# Another Pets at home post



## AlexRudd89 (May 20, 2011)

I hate to start another Pets at home topic but I had to

Okay here is the store I purchased my FIRST ever bearded dragon from a LONG time ago, it had something called criptosoridium (probably spelt wrong). That was my first bad experience with pets at home. Not long after they stopped doing reptiles in my local store... 

HOWEVER they recently started doing them again, so I was running low on crickets and have popped in several times to get some...

Heres what I experienced, I sent a copy of this video to Pets at Home Head office, Almost an entire shelf full of dead food, Just thought I would share 

Pets At Home Dead Livestock (reptile food) - YouTube


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## Kimora (Mar 7, 2012)

saw a "few" live ones (few being typed loosely!)....but that is completely and utterly disgraceful!
surely it would be a 5 min job for someone in store to check the shelves periodically for unsatisfactory stock....:bash:


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## 34531 (May 27, 2009)

Perhaps you visited the one I did :lol2:

They had a load of 50% off live foods ("live" used verrrrry loosely!) - I've never seen that before!


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## AlexRudd89 (May 20, 2011)

forever_20one said:


> Perhaps you visited the one I did :lol2:
> 
> They had a load of 50% off live foods ("live" used verrrrry loosely!) - I've never seen that before!


Doubt it Im from oxford  Just shows how they all suck ahy.

p.s smoking pic btw


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## connor 1213 (Apr 6, 2009)

At the end of the day there still animal wether they are waiting to be fed to something else or not...


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## violentchopper (Jun 20, 2008)

That's a typical scene at my local pets at home. I applied for a job there but I don't think they like people who know about reptiles. I've got the impression you have to be a total idiot to be in charge of that section.


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## claireleone (Nov 4, 2011)

*pets at home*



violentchopper said:


> That's a typical scene at my local pets at home. I applied for a job there but I don't think they like people who know about reptiles. I've got the impression you have to be a total idiot to be in charge of that section.


Cant stand the place ! . Hows this for profiteering , my sis in law is a district nurse who cares for an elderly lady who loves small furries . She took her to pets at home to look for gerbils as pets , yes they had 2 females - so off to the till they went to buy them - the person behind the till was very rude and ignored the lady who wanted them and spoke only to my sis in law like the older lady was senile , which she is not . Which caused quite a few hurt feelings etc , after lots of messing about the girl vanished saying she had to check with her boss .. By now both ladies are totally confused , when the girl came back stateing ' you can only have the gerbils if you buy the cage there on display in , as we need to know your houseing them properly .. well ok theres merit in the sentimeny BUT cant help but think its also bloody greedy and typical of that place ,,,


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## AlexRudd89 (May 20, 2011)

claireleone said:


> Cant stand the place ! . Hows this for profiteering , my sis in law is a district nurse who cares for an elderly lady who loves small furries . She took her to pets at home to look for gerbils as pets , yes they had 2 females - so off to the till they went to buy them - the person behind the till was very rude and ignored the lady who wanted them and spoke only to my sis in law like the older lady was senile , which she is not . Which caused quite a few hurt feelings etc , after lots of messing about the girl vanished saying she had to check with her boss .. By now both ladies are totally confused , when the girl came back stateing ' you can only have the gerbils if you buy the cage there on display in , as we need to know your houseing them properly .. well ok theres merit in the sentimeny BUT cant help but think its also bloody greedy and typical of that place ,,,


I got my girlfriend some goldfish and they tried forcing me into buying loads of crap too.
When I told the manager about the crickets he couldn't care less, he just said they will have some more in on Friday. Which probably means they will die too


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

AlexRudd89 said:


> I got my girlfriend some goldfish and they tried forcing me into buying loads of crap too.
> When I told the manager about the crickets he couldn't care less, he just said they will have some more in on Friday. Which probably means they will die too


some [email protected] are good, some are bad. the southend airport branch has a very good fish dept, including a marine section that puts most marine specialist shops to shame- brilliant selection of inverts (especially corals) & fish in excellent condition, cheaper than most shops too. as i said, some [email protected] are bad, others aren't.


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## MessyTom (Oct 9, 2011)

It's down to the staff in each store. We get bug deliveries twice weekly and anything that isn't good gets written off and any live ones used in-house. They get fed a slice of carrot per tub on delivery, which keeps them in better shape. Live food has to be one of our best sellers. Really depends on each store.


