# Possible dodgy advice from Pets at Home??



## darkwing (Apr 16, 2011)

Yesterday I was in a Pets at home yesterday (not buying anything with someone who wanted a fish ornament) and overheard the following conversation with a potential customer and their "reptile expert"

Customer:what do these bearded dragons eat?
Employee:they are omnivores which mean they eat both meat and fruit/veg.
Good start but this is where it went wrong in my opinion!
Customer:I don't want onee of those then as can't bear the thought of touching and feeding live food to it,got any vegetarian lizards?
Employee:No but Bearded dragons will be fine on a strictly VEGETARIAN diet as long as you put this stuff (picks up a tub of nutrobal) on their food and also give them a calcium supplement,which we also sell.
Cutomer:I'll bear it in mind.

Surely this is pure and utter Bull excrement,I was under the impression Beardies needed an ominivore diet to live and surely nutrobal and calcium would not supplement enough?

It was kinda of ironic in a way as there was a bug catcher on sale next to the vivs!


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## RachaelBee (Feb 1, 2011)

I'm no expert as I've never kept lizards at all but I thought you were meant to dust live food with neutrobal? Not use it as a replacement for the live food?

ETA if anyone reading this is considering getting a dragon don't take this as definite advice!


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## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

you're right it is a load of :censor:, they need a strict diet of 70% to 30% ratio of greens to lifefood, which would be dusted with nutrabol or calcium and this should be offered every night  this is because they need their proteins and supplements from livefood, they're quite chubby lizards and how on earth is salad going to maintain that?:gasp: some of the stuff that comes out of their mouths there is unbeleavable, i was in the rep section there just picking up a faunarium and a new light and i went to the desk and a man asked an employee infront of me how many crickets to give to a bearded in one feed, and he replied with 'two should be enough' ?! i was gobsmacked and had to jump in and correct him :lol2: i bet he felt silly getting told by a 15 year old


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## Sid.lola (Jan 10, 2008)

I would suggest you write to Pets at Home with this complaint as staff are supposed to be trained before they give advice. Whilest complaining on the internet may make you feel better it's not actually achieving anything. Letting them know what happened is more likely to make them take action.


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## Dingle_2503 (Jan 3, 2011)

I agree, pets at home are terrible, their reptile sections are awful and the animals never look to be well kept or happy, they should stick to bunnies and leave reptile keeping to people who know what they're doing! 
Sorry for the [email protected] bashing but with this type of advice anyone buying a reptile from them may not understand the sometimes complex needs of these animals, I just feel sorry for the animals unfortunate enough to end up in their stores!
I agree with sid.lola, we as responsible keepers should keep tabs on these guys and correct them when needed, tbh I dont agree that they should even sell reptiles.
Again sorry for the negativity


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## darkwing (Apr 16, 2011)

I have written to them already and will be posting this in the morning.The store manager was "not available" at the time I was instore.


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## Paul B (Apr 16, 2008)

The only way to complain to these people is with your feet.

DONT EFFING GO IN THERE !!!!

A new customer of mine came in yesterday and told me that my local PAH are selling Dragons knowing they have mites.
The alleged comment was " Oh yes we have sprayed them" 

Q. Did they burn the vivs and everything within 20 feet ?? too


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## Dingle_2503 (Jan 3, 2011)

again I agree, I will never actually shop in there, but just avoiding the stores altogether is not a solution as they will keep the bad practices they already have, and people will keep buying reptiles from there. 
There probably is no real way of discouraging people from shopping there, or is there? Ideas?


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

Paul B said:


> The only way to complain to these people is with your feet.
> 
> DONT EFFING GO IN THERE !!!!
> 
> ...





Bloody hell - is that the new way of dealing with mites


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## Dlanefox (Feb 5, 2011)

My local one is selling beardies and gecko's, they selling all the heating ect but when I asked if they had any stats was told they were getting a new supplier and wouldn't have any for 2 months. When I asked if they would continue to sell reps without them I was told " of course we will"


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## Christie&Spence (Feb 27, 2010)

Pets at home staff should be trained, or even better employ someone who knows about them! :bash:


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## BumbleBee48 (Apr 28, 2011)

When my daughter was left with a leo gecko she was asked to look after for a couple of days!!!!! she went to PAH to get some advice as she had no knowledge about them at all. The told her it needed a basking lamp and a white light although it was in a very bright sunny room. They also told her lots of other rubish.
I did some research for her and realised she didnt need a basking lamp or a white light and it needed calcium in its diet. 
Unfortunately the tank it was in cracked and someone gave her a new one which though much bigger it seemed to like. My daughter has now gone to work abroad and I am looking after it my OH went into PAT to look for a heat mat, they didnt have the right size and instead of telling him that the mats came in bigger sizes they said the tank was too big and to either section it off and get the mat they had in or get a new tank. They also said get a green light. Totally confused we found a good pet shop near us who knew about gecko's and he said though the tank was large if he was used to it he would be fine, so we got him a bigger heat mat and stuck with the red light for during the day.
We came to gecko keeping by accident but if left to them the poor thing would be dead. I have other animals and would never go there.
In honesty i have learned more from the couple of times i have posted on here than my daughter did in all the times she went to PAH for advice. !!!!!!!!


