# Pets at home. (discussion)



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

So.. Pets at home now have a license to sell reptile's,

nameley cresties, leos and beardies,

Ive been in two so far and both times i wasnt very pleased with what i saw,

Sheffield = Heeley retail park:

I went in with my girlfriend to get a set of feeding tongues and some mealies for my geckos, i saw that they had a couple of baby geckos and beardies.. but i couldnt see the crestie,

however they feed the animals during the day, the fully grown beardie literally sat staring at a locust wondering what in hell it was doing there, i find this a bit bad especially because it messes with theyre body clock and can and will cause stress with the animal's if bitten, poor performance,

the standard of the mealies and crickets though was dispicable if im honest, i think theres more dead or morphed mealies in the box's than there was live ones,

Ipswich = Ransleigh (near the football stadium)

i only saw the beardies, however they had stacks of food in the places where the viv's are either going to be, or once were, however i thought thought this was a little 'taking the michael' because they had a variety of different live bait and some of the crickets were chirping, to me this is a bit harsh on the animals as they can hear them, and theyre hunting for nothing, but would this not disturb them as well?

they have a serious lack of equipment in the ipswich branch at the moment however i did find a large array of different books and information about beardies cresties and leopards that i thought was pretty good,

has anyone else had any experiences with pets at home?


----------



## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

Klymax said:


> So.. Pets at home now have a license to sell reptile's,
> 
> nameley cresties, leos and beardies,
> 
> ...


i dont really see anything wrong with that my beardies can see there food ...and hear it also my beardies also sometimes like to stair at there food ive been to [email protected] in brent ford and they seemed pretty good there set ups were perfect the only thing is there bearded dragon look dehydrated wrinkley skin and he had alot of stress rings


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

Am i making assumptions out of thin air here then?

because ive read LOADS on this site about how different people keep them etc, and the way they are kept just blows my mind, i guess its because they want to sell them but the set ups are fantastic i just dont agree with the food thing tbh,

(side subject is the substrate they use any good?)


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

I actually work at a pets at home and the one i am at is nothing like the ones you have been to. If i was you i would go on the website and email the head office with your concerns. If they are anything like ours they will go out of there way to change things.

We actually feed ours after the store closes at 8-8.30. Even if my shift is up i make sure i spray the cresties and all reptiles are tended to. As with any big company all stores are different though. 

With regards to live food it is on shelving close so customers can find it easily. With the stores being so big i think that makes sense. That said i think all reptile shops by me stock live foods by the reptiles.


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

Cant fault the staff in either place, they were all very polite and couldnt do enough to help me in a rush, even putting aside a thermo for me to pick up,

however it looked 'half built' alot of the [email protected] ive seen have full blown aquariums in a 'darkend' patch?, but in ipswich it looked like a building site/warehouse, im not gonna mail the head office, due to it looking like its in the process of being built, 

but in ipswich the food is literally right with the reps, and in sheffield theyre shelved just across from them,

are all [email protected] generic?


----------



## snakes-a-round (Jan 16, 2010)

i work in a well respected reptile shop and there is no way you can stop the lizards from hearing the crickets, also the pets at home near me is quite bad they sell corn snakes aswell and they advise people to use heat rocks:devil: and we have someone who works there come in to our shop and he as even admitted that he is scared of the baby corns which ifyou are working with them is quite a joke


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

i dont agree with it being bad if your scared of them

i personally wouldnt touch an arachnid bigger than a house spider, but id love to work in a reptile shop, everyone has theyre preferences no?


----------



## Marco 1986 (Jan 16, 2011)

Klymax said:


> So.. Pets at home now have a license to sell reptile's,
> 
> nameley cresties, leos and beardies,
> 
> ...


I went to the one located in Hull.... I know nothing about lizards so I can not really comment on them... but their collection of tropical fish was fairly 'ok'... other than the fact that there were a lot of dead ones in the bottom of numerous tanks I can't really complain. The staff also appeared to think they know everything but obviously didn't... ie telling me that tiger barbs are ok to be by themselves and that they aint really a community fish... lol... I now go to an independent retailer... He seems to know what he is doing...


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

you find that in alot of pets at home stores though, theyll do anything to sell animals,

dont get me wrong theres some that have LOADS of knowledge and others that have very little, 

do they do courses?


