phebe121
Well-Known Member
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Glad you rescued one im sorry for the others i hate that about pet stores its all about the money not health
Another Russian Nightmare!
- Thread starter Earth Mama
- Start date
How hear breakingbut how wonderful that YOU saved that tortoise!!! This happens probably so much more than we even know. I NEVER knew that Russians were WC from Petco & Petsmat. How is this true? Just curious? I've read this on the forum quite a bit.
It's actually a truly disgusting thing. Google it and you'll see the deplorable conditions these tortoises endure after being snatched from the wild. This is one reason we try to get people not to buy from pet stores. Saving one is different, but planning on buying one from them only makes room and demand for another.
Good thing you rescued her! Glad she's home now.
Agreed. I don't like the idea of buying animals from a pet shop but I couldn't just leave her there to slowly decline.
I'm sure most of us would have done the same, myself included! Glad she's not the typical pet store tortoise and is thriving
I can speak from fact, that they are indeed WC (unless there's one that was surrendered to the shop as I see with RES all the time...) I got my Franklin at Petco and aside from the poor food choices and ramp bowl they were in pretty good care and shape, I didn't know because of that that it was a big deal not to get them from petstores. So soon after finding this site (which was a week or so after getting him) I emailed petco corporate and asked where the tortoises came from because I wanted to be completely aware of Franklin's past. Let me see if I can find the email I saved a copy of:How hear breaking
Thank you for contacting Petco.
We are glad to know that your pet is healthy and doing well. Our Russian tortoise came from Asia, Uzbekystan and Kyrgyzstan. Please follow the link below for your reference. You can also contact your local Petco store for further inquiry.
I've never personally had a problem with Petco, Local or corporate, so its a shame that one was that poor to them.
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Oh WOW...that is shocking!!! I would of never known! Thank you for sharing this with me.
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Truly sad...
ChloeCrull
Active Member
Thank you for saving the little girl. I can't believe two of the tortoises were dead.
What did the manager and the employees say? I'm very eager to know.
What did the manager and the employees say? I'm very eager to know.
The kid who helped me just kept saying "oh my gosh I'm so sorry". He was pretty much horrified but clueless. The manager really wasn't all that apologetic. she just said "oh I'll take care of it". Unbelievable! the district manager seem to be a little bit more concerned but that was probably just lipservice. He said he would check into the matter. We'll see about that. I went by Petco earlier today just to look and the tortoises were in pretty much the same condition. There were only three left in the tank so it's the same three that were there last week. They looked terrible.
ChloeCrull
Active Member
Typical. Unfortunately, that doesn't surprise me one bit.
The last time I spoke up to an employee in a similar manner was while I was visiting Petco with my mother and father. The size of the tortoise tank was actually much better than the usual "pet store enclosure," but the objects were poorly sized and placed. The water bowl was huge and nearly impossible to even ponder the idea of a tortoise attempting to drink from it. The log on the left side of the cage was so awkwardly angled that one of the male tortoises actually stumbled off of it and was STUCK between the log and it's extremely over-sized food dish.
He was frantically digging and scrambling to climb over it safely, but it was no use. We immediately told an employee, who (annoyingly) took about ten minutes to come over and move in. She then placed it on the other side—it was basically a mirror image duplicate of the habitat. How frustrating!
The problem with me is that I definitely see the advantages of rescuing a tortoise or adopting from a breeder instead of a pet store. We shouldn't be funding the large companies. But then I feel badly that I'm not saving a suffering tortoise, even though I know each purchase just encourages the cycle to repeat itself.
What broke my heart even more is that the tortoise who got stuck was such a curious sweetheart. He scrambled to the edge of the tank (ugh, I hate the terrariums!) and curiously peered at my parents and me. I wanted to take him home, but I couldn't place another male with my current male Russian.
Even so, thank you again for rescuing that little girl and reporting the conditions of the habitat.
Have you not seen any sign of improvement in the three remaining tortoises? If it helps, I will call that specific Petco and register a complaint myself. It doesn't matter if I live miles away; all tortoises (and animals in general) deserve to be treated with love or care, whether they'll be in a for-sale enclosure temporarily or permanently.
