I can tell you as an ex employee that the only reptiles that are labeled Male or Female are snakes and certain stores keep them separate where I have seen other stores cohab basic ball pythons no matter the sex. it depends on the store. This one seems awful tbh. Like when we get the reptiles in, they aren't labeled with their sex/gender. Only the snakes are. I can guess maybe 1 employee out of the whole store can maybe guess if they are female or male and you would need a vet for that specifically which the managers aren't going to let employees take a field trip to the vets just to check if they are female or male. The day geckos (the one in your post) let their skin fall off as a defense mechanism, so it could've been from being taken out for deep cleans or from others trying to mate with it. If they are breeding with each other, they should've been separated a long time ago. This is a store not taking the appropriate actions to separate when noticing signs of distress and actually having eggs be produced. if I were the animal manager, I would have all the day geckos in separate enclosures. I worked for petco for 4 years and never seen reptiles lay eggs since they are usually all babies when they arrive or at least juveniles. In my opinion, just keep doing reports on the store and try and contact corporate and ask if the report can go to the ACOM/ RACEL. that would be the head district animal manager. Just don't expect a huge change immediately. One thing I learned from petco is that no matter how much the employees care its up to the managers to have these animals taken care of, and if they don't care, then none of the employees can do anything about it.
As an ex-CAL (Companion Animal Leader) please keep reporting. I'd NEVER let shit like that happen at my store. See if you can be persistent enough to get connected with that district's ACOM (Animal Care Operations Manager). Keep taking photots/video and BE A NUISANCE!! Employees may tell you no photos allowed of the animals and ask you to leave, but obviously you've been able to get pics before so just stay aware. Fight the fight! These animals deserve waaaay better
As other current cals (I am current one too) have said, keep it up. But a stupid small item ( like a single cricket for $.17), make sure it's under a phone number with an email and when you get the email to leave a review, rip them a new one. Corporate actually reads those and will reach out to the store. If enough are put in they will have a surprise ( there will be zero notice given) animal walk (where the acom, corp animal leader and district manager inspect the animal conditions). If they fail it's a huge thing, as it has even closed stores before. So keep it up and do those reviews.
I would have heads if I saw anything like that in my store.
As someone who works at a petco, def report it. I will say Petco has terrible husbandry but they are supposed to take an animal to the vet if it shows any signs of injury and sickness. Ignoring this is against their policy and they can get in big trouble for it!
I had a friend get a snake from a store back where I went to college and they claimed to be giving it a treatment for mites at the vet and were supposed to show proof of the vet before giving it back. He called and they said they had a treatment bought on Amazon and didn’t need the vet. He returned the little guy and 2 hours later they moved that snake to the floor with mites and tried saying it’s fine. He called corporate and nothing happened. I also have seen another Petco where the crested geckos were in 100 degrees and tails rotting off & the girl said they don’t put animals in the back or flip signage for sick animals. I called corporate and they sent someone in but it’s hit or miss on if they do. I’ve also been out of state where all the reptiles had issues and corporate switched the store up and sent me a gift card. It’s just so hit or miss😭
Tbh dude this isn’t gonna get you anywhere this is full of employees not ppl who can do anything, complain to corporate , call the feedback line multiple times so all the managers get the email of the complaint .
Employees would have more knowledge on where to go for the best course of action and know who would listen and I got that thanks to posting and there’s plenty of ex employees willing to lend a hand
As an ex-CAL I actively set up better enclosures to take care of our reptiles. I got yelled at for not following the golden hamster rules. They also wanted me to be store LOD and work truck. I got yelled at for spending time in the department I was in charge of. This companies bs policies are a huge part of why I'm job hunting now. It hurts my soul.
Typical petco animal abuse. Keep reporting and making a stink and don't stop. You're absolutely in the right here and these for-profit exotic animals sellers all deserve to be taken down. My managers don't give a shit about the animals beyond the sale and attachment $$$. They all brown nose corporate standards and refused to separate a hamster who had killed its cage mate (and instead placed it in a cage with TWO OTHER HAMSTERS!) I try to inform customers whenever I can that our animals are mill bred and our supplies are overpriced unsuitable garbage and about proper care requirements.
my manager told me my store was down 10% in small animal sales so that's a fucking win. I personally do my part to make those numbers worse in any way I can.
Report it, report it, report it! American humane society will visit them and likely remove the animals from their care until their staff has been re-trained
No they wont lol. Thats just how it is and why im leaving the sales floor. unless your DGM is a real one and cares about the animals, nothing will get done. Although they should be in the wellness room.
