Interested to hear what big box pet stores are selling across the country. Like our local.Petco has a nice blood python baby, an emerald swift and a red eyed crocodile skink currently.
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The PetSmart I used to work with had gotten a hypo silkback bearded dragon. That was a bit of a surprise. Cute little guy.
Other than that fairly regular fareā¦ Aside from a customer bringing in a baby rattlesnake and asking what kind of snake it was. They wanted to keep it until they found out. Then thankfully started asking about what to do. We recommended a nice grassy and bushy area not too far away.
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Same here with the Petsmart I worked at. Occasionally there will be a tortoise or a scorpion for sale but the most exotic animal I have ever seen there was a skunk on a leash some lady brought in as a pet.
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Mine tends to have the usual, corns and āfancyā bps which just tend to be normals from what my untrained eye can tell. However, I think they just accepted a new contract or something because I went to pick up calcium powder and they had false chameleons, a kenyan sand boa, pink toe tarantulas, a(n) uromastyx, and a russian tortoise. Oh, and a baby blue tongue skink I almost tried to steal because he looked so sad.
Unfortunately I think this was a last ditch effort for this store to stay open, as the quality of feeder insects has tanked, the store stinks, there are dead animals (mostly fish and birds) everywhere, and its just overall bad. I hate having to go there but shipping prices on feeder crickets makes it the only feasible option rn.
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Wtfā¦ Birds??
Like. Unfortunately fish can be frustratingly difficult with how the systems can be set upā¦ especially with the feeder system. Excessive dead fish especially in the community tanks should be reported. But birds is terrible and should be reported regardless.
With any store setup, things can happen suddenly. Iāve seen animals I personally thought was healthy crash a handful of times in a decadeā¦ But to always see that when you go in is not normal.
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Between my mom and I weāve probably reported 10 or more dead animals in that store in the last 2 years. Usually its budgies in the over cramped cages with one perch, but Iāve also had to report a whites tree frog, and some sort of aquatic frog that was justā¦in the feed goldfish tankā¦with no landā¦and drowned.
Its terrible. It stinks in there from the mix of birds, bad fish water, and the cage full of ferrets
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Thatās beyond terrible. Thatās just barbaric. Unfortunately whoever you have reported the dead animals to either doesnāt care or doesnāt have the clout to do something about it but doesnāt care enough to find someone who does.
The sad part is that this kind of thing goes on everywhere. I have to say however, that the Petsmart here in Franklin, the one I worked at, has stepped up the quality of their animal care. Or at least the enclosures look a lot cleaner and well thought outā¦ā¦and never any dead animals thank goodness!
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I actually got mad the other day because inside the hermit crab tank, there were 3 tiny sealed acrylic cages, probably 6 inches long, 3 inches wide, 3 inches tall, each with a pacman frog inside! They didnāt even get enclosures to themselves, just tiny tiny dare I say prisons inside another display tank!
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This actually isnāt too bad in a pet store setting imo.
Pacman frogs will very quickly dehydrate and wonāt always go looking for food either, so theyāll waste away. Theyāll prefer to make a cozy spot and refuse to move. The smaller ācritter keeperā at least is easy to keep hydrated and small enough to let food be there for them. (I wish I had the time to tong feed at my old job. Even feeding the snakes once a week was frustrating to get people to leave me alone for)
Pac-mans are also notorious for eating anything they can get their mouths onā¦ so cohabbing in a tank would be a terrible idea.
Likeā¦ it sucksā¦but from the selling standpoint, that is the easiest way to care for them until they go to a new home. I lost quite a few of them when the store I was in tried to āupgradeā them to having a bigger enclosure instead of the acrylics.
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I wouldnāt even consider these oddballs but my local petco gets 2 red foot tortoises every month or two. I feel bad because on the card thingy it says that the enclosure should be 1.5x1.5x1.5 the length of their body. So letās say that there is a 12 inch red foot. According to that all you need is an 18x18x18 inch enclosure. For anyone wondering a 4x2x2 foot enclosure is too small for a tortoise of that size.
Back to what this whole thing is about 
I have also seen a pastel pied (I think) ball for $250. Only āfancyā ball python I have seen there.
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So @armiyana I have to totally agree with you on this. I have a Matcha Pac Man frog and he pretty much sits in one or 2 spots in his tub and waits for his dubia roach, cricket, or meal worm to pass in front of him (held by tongs) because heās too fat and lazy to chase his meals! Lol! He has a nice warm cozy damp enclosure with lots of humidity and repti soil to burrow down into. He only surfaces to sit and wait for food and then occasionally poop! Lol! Here he is:
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okay this makes me feel a bit better, knowing these guys are little lazybones. It just did NOT look like a nice place to live 
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Well to be honest I donāt think ANY pet store maintains animal environment cleanliness as it should be kept but in this case the little frogs should be fine until they are sold. Itās after they are sold that problems can arise. But thatās a conversation for a different threadā¦ā¦. 
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Thereās a locally-owned pet shop by my house (where I buy all my pet food, Iāve shopped there since I was a kid) that takes excellent care of the animals they sell. Enclosures are properly outfitted for the species (places to hide, burrow, climb, etc. as needed) and are kept incredibly clean. In the nearly 30 years Iāve been shopping there, Iāve only ever seen a single poop in a reptile enclosure, and a worker immediately scooped it out when I told them and thanked me for telling them. The only criticism I have is that the enclosures are generally smaller than what would be ideal as a permanent home, but itās a small shop, they only have so much space, and the enclosures on the sale floor are temporary, so itās not too concerning for the short-term.
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Wow! Thatās so refreshing to hear that there are pet stores like that and if you have shopped there for all those years they are definitely doing something right. Would that all pet stores be that vigilant about the animals they sell! 
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My local store gets in some weird things. Iāve seen Sumatran STPs, water dragons, a burmese python (just a little baby, I almost took it home), and some sort of Antaresia. They also have an adult iguana on display, looks pretty happy in a big aviary-type cage. Theyāve got a few some snapping turtles (both common and alligator) there, but theyāve been there for a while.
This is a small chain store, mainly selling supplies to dog/cat owners. Iām not sure why they get such unusual reptiles in, but Iām not complaining. The reptile husbandry seems fairly good (theyāve got their leos on paper and the snakes are housed separately), but their dart frog tankās pretty bad. Some anthonyi and tinctorius housed together in an 18x18x18 cube with no leaf litter.
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Our local Petco had a pair of them for awhile.
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Well get it done!
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