Whoa. Petco must be pretty proud of their ball pythons, I’ve NEVER seen one over $500 there before, pied or anything else like that even. On the other hand, I’ve been seeing things I haven’t before, like Redfoot Tortoises, for much less than I’ve seen CB ones sold for. I’m not against saving anything from a Petco, yes, they’ll replace it, yes, they’ll keep doing it, that’s what they do, they aren’t going to stop, it’s a business, and leaving one creature in their care longer than it has to be there feels much more wrong than letting them replace it. But… I don’t have an enclosure yet, so those tortoises are just gonna have to wait.
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So I noticed that the past few months they’ve had a lot of variety in their reptile selection. I’ve seen black/white tegus, gargoyle geckos, emerald swifts, redfoots like the you said. The most off the wall one I saw was an almost adult monkey tailed skink. Crazy, and sometimes their prices aren’t terrible. I think that skink sold for like $700
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@wrai I’ve also seen a larger variety there like scorpions (which might not be new to the chain but they’re new to the one’s I’ve seen). The reason they are likely cheap is because they are farm bred, mass bred, or wild caught. I still doubt their husbandry and care sheets have improved. The problem with rescuing animals is that you are supporting their source, which usually has worse care than they do.
@arice88 A problem I’ve noticed is that I’ve seen iguanas there and they don’t disclose the size that they can reach. The care sheets I’ve seen are still inaccurate and are mainly for getting people to buy them and the store selling items (eg. small enclosure size but lots of heating bulbs; feeding too large meals not often enough). At least at expos the breeders/sellers I’ve talked to disclose the size and sometimes don’t even sell to people that they don’t think can take care for them (though I once saw someone new to reptiles buy 3 tegu, but they were still warned about the size they would reach and enclosure size they need).
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@erie-herps Yes, they’ve definitely expanded what they offer here in Seattle, at the very least. And while I fully understand and support your side of not furthering the horrible husbandry and replacement of creatures in an establishment like that, and my experience with rescues (From Petco/PetSmart/etc) are typically tarantulas, that have been there long enough to molt several times and end up on clearance, occasionally I frequent a situation I can’t ignore. Most visits to places like that, I’m just there for supplies or some kind of feeders when I can’t source them from better stock, so I maybe pass through several stores, several times a week when the need calls for it, and it’s difficult to frequently see a creature in poor health and/or husbandry, I just can’t justify leaving anything in living conditions like that for the sake of the possibility of the next one waiting it out longer, because the truth is, they’re going to sell and replace them regardless of how a few individuals in the community feel or decide to purchase them, sold or deceased. And if it’s possible to help and you’re in a position to, why not, in my opinion. I just wish I had all the room, haha… I assure you, though, I’m no tortoise hoarder. And in the case of some of the tortoises, they’re certainly not my first choice for fine photography or breeding stock, and I’ll ultimately find them CB through one of our breeders on MorphMarket when I have an enclosure together, but regardless of where they came from, I’ve always thought everyone deserves the same chance to thrive.
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That is the sad part. They don’t really disclose what kind of housing you’ll need for an adult iguana or tegu or even the Goliath tarantula I’ve seen there. I’m sure most their employees don’t even know.
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