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

They are all pretty much the same layout but some stock marine and some dont. Reptiles are pretty new to the store so it may have been work in process. 

I can tell you that i cant actually sell a reptile to a customer yet as i have not done there reptile training/exam even though i know a bit about them. i think its a good thing though as not all the staff share our enthusiasm for reptiles.


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

My mum was a bit skeptical about me bringing geckos home until she saw them then fell in love pretty much all my family did haha,

she cant stand 'pissed up lizards' though as she says haha,

Deb is [email protected] a good place to work? and can you PM me the details about why they dont sell birds anymore? theres alot of rumors just like to know the truth


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

Klymax said:


> you find that in alot of pets at home stores though, theyll do anything to sell animals,
> 
> dont get me wrong theres some that have LOADS of knowledge and others that have very little,
> 
> do they do courses?


Yes they do courses, i was very suprised when i started to find that. They will even put me in for my OATA (fish qualification) which i was thrilled to find out. I specialise in marine fish, i have kept them for many years and am a mod on one of the uk's leading marine forums so they sort of took me on because of my knowledge. I guess all stores are different. 

They also strongly drill it into us that pets come before profit. You would not believe the amount of fish sales i have to refuse regarding un-cycled tanks etc.. I wont bore you though.lol


----------



## snakes-a-round (Jan 16, 2010)

well the amount of people we have coming in because their beardie or leo or any of the others they sell is ill is quite a few and they know bugger all, and the point i made about the person being scared is that if your scared of it dont work on that section or work for a decent company that dosent have to keep changing their name every couple of years, and it is the reptile specialist stores like where i work that try to educate people so they can look after their reptile properly then you get these idiots making the reptile keeping community look bad because they keep :censor: up, end of they day they shouldn't be allowed to sell livestock they should stick to dog and cat food


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

Does NOBODY ever buy the house rabbit?

i mean seriously i went in both sheffield and ipswich and they had one, identical absalutely gorgeous rabbits (although when i saw the one in ipswich it was battering the living ... out of its food bowl which i thought was kinda cute) lol


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

Klymax said:


> My mum was a bit skeptical about me bringing geckos home until she saw them then fell in love pretty much all my family did haha,
> 
> she cant stand 'pissed up lizards' though as she says haha,
> 
> Deb is [email protected] a good place to work? and can you PM me the details about why they dont sell birds anymore? theres alot of rumors just like to know the truth



Its a lovely place to work :flrt: I have a degree in a completely different speciality but choose to do this as it is a nice job and i enjoy helping people and working with animals. 

With regards to pm there is no need, as far as i know they stopped selling birds as the customer demand dwindled down. I think many pets shops have found the same thing now.


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

Klymax said:


> Does NOBODY ever buy the house rabbit?
> 
> i mean seriously i went in both sheffield and ipswich and they had one, identical absalutely gorgeous rabbits (although when i saw the one in ipswich it was battering the living ... out of its food bowl which i thought was kinda cute) lol



I couldnt tell you.lol. I stick to my section which is fish :flrt:
Check out the chinchillas next time your in, i got a eye full of a male having some me time the other day. :gasp: haha.. didnt know they could do that.lol.


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

Ive heard they were mis treated and all sorts :S,

We ended up buying 3 budgies because my cat decided to bring one home one day.. it lived for three days before dieing 

so my mum bought 3 to replace it  lol


----------



## Klymax (Apr 18, 2010)

deb said:


> Check out the chinchillas next time your in, i got a eye full of a male having some me time the other day. :gasp: haha.. didnt know they could do that.lol.


LOL, i walked a bit fast past them today, they were gone quicker than the roadrunner lol


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

Klymax said:


> Ive heard they were mis treated and all sorts :S,
> 
> We ended up buying 3 budgies because my cat decided to bring one home one day.. it lived for three days before dieing
> 
> so my mum bought 3 to replace it  lol



Oh god no! They are very strict on the pets come first policy. Any ill animals are straight to the vet, no questions asked, all treated very well :2thumb: I could never work for a company that mistreat any animal! 

Thats such ashame about the budgie, i used to have 12 cockatiels. lol.