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How damn sad!!!!! I went to petsmart today to grab moss. I looked at the Russian tortoise that was in a 10 gallon tank... Maybe a wee bigger but I don't even have the words to say to think of how he was living the life to be snatched from the wild to iceberg lettuce & kale I think it was in such a small home that SUCKED!!!! He looked miserable as they always do, it's very heartbreaking to even look at these animals in such conditions on top of knowing what's happening everyday at every large chain pet store
No problem, just spreading the knowledge with proof I had laying around.
Honestly I just can't get myself to condemn stores at all. I know some keep them poor, mine hasn't, in fact I've even looked in once and once was eating as looked up and just intently watched me as I looked at him (kinda like my Nank does now) They may be stressed and not given the best but the ones at mine have never looked miserable. Mine have always had water (the ramp bowl yes but never like full full) they've always had food in the plate (yeah maybe not the best diet but its temporary... basically us trying to live off yummy fast food) they've always had a log to hide in... even if they couldn't all fit they did have something. The substrate isn't very deep but they've always had eco-earth, that's good. Over the years I've seen several plants go in and out, one of the vine like plants and several different types of the fake store plants. I'm not saying they live in like a palace, but its a temporary place, not to say they're destined to go to great caring homes (since some don't) but from there its not on the store.
I don't know, just felt like the stores deserved some defending, not yours but the corporation in general, since not all are bad, in fact I remember a few stories of members talking with them and getting them to feed good foods. My petco now even carries Mazuri.
I agree to a point. If the store doesn't always have tortoises then i suppose having them in a tank for the couple weeks they're there isn't too bad. But if they constantly have tortoises in the store, they should set up a table, it's really not that hard. I understand that multiple need to be kept together to save space but just give them a bigger space.
I don't anticipate an end to importing WC torts anytime soon so, The biggest issue I have with large chain pet stores is uneducated staff. The stores should have the responsibility to learn and teach proper husbandry of the livestock they carry. All the conditions you describe at your Petco are the same as mine but the fact that there were Two dead torts that had been that way a MINIMUM of 24 hours (the odor was very very strong) tells me that even though they had fresh food and water, the animals in the tank had not been inspected. Now I don't expect a complete physical of each animal but when one feeds and waters a tank, one should make sure all animals in that tank are doing well. If they discover a sick or injured animal, that employee/store should have the responsibility to try to correct the situation. That's all I'm saying.
Thirty years ago, I managed a small "mom and pop" pet store. We had dogs cats fish reptiles and birds. Education about the needs and requirements of the different animals was a requirement to work there. Everyone got on the job training
The large pet stores are really just in business to sell supplies. The livestock the carry is just a sideline. Again, this is all just my opinion and there will always be good pet stores that are the exception. That is all
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I think I'll be alive when the end to WC tort sales come, but as of right now theres just not enough CB breeders in the US, and I know many take in WC ones to vary up the gene pool.I don't anticipate an end to importing WC torts anytime soon so, The biggest issue I have with large chain pet stores is uneducated staff. The stores should have the responsibility to learn and teach proper husbandry of the livestock they carry. All the conditions you describe at your Petco are the same as mine but the fact that there were Two dead torts that had been that way a MINIMUM of 24 hours (the odor was very very strong) tells me that even though they had fresh food and water, the animals in the tank had not been inspected. Now I don't expect a complete physical of each animal but when one feeds and waters a tank, one should make sure all animals in that tank are doing well. If they discover a sick or injured animal, that employee/store should have the responsibility to try to correct the situation. That's all I'm saying.
Thirty years ago, I managed a small "mom and pop" pet store. We had dogs cats fish reptiles and birds. Education about the needs and requirements of the different animals was a requirement to work there. Everyone got on the job training
The large pet stores are really just in business to sell supplies. The livestock the carry is just a sideline. Again, this is all just my opinion and there will always be good pet stores that are the exception. That is all
I know my petco has this one guy who's pretty much a fish expert, he's helped me out tons when I was trying to balance out my tank and having ammonia problems. I'm not sure if we have a guy who's as good with tortoises specifically but one guy I talked with when I first got to hold a tort when I was looking into them was a keeper himself, not quite as knowledgeable since hetold me a 40 gal was ok and a 20gal was minimum but he wasn't completely incompetent and was the guy they consulted with to make sure they were giving me a male (i'd done my research too and was sure I knew too). They should have a few "experts" for each department (and no fish and reptiles should not be the same) but I mean if I worked there i'd want to be an expert in everything, and if they didn't teach me I'd teach myself, unfortunately if I worked there i'd bring home more pets than I watched sold lol
