# Pet shops good or bad?



## Newbie5564 (Sep 11, 2011)

I find their are two types of pet stores. Examples, I was I Mankato MN and went to Pet Expo(the local pet shop not show) they had tortoises for the first time in about 5 years and they were baby sulcatas I was looking at them (wanting one) and the worker told me to go home and come back in 2 weeks after I knew more about them and I thought this was great getting people to know what their getting into before they buy it. 

Now my friend worked at a local Petland and he was told not to give the animals treatment for illnesses or really take care of the animals unless their losing large amounts of income from die off or just people knowing the animals are noticably sick. The worst thing my freind was fired after they found out he was treating the fish and reptiles for common and fatal diseases.

What is your opinion on your local pet store, are they informative or just out for profit, would you stand for how they treat employees or are they going to give you a quality pet


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## tyler0912 (Sep 11, 2011)

i think some are okay we have a huge reptiles/aquatics shop and they look after everything great!  except there tortoise :/


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## cherylim (Sep 11, 2011)

I'm buying my tortoise from a pet shop this Friday, after having very little luck with breeders. The pet shop I've chosen looks very good - it seems they keep pets in stacked aquariums, which wouldn't be ideal, but the staff seem to care, at least. It just looks like they're doing what they can with very limited space, so I'll go and see and hopefully their tortoises will be healthy.


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## mel262011 (Sep 11, 2011)

I love my PetSmart. I got both of my russians from PetSmart and they are doing great


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## Madkins007 (Sep 11, 2011)

I would vote them as being a useful evil. Most of the stuff in the typical pet shop is unnecessary and over-priced, and most of the animals are better obtained from area breeders, etc.

Too many stores of all types nowadays are totally focused on survival, out of necessity. Most are operating on razor-thin profit margins and cannot afford things like training, any but basic cares, etc.

HOWEVER, MOST beginners got our start at a pet store, and most pet store employees care and know something about animals- even if not about everything in the store evenly. 

To be fair, pet stores are a lot like hardware stores or even grocery stores. Big chains, local chains, or mom and pop stores; generalists or specialty boutiques; luxurious or bare bones; etc. You can have a well-run chain with a bad manager, a mediocre mom and pop with a stellar employee; staff who knows everything about aisle 12, and nothing about aisle 3; store #1124 doing big business, good turnover, well managed and staffed, and store #322 right down the street that is an old hole in the wall pit. 

Pretty much anything we have to say about the pet business can be said about almost any other business.


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## Edna (Sep 11, 2011)

Well said, Mark. For me the bottom line is that I would not be able to feed my DOGS if it weren't for the Petco in Casper. The food we choose is not available in the grocery stores here, and the local feed store carries what they want, when they want. A visit to the pet store is like a visit to a county fair in that you get to see a variety of animals on display and have the opportunity to judge the care they have been receiving based on their condition, enclosure, etc. It's an amazing learning opportunity that I would not give up.


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## jaizei (Sep 11, 2011)

In my experience, at least nowadays, the chain pet stores (PetSmart, Petco, etc) are not that bad, at least the ones I go to. The animals seem relatively well taken care of. The locally owned "exotic" pet stores are a different matter. I can't tell you how many times I've seen Redfoots housed with Russians and a bearded dragon in a 55 gallon tank. The smaller local shops have limited space so it's crowded.


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## Tom (Sep 11, 2011)

Most of the time pet stores give bad advice and the products they offer are pretty useless for the way I do things.

There are exceptions.


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## dmarcus (Sep 11, 2011)

I have found that employees at the big chain stores no more about the common pets like dogs, cats and fish. They tend to lack even the basic knowledge when it comes to tortoises..


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## Baoh (Sep 11, 2011)

I don't find most of their employees knowledgeable, but they meet a demand that the market has called for.


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## TurtleTortoise (Sep 11, 2011)

i like pet stores they provide things like bedding, enclosures, lighting, ect. that way I dont have to go online and pay for shipping! We have some stores around here that specializes in reptiles/fish so they are great.

It seems like stores vary if they truly take care of things right or if there in it for the money.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Sep 11, 2011)

50/50!


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## Mgridgaway (Sep 11, 2011)

All of the ma and pa pet stores in my area have closed down. The only thing left within a 20 minute drive is a Petsmart (and the local walmart, but they do mostly supplies and some fish).

With that being said, it was pretty hit and miss even when they were open. The store near me was nice when it opened but over the years it got pretty grimy. They had a lot of space, but they didn't use half of it, choosing to keep water-filled-yet-empty aquariums there. Finally, it was expensive. Typically 30% more than what I'd find at a reptile show or (after 2000-ish) the internet. As soon as online shopping because cheap and easy, I said goodbye and never looked back. Now that I think of it, they were also pretty cheap. I remember asking if they were hiring back in say.... 2003? I was right out of high school and looking for some extra money to tide me over until college started. They weren't hiring, but they started everyone at $5.25 an hour for 90 days! And then I think they bumped them up to $6.25. Maryland minimum wage at the time was, I believe, $6 an hour, so I'm not sure how that exactly worked.

The store not near me was also larger than necessary, but they were fairly priced and carried a nice selection of pets and supplies. They didn't last too long.

And for a big chain, I find Petsmart to be just as overpriced. I avoid buying there if possible... but sometimes you have to bite the bullet.


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## mintybum (Sep 12, 2011)

i think its 50/50, we have a reptile store just round the corner and though he obviously knows a lot about spiders and snakes the few things he mentioned about tortoises led me to beleive he wasn't that 'up' them.
i think really there are so many out there looking for new homes through breeders or private sellers or just plain free that its not that necessary to go to pet shops other than for supplies and goldfish lol.