Anyway im off to bed now. Feel free to pm me x


----------



## Amy2310 (Feb 28, 2011)

Just my two cents,
I've heard all kinds of horror stories about [email protected], and seen some of them first hand. Now I totally agree with what has already been said about each store being different, and I fully respect that a member of staff cannot sell a reptile until they have been given the proper training, however in my own personally opinion, [email protected] are just jumping on a trend band wagon. Reptiles are getting popular and it's just another way to make money, I have read elsewhere that even the Companion Care Vets in some stores do not agree with how some of the animals are kept, again this is not a generalisation, this is just some of the stores I have been into.
I personally will not be buying any reptile products from [email protected], not because I don't trust their advice or anything like that, but I would much rather give my money to a local retailer.
Dog food on the other hand is another matter seen as my mutt eats mince, they'll still be getting my business in that respect


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

Amy2310 said:


> Just my two cents,
> I've heard all kinds of horror stories about [email protected], and seen some of them first hand. Now I totally agree with what has already been said about each store being different, and I fully respect that a member of staff cannot sell a reptile until they have been given the proper training, however in my own personally opinion, [email protected] are just jumping on a trend band wagon. Reptiles are getting popular and it's just another way to make money, I have read elsewhere that even the Companion Care Vets in some stores do not agree with how some of the animals are kept, again this is not a generalisation, this is just some of the stores I have been into.
> I personally will not be buying any reptile products from [email protected], not because I don't trust their advice or anything like that, but I would much rather give my money to a local retailer.
> Dog food on the other hand is another matter seen as my mutt eats mince, they'll still be getting my business in that respect


Sorry to hear that. If you see anything that you dont agree with or a animal being treated wrongly then i strongly advise you to report it to the store manager or email head office :2thumb: Under no circumstance should anything be miss treated. However please bear in mind that how we would keep our pets at home is totally different to how animals are kept in stores as they have to be easily accessible so that customers can see them etc. Personally i think its the same with any big chain store really, there is always room for improvement and im sure they would appreciate any customer feed back, good or bad. 

ps. i think its nice that you would rather give your custom to a small local retailer, im the same when it comes to meat/fish. Much rather give it to the local buchers/fish mongers than tesco's. I have a whole different opinion of tesco after watching the huges fish fight and the jamie oliver chicken run. :gasp:

Deb x


----------



## hullreptilelover (Mar 4, 2006)

Klymax said:


> you find that in alot of pets at home stores though, theyll do anything to sell animals,
> 
> dont get me wrong theres some that have LOADS of knowledge and others that have very little,
> 
> do they do courses?


I worked in pets at home hull 7 years ago and there training consisted of a very thin book - was told to read it and then apparently I knew everything about everything... the book was mainly on customer service with a short section about the animals they sell...


----------



## hullreptilelover (Mar 4, 2006)

There managers did the pet care trust pet shop management course which I think was useless seen as though they dont tend to deal with the customers or animals and spend there time running the store... would have been much more beneficial for other members of staff to have done it...


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

I only joined the company this year so maybe it is different from when you worked there. They still have books which are called steps that you have to work your way through with managers and collogues. Its anything but thin though and there are two of them, one is to do with customer service as you say among with other things but the other (even thicker one) is all about the pets. It covers all sorts.. ie... how to sex the animals (even the fish), different animal diseases and how to recognise/symptoms/treatment. Then once you have complete them you have to sit exams. I think there are two lots of these that are mandatory to everyone in the store and then extra ones they encourage you to do (pay rise for each :2thumb.

Then you have ones that are specific to each departments, i think one could be the pet care trust thing but i could be wrong as i work with the fish and fish staff get put in for the OATA courses. There is also regular staff training to.

I was pretty impressed to discover all this and even more impressed when i found out they give you your birthday of every year or if your not working on your birthday you get to pick a day, they also give you a paid charity day where you get a day off to go work for a animal related charity of your choice. But the best has to be the extra week off work they give you if you get married :mf_dribble:Shame im already wed.LOL. 

From what i am told the company has changed alot over the past few years and they are constantly trying to improve. Did they do any of that when you worked there hullreptilelover?


----------



## Mini_the_Minx (Jan 15, 2011)

I personally dislike [email protected]. The one near me is shocking at the best of times.