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## darkwing (Apr 16, 2011)

Christie&Spence said:


> Pets at home staff should be trained, or even better employ someone who knows about them! :bash:


They are supposed to be trained but obviously their course gives them wrong info!


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## MrMorelia (Apr 15, 2011)

emmilllyyy said:


> *strict diet of 70% to 30% ratio of greens to lifefood*


As adults yeah your right but not as babies, Infact its the other way round as babies they arent interested in salad and just want bugs 25/8.


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## Whitewitch13 (Apr 12, 2011)

darkwing said:


> Yesterday I was in a Pets at home yesterday (not buying anything with someone who wanted a fish ornament) and overheard the following conversation with a potential customer and their "reptile expert"
> 
> Customer:what do these bearded dragons eat?
> Employee:they are omnivores which mean they eat both meat and fruit/veg.
> ...


i have bought Falkor from our local pets at home , and they went throught about 20 questions on housing ,feeding, heating etc, before they would sell him to me!!!
they made sure i had the right foods to take home aswell. i think certian areas are well trained up more so then others, 
a friend of the family works for them and she had to go away on a course then a test, and had to be supervised on fisrt couple of sales before being allowed to sell on her own.. 
the info i was given on feeding i checked on here and sleepydee confirmed it to be correct .


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

you know i think this might be contentious but I actually think it is up to the customer to do their research before they go into a shop and buy an animal. Whilst i agree that pet shops should be able to offer correct advice - we all know that their are many conflicting views and advice is going to vary according to who happens to be on duty or available. if the customer thoroughly researches the particular animal before going into the shop then they have a better opportunity to provide the best for their animal - rather than blaming poor husbandry on someone else - as my dear departed mum used to say - if he asked you to jump of a cliff would you do it


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## dozzarelli (Apr 10, 2010)

I've actually been paid by my local Pets at Home to take my reptiles down to advertise the fact that they are now selling Corn snakes. I spoke to the guy who was in charge of selling their reptiles and he was very switched on (he was a keeper himself and had bought his Boa and hognose in). I think it all depends on different [email protected] because my partner found that the Wolverhampton store was awful.


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## Willz0r2010 (Oct 6, 2010)

My local [email protected] is ace, there's a brilliant reptile specialist vet, who is also on this forum (not the reason I'm saying it's good!) and I've only been given spot on advice by the staff regarding reptiles. It just depends where you go.

My local REPTILE shop on the other hand is absolutely dire. This is a conversation I overhead in there, between the "Snake Expert" and two customers

Customers: "Oh please let me have a snake babe! Look how cute they are!"
Snake Expert: "Want me to talk you through a couple of things about snakes as pets?"
C: "Ooh yes please! We don't know anything!"
SE: Lots of the usual stuff about snakes not being venemous and being easy to handle etc
C: "So you can pick them up? Won't they bite?"
SE: "They will, unless you do it properly. The best time to pick up a kingsnake like this one is when it's eating. If it's got a mouse in it's mouth it can't bite you, and that's when it's the most tame and easy to handle!"

I kid you not.


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## darkwing (Apr 16, 2011)

sharpstrain said:


> you know i think this might be contentious but I actually think it is up to the customer to do their research before they go into a shop and buy an animal. Whilst i agree that pet shops should be able to offer correct advice - we all know that their are many conflicting views and advice is going to vary according to who happens to be on duty or available. if the customer thoroughly researches the particular animal before going into the shop then they have a better opportunity to provide the best for their animal - rather than blaming poor husbandry on someone else - as my dear departed mum used to say - if he asked you to jump of a cliff would you do it


I agree to an extent but as exotic pet keeping is increasing in popularity all the time your going to get people going into chain pet stores such as p[email protected] on a whim to buy the latest "cool" pet.If they are given totally dodgy advise it will lead to badly kept animals in ill health.


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

darkwing said:


> I agree to an extent but as exotic pet keeping is increasing in popularity all the time your going to get people going into chain pet stores such as [email protected] on a whim to buy the latest "cool" pet.If they are given totally dodgy advise it will lead to badly kept animals in ill health.


 
this will only happen if the potential keeper does not take on the responsibility of research for themselves and this is not just at time of purchase but also throughout the animals life. the responsiblilty lies with the person who is going to buy the animal. of course the seller have a degree of responsibility but this cannot be relied on.