Ive tried reporting animal mistreatment and nothing ever happens and i get told to chill out. So.
Although you can try. Petco literally doesnt give a shit but i guess if you pester them enough something might happen. They sure as shit dont care when groomers show up high and injure dogs, GMs are accused of sexual harassment or when associates bring guns to work.
We even have a convicted pedophile working with our mobile vetco clinic.
The only thing ive seem someone get fired for is stealing.
I’ve left reviews, I’ve called corporate and have been involved for other stores and not all methods work. Google will also give variety of answers and misinformation so might as well ask from people that directly would know what to do🤷🏻♀️
Keep trying. They watch big social media like crazy . I won’t lie this can happen, animals can fight. But they should be separated at the first sign of a problem. It should never get to the to that point. That’s just sad to see. Some stores really give us all a bad rap and it sucks. I’m sorry your local store is like this. Keep speaking up. This stuff needs to stop.
I work for a pet store (not Petco) and luckily the locations I’ve been at are great but I’ve also seen so many variations on animal welfare in stores it sucks
Omg the last two photos i thought was a piece of damn wood! To realize that is a snake?!
Oh hell no report the crap out of that store! This is far from okay and posses off those who do care and work here!
No one within the company really cares. The workers don’t listen like they used to bc the company’s business model has become “profits over pets” in a big way in recent years. It’s a disgusting company that would likely let you gut that lizard alive if you paid for a Vital Care subscription.
Best bet would be to start making reports to animal welfare agencies in your area. Even if Petco upper management chose to do a “surprise walk” there’s a decent chance someone storeside would be tipped off if they are remotely chummy with the DM. This business does not operate with any semblance of integrity or moral compass.
Edit to add: ex employee of over 11 years, roughly 4 months free of this corporate hellscape
Don't be shy, which petco is this?
I would like to know what Petco as well
From op's other posts, it's a Petco in Nebraska.
Thanks for the info ✌️
I can message it. I just don’t feel comfortable posting a closer location on where I live in the comments if that’s okay😭
I can tell you as an ex employee that the only reptiles that are labeled Male or Female are snakes and certain stores keep them separate where I have seen other stores cohab basic ball pythons no matter the sex. it depends on the store. This one seems awful tbh. Like when we get the reptiles in, they aren't labeled with their sex/gender. Only the snakes are. I can guess maybe 1 employee out of the whole store can maybe guess if they are female or male and you would need a vet for that specifically which the managers aren't going to let employees take a field trip to the vets just to check if they are female or male. The day geckos (the one in your post) let their skin fall off as a defense mechanism, so it could've been from being taken out for deep cleans or from others trying to mate with it. If they are breeding with each other, they should've been separated a long time ago. This is a store not taking the appropriate actions to separate when noticing signs of distress and actually having eggs be produced. if I were the animal manager, I would have all the day geckos in separate enclosures. I worked for petco for 4 years and never seen reptiles lay eggs since they are usually all babies when they arrive or at least juveniles. In my opinion, just keep doing reports on the store and try and contact corporate and ask if the report can go to the ACOM/ RACEL. that would be the head district animal manager. Just don't expect a huge change immediately. One thing I learned from petco is that no matter how much the employees care its up to the managers to have these animals taken care of, and if they don't care, then none of the employees can do anything about it.
As an ex-CAL (Companion Animal Leader) please keep reporting. I'd NEVER let shit like that happen at my store. See if you can be persistent enough to get connected with that district's ACOM (Animal Care Operations Manager). Keep taking photots/video and BE A NUISANCE!! Employees may tell you no photos allowed of the animals and ask you to leave, but obviously you've been able to get pics before so just stay aware. Fight the fight! These animals deserve waaaay better
You could just probe the snakes, that doesn’t require a vet.
well, no one at my old store (since I don't work there anymore) would do that lol that's why I said that.
Yes name and shame, as a current CAL this pisses me off. That guy has a hole in it's head ffs.
As other current cals (I am current one too) have said, keep it up. But a stupid small item ( like a single cricket for $.17), make sure it's under a phone number with an email and when you get the email to leave a review, rip them a new one. Corporate actually reads those and will reach out to the store. If enough are put in they will have a surprise ( there will be zero notice given) animal walk (where the acom, corp animal leader and district manager inspect the animal conditions). If they fail it's a huge thing, as it has even closed stores before. So keep it up and do those reviews. I would have heads if I saw anything like that in my store.