I went in there to get some disinfectant and noticed that the baby beardie viv had no stat, no UV and one crappy basking light that kept flickering. There was poo everywhere. The same applied to the other 2 beardie tanks, no UV and no stat. Both of them had digi thermometers that weren't reading anything.

I no longer buy Locusts from there either, mainly because they are over priced but I have never had a tub where at least 2 weren't already dead and the rest following closely behind.

I always have a look at the fluffy animals whilst I'm there and there was a guinea pig quite obviously fitting in one of the glass enclosures and the staff just ignored it and the Chinchilla cage was far far too small for just one let alone the two that were housed in there.

Last time I was there about 2 weeks ago was for some wormer for Erika. I asked for some Panacur puppy paste and the woman asked what it was for, I told her a bearded dragon. She looked on the box and said 'Oh, it doesn't say on the box it's for bearded dragons, just puppies and kittens' to which I told her I knew that since it says puppy/kitten on the box but my local rep breeder recommended it. So then she told me she would need to ring another store because they didn't have any paperwork at the store she was in. She left us stood there for no less than 20 minutes and then came back and said she couldn't sell it because it doesn't say it's for bearded dragons. Considering she's a manager they are clearly totally incapable. Then she said 'We do some special reptile wormer though' so I told her 'no thanks, it's s***'. I bought the Panacur online the next day.

I took Erika in with me another time and the 'reptile expert' told me she was overweight and looked ill. She wasn't overweight at all and she was about to shed. He had no idea.

I just hate the shop, the majority of the staff are totally incompetent and either have no idea how to care for their animals properly or they just don't give a s***.


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

Sounds like the stores vary quite a lot, maybe down to management as you say. If the store i am at was anything like that i would be out in a shot. I never struggle when it comes to employment (touchwood) and purely took this job for the enjoyment of working with fish and animals as i love them and the perks of course. I guess all big companies are the same though, some weatherspoons pubs are s**t (poor quality food etc) but then some are great, same with asda and other chain pet stores (wont name in case i get in to trouble). Seriously though if you see anything with regards to miss treated animals email there head office. Im sure something would be done about it. There are laws that need to be followed with regards to min tank size etc..

As for the wormer it is against the law to sell it if it is knowingly going to be used for anything other than stated on the packet. If buying from any pet shop i would maybe just keep that to yourself. i think its something to do with dosing amouts iygwim? x


----------



## Mini_the_Minx (Jan 15, 2011)

deb said:


> Sounds like the stores vary quite a lot, maybe down to management as you say. If the store i am at was anything like that i would be out in a shot. I never struggle when it comes to employment (touchwood) and purely took this job for the enjoyment of working with fish and animals as i love them and the perks of course. I guess all big companies are the same though, some weatherspoons pubs are s**t (poor quality food etc) but then some are great, same with asda and other chain pet stores (wont name in case i get in to trouble). Seriously though if you see anything with regards to miss treated animals email there head office. Im sure something would be done about it. There are laws that need to be followed with regards to min tank size etc..
> 
> As for the wormer it is against the law to sell it if it is knowingly going to be used for anything other than stated on the packet. If buying from any pet shop i would maybe just keep that to yourself. i think its something to do with dosing amouts iygwim? x


Yep, that's what the woman said, it's because they can't advise me on dosage even though I told her exactly what the dosing requirements were, but I appreciate that they have rules to work by. But I don't know how it took her over 20 minutes to find that out.


----------



## deb+wayne (Feb 11, 2011)

Me neither. Iv only been there 3 months and new that.lol


----------



## AshMashMash (Oct 28, 2007)

Mini_the_Minx said:


> I personally dislike [email protected] The one near me is shocking at the best of times.
> 
> I went in there to get some disinfectant and noticed that the baby beardie viv had no stat, no UV and one crappy basking light that kept flickering. There was poo everywhere. The same applied to the other 2 beardie tanks, no UV and no stat. Both of them had digi thermometers that weren't reading anything.
> 
> ...


Really, the blindinlgy simple answer is: _don't shop there_! You dislike them yet you go in to give your money for locusts (in the past), disinfectant, wormers... just don't give them your money! You're simply keeping them open. 

I don't like the reptile shop near me, and drive out to AmezyZoo 20 mins away each time (rather than 2 mins away). I refuse to give them my money - simple as.


----------