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## YoshiHCG (Feb 21, 2012)

I went to my [email protected] recently looking at the crested gecko and the lady had absolutely zero knowledge of reptiles, she let us get him out the tank, let us handle him, didn't have any information on him, said she just came back off maternity leave and didn't know what she was talking about, my partner ended up teaching her some things about them. She even said would we like to have a bearded dragon and crested gecko in the same tank together....sigh...petsathome irritates me so sometimes...


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## MessyTom (Oct 9, 2011)

Not everyone can be good with every field, however the [email protected] training workbooks are very thorough. Maybe in your case Yoshi it would have been better for her to hand you over to someone more experienced though


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## YoshiHCG (Feb 21, 2012)

She was the 'knowledgeable one' in the store! haha, none of the other people had any clue either...sigh, good thing boyfriend knew what he was talking about


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## ChazzieJo (Jun 14, 2012)

I agree there are some bad stores, but some are good too. I work part time in my local PaH and go out of my way to soak in as much information as possible, if I don't know something, I won't bluff it but instead ask a colleague for help. It helps that I'm genuinely interested in animals, particularly the reptiles. 
:2thumb:


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## becky89 (Nov 24, 2009)

The store near us isn't too bad as far as cleanliness and general care goes, although the guy on the reptile section isn't the best to be fair. Tried saying the leos that were easily 1+years old were only a couple of months old, and seemed to be capable of balls popping out at any time in their life :shock: They also have the half price tubs of dead livefood too quite regularly 
There's not really any excuse for the staff to have poor knowledge of what they're selling though, most stores only sell a few different species, and that's not exactly a lot to remember when you're dealing with it on a daily basis.


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## zazz (Mar 27, 2012)

Almost every [email protected] I've been too has boxes full of dead crickets, locusts etc. In my local store, I've noticed when people ask the staff questions (especially in the fish and reptile sections) the staff are consulting booklets. Really doesn't fill me with confidence, I prefer to go into a pet shop where the staff know what they are talking about!


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## xBlindedxInxChainsx (Jun 29, 2012)

I went to one in Solihull to pick up a crested gecko... the gecko they said was about 3 months old was easily a year plus and then later said he had been in store for about 5 months so that was already a mark against them... they didnt sell any form of reptile water treatment.... they didnt sell GCD... they didnt sell calcium powders... and this isnt it wasnt in stock i got him to check and they said they didnt stock them at all

i asked how they fed and watered it... just crickets that hadnt been treated and tap water direct from the tap... 

But you could tell by looking at the poor chap (the crestie not the guy who was in charge of the reptile section) he just wasn't right 

it did amuse me how he questioned everything to see if i was worthy of buying the crestie and didnt seem happy that i knew all the answers, had a complete set up etc etc i felt like drilling him about stuff to see if he was worthy of selling it to me

i dont know if im allowed to post links etc for companies so i apologize for my newby-ness

reptiles.swelluk.com

they do live/frozen/tinned food with next day delivery if you order by 2pm and they come direct from both Swell (new addition) and from various suppliers


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## zazz (Mar 27, 2012)

xBlindedxInxChainsx said:


> I went to one in Solihull to pick up a crested gecko... the gecko they said was about 3 months old was easily a year plus and then later said he had been in store for about 5 months so that was already a mark against them... *they didnt sell any form of reptile water treatment.... *[snip]
> 
> i asked how they fed and watered it... just crickets that hadnt been treated and *tap water direct from the tap... *


If their water quality is OK it should be fine for the gecko. I know there's varying opinions on this but many reptile keepers use tap water so why black mark the shop just for that? Also at least they are feeding crickets, it could be a lot worse from your description TBH.


