I walked in today.

There was no calci-sand
The tanks were clean
The tanks were not cram-packed
The tanks had fresh water
The water for the turtle they had was clean and being filtered

Most important!
There was a VET there talking things over with the manager. They were trying to save an animal. She was talking about Baytril and a possible force feed. Most pet stores would ignore it and let it die.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Petsmart and Petco both have vets that the animals see regularly when ill. My local petco has an account with the Anchor Animal Hospital. Any animal that has been placed in the ISO room has to be seen within 24 hours. (Or an appointment has to be set with 24 hours, I don't recall.)

The vet looks them over and writes a script if needed. In the AM, when the store is opened, whoever was assigned iso is to administer the medications. Its a bad system to have as I have seen some animals not get their meds with a note on the dosing sheet stating "couldn't find meds". Instead of telling management, they just skipped that animal.

For the most part, they do well in the vet department. They just don't seem to realize there would be less vet visits if the animals were being cared for properly in the first place. (In cared for properly I mean proper housing, diet, heating, lighting, etc.)

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I went back today and had a chat with the manager. She was very thankful for my suggestions (noted the leo cage could use some poop scooping) and I thanked her for not putting the animals on calci-sand. She says she runs her animal departments like clock work. She also asked me to make an email to petsmart.com which I said I would do, and if I ever find a petsmart not up to snuff, to call/email it in. It does hurt their rating and management.

I have noticed a difference in Petcos in my area. Some look great. Fresh substrate, proper temps, all that good stuff. I have noticed ones in horrible conditions. I think it really depends on the management and how much they care.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Hey Liz...I wonder if it is a chainstore-change for the better?! I had to go to Petsmart today for pinkies and ALL of the little reptiles that they carry were on Eco-Earth. That is a big change from the calci sand and the reptile bark they were on several months ago. The cages were in the same condition that you noted..clean, clean water...etc... Kudos to them! I told the manager that I glad to see the differance, but he just kinda looked at me like I was goofy...lol

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"Dare to Dream! Without dreams, there is no Hope."
***Tami***

well, eco earth isn't great for Everyone, but its still better than calci-sand. The high humidity guys had eco earth, the snakes were on aspen bedding, and the desert type guys were on reptile carpet. It was a nice change.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

All they had in the tanks with the eco-earth were high humidity fellas. They had an empty tank with reptile carpet saying that they were waiting for a new addition and another empty tank with the aspen bedding...also waiting for a new addition.

__________________
"Dare to Dream! Without dreams, there is no Hope."
***Tami***

its nice to see them upping their quality.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.