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## Chrisuk33 (Oct 10, 2010)

darkwing said:


> Yesterday I was in a Pets at home yesterday (not buying anything with someone who wanted a fish ornament) and overheard the following conversation with a potential customer and their "reptile expert"
> 
> Customer:what do these bearded dragons eat?
> Employee:they are omnivores which mean they eat both meat and fruit/veg.
> ...


yeah when beardies are yonger its mostly insects but when there adult its like 70% veg and 30& insect cos an excess of insects when there older become bad for there liver or kidneys something like that. but you know this shame the pets at home guy didnt :lol2:


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## AstroFenn (Dec 25, 2010)

I'm very concerned about the PAH that were going to sell Beardies that had mites. (At least they were treating them for it and I don't suppose they'd actually be available for sale until they were healthy again.) But also these accounts of "wrong advice" (yeah I agree beardies can't be just vegetarian.) but when researching crestie care and care of other herps I found that everyone does it differently so there is no exact Correct answer, you have to ind what is right for you but for a store like that they have to have a set of requirements and options to cover as many potential owner situations as possible, it should then be up to the customer to research which situation they are in and what they will need (in regards to basking lamps and such.) Also, I heard (from someone on here actually) that UVB doesn't go through glass very well so a viv in a sunny room isn't going to get a herp enough UVB if they are in need of a substantial amount.
But yeah, i you DO get incorrect advice from any store that sells reptiles (or even other pets) please let them know because these sort of stores have staff that would be trained and others that may not be fully trained and so not all of the staff may know all of the facts. That and with all the conflicting information you get everywhere because there's at least three or four ways of doing everything for everything. (Actually freaked myself out when I researched cresties because I got so confused by all the conflicting info I almost didn't get one.)


But yeah... I ramble a bit... sorry XD


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## krome187 (Apr 29, 2011)

its not good at all poor animals, sorry if anyone on here works at a pets at home but i have to say i have had nothing but bad advice from them on all my aquatic purchases, i only used to go there to get aquarium hardware, ibought a pleco there once and he literally lasted 10 hrs only to be told i had done something wrong, when i owned an aquarium for about seven years and even bred fish i found that to be a kick in the teeth.


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## katsmith (Apr 26, 2011)

Unfortunately, its not just Pets At Home, its MOST of the big pet chains.(all the ones i've been too, but there must be some exceptions!)
Back in the days when i had just Baby (my boa) I went to my local Pet Ahead (shut down now) to get some supplies, they had a beautiful royal in there, but the viv was vv dirty poo and old skin everywhere the poor darlins heatbulb was CENTRAL in the viv so she could not escape to a cool area, she had no hide and she had only part shed I asked for the manager, who told me thats how you keep snakes, to which i replied something that i could not repeat here! :whip: and explained that i have kept snakes for a number of yrs and advised her to check her facts with a suitably qualified herp. I returned a week later to check on he poor love, and low and behold-NO CHANGE!!! :gasp:so i phoned head office who told me that the staff were "adequately trained" to deal with he livestock!!! :bash: My next call was to my local council, who got back to me the next day following an inspection saying that they were issuing a fine and had given the store 7 days to rectify the problems with the care of their snakes, lizards, rabbits and inverts. : victory: the next day after i went to see what was happening, and they had sorted her out. the manager spotted me and asked for advice, which i gladly gave. They never sold the royal, but i did call in to see her and she was doing fine. :Na_Na_Na_Na:
MORAL- if you have no joy with the HO, pls contact your local trading standards in your local council.
good luck


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## tattoodave (Apr 27, 2011)

The place is awful my local one a worker had a bearded dragon on her shoulder and I asked how long she had been walking round with it she said about 2 hours I asked to see it and it instantly perked up when I put my hands around it poor thing was freezing when I picked it up they don't have a clue. It's ok to sell supplies and what not but should leave the animals to the proper shops


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## Fionab (Mar 28, 2010)

i think its important to note that not all [email protected] are like that, our local one in Falkirk have very knowledgeable staff, the girl who is in charge of the reps keeps them herself and knows her stuff. and everytime i have been in the reps and other animals all look nice and healthy with clean enclosures


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## krome187 (Apr 29, 2011)

haha good for you sock it to the man!


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## katsmith (Apr 26, 2011)

Fionab said:


> i think its important to note that not all [email protected] are like that, our local one in Falkirk have very knowledgeable staff, the girl who is in charge of the reps keeps them herself and knows her stuff. and everytime i have been in the reps and other animals all look nice and healthy with clean enclosures


glad to hear! i think pet shops should take on ppl with a good general knowledge of the animals they stock! 
NO ADVICE IS BETTER THAN BAD ADVICE!


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## SteamedPolecat (Apr 11, 2011)

katsmith said:


> glad to hear! i think pet shops should take on ppl with a good general knowledge of the animals they stock!
> NO ADVICE IS BETTER THAN BAD ADVICE!


i agree completely, when going in asking about my bosc, rather than saying it'll be fine in this that the other. he reffered me to a reptile shop a few miles away and said 'John is your best bet' i ended up going there and now i have my bosc fully set up better than any advice pets at home could've given me.


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## thething84 (Apr 26, 2010)

the biggest problem with alot of places, is its actually frowned on by the company managers to tell ppl to get advice from elsewhere, so they give what they think may be correct. which usually isn't. but saying that, everytime i have been in my local one. everything is always clean, and always look bright etc.


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## SteamedPolecat (Apr 11, 2011)

thething84 said:


> the biggest problem with alot of places, is its actually frowned on by the company managers to tell ppl to get advice from elsewhere, so they give what they think may be correct. which usually isn't. but saying that, everytime i have been in my local one. everything is always clean, and always look bright etc.


i agree, they have beardies in the one near me who look liek they have enough room and food, and the tanks for fish and all the animals are clean.

doesn't hide the fact they're a rip off though.


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