Pet Store and Pet Ownership Horrors

[Lackadaisy]

I hate these people.

No, your carnivorous pet will not survive by eating only leafy greens. I don't understand why these people can't just get a rabbit if they don't want to feed their pets meat.

As I recall, she wanted to 'teach' it the 'right way.' I have no fucking clue what she was thinking.

 

[Kenneth Erwin Engelhardt]

You sound like a friend of mine. She has many snakes (including my corn snake who I re-homed her to because I was moving out of the country) in a rack system, ranging from smaller sorts to massive boas, then having specially built enclosures for her iguanas and monitors. I admire her in her passions for her reptiles as well as high regard for animals in general. She's also passing on that love and respect to her kid, which really warms the cockles of my heart. Reptiles need a lot more people to stand up for them considering the sorts of people you mention. Giving people the right information to properly care for them is a lot more important than making people feel a little stupid at first. Just sad that there are so many who don't care and will get them as accessories and nothing more.

I think Corn Snakes are one of the most beautiful snakes I've ever seen.

Why isn't the United States on this list? http://www.declawing.com/countries-that-outlaw-declawing

 

[AnOminous]

Why isn't the United States on this list? http://www.declawing.com/countries-that-outlaw-declawing

Because that's a list of countries that outlaw declawing, and the United States doesn't.

However, some jurisdictions (like most of the big cities in California) do.

 

[Kenneth Erwin Engelhardt]

Because that's a list of countries that outlaw declawing, and the United States doesn't.

However, some jurisdictions (like most of the big cities in California) do.

I know this and it's an embarrassment. .

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

Certain organizations like my local Feline Network make you sign a waiver that you will not get your cat declawed, becasue it takes their first line of defence away from them if they're going to be an outdoor cat. That and the "removing their goddamn knuckles thing".

 

[vertexwindi]

This thread makes me feel bad about being a bit neglectful towards my cats when I was younger.

I remember one time I was feeling really down, and out of nowhere my fatter cat came in the room and cuddled up with me, as if she knew I needed some company. Same cat also knew how to open our kitchen door and get into the fridge, and took dumps in our toilet when I didn't feel like cleaning the litter.

The younger thinner cat was really fun to play with, pretty hyperactive and busy. She liked to ride the other cat like a horse sometimes, the fat cat didn't really like it but I thought it was funny.

I miss them.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

So I had a couple of lil faggots that I kept as pets when I lived in the US. They were super cute but shit way too much for my liking and ate so much goddamn food but one of them was really sweet and I liked watching them chase each other around and eat food. I would leave them with my boss when I'd go on a trip for work and he'd take pretty good care of them. When work sent me to China, he agreed to watch them for me. He later got more guinea pigs and his daughter messaged me on FB asking that if she kept a male and female guinea pig together, would they have babies.... so they now have a bunch. Later on, he got fired for being an asshole (cussed out the big boss in front of clients and refused to do my job duties and the like) and when I came back to the US for a vacation, I asked him where they had gone. "I don't know man, I disappear. I believe in free range guinea pigs but it doesn't matter that they're gone because I have so many" Fucking asshole let all the guinea pigs run around his garage and they probably got eaten by a coyote

 

[Bugaboo]

So I had a couple of lil fucking LOLCOWS that I kept as pets when I lived in the US. They were super cute but shit way too much for my liking and ate so much goddamn food but one of them was really sweet and I liked watching them chase each other around and eat food. I would leave them with my boss when I'd go on a trip for work and he'd take pretty good care of them. When work sent me to China, he agreed to watch them for me. He later got more guinea pigs and his daughter messaged me on FB asking that if she kept a male and female guinea pig together, would they have babies.... so they now have a bunch. Later on, he got fired for being an asshole (cussed out the big boss in front of clients and refused to do my job duties and the like) and when I came back to the US for a vacation, I asked him where they had gone. "I don't know man, I disappear. I believe in free range guinea pigs but it doesn't matter that they're gone because I have so many" Fucking asshole let all the guinea pigs run around his garage and they probably got eaten by a coyote

I hate people who are mean to piggies

 

[Unironic Subversiveness]

My mom and dad's neighbor has a bad way with animals, in that she likes baby animals and that's it. She's had multiple dogs and once they aren't babies they're basically tossed out to fend for themselves. She dropped who knows what on a purebred pug, poodle and bichon frise and designer mutts. All left outside after a while. There was also the purebred bulldog she got for her husband who was dying of cancer, he was left outside then gotten rid of when (surprise!!!) the stick thin dying man couldn't handle him.

Then she got a "low maintenance" pet, a cat. Who was always outside. Kitty was unfixed and so she had kittens and then those kittens had kittens with each other. Most have either died, gotten run over and a mom and litter were taken to a shelter by another neighbor. Neighbor lady says her current cat (because the girl kitty died or was taken away, I suppose) is fixed but he's a Siamese and there is always at least one Siamese in the litters.

