Your stance on rescuing an animal...

[K3nny]

...from the pet store/breeder/an institution (?)

although this in general can be applied to any animal per se, most of the time it's reptiles cz lets face it, this is a reptile forum and reps are relatively new into the pet scene, which means there will be a bunch of people who do not know how/do not have the means to handle/keep them properly.

By no means this is meant as an attack to pet stores in general or any reptile breeders, so do play nice

Personally i think although rescuing from a pet store does sound like the right thing to do, at the end of the day they made a sale out of it if i did decide to rescue (actually, purchase), which would allow them to do the same again with future captives.

Not to mention IF said specimen had any life threatening injuries/disease, you end up with a dead reptile that you paid for, and a risk of introducing nasties into your present collection/pets

so for me, no, i wouldn't do it

 

[daniel408]

i think with reptiles it can be difficult, as most people are not able to coff up money for everything they need or look after a new pet for 6 months because of the 6month minumium that they have to be kept.

 

[Jen]

Buying an animal from a shop that is kept in horrible conditions is basically saying to the shop - 'yep, no worries, people will buy animals kept in these conditions'. You should say something to the owner, and if nothing is done, report them.

 

[HoffOff]

Report, you buy they get more.

 

[shortstuff61]

Personally i think although rescuing from a pet store does sound like the right thing to do, at the end of the day they made a sale out of it if i did decide to rescue (actually, purchase), which would allow them to do the same again with future captives.

Not to mention IF said specimen had any life threatening injuries/disease, you end up with a dead reptile that you paid for, and a risk of introducing nasties into your present collection/pets

so for me, no, i wouldn't do it

I'm in the process of doing this. In most situations I completely agree it's better not to buy them. In this case the reptiles in the store have ordinary but (just) sufficient living conditions, except for the monitors as they require hotter temps and there is just no way they are even getting close. They are the only monitors in store and I suspect lack of knowledge is the issue here as you could "get away" with the conditions without doing serious damage if there were certain dragons or skinks in the enclosure instead of monitors.

Asking price is below market price, even for buying online, and I've been assured that if I take them to a vet within seven days of purchase I can return them if there are any problems. I am going to do exactly that, and I'll get it in writing from the vet if there are any health issues, particularly ones that can be spread to my animals.

Pending the vet report, they might end up getting the sale, as I want to make sure the animals get proper care, BUT I can make them jump though enough hoops to ensure they never forget how to house a monitor. I normally dont like to cause a fuss, but I am going to be a huge pain in the *** with this one. If I can't take them and give them what they need and their contions don't dramatically improve, then they will be reported.

 

[souldoubt]

I think rescuing animals kept in poor conditions is a noble act, but I am reluctant to do it due to the fact that it is supporting pet shops/breeders keeping animals improperly. Sometimes animals get sick and thats understandable but if its due to severely poor living conditions that business should not be supported.

For me it would heavily depend on the situation, I would rather support a pet shop that keeps there animals properly and there is always the option of reporting the poor ones.

 

[K3nny]

reason i asked is theres a few threads around on saving such animals (again, a noble act imho), but have yet to seen the other side of the story/consequences in doing so... most threads i've seen including in other forums discuss possible scenarios/speculations

so, curious to know on the experiences of anyone who actually rescued an animal and if they did a follow up with said establishment?

 

[snakehandler]

When you buy a reptile with obvious signs off illness and neglect the road to recovery is often long, expensive and frequently result in the death of the animal! You are also providing the pet store owner a sale, so they will continue to keep animals in poor conditions.

Go and buy healthy animals from reputable places, the sacrifice of a few sick neglected animals may result in stores being more ethical!

 

[imported_Varanus]

Having worked in a Melbourne pet store when I was younger (late70's-early80's), I would never buy an animal from any petstore, no matter the condition. I like the NSW system as it stands, only reptile products to be sold, no live animals. Apart from those who know little or nothing about the animal, they are almost always overpriced in comparison to specialist breeders (who also had an interest in the animals themselves prior to trying to make a buck from them). JMO.

 

[souldoubt]

Having worked in a Melbourne pet store when I was younger (late70's-early80's), I would never buy an animal from any petstore, no matter the condition. I like the NSW system as it stands, only reptile products to be sold, no live animals. Apart from those who know little or nothing about the animal, they are almost always overpriced in comparison to specialist breeders (who also had an interest in the animals themselves prior to trying to make a buck from them). JMO.

There is a pet shop in Brisbane that is quite good. It is an extremely large pet shop which stocks a variety of animals eg. dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, birds, rodents, invertebrates etc. and the animals appear to be very well looked after. Most of my dealings are with the reptile people at the store cause I usually make a mad dash down there to get a globe, crickets, feeder fish etc if needed on short notice. I have come to know that not only are the animals well cared for but most of the staff in the reptile department are actually reptile keepers themselves (which is probably largely why the husbandry is good) in my dealings with the fish people there it appears they also keep fish themselves - but I havent asked them directly. I think the prices are a little exy but not outrageous, P. henrylawsoni is about 90 from memory and they have a big black blue tongue for 900, I find the antaresias to be fairly overpriced though.
That load of rambling is just to demonstrate that not all pet shops are bad, and some do put quite a lot of effort in to keeping the animals in clean conditions, and the prices can be reasonable at times. However generally speaking, I agree with you that this is not by any means the majority of pet shops - it's just nice to know that there are a few decent ones.

I was considering rescuing a blue tongue from some markets in QLD he was in a pretty dirty pet shop, no UV (and not really an appropriate area/enclosure that he could have at least temporary access to natural sunlight), I dont think there was even any heating in the enclosure. Whilst he didnt appear sick at this stage I dont think they had him for very long, they wanted $100 for him and I decided that I didn't particularly want to purchase an animal from them for the exact reason that they may be encouraged to stock more reptiles. The birds were by far the dirtiest, the water had lots of faeces in it, the bottom of the cage was covered in faeces, there were cobwebs all around the bottom of the cage. I know birds crap and its bound to get in the water bowl sometimes and on the bottom of the cage but these guys didn't look like their cage had been cleaned for months. Since it was a market, I hope their living conditions during the week are better than on the weekend.

 

[imported_Varanus]

I agree, not all are bad (appologies if I offended anyone). Animals I remember in particular from the abovementioned shop that come to mind were adult Lace Monitors kept (sometimes for months) in 3x2 badly constructed bird cages (no lighting, heating hides or substrate) and going on a herp trip with the owner to collect Shinglebacks from the Grampians in September (probably illegal, even at the time). These were often pairs collected in droves by simply driving the roads in the then state park and kept for the duration in cardboard boxes (many individuals per box) with all that entails. I suspect most probably died from R.I's being kept outdoors in a humid, Melbourne climate.