20 gal would be ok for a tort... and yeah ok i guess he's living in it, but i know he's not happy and its not good at all (he now has an outside summer enclosure that's large to help even it out). And they had the regular not right fruit included diet with those fruity pebble looking "kibble" that's not good. But they did know he was a male, and i had don't my research on that before to know for sure since i wanted a boy, they stay smaller and no eggs and them getting stuck to worry about. (although i now know this means sooner or later I'll be flashed by the "monster tortoise bits" that males have... fun fun...)

Anyhow i was just wondering if petstore tort adopters would like to step forward and share what you went through. You can be negative, but please don't bash the stores or employees have reasons to back you up, and please if you didn't adopt from a petstore and never would because you see them as cruel and whatnot this is not the thread for that so i ask those comments to be refrained from, I'm looking for specific sources here. (please and thank you. I believe theres a "petstore cruelty" thread down the way in the debate forum, that would be the place for that not here) I'm looking for how the store kept your torts before adoption and advices you may have been given.


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## gingerbee (Dec 1, 2014)

I got Sparky (Redfoot) at petsmart, she was in a 10 gallon tank. They said she was sold so I checked back and they decided to let me have her. I was given a "care sheet" with hardly any info. She's been a wonderful addition to my family. 
Thank god for the internet that's where I found my great info for housing ect.


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## lismar79 (Dec 1, 2014)

I got my rt Martha from petsmart to. I have never regreted getting her.


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## leigti (Dec 1, 2014)

I got my Russian tortoise Yurik from a locally owned pet store, not a chain. I was scared to order one online. I asked for a young, captive bred male. They said no problem, and I now have an older wild caught female  with a serious previous injury that had healed. but I wouldn't trade her for the world. They gave me bad advice, which luckily I ignored because I had done some research. Although I keep learning and improving the care I am giving. Although I paid for her I consider her a rescue, many people probably would not have taking her if they had seen her in with a group of others. But she is very outgoing, wasn't shy for long maybe a week, and has lots of personality. I will never regret getting her. And I don't bash people who do get there tortoises from a pet store. Maybe someday things will change and that will be good but until then all tortoises deserve a good home.
You are right, many first time tortoise keeper start out at the chain pet stores. I gave my pet store a copy of the Sulcata and Russian care sheets and information about the TFO website and app.


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## Team Gomberg (Dec 1, 2014)

Personally, I don't care if someone gets their tortoise from a breeder, a pet store, a Craigslist ad, a friend, etc. What _really_ bothers me is when people say they "adopted" their tortoise from the pet store. No, you bought the tortoise from the pet store.
*
Pet adoption* is the process of taking guardianship of and responsibility for a pet that a previous owner has abandoned or released to a shelter or rescue organization.

Pet stores are a business selling said animal for profit. That's fine if you get your tortoise from them....but you bought your beloved pet. You didn't adopt it.

I've never bought a tortoise from a pet store but I have bought from a breeder. I've also adopted torts from other people who couldn't care for them anymore. I've acquired tortoises from friends, given tortoises away, made trades and adopted tortoises out that I could no longer care for. If a pet store had a tortoise I wanted, I'd feel no guilt or shame buying from them.


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## glitch4200 (Dec 1, 2014)

I got my little guy from PetCo. Let me tell you something. The advice i was offered from petco, would of kllled my little guy in probably under 20 years. For a animal that can live to around 100.. that is so bad its angering. The advice these pet stores give to customers is over dated like a good 10 years. I know there goal is to sell the animal but at least provide the right information. I am not bashing the employee as much as the store/company policies surrounding the type of information they give for each animal they sell. I bought him he was enclosed with 3 others. Very little food. Constant digging. Stressful to say the least. That's why i was drawn to them... I felt there pain.. One even had bad eyes...He was shaken and barely able to see.. I admit to this day how much it hurts to have not picked him... I could of saved him.. But i was worried about the emotional trauma if anything happened to him before i knew ANYTHING of what i know about the care of him. I know now i could of saved that little one, but i am forever grateful i saved nibbles. He weighed about 235g at 4.25in about in length when i got him.. Very skinny. But he was alert and really resposive when my fiance and i held him. So we thought it was best to pick him even though the other one was very friendly and loving . The emotional toll on both of us would of been to great if anything happened to the one tortoise with the eye problems. So we got nibbles. I was told to buy a 40 gallon tank, a coil uvb bulb, a red bulb for heat, and pellets for food with a mix of fruit everday. The substrate they recommended was bark. 1x soak a week, nothing about humidity. I had him in those conditions for about 3 weeks. Until i started reading and researching i figured out how horrible those conditions are for a tortoise. So i built him a new home out of wood, changed the substrate 7inch base, started a rotating diet, changed my lighting scheme, striving for a descent ambient humidity, soaking 4xs a week, added extra virgin coconut oil 3x a week. He went from this.....


to this....

and this...

his weight went from 235g to 343g in about 1 year 3 months and grew to 5inches now long.. you can see the differences now in his entire body, and if you were here through it all you would know that his personailty is fully exposed to me now. I can say its all thanks to the information i found here on the forum .. I can say this community has given me the outlets for a very good resource on tortoise care. I say thank you  And so does Nibbles.