It breaks my heart because both of the mama cats that had their litters near our house were very sweet and loving, even letting us handle the kittens. And the first litter popped up right after our old lady cat died and one of the kittens looked just like her. Plus I took care of some of her dogs when she was away and seeing things like the pug out of breath and grey muzzled in the cold and a big blood smear in the road that was formerly the bichon hurt me.

 

[MysticMisty]

Here's a chart with some lizards, maybe you'll see the one S had?

Derp, sorry. It kinda looks like the one in the middle with the funky tail, but I'm not sure, particularly since they had normal tails. I find it mildly amusing to see a Gila monster on there since they're actually native to this area and my folks even encountered one once.

I really wish that the myths surrounding goldfish would just die already. I've lost count how many times I had to spell out in the simplest terms possible why you can't keep goldfish in a bowl (or a betta, or a pleco, or a single neon tetra at one point...), and people still don't wrap their head around it. Our doormat of a manager usually ended up ringing up the goldfish and bowl setup for the over-entitled dumbasses anyway, after gratuitous amounts of bitching and moaning from the customer about how they don't want to drop the money needed for the actual tank and filter setup that is needed for a goldfish to survive as well as go through the nitrogen cycle. Goldfish grow huge (8+ inches) despite the myth that they won't grow larger than their tank, and they produce a lot of waste. Hence why they often just end up getting flushed down the toilet a week later.

My own mother can't wrap her head around it, despite buying a lot of goldfish for my sister and I way back when (well, mostly my sister because I was very young and never even had a say in naming them). Personally I'm not a fan of goldfish because not only do they shit frequently, it hangs from them in long ropes. Just...ew! I do like bettas though, they don't crap nearly as much and personally I find them prettier. We've had a few that lived for years.

 

[RV 229]

When I was a kid, I had horses, and I lived in a neighborhood full of horse owners. @Goofy Logic wasn't kidding when he said other owners were stuck up pricks.

Our next door neighbor had a pony and a horse that she kept in a paddock that was less than half an acre in size, and she fed them alfalfa hay. (Go figure.) For some reason, she had a grudge against my family, and animal control mysteriously showed up at hour house on more than one occasion, took a look at our horses and the pasture they lived in, went "why the fuck were we called here?" and left.

Had another neighbor girl that was an absolute bitch to me in school, but kept showing up at my house because she wanted to ride our horses. My mom let her ride my pony once, and that ended up being a mistake because she pulled on the reins hard enough to make his mouth bleed. We didn't let neighbor kids ride our horses after that. But eventually she got her own horse, which was kept in a tiny paddock and she eventually got bored with and wouldn't ride anymore. So her horse got to spend years doing nothing but standing in a small pasture. Sometime around middle school when my pony was old as fuck and wasn't digesting his food properly anymore (this pony was pushing his thirties for anyone wondering) she started spreading rumors that I neglected and starved him.

By the time I was in high school, my parents gave our horses to somebody who had a ranch because they were all getting too old and the vet bills were getting too high. So I didn't have horses anymore, but I met another girl who did. One day I went to her house for her birthday, and noticed that her yard was the size typical for a suburban home, but she had a stable built in her back yard. The stable and a swimming pool was all it had room for. And she had three horses. And she let one of them get pregnant. She kept her horses in their stalls all day and wouldn't let them out except for when she wanted to ride. I was blunt and told her that she had no means to keep any of her horses, but she wouldn't listen to me because I didn't have horses and she was a country girl, dammit. I took some time from her party to groom her horses because she hadn't that morning. (You're supposed to groom them twice a day, and their hooves were caked with dirt.)

In terms of space, for anyone wondering, keeping three horses in a small stable is like keeping three goldfish in a half-gallon bowl. You're supposed to have at least an acre of land per horse.

 

[Bugaboo]