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## Claireabbo (Sep 12, 2011)

if it is a reptile store in my opinion they know better than like petsmart. obviously. my boyfriend rescued a russian tortoise from a pet store in the mall as they were treating all of the animals horribly! so he gave them a poece of his mind and some info on what he thinks is right for the torts and what they are doing wrong. they were feeding them frozen broccoli and crickets! how horrible!!! but we went back and they were treating them better.... they had some other cut up veggies but not much better. but now i have been informed that they are closing down!  so i think that pet stores are a no go. but if its likea place that speializes on reptiles then they would be better than a pet store. breeders are the best in my opinion.


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## TurtleTortoise (Sep 12, 2011)

Wow I'm starting to realize that having 3 reptile/amphibian specialized pet stores (it is the same company, but they only have 4 stores so it's not a huge chain) is really lucky! We never go to pets art or petco, I think of those as dog stores with a few almost dead reptiles and fish. The reptile stores around here are amazing! For now at least.


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## StudentoftheReptile (Sep 14, 2011)

Pet stores definitely have their place, and unfortunately, like many other things in life, there are good and some not so good. Someone asked the question, are they out for profit? The answer is yes, as with most businesses. Nothing wrong with making money, but I agree when it comes to dealing with live animals, you need to take extra care on how you do it.

I worked at a LPS for almost a decade, as well as a PETsMART for about 4 yrs during college. The LPS I will say is one of the better ones I've seen, but they're far from perfect. 

Mom/pop store or national chain, I personally think that reptiles need to have their own department, when it comes to training staff. Some think I'm just being biased when I say that, but from experience, I feel a lot of problems we as true-blue herpers have with petstores may diminish. Many stores want a easy caresheet-driven, cut and dry formula they can apply to a large group of animals, and for reptiles especially, it just doesn't work that way. Almost every different species has unique needs, and for the average highschool or college freshman who is working part time for gas money or tuition, learning the needs of all the diff species of herps typically kept in a petstore is a daunting task....especially in addition to learn how to care for all the small furry animals, birds, and fish (sometimes saltwater included!).

I also think a lot of pet store employees are afraid to look dumb in front of a customer, so when asked a question they may not know the answer to, they just make up stuff on the fly, instead of simply asking someone more knowledgeable or perhaps looking for the answer in a book off the nearby rack.

Ugh...I could go on and on about pet stores...might continue the rant later. For now, I get most of my supplies at Lowe's (dome lamps, cypress mulch, etc) and the only use I have for petstores is buying MVBs! Why? The bulbs rarely last as long as they should, so I always keep the receipt in the likely event I have to return the bulb 3 months later.


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## tinkerbell1189 (Sep 16, 2011)

I got my tortoise from a pet store and they gave me quite a bit of wrong info. When I looked at her she had really runny poo, and I was told that is normal, the bedding I was sold was bark chippings which I have since learned that is bad for them. The feeding bowl that came with her enclosure was dangerous as it was too deep and she could fall in. The animals were being fed alot of lettuce which I have since learned that even though you can feed it, its not an ideal food. Luckily when I bought Tinkerbell I did as much research as I could on how to give her the best care, and have changed alot of things. Within 2 days of me having her, her poo was back to normal.


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## Angrycowgoesmoo (Sep 18, 2011)

Ehh I don't really like petsmart or petco...I don't trust them because I think they abuse there animals. I also think they only care about dogs or fishes they barely care about reptiles or hamsters. But I always went to superpetz  but sadly they closed because they were moving there store location. I was so sad because they just started having torts and I was planning to get one. I also like superpetz cause they aren't really the dog shop store they are the exotic petstore  they have RES too which not many stores have where I live.


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## Jacqui (Sep 18, 2011)

Newbie5564 said:


> What is your opinion on your local pet store, are they informative or just out for profit, would you stand for how they treat employees or are they going to give you a quality pet



I will start out by saying I actually like most of the pet stores I do business with. I love being able to see what I am buying, which is a big negative when it comes to buying from breeders with me. To clarify, I want to touch and really see what I am getting, pictures can be made to show you what they wish to show.

We ding pet stores so often for how the animal's environment looks. I often wonder just how well the breeders' places would do if we could just drop in at any time.

As for as educational, that too is going to vary with each employee. Some know diddlysquat, some are actually very knowledgeable and caring people. A lot of what they carry is useless to me, but once more I just hate trying to go online and order anything. I like the ease of looking to see what I am buying and then so much easier to return something in person for me rather then trying to come up with packaging and getting something mailed off.

I have been lucky, but of all the tortoises and turtles I have gotten, they have all been in good shape from a pet store. My fish never did so well.  I think a lot of our current tortoise keepers may have gotten their first introduction to tortoises either at a pet store or a zoo.

Pet stores are like everything else, they can be great or they can suck royally.

Going to a pet store is a treat for me.


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## blafiriravt (Sep 29, 2011)

The question as to whether pet stores are good/bad should be one to ask yourself about a given store. Around my parts, MOST of the CHAIN stores do really well with the care and cage requirements of the animals. I have petsmart and petco. Both seem to be on par as far as care and cleanliness. I personally try to support breeders myself. I like that they are very personal with the animals they keep and breed, and can tell you the exact personality of that particular animal because they deal with them on a daily basis. Some people don't like the idea of shipping though. It's all up to you. I like to grill the sales clerk if I buy from a store. Sometimes it's kinda fun


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## fbsmith3 (Oct 2, 2011)

I agree it all depends on the employees. I have 2 different Petcos and 2 different Petsmarts I go to depending on which animal I'm shopping for.

Each has knowledgable employee on a specific subjest and I ask their opinion, but I do research just in case they try to BS. My Grandfather told me trust everyone but never let them know how much you already know.


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