A Damn Shame!

[AnthonyC]

I was out this morning & passed a PetCo so I figured "What the heck?" The 1st thing that hit me was the smell of rodent urine; their 10 gallon tanks were filled with feces & urine. The staff seemed to be completely disinterested in me until I took this picture.

The second the flash went off a flurry of clerks descended on me followed by a slovenly dressed manager. He gruffly asked me, "Can I help you!?" I simply replied, "Nope, I have EVERYTHING I need." After that I left.

Not sure if you can make out everything in the picture so I will describe it to you:
1. Three Russian Tortoises and one Red Foot Tortoise all in the same enclosure.
2. Rotten vegetation strewn throughout the enclosure.
3. 3/4 empty water bowl filled with a mixture of urates & feces.
4. The substrate (appeared to be Repti-Bark) saturated with urates.
5. No thermometer/hygrometer.
6. Can't say for sure but the enclosure appeared to be no more than 30g??

I would guess that there was probably no humidity, much less clean air, and I don't know what kind of lighting was in there.

Feel FREE to vent....

 

[Torty Mom]

Yep, sadly we see it alot. It makes my stomach ache! They care nothing but the $$$$ coming in the register. Some stores are the exception and they DO care and they DO a good job.

Good for you for giving them a run for their money, I would go in there weekly and take a picture, I bet they would change things!!

 

[Turtle Guru]

Yep, sadly we see it alot. It makes my stomach ache! They care nothing but the $$$$ coming in the register. Some stores are the exception and they DO care and they DO a good job.

Good for you for giving them a run for their money, I would go in there weekly and take a picture, I bet they would change things!!

I agree with you so much there should be a law that if you sell animal like turtles and tortoises you need to match their needs so they are healthy for your clients. That frosts my tail :/

 

[jaizei]

You should report the store to corporate, and it will not stay that way for long. With the internet and the way word of mouth is nearly instantaneous now-a-days, they cannot afford the bad publicity. I tend to believe it's more of a problem on the local level.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Sad!!

 

[AnthonyC]

I agree with you, and I will construct a well written complaint I just want some time to consider what it is that I'm going to say. I don't just want to be another complainer, I want it to sting a little... know what I mean? I don't really think that it's a problem geographically b/c there is a PetSmart less than a 1/4 mile down the road from that nasty PetCo and they had a Russian, not long ago, and (I'm not the expert here) it appeared to be well-taken care of.

You should report the store to corporate, and it will not stay that way for long. With the internet and the way word of mouth is nearly instantaneous now-a-days, they cannot afford the bad publicity. I tend to believe it's more of a problem on the local level.

 

[jaizei]

I agree with you, and I will construct a well written complaint I just want some time to consider what it is that I'm going to say. I don't just want to be another complainer, I want it to sting a little... know what I mean? I don't really think that it's a problem geographically b/c there is a PetSmart less than a 1/4 mile down the road from that nasty PetCo and they had a Russian, not long ago, and (I'm not the expert here) it appeared to be well-taken care of.

You should report the store to corporate, and it will not stay that way for long. With the internet and the way word of mouth is nearly instantaneous now-a-days, they cannot afford the bad publicity. I tend to believe it's more of a problem on the local level.

By local, I was talking more store specific than geographically specific, I should have made that more clear.

 

[ewam]

The petco by takes pretty good care of there tortoises and turtles. All they have is two Russians in a 40 gallon terrarium they have thermometer and a hydrometer and a few red eared turtles in a 50 gallon tank with clear water. It just sounds like that store is not very good.

 

[AnthonyC]

Again I agree! This particular PetCo had been around for many years & I remember going in there and seeing dead fish floating & sunk to the bottom of their aquariums. Prior to my visit today I hadn't been in there in MANY years. Back in the day I stopped going mostly b/c of their prices (they had a monopoly on the area @ the time), but now it's b/c the condition of their animals just breaks my heart. I'm not a s#*$ stirrer, but if I didn't say something about this to their corporate I'd be as guilty as they are.

The petco by takes pretty good care of there tortoises and turtles. All they have is two Russians in a 40 gallon terrarium they have thermometer and a hydrometer and a few red eared turtles in a 50 gallon tank with clear water. It just sounds like that store is not very good.