Spoiler: Spider Sperging

I rescued my taranutla from some dude. I found her listed on kijiji after Agrippa (my first tarantula) passed away from old age. I was checking kijiji for spiders because after he died I felt a lot of complex feelings like anger and confusion and one of those feelings was "I NEED A NEW ONE"
Anyway there's a random ass ad with a shit picture of a tarantula living on bark chips(!) with no water(!!) and the listing just said "Brown Tarantula: 1 CAD"
I promptly emailed and said "Do you know what species she is, and is she really a dollar?" Dude emailed back and said "Well, she's brown and I want 50 dollars for her (we'll get back to this)" I asked some spider nerds to ID her for me because I'm bad at IDing tarantulas. Turns out she was a G. rosea or Chilean Rose Hair. Now, Grammostola rosea are literally the most common and cheapest of all tarantulas in the hobby, the shit pet store that I don't shop at because they're rude and cruel to their animals has one for 20 dollars with a large kritter keeper. I dunno what kind of crazy store this dude bought her at but he said he paid 100 dollars for her (she was in the smallest size kritter keeper on the market when I got her) eventually I whittled him down by saying I could get one at the pet store near me for 20 with a tank and he accepted 10 dollars for her (not after saying, I already have a guy who will pay 50, which I think he just said to get me to pay what he wanted. If he had a guy willing to pay 50, why would he take the offer of the chick who offers 10?) eventually through the emails I realized this guy has no idea what he is doing and just bought her on impulse, I was dead set on getting this spider into my care to get her away from him.
Anyway, I drove out to farm country and the guy brings her out. Like I said, smallest kritter keeper you can get (this is a tarantula as big as my entire hand, about 6-8 inches long) bark chips, no hides and no water. I had asked him if she had ever been aggresive with him, he said he didn't know, he always handled her with gloves. The reason I asked is because Chilean Rose are all individuals and have incredibly varying temperments from spider to spider, I was concerned she was going to be aggresive but I wanted to get her into a good home so badly I'd deal with a spider who was constantly plotting my death. The guy said he bought her and hid her in his room and then his mom found her and demanded she be gotten rid of, another sign of an impulse purchase.
Anyway got her home and let her settle in for about a month, then I decided to see if she was aggresive or not so I picked her up. Turns out she's the most docile spider in the universe, she'll barely even attack crickets and when she does she needs like, 5 minutes to think about it. I even took her to boarding one time when we were away for a week and the people there said "I hope you don't mind, I held your spider. She's so friendly!" And this dude was so scared of her he handled her with gloves.
Anyway, happy 1.5 year anniversary Araña my sweet little babu

 

[Lalala]

Sadly this horror story is my own fault and I'm still deeply ashamed of it...
A few years ago a friend of mine had two pet axolotls. For those who aren't aware axolotls are relatively easy to care for however they do have some very strict care specifications relating to the kind of water you use (standing water), the amount of water changes they need, their diet, temperature and general environment in their tank. Anyway one of their axolotls died and the friend was getting set to move, they already had a tank of snapping turtles to move and her mum wasn't prepared to transport the lotl too, so she was planning on putting it in the freezer so it would die painlessly. I was horrified and paid her for the lotl, tank and equipment.
The thing is I had zero experience with...well any pet, my parents had never allowed them in the house so I was relying on this woman for information. But it seems she didn't do her research because ALL the care instructions she gave me where for the turtles, not the lotl. So when I got her she was already sick and I tried everything that the woman said. It was only later when she got REALLY sick and I did further research that I learned just how harmful the information I had been given was; I was using salt water which was incredibly harmful, the temperature was all wrong, there was no hide in the tank, you name it. I did everything I could to backtrack and make the environment safer but it was too late, Lottie died a couple of days later.
Moral of the story, if you ever get a pet you're unsure about do every bit of research you can BEFORE you start taking care of it. And if someone goes from having two to one before you get the other, they're doing something wrong and do NOT listen to their advice. Still feel really bad about the whole thing to this day, might have saved Lottie if I hadn't listened to the advice of that fucking idiot.

 

[Bugaboo]

Sadly this horror story is my own fault and I'm still deeply ashamed of it...
A few years ago a friend of mine had two pet axolotls. For those who aren't aware axolotls are relatively easy to care for however they do have some very strict care specifications relating to the kind of water you use (standing water), the amount of water changes they need, their diet, temperature and general environment in their tank. Anyway one of their axolotls died and the friend was getting set to move, they already had a tank of snapping turtles to move and her mum wasn't prepared to transport the lotl too, so she was planning on putting it in the freezer so it would die painlessly. I was horrified and paid her for the lotl, tank and equipment.
The thing is I had zero experience with...well any pet, my parents had never allowed them in the house so I was relying on this woman for information. But it seems she didn't do her research because ALL the care instructions she gave me where for the turtles, not the lotl. So when I got her she was already sick and I tried everything that the woman said. It was only later when she got REALLY sick and I did further research that I learned just how harmful the information I had been given was; I was using salt water which was incredibly harmful, the temperature was all wrong, there was no hide in the tank, you name it. I did everything I could to backtrack and make the environment safer but it was too late, Lottie died a couple of days later.
Moral of the story, if you ever get a pet you're unsure about do every bit of research you can BEFORE you start taking care of it. And if someone goes from having two to one before you get the other, they're doing something wrong and do NOT listen to their advice. Still feel really bad about the whole thing to this day, might have saved Lottie if I hadn't listened to the advice of that fucking idiot.