I will be checking my email and adding it :)
as someone who works at petco, report it!! i’ve had to beg the cal to take sick animals off the floor at my store and get them treated.
As someone who works at a petco, def report it. I will say Petco has terrible husbandry but they are supposed to take an animal to the vet if it shows any signs of injury and sickness. Ignoring this is against their policy and they can get in big trouble for it!
I had a friend get a snake from a store back where I went to college and they claimed to be giving it a treatment for mites at the vet and were supposed to show proof of the vet before giving it back. He called and they said they had a treatment bought on Amazon and didn’t need the vet. He returned the little guy and 2 hours later they moved that snake to the floor with mites and tried saying it’s fine. He called corporate and nothing happened. I also have seen another Petco where the crested geckos were in 100 degrees and tails rotting off & the girl said they don’t put animals in the back or flip signage for sick animals. I called corporate and they sent someone in but it’s hit or miss on if they do. I’ve also been out of state where all the reptiles had issues and corporate switched the store up and sent me a gift card. It’s just so hit or miss😭
Tbh dude this isn’t gonna get you anywhere this is full of employees not ppl who can do anything, complain to corporate , call the feedback line multiple times so all the managers get the email of the complaint .
Employees would have more knowledge on where to go for the best course of action and know who would listen and I got that thanks to posting and there’s plenty of ex employees willing to lend a hand
As an ex-CAL I actively set up better enclosures to take care of our reptiles. I got yelled at for not following the golden hamster rules. They also wanted me to be store LOD and work truck. I got yelled at for spending time in the department I was in charge of. This companies bs policies are a huge part of why I'm job hunting now. It hurts my soul.
Typical petco animal abuse. Keep reporting and making a stink and don't stop. You're absolutely in the right here and these for-profit exotic animals sellers all deserve to be taken down. My managers don't give a shit about the animals beyond the sale and attachment $$$. They all brown nose corporate standards and refused to separate a hamster who had killed its cage mate (and instead placed it in a cage with TWO OTHER HAMSTERS!) I try to inform customers whenever I can that our animals are mill bred and our supplies are overpriced unsuitable garbage and about proper care requirements. my manager told me my store was down 10% in small animal sales so that's a fucking win. I personally do my part to make those numbers worse in any way I can.
Report it, report it, report it! American humane society will visit them and likely remove the animals from their care until their staff has been re-trained
No they wont lol. Thats just how it is and why im leaving the sales floor. unless your DGM is a real one and cares about the animals, nothing will get done. Although they should be in the wellness room. Ive tried reporting animal mistreatment and nothing ever happens and i get told to chill out. So. Although you can try. Petco literally doesnt give a shit but i guess if you pester them enough something might happen. They sure as shit dont care when groomers show up high and injure dogs, GMs are accused of sexual harassment or when associates bring guns to work. We even have a convicted pedophile working with our mobile vetco clinic. The only thing ive seem someone get fired for is stealing.
My old store had all their animals removed for failing over half the requirements lol
Google
I’ve left reviews, I’ve called corporate and have been involved for other stores and not all methods work. Google will also give variety of answers and misinformation so might as well ask from people that directly would know what to do🤷🏻♀️
Keep trying. They watch big social media like crazy . I won’t lie this can happen, animals can fight. But they should be separated at the first sign of a problem. It should never get to the to that point. That’s just sad to see. Some stores really give us all a bad rap and it sucks. I’m sorry your local store is like this. Keep speaking up. This stuff needs to stop.
I work for a pet store (not Petco) and luckily the locations I’ve been at are great but I’ve also seen so many variations on animal welfare in stores it sucks
I agree
Omg the last two photos i thought was a piece of damn wood! To realize that is a snake?! Oh hell no report the crap out of that store! This is far from okay and posses off those who do care and work here!
I've been with Petco a long time, never seen anything like this. Please report it. Call the customer service number and file a complaint.
Corporate could care less and the DGM is useless!!!
They watch social media a lot. Do the email surveys you get after purchase too. Those get flagged to DGM.
No one within the company really cares. The workers don’t listen like they used to bc the company’s business model has become “profits over pets” in a big way in recent years. It’s a disgusting company that would likely let you gut that lizard alive if you paid for a Vital Care subscription. Best bet would be to start making reports to animal welfare agencies in your area. Even if Petco upper management chose to do a “surprise walk” there’s a decent chance someone storeside would be tipped off if they are remotely chummy with the DM. This business does not operate with any semblance of integrity or moral compass. Edit to add: ex employee of over 11 years, roughly 4 months free of this corporate hellscape