Re: Pet Store Horror Stories- watch out, long post

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Posted by cwatbay on November 09, 1999 at 16:59:23:

In Reply to: Pet Store Horror Stories posted by Lexi on November 09, 1999 at 12:47:30:

I have a few comments. Most pet stores that I have encountered have minimum wage help, usually high school students or some other low skilled labor. Also it appears that most pet store owners either: (a) got into the business because they inherited it from their parents, (b) wanted an "easy" to operate small business, (c) just wanted to do something other than the job they had, (d) bought into a franchise type business with the promise of "easy" money. I have yet to run into anyone that got into the pet store business because they had real knowledge of animals, loved animals, cared about animals or even knew about running a profitable business. Petco and Petsmart are the worst of the worst for the care of animals, they are in it purely for the profit and how much stuff their unqualified staff can push onto unknowing customers. In the county where I live ( santa cruz county, ca ) there are no good pet stores. All of them have dead or dying animals, poorly cared for animals and are owned and staffed by the type of people alreadly mentioned.

I will mention however, that there have been three stores that have bucked the trend: LLL Reptile in Oceanside, CA ( small store, big web site, animals looked good and all had proper lighting and heat, staff was of the "hey dude", gotee and earring variety, but seemed ok). Reptile Haven in Oceanside, CA ( larger than LLL, staff was ok, home of "Bud" the water monitor, larger selection than the San Diego Zoo. Dolphin Pet Center in Campbell, CA ( San Jose). Staffed by bio students, I had a long, long talk with the manager and owner. We have bought all of our lizards there, except for adoptions. Every animal has the correct light, heat and food. Most of the staff is knowledgeable, and if they don't know, they will say so. Also, you must read and sign a long care and maintenance form before you can buy any animal. This store is big and has been around for some time.

Sorry for the long post, but someone needs to put together a "Pet Watch" to keep an eye on pet stores and rate them because city and county agencies won't do a thing to keep them in line.

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: I have a few comments. Most pet stores that I have encountered have minimum wage help, usually high school students or some other low skilled labor. Also it appears that most pet store owners either: (a) got into the business because they inherited it from their parents, (b) wanted an "easy" to operate small business, (c) just wanted to do something other than the job they had, (d) bought into a franchise type business with the promise of "easy" money. I have yet to run into anyone that got into the pet store business because they had real knowledge of animals, loved animals, cared about animals or even knew about running a profitable business. Petco and Petsmart are the worst of the worst for the care of animals, they are in it purely for the profit and how much stuff their unqualified staff can push onto unknowing customers. In the county where I live ( santa cruz county, ca ) there are no good pet stores. All of them have dead or dying animals, poorly cared for animals and are owned and staffed by the type of people alreadly mentioned. : I will mention however, that there have been three stores that have bucked the trend: LLL Reptile in Oceanside, CA ( small store, big web site, animals looked good and all had proper lighting and heat, staff was of the "hey dude", gotee and earring variety, but seemed ok). Reptile Haven in Oceanside, CA ( larger than LLL, staff was ok, home of "Bud" the water monitor, larger selection than the San Diego Zoo. Dolphin Pet Center in Campbell, CA ( San Jose). Staffed by bio students, I had a long, long talk with the manager and owner. We have bought all of our lizards there, except for adoptions. Every animal has the correct light, heat and food. Most of the staff is knowledgeable, and if they don't know, they will say so. Also, you must read and sign a long care and maintenance form before you can buy any animal. This store is big and has been around for some time. : Sorry for the long post, but someone needs to put together a "Pet Watch" to keep an eye on pet stores and rate them because city and county agencies won't do a thing to keep them in line. : CW

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