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## Yemen (Jul 23, 2012)

Pets at home = herp hell thank god they don't sell more delicate lizards and I hate there crappy tubs they put food in. A large hopper managed to knock the lid open (I only opened it a few times and only slight bends etc on lid) and then a nightmare.... About 15 hoppers escaped and oh yeah they say they have 20 in a tub but there's usually about 7 jeeze I can go on and on lol


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## Yemen (Jul 23, 2012)

And another thing to add , I took my veiled chameleon to the store to see if they have any cages for the little thing and they advised me to use a bearded dragon tank says it all really


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Yemen said:


> Pets at home = herp hell thank god they don't sell more delicate lizards and I hate there crappy tubs they put food in. A large hopper managed to knock the lid open (I only opened it a few times and only slight bends etc on lid) and then a nightmare.... About 15 hoppers escaped and oh yeah they say they have 20 in a tub but there's usually about 7 jeeze I can go on and on lol


eh? they use the same tubs as all the other suppliers- i've got 3 tubs of [email protected] bugs, they're identical to what i get elsewhere.


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## Yemen (Jul 23, 2012)

wilkinss77 said:


> eh? they use the same tubs as all the other suppliers- i've got 3 tubs of [email protected] bugs, they're identical to what i get elsewhere.


I'm on about them flexible plastic tubs :whistling2: the ones I usually get from reptile shops are those tough plastic boxes with indents so you can open it in sections


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Got to say some [email protected] stores are better than others. My local one and the one my bf works in is great in terms of stock and cleanliness.

However I did go to one in Nottingham where the beardies were covered in mites and poo everywhere, told a member of staff who couldn't care less!

Also about those 'tests' that they have for staff for the reptiles are complete rubbish - it's multiple choice and often the right answers aren't actually on there! How are the employees meant to know what to advise when they've been told the wrong answers by the company? I understand that not everyone has a passion or interest in reptiles but it doesn't stop you from learning the basics.


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## trogdorable (Feb 4, 2011)

becky89 said:


> There's not really any excuse for the staff to have poor knowledge of what they're selling though, most stores only sell a few different species, and that's not exactly a lot to remember when you're dealing with it on a daily basis.


i work in a petshop 2 days a week. we sell fluffy things , budgies and fish. and im sorry but i do try to know as much as i can, but its still not enough. people have had a go at me for not knowing everything about fish, even though i say to them il go and check with my boss because he'l know. if the staff dont know the answer to your question, but are still trying to be helpful and find out for you, be appreciative.


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## becky89 (Nov 24, 2009)

trogdorable said:


> i work in a petshop 2 days a week. we sell fluffy things , budgies and fish. and im sorry but i do try to know as much as i can, but its still not enough. people have had a go at me for not knowing everything about fish, even though i say to them il go and check with my boss because he'l know. if the staff dont know the answer to your question, but are still trying to be helpful and find out for you, be appreciative.


I'm not talking about those that work with the whole shop and a whole range of animals, I'm talking about those who work in a small section, ie with the reptiles in pets at home they only sell a few species and that's not a lot to learn. I fully appreciate those that sell a wide range of species as that's a lot more to remember.


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## YOGI BEAR (Jun 3, 2012)

my local p @ h's supplier(i think it is TNT) has lost countless deliverys of livefood and live stock this may not be thier fault but they have continued using this supplier and they also have the dead livefood and some dead fish and stupid employees who know nothing of the animals they are selling

rant over


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## Revobuzz (Nov 8, 2011)

I popped into one yesterday near Swindon and all was good. The 'reptile' guy really new what he was talking about, and 'cos of this post I actually went looking at all the crickets (how sad am I?) Not a single dead one to be found.


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## petitsfilous (Jul 23, 2012)

Some [email protected] stores are brilliant, others... not so good. I've been working at [email protected] for the last 3 months and I'm actually amazed at how good the animal care is. Every single animal is cleaned out and water and food changed everyday. This goes for animals on the shop floor, animals out back in quarantine and also any sick animals in isolation. If an animal needs to go to the vet for whatever reason, it gets taken. There is no limit on how much the company will pay out for a vet bill. Training is required before anyone can sell a pet and I have to say, the training books are very good and require a lot of reading and research. 

We do experience problems with our delivery of bugs. They can sometimes turn up dead due to cold temperatures during travel. I know at my store that if all bugs in a tub are dead, they get written off. If there are still a reasonable amount live in the tub we discount them down to 50p. I know I personally check each tub and discount it there and then if I spot any deadens.

There is always a manager in store at all times who will be knowledgeable on every pet and every product in store. Some staff just need to know that it is okay to go and ask for help if they don't know. I know I still have to!


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