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## WillTort2 (Dec 1, 2014)

All of my Russians probably came from chain pet stores. But I can only say for sure about 3 of them. 2 males were rescued from local owners that either could not keep them or did not want them. I rescued my most recent store purchase because, even though she looked very under nourished and young, I thought she might be female from the shape of the tail. Today, Charlotte has become my healthiest eater and my largest tort. And my smallest male, whom I've always worried about due to "picky eater issues", is my tortoise with the most attitude, always eager to challenge any new development in his territory.

So, each tortoise must be viewed as an individual, just as people are so different from one another. I'm fairly certain that captive bred under ideal temperature , humidity, and diet will produce the best overall group of tortoises in the short term. But, I'm a firm believer that survival of the fittest under the extremes that nature provides has and will continue to produce the tortoises with the greatest long term survival chances. Chances are quite good that some varieties of tortoises will be on this planet long after mankind has been self vanquished!


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## Team Gomberg (Dec 1, 2014)

Glitch, although I'm not a fan of the shiny shell, I must say the light color of your Russian is beautiful!!


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## glitch4200 (Dec 1, 2014)

Its ok, Everyone is entitled to there opinion but it serves a more legitimate purposes in my opinion then having a shiny shell. That is the last thing i am looking for. My thread is below this one if you have not read it already., I am about to post more before and after pics at only 7 weeks of application. You be the judge  I very much appreciate the compliment. I know nibbles does. He is healthy as can be!


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## leigti (Dec 1, 2014)

Team Gomberg said:


> Personally, I don't care if someone gets their tortoise from a breeder, a pet store, a Craigslist ad, a friend, etc. What _really_ bothers me is when people say they "adopted" their tortoise from the pet store. No, you bought the tortoise from the pet store.
> *
> Pet adoption* is the process of taking guardianship of and responsibility for a pet that a previous owner has abandoned or released to a shelter or rescue organization.
> 
> ...


I hope you didn't think I confused adopting and buying. I only considered her a rescue because she was in such bad shape but I know I paid for her and had every intention of paying for her. Sorry if it was misleading. Heck, you can't even "adopt" from an animal shelter you pay there too. You even pay from rescue groups most of the time.


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## Delilah1623 (Dec 1, 2014)

I did buy my russian from Petco.... I worked there when I was 16 so I know a lot of the workers truly care about the animals, they just don't know better. 

Honestly I try to avoid buying much from pet stores, even supplies, because of how a lot of them take care of their animals. 

We have a locally owned store that had a dry miserable redfoot that broke my heart and also sells tattooed molly fish (if you haven't seen these look it up) so I won't buy anything there anymore even though they have mazuri and other things I can't get at the big chain pet stores. I try to buy everything online from stores that don't sell pets or that I feel take good care of the animals they sell.

But to each his own, I talked to a gentleman today that won't buy anything at Walmart because of how they treat their employees and I buy lots there without a second thought.... but then I do like animals more than people most days..


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## DutchieAmanda (Dec 1, 2014)

I bought /adopted my redfoot from someone who couldn't take care of him anymore. But I also went to a specialised exotics pet shop before that, to look at their redfoots. The baby's were packed together in a small tank (but at least were kept humid). They also had an adult redfoot in a tiny dry inside enclosure. And also meerkats in a 1,5 x 1,5 meter boring glass enclosure. That's when I decided not to buy there...

In general I am not a great fan of petshops. I believe many of them don't really know (or care?) about the welfare of animals they sell or whether the products they sell are animal friendly. Not only reptiles... Here in the Netherlands they only sell cages for rodents (rats, hamsters, etc.) and rabbits that are waaaay to small. If you want a decent enclosure, you have to build one yourself. 

I think it's a shame that the source of information about animals for a lot of (newbie) owners is not trustworthy...


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## smarch (Dec 2, 2014)

Team Gomberg said:


> Personally, I don't care if someone gets their tortoise from a breeder, a pet store, a Craigslist ad, a friend, etc. What _really_ bothers me is when people say they "adopted" their tortoise from the pet store. No, you bought the tortoise from the pet store.
> *
> Pet adoption* is the process of taking guardianship of and responsibility for a pet that a previous owner has abandoned or released to a shelter or rescue organization.
> 
> ...


Yeah I definately get what you mean using adopted wrong, and I guess I did, but I guess I also don't view the word in definition sense. Yes I know I bought my Franklin, I know the pet store made a profit and everything. 
To me adopting isn't about the money, I believe you can adopt a pet you buy, it's more of the physical taking a pet into my family adopting it as part of the family (Franklin to me is more seen as a pet than wild animal on that spectrum). To the pet buying and adoption are as the same, they end up in a new place in a new family/group. I mean even today you pay shelters, yes those aren't profits for them and are just enough to sustain then but money still changed hands, and even with adopting children money is spent. So while I did buy him I also adopted him. That's just my interpretation of adopting and I know it's different than the actual definition, but I just wanted to explain why I use the term.


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