 

[Tropical Torts]

There is a petco opening here in the next week or so. It should be interesting to see how they care for thier animals. I dont have high expectations for it due to all of the posts like this I have seen about petco. Hopefully this branch will do a better job.

 

[SulcataSquirt]

The Petco around our area is the same way - actually both of them within 5 miles apart are like this. We do our shopping at Petsmart. It seems like the whole store upkeep is better there all together. Just an opinion from our area.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Actually Petco normally keeps a clean store and takes good care of their animals. I would send an email or call their corporate and I'll bet things would change. The Petco here is immaculate and when I commented on it one day the clerk told me that their corporate monitors them and they lose raises and time off if the store is not kept up. So make a nice complaint and let's see what happens...

 

[jjbird60]

I was out this morning & passed a PetCo so I figured "What the heck?" The 1st thing that hit me was the smell of rodent urine; their 10 gallon tanks were filled with feces & urine. The staff seemed to be completely disinterested in me until I took this picture.

The second the flash went off a flurry of clerks descended on me followed by a slovenly dressed manager. He gruffly asked me, "Can I help you!?" I simply replied, "Nope, I have EVERYTHING I need." After that I left.

Not sure if you can make out everything in the picture so I will describe it to you:
1. Three Russian Tortoises and one Red Foot Tortoise all in the same enclosure.
2. Rotten vegetation strewn throughout the enclosure.
3. 3/4 empty water bowl filled with a mixture of urates & feces.
4. The substrate (appeared to be Repti-Bark) saturated with urates.
5. No thermometer/hygrometer.
6. Can't say for sure but the enclosure appeared to be no more than 30g??

I would guess that there was probably no humidity, much less clean air, and I don't know what kind of lighting was in there.

Feel FREE to vent....

I am getting a Russian tortoise soon any advice?

 

[Jacqui]

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. Okay, so maybe not even the black glove.

---

I am getting a Russian tortoise soon any advice?

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?

 

[ascott]

For more information about the Animal Welfare Act or the Animal Care program, contact
USDA-APHIS-Animal Care 4700 River Road, Unit 84 Riverdale, MD 20737-1234 Phone: (301) 734-7833 Fax: (301) 734-4978 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.aphis.usda.gov/ac

Hey Anthony, I don't know if this contact will offer you a way to contact the correct division/person to report the infraction (housing different species in same enclosure along with unsanitary conditions) to. I know that the USDA has many different programs and are the correct source to forward your complaint to.

Terrible.

 

[Ashliewood]

i would email someone higher up at petco and then send them copies of their own care sheets. i would do that if i saw that.

 

[Blondeangel]

I would go back into the store, and ask to speak to the General Manager if conditions are still the same. If the General Manager is not interested in what you are saying- then ask for the District Managers Name & phone number (not customer service phone number). I am the Animal Manager at my Petco store, and that store is just plain being lazy, as well as not following correct policy/planograms for their animals. If your Petco's District Manager is anything like mine, your concerns should be corrected by the end of the day.

 

[AnthonyC]

Thank you for all of your responses. I just had a free second to read them. I'll give everyone an update when I can. Like I said I'm not looking to bash PetCo b/c I'm sure (I hope) that most PetCo's are not like this. When I sit down and write an email, letter, or make a phone call I'm not going to be "that guy" who wants to slam the company, I just want to bring to their attention what I saw.

 

[Cory]

I worked at Petco, and while I was there I was over fish and reptiles, our manager at the time use to tell me that PETA would come in and take pictures and we would get in a lot of trouble. So we never had anything like that, and it's a shame when people don't care for the pets in their stores. You should send these pics to corpo. that may get something done in that store.

 

[oscar]

I had a go around with petco on line order for bulbs. never got it resolved. Could not believe that I could not get anyone to understand what I was saying Called many numbers and got no where.
I did recieve a survey and a few of the questions were about me continuing shopping if they just sold products and no animals, which makes me think someone is or was thinking of dropping having live animals.
The petco in Bloomington IL had 4 young redfoots when I was in there months ago and you couldn't ask for a much nicer set up as they had for them, I think it all depends on the manager and employees at each store.