Petco...

[tortgirl123]

Today I was at petco because we're putting our foster dog up for adoption now that's she is healed ( someone threw her off a bridge ) so of course I had to go see the tortoises. They had three Russians. I couldn't tell with my newbie eye how old they were. They were terribly dry and their nails and beak were over grown. They had a huge water bowl that looked like it should've been used for a lizard or something. There was some unrecognizable food. It looked really dry. The only thing that was approving was the calcium dust. Wish I would have said something. And taken them home with me.just makes me sad to think people wouldn't have done research on how to take care of them. Especially a pet store. :\

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Our Petco here in Corvallis takes really good care of their Russian tortoises. The manager swears they are not wild caught...but we all know better. Anyhow, these guys are fed good and well cared for, I even approve of their care sheet...

 

[tortgirl123]

Good to hear one stores doing it right!

 

[Tyanna]

I know this is an old post but I actually got corporate involved at my PetCo. Three Russian tortoises were being kept in a tiny tank with a water bowl that also looked big enough for a huge lizard and was filled to the brim. The humidity was also 20% and 80 degrees all around the whole tank. No basking light, nothing. It also looked like they were feeding them LEMONS. I took a photo and tagged peta and petco and posted it on twitter and to my surprise got a response to both, and it's being further investigated. My reason from buying my Russian from PetCo instead of a breeder was because I just really wanted to save him. I had a heavy heart seeing them all in there treated that way...

 

[turtlelou]

I agree...the Russian torts here are soooo dry and lethargic. It's really so sad.

 

[leigti]

I know this is an old post but I actually got corporate involved at my PetCo. Three Russian tortoises were being kept in a tiny tank with a water bowl that also looked big enough for a huge lizard and was filled to the brim. The humidity was also 20% and 80 degrees all around the whole tank. No basking light, nothing. It also looked like they were feeding them LEMONS. I took a photo and tagged peta and petco and posted it on twitter and to my surprise got a response to both, and it's being further investigated. My reason from buying my Russian from PetCo instead of a breeder was because I just really wanted to save him. I had a heavy heart seeing them all in there treated that way...

I would keep PETA out of it, they are too radical in my opinion. Good job on the rest of it though!

 

[Tyanna]

I agree on the PETA statement, it really depends in general. PETA has been involved with PetCo/Smart for as long as I can remember, and I only agree with some of their arguments ex. how awful they treat their live animals. I think it was more of me being fumed ATM so I quickly scurried up a tweet. I was more impressed with the quick response from PetCo.

 

[turtlelou]

I know this is an old post but I actually got corporate involved at my PetCo. Three Russian tortoises were being kept in a tiny tank with a water bowl that also looked big enough for a huge lizard and was filled to the brim. The humidity was also 20% and 80 degrees all around the whole tank. No basking light, nothing. It also looked like they were feeding them LEMONS. I took a photo and tagged peta and petco and posted it on twitter and to my surprise got a response to both, and it's being further investigated. My reason from buying my Russian from PetCo instead of a breeder was because I just really wanted to save him. I had a heavy heart seeing them all in there treated that way...

I had the same sadness when I visited a park and went in their nature center. It was the most upsetting thing I had seen. Their box turtles were so sick and sad. I've honestly never seen worse treatment.

 

[Tyanna]

My heart aches for situations like that and if I could save them all, I would.

 

[tortadise]

My heart aches for situations like that and if I could save them all, I would.

The problem in thinking that your saving them is your adding to petco selling a product that unfortunately needs to be restocked so they order more. In turn means more imports come in because of the demand. It's very hard to physically see them in bad situations and not do anything about it. But in reality petco, pet smart, pet lands, and all the large stores have a demand and product guideline. If a product flies off the shelf they're going to keep reordering it to keep making money.
It is sad yes.

 

[Tyanna]

It's a never ending cycle and a hard situation. I didn't want to "support" it by buying one but there was no way I could've left the store empty handed. I tried..and clearly failed.

 

[Tom]

Our Petco here in Corvallis takes really good care of their Russian tortoises. The manager swears they are not wild caught...but we all know better. Anyhow, these guys are fed good and well cared for, I even approve of their care sheet...

They are told that the tortoises they sell are "farm raised" and not wild caught. The term "farm raised" can mean so many different things though and I suspect that at least some of the time things are happening that shouldn't be in these foreign countries.

So don't be too hard on the manager. He/she is just repeating the line they are given.

 

[naturalman91]

as Tortadise said your actually not saving them your kinda hurting it because it makes the pet store understand "hey people will pay for these guys" petco here doesn't keep they'res very well either i was just in there yesterday picking up some eco earth and checked out the russian's they'res obvious bulling issues among them

tortoises are the only animals i feel they keep wrong tho they take good care of they're snakes and such all tho they're employees are a little dumb....

i always go in and ask stupid questions i know the answer to just to see how much they really know well one employee was telling me "yea python's can't climb" this was going on right behind him as he was saying it..... lol

 

[Tom]

Tyanna, I am SO glad that you made such an effort and got corporate involved. Good for you and hopefully things will improve there. My local Petco is another one that takes good care of its animals, but I understand that not all of them do.

The one bad part of the story is when you involved a radical terrorist extremist group (according to the FBI.). I saw your explanation above, but people reading need to understand that these animal rights groups are NOT our friends, they are NOT on our side, and contrary to what they want you to believe they are not even on the side of the animals. I ask that we handle these things with the people directly involved and not feed our enemies in the process.

 

[Abdulla6169]

Isn't there a limit to when we can buy an animal from petco? If an animal is in REALLY bad care I'm willing to buy it after photographing all the inadequate care & issuing a complaint to all that can be of help... This is just my opinion though, if an animal has "OK" conditions I won't "rescue" it

 

[Tyanna]

Tyanna, I am SO glad that you made such an effort and got corporate involved. Good for you and hopefully things will improve there. My local Petco is another one that takes good care of its animals, but I understand that not all of them do.

The one bad part of the story is when you involved a radical terrorist extremist group (according to the FBI.). I saw your explanation above, but people reading need to understand that these animal rights groups are NOT our friends, they are NOT on our side, and contrary to what they want you to believe they are not even on the side of the animals. I ask that we handle these things with the people directly involved and not feed our enemies in the process.

You are right, Tom. I do wish I wouldn't of tagged PETA, and they didn't really get involved they just replied and said "don't buy from these stores" and that was the end of their involvement.

Still waiting to hear back for further information from a district manager. I'm hoping to see changes next week.

My tortoise had some marks on his shell when I got him and he was secluded from the group that he was kept in, as well as the conditions of their tank, which is why I really waned him. It was a hard choice I had to make as the whether or not I wanted to buy from them.

 

[tortdad]

The petco by me has a manager who owns a few torts and the ones in her store are kept much better than others I've seen. Still not 100% correct but no where near bad enough shape i'd say abuse was going on.

 

[leigti]

The manager at the Petco in my town is really nice and seems to care about the store and the animals in it. I am thinking about talking to him about the care of the Russian tortoises there. The guy that works the reptile department is an idiot I have also asked questions I know the answer to and get wrong answers, so maybe the manager will listen.