Guys I need help dealing with a local pet store,
Every now and then I visit the pet store to browse. In the past I have ignored the sub-par care of their tortoises due to my shyness and desire to avoid confronting management, but today I was exceptionally upset.
There was a single baby redfoot tortoise in a completely dry enclosure of cedar chips. His eyes were shut and he seemed to be stumbling around biting at the cedar chips. They also have one large sulcata kept in a large aquarium, with barely enough room for him to turn around.
In the past, I have observed their tortoises in enclosures numerous times without water dishes, or water dishes with undrinkable water. Their tortoises are always kept in bone-dry conditions. I have seen different species of tortoises kept together, as well as with other animals such as a bearded dragon. The tortoises are fed a diet of noting but kale. The baby sulcatas that they currently have are already experiencing pyramiding.
I am taking action. The way I see it, I have two possible choices to deal with the problem: 1) I can talk with the store manager and attempt to educate him on the proper care of tortoises or 2) I can write negative online reviews and attempt to spread the news about their inadequate care to prospective customers.
The problem I have is neither of these choices seems viable. From what I have heard, the store owner is not a very nice guy and I doubt that he would be willing to change. The tortoises surprisingly sell very well at the store, so I don’t see why he would spend money on taking better care of the tortoises. I also doubt that online reviews would change anything, as I believe most of the purchases of these animals is impulsive and they don’t discover that their tortoises require completely different care until later on if at all.
How do you all think I should go about attempting to fix this situation?
Every now and then I visit the pet store to browse. In the past I have ignored the sub-par care of their tortoises due to my shyness and desire to avoid confronting management, but today I was exceptionally upset.
There was a single baby redfoot tortoise in a completely dry enclosure of cedar chips. His eyes were shut and he seemed to be stumbling around biting at the cedar chips. They also have one large sulcata kept in a large aquarium, with barely enough room for him to turn around.
In the past, I have observed their tortoises in enclosures numerous times without water dishes, or water dishes with undrinkable water. Their tortoises are always kept in bone-dry conditions. I have seen different species of tortoises kept together, as well as with other animals such as a bearded dragon. The tortoises are fed a diet of noting but kale. The baby sulcatas that they currently have are already experiencing pyramiding.
I am taking action. The way I see it, I have two possible choices to deal with the problem: 1) I can talk with the store manager and attempt to educate him on the proper care of tortoises or 2) I can write negative online reviews and attempt to spread the news about their inadequate care to prospective customers.
The problem I have is neither of these choices seems viable. From what I have heard, the store owner is not a very nice guy and I doubt that he would be willing to change. The tortoises surprisingly sell very well at the store, so I don’t see why he would spend money on taking better care of the tortoises. I also doubt that online reviews would change anything, as I believe most of the purchases of these animals is impulsive and they don’t discover that their tortoises require completely different care until later on if at all.
How do you all think I should go about attempting to fix this situation?