Disgusting pet shops

[Skorpious]

Well I got to have a look at a few pet shops in melbourne on sunday and was wondering if anyone else has been to a certain aquarium (will not post name incase not allowed) which has a trio i believe of water dragons in an aquatic set-up and each of them has what looks like canker or something festering on their snouts. I'd assume it might have something to do with the fact that I couldn't seen virtually any dry spots since they had water jets everywhere.
Other things were three different lizard species of varying sizes in the one enclosure.
Anyway I was wondering how do they get away with stuff like this and is there anything you can do (RSCPA?) I don't see how they can say they are looking after their animals.

 

[playwell]

Yes, please report them.

If they can't provide a suitable living area for there animals they diserve all the pubishment they can get.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

and this is whats on display...can you imagine what goes on behind the scenes at one of these,it is disgusting and the rspca seem to be busy or unable to do much about them..ive seen many overcrouded birdcages full of birds from ganggangs to cockies and even owls to my disgust ,in horrible conditions..wallabies in dark cages getting pooed on from above by doves..i had to cover my kids eyes at one point as it looked like a cocky was dying on the floor of one cage
]oh yeh,ive reported a few of these dumps to the rspca ,and they do try to help

 

[Bouncer]

There's two pet shops in my area alone that are THE most disgusting places I've ever seen. One has cleaned up now they've been reported to the EPA a million times and I have the other one in my sites. I have the guidlines here for reptiles in commercial shops and I can't understand why these tools can't adhere to them. They aren't overly difficult.

 

[OuZo]

yeah dob em in skorpius, i do

everyone says the rscpa doesnt give a stuff about reptiles and maybe it's true, but one place in particular i dobbed in cos they had a poor jacky dragon whose spine and ribs were sticking out and one of its eyes was glued shut, and they had turtles whose shells were all dry and cracked on top cos they couldnt submerge in the 2cm of water they had :?. after i dobbed on em i went back a little while later and the place was spotless...im hoping its cos they actually turned up although i was told it was under new management :?

 

[herptrader]

You have got to remember that the RSPCA is a political animal that often times seems intent on banning the keeping of anything other than dogs, cats and a few caged birds.

I would bypass the RSPCA and got to the the relevant government department - the same one you send your returns to (in Victoria at least).

 

[OuZo]

i tried calling them a while back daavid and they pretty much brushed me off. i called to tell them that pretty much every pet shop in melbourne that keeps reptiles (which really isnt that many in the grand scheme of things) keeps them in disgusting conditions and i was basically asking if they actually EVER do inspections or if they could start lol. he starting spouting crap about how many licensed keepers there are in vic blah blah blah but really, imo opinion, there are 365 days in a year and nowhere near that many reptile keeping pet shops in metro melbourne. 1 random visit every 6 months even would be enough to keep them on their toes i think. if they saw the condition of some of the animals surely they would have to do something. i even heard reports of people seeig a few dead beardies in an enclosure in one shop down here. NOT good enough when all they have to do is walk in, look around and give them a shock and a warning to keep things they way they should be. surely a pet shop owner would rather have one employee take 5 mins to change the newspaper on the bottom of a tank than to lose his business if he thought it could actually happen?

 

[instar]

Probably a good thing nsw petshops cant sell herps. :shock:

 

[Guest]

Surely there has to be some sort of licence to sell the reptiles in the shops? With that there should be regulations yeah? Maybe someone should familiarise themselves with these and point out the breaches to the shop owners, along with the relevant penalties. If nsw ever does sell herps in shops, this is what i will do, and most of you know im not shy to say what i feel at times so it isnt going to be hard to "inform" the shop in question on what they are breaching and how much its going to cost them if they dont fix the breaches of licence.

 

[OuZo]

they do have licences and regulations but i dont think they care cos they rarely get inspected :?

 

[Guest]

But someone that has done some homework showing a knowledge of the conditions and using a bit of "tact" in their approach should be enough to get them to shape up???

If not, just write a formal letter to the governing bodies outlining the breaches that you have found along with pics if possible and they should then do something about it.

If not, burn the place down!!! (after "re-housing" all the animals of course) LOL JUST JOKES.

NB> i do not personally condone or authorise any burning of other peoples property!!

 

[womas4me]

You're onto it there sherman. Instead of running off dobbing like a hall monitor or getting emotional, it is often better to approach them calmly and state the facts, offering advice rather than preaching, and practical advice at that. Instead of members whinging on here why dont you volunteer to advise these shops where knowledge is probably what they lack. I hope NSW does get the OK to sell in pet shops, it's only the minority that ruin it for the majority. I'm sure private keepers % wise do more harm and kill more animals through bad husbandry.

 

[Guest]

it's only the minority that ruin it for the majority

Yeah , not all petshops are like the ones u guys are talking about :evil: some are very good at looking after the reptiles they sell :evil:

 

[Jason]

hi how is every one im a new member. i would have to agree i have been to some pet shops and the way some of the animals are looked after including dogs and other animals is discusting, it makes me feel sorry for the poor animals, some of the enclosures for animals look as if they haven't been cleaned in weeks with feaces all over the floor and in some cases no water bowl. it is a rong that from a publics point of view it would seem some pet shop owners just dont seem to care, their only interested in money and not the well being of the animals.

 

[trader]

hi how is every one im a new member.

I am good thanx Jason and welcome!

It would be so kewell if Pet Shops had 'mystery shoppers' visit their stores like we do at Bunnings...and had at the Commonwealth Bank when I was a teller there..making sure we are doing our job etc etc. that would keep them on their toes... :? :roll:

 

[Jason]

I agree, as somebody else said there are good pet shops out there but i just hate seeing animals mistreated and kept in discusting conditions.

 

[Skorpious]

I visited three decent sized places while I was in Melbourne and I was only talking about one. The others were good, with healthy animals. I live 300kms away, so can't help out much there I was thinking of saying something but the only staff I could see were talking to customers at the other end of the store with the fish. It was still bugging me the day after I got home so I thought I would ask if anyone else here has seen the dragons I was talking off.
I might have to give them a call, since they advertise in the trading post, and ask them about the dragons. Maybe they think they come from the rainforest...

 

[Jadey]

There are definately petshops that have uninformed staff and are disgusting, but then you have the other end of the scale where the staff are extremely helpful, friendly and the animals are kept well. There are a few in melbourne that are very good

 

[OuZo]

Instead of running off dobbing like a hall monitor

well theres no need to get snitchy :lol: any action is better than none i'd say

Instead of members whinging on here why dont you volunteer to advise these shops where knowledge is probably what they lack.

it's care that they lack. i cant say this from experience but i believe that some of these pet shops actually wont let their staff take the time to clean enclosures etc. and i have spoken to staff at one store about a childreni which was sitting inside a sock of an old shed it couldnt get off...it was a saturday and he said they didnt do anything on weekends and he would give it some shed ease on monday. it had obviously been like that longer than a day. a water dragon with a blunt nose from rubbing which i told them needed to see a vet..."nah she'll be right" was my answer. and i would say the majority are crap not the other way around.

dont get me wrong, i like having herps in pet shops when they're treated properly, and i'll give credit where its due. i've been to a few places which sometimes have a crap in every cage but most of the time are spotless...and others are always disgusting.

 

[Linus]

..."nah she'll be right" was my answer

thats the problem. A lot of shops...not just pet shops...are run by people other than the owners. So if you tell the person at the counter at any particular time the chances are they won't give a sht because its not their business.

The key is to contact the owners and let them know that you are involved in the herp community and that word can spread fast.

The problem with mystery shoppers is that they are employed by the shop owners so generally only big companies with lots of offices/shops use them.