Same thing about not listening to Petsmart and Petco, they either know jack shit or can only give company mandated information (which is always wrong)
Mother fucking Petsmart told me mini fiddler crabs could live their whole lives totally submerged in water when I was a kid and guess what happened? They drowned.

 

[Lalala]

Same thing about not listening to Petsmart and Petco, they either know jack shit or can only give company mandated information (which is always wrong)
Mother fucking Petsmart told me mini fiddler crabs could live their whole lives totally submerged in water when I was a kid and guess what happened? They drowned.

It's ridiculous knowing shit like this still goes on, before the internet it could be argued that misinformation was an inevitable consequence of buying/selling uncommon or high maintenance animals but nowadays you can literally learn everything you could ever need about an animal in seconds and for free yet some shops/owners don't bother taking the time and animals suffer as a consequence. I'm pissed at myself for not doing that research but honestly when my friend's mum's first axolotl died it baffles me that she didn't think to try and find out why and prevent the same happening to the other.

 

[Bugaboo]

It's ridiculous knowing shit like this still goes on, before the internet it could be argued that misinformation was an inevitable consequence of buying/selling uncommon or high maintenance animals but nowadays you can literally learn everything you could ever need about an animal in seconds and for free yet some shops/owners don't bother taking the time and animals suffer as a consequence. I'm pissed at myself for not doing that research but honestly when my friend's mum's first axolotl died it baffles me that she didn't think to try and find out why and prevent the same happening to the other.

I personally know people (especially in the hermit crab circle) who have written Petsmart and Petco's corporate offices several times and offered correct information and they always get a letter sent back saying "WE HAVE VETS LOOK AT ALL OUR ANIMALS" "OUR CARE IS TO THE HIGHEST STANDARDS"
It's corporate bullshit that they won't change and they put the short term profits above the long term well being of their livestock.

 

[Lalala]

I personally know people (especially in the hermit crab circle) who have written Petsmart and Petco's corporate offices several times and offered correct information and they always get a letter sent back saying "WE HAVE VETS LOOK AT ALL OUR ANIMALS" "OUR CARE IS TO THE HIGHEST STANDARDS"
It's corporate bullshit that they won't change and they put the short term profits above the long term well being of their livestock.

Because fuck animals lives, maintaining company policy is more important, besides they're just crabs amirite?
God words can't describe how much I hate shit like that.

 

[Red]

"WE HAVE VETS LOOK AT ALL OUR ANIMALS" "OUR CARE IS TO THE HIGHEST STANDARDS"
It's corporate bullshit that they won't change and they put the short term profits above the long term well being of their livestock.

According to a dear friend of mine who has worked as a petcare manager for Petsmart, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Rainbow Exotics is the company that both companies get their birds, reptiles and mammals from. Surprise, it's a mill. While they're required to give the age of their animals they're always lying; everything is usually labeled "6 weeks" despite this being obviously untrue. The veterinary clinic that assesses the animals is a subsidiary of Petsmart and they're a serious fucking joke. Same goes for Petco, I believe. They don't know how to care for exotics in the slightest. When a conure was shipped to them by Rainbow that barely had open eyes and probably belonged in an incubator, petcare had to consult a local parrot rescue for advice because the vets didn't do jack shit. Young babies, animals with broken legs, and animals with pneumonia are commonplace. And none of them are tame, either.
Also a kid dumped pool chlorine in the sump for all the aquatic animals and killed them all. And he got off with a warning. Did it again. Got off with a warning. He kept his job till he voluntarily quit.

 

[Lalala]

Also a kid dumped pool chlorine in the sump for all the aquatic animals and killed them all. And he got off with a warning. Did it again. Got off with a warning. He kept his job till he voluntarily quit.

Trying to avoid gif reactions lately but

Spoiler

Powerlevelling a touch but I work with kids and can you IMAGINE anyone getting off anywhere nearly as lightly if something like that happened to a bunch of toddlers? But noooo, it's only animals, it doesn't matter....oy vey I give up on humanity.
Edit: Oops, forgot my spoiler, my bad!

 

[Red]

Trying to avoid gif reactions lately but

Spoiler

Powerlevelling a touch but I work with kids and can you IMAGINE anyone getting off anywhere nearly as lightly if something like that happened to a bunch of toddlers? But noooo, it's only animals, it doesn't matter....oy vey I give up on humanity.
Edit: Oops, forgot my spoiler, my bad!

Or, if this were cats or dogs. I remember the uproar of the dog that died in the dryer at a petsmart about a year ago, but nothing like that ever happens with fish or reptiles.
Cichlids are extremely socially complex and the more we learn about them the more we realize they're as smart as dogs. They're really amazing animals... but because they're not fluffy and cute they tend to be out of people's interest.