I visited a pet store in Salt Lake last weekend because a couple family friends mentioned that it was a GREAT, well-maintained store that seemed to know their stuff (we'd been talking about reptiles and pet stores because one of the friends wants a beardie)... But it was terrible. Clean, yes, and their aquatics section looked nice, but some of their arrangements in the reptile section were atrocious!!!!
For one, though they aren't tortoises, they had good-sized snakes stuffed in tiny "kritter keepers," 2-3 to a cage. We're talking 3 ft corn, bull, king, and milk snakes, stuffed in little 6x10 inch prisons, overcrowded with so little room that they had to lay on top of each other to make room for the water dish. Did I mention that most of the snakes in question (the kings and milks, of which there were a LOT) are known to be cannibalistic?
Then the tortoises... They had... Let's see, I remember seeing Redfoots, 3 or 4 youngish Sulcatas, several wild-caught Russians, a Hermann's, and what looked like a big Yellowfoot (maybe others, can't remember) in one big (about 5x4 ft) enclosure with hay bedding, one or two heat lamps, and a water dish that was so tall even the yellowfoot could hardly get his head in it! I was appalled... The only thing they got remotely right was the space!
Oh, and my local pet store always gets in "Asian Box Turtles" and tosses them in with (wild-caught, major shell damaged) three-toed boxies in these little, 2x1 ft tanks on dry eco-earth with one heat lamp and no hides. Oh, and the crappy UVB tube is 2' above the enclosure, obviously not giving any benefit whatsoever.
For one, though they aren't tortoises, they had good-sized snakes stuffed in tiny "kritter keepers," 2-3 to a cage. We're talking 3 ft corn, bull, king, and milk snakes, stuffed in little 6x10 inch prisons, overcrowded with so little room that they had to lay on top of each other to make room for the water dish. Did I mention that most of the snakes in question (the kings and milks, of which there were a LOT) are known to be cannibalistic?
Then the tortoises... They had... Let's see, I remember seeing Redfoots, 3 or 4 youngish Sulcatas, several wild-caught Russians, a Hermann's, and what looked like a big Yellowfoot (maybe others, can't remember) in one big (about 5x4 ft) enclosure with hay bedding, one or two heat lamps, and a water dish that was so tall even the yellowfoot could hardly get his head in it! I was appalled... The only thing they got remotely right was the space!
Oh, and my local pet store always gets in "Asian Box Turtles" and tosses them in with (wild-caught, major shell damaged) three-toed boxies in these little, 2x1 ft tanks on dry eco-earth with one heat lamp and no hides. Oh, and the crappy UVB tube is 2' above the enclosure, obviously not giving any benefit whatsoever.
