Jacqui said:Just a few random comments in no real order and just said to make you think or voice my opinions...
Wow, so unlike the stores I have been in. I have yet to be in any Petco or Petsmart that you can smell rodents in or have dirty rodent areas.
As for the mixing of species, that's kinda an individual belief thing (I happen to not think mixing is ever a good idea), as is using the meters for readings of temps/humidity. Then remember too this is a store, so the animals will not have the same amount of space you believe they should have. After all, this is just a temporary stop on their way to a "forever" home.
Why do we all expect so much from business who use animals for the businesses profits? I mean places like pet stores, zoos, and such.
Like the comment on dirty waterdish. I know here I have a few tortoises who, much like cats, sit and wait for the newly cleaned and filled with warm water diash to be placed back in their enclosure. Why? So they can the second it's there, make a mad dash to it just to dirty it up.
I know I look to these places to help show the uneducated how animals should be housed, but when you look at that cute little puppy in the small cage, do we immediately think of the small size cage in the same way as we do the tortoises'?
Are you always ready for somebody to walk in your doors and see your tortoise pens? I know I am not. There are always a dish or two somebody used as a potty or drug substrate into, there is always it seems like a waterdish somebody has managed to dump out, and the food on warm days sure can look crummy pretty fast, especially since my hingebacks prefer their food at the very edge of overripe to start with.I can feel for those stores, because I can spend the entire day here cleaning animal enclosures and liter pans and never have that one moment in time, when everything is perfect and ready for the white glove test.
Might want to start this as a new thread. My advice is, where ever you get him from make sure he looks and acts healthy. Clear eyes, no bubbles from the nose, no breathing sounds, he should be active, his weight should be good with the old saying of feeling like a rock in weight, and always good if where you get him from can offer you advise that is good advise. Are you thinking of an adult, a youngster, or a hatchling? Petstore, breeder, shelter, Craig's list, friend, from where?
I'm getting it from petco. And everybody says it's not a good place but I held the Russians a couple of times and made sure it was alert and heathly and it was! It just might b that some people
