# Dispute with Pets at Home over bearded dragon vivarium



## dave waldo

My 8 year old son had shown an interest in keeping a bearded dragon! Having no experience in reptile ownership we (perhaps stupidly!) gained advice from our local Pets at Home store where we purchased a bearded dragon starter kit for £200( which included all necessary lighting/heating and heat rock), and a week later a 9 month old 'dragon'. Another week on and the reptile (now fondly known as Jim-Bob!) has had to go back to Pets at Home for hopefully just a short 'holiday' as we have been unable to get the vivarium max temp any higher than 30 degrees!!!!! Obviously this has led to having a very sleepy dragon who is in no mood to eat very much. Our dispute continues and we would be very grateful for any help out there on this matter. Thank you!


----------



## *Beckie*

I personally wouldnt reccommend buying a dragon from pets at home. breeders are a much safer bet in terms of price and also the over all health of the beardie will be of much higher quality. 
I have seen the starter kits for myself and personally they are not suited for beardies. 
beardies need a basking area which includes lighting. I have spoke to people who have bought beardies from pets at home who have only been sold a heat mat. 
A heat matt can be used to increase the overall heat but one area of the viv needs to have suitable lighting.

Heat rocks can also cause 3rd degree burns, I have any rescued reptiles which have bodily scars from heat rocks.


----------



## reptilelover96

hi, 
my mum bought fish from there and she has kept fish for years they said there only aloud to sell 3 fish and saying certain kind of fish aren't alound to got with each other, 
the staff there no NOTHING about any animals and also to point out when they sold birds when they catched them they got there black nets and bashed them against the wire to catch themi also no belive thye are banned from keeping birds, and they were kept in really cramped avairy's,
sophie


----------



## reptilelover96

There a really bad shop!


----------



## *Beckie*

the law changed preventing pets at home selling birds at the same time focus were also banned. 

Get your money back if you can. and get a beardie from a breeder.


----------



## R.S.ANIMAL RESCUE CENTRE

hi, 
my mum bought fish from there and she has kept fish for years they said there only aloud to sell 3 fish and saying certain kind of fish aren't alound to got with each other, 
the staff there no NOTHING about any animals and also to point out when they sold birds when they catched them they got there black nets and bashed them against the wire to catch themi also no belive thye are banned from keeping birds, and they were kept in really cramped avairy's,
sophie
  
Posted Yesterday at 08:28 PM by reptilelover96










some fish cant be keeped together becuase they will fight to the death


----------



## R.S.ANIMAL RESCUE CENTRE

and pets at home know 0% about looking after reptiles for exampole i along with many others conplained about the miton keynes pets at home for misstreeating ther tertils they all had shell rot and was in very pore condition in the sence that there flesh was rotting you could smell it when they got them out i would agree with the above get you mony back on the bearded dragon and the set up you are withing your right to return and get your mony back withing two weeks of buying


----------



## benandtoby

not all pets at home stores are the same. Do not assume just cause there are a few places that are pants they all are.

Breeders....Myself and a friend went to a WELL KNOWN BREEDER on via this site and i can honsetly say the conditions from pets at home were better. The breeder had WAY to many baby and adults (obviously in seperate vivs) one adult had pretty much her whole jaw ripped off but apparently was "ok"? We also got offered a free beardy as there was something wrong with her (birth defect). All on woodchipping which so many of you hate and comment on. Last of all there were loads of crickets in the vivs which again...so many of you say not to leave in especially with babies.

So not all breeders are perfect.

Rant over! lol


----------



## reptilelover96

ermm... yes i do actually see your point two but the one is southport sin't tht good on my opinion but yer fair point,
sophie


----------



## Tarn~Totty

Did you get a stat supplied with the starter kit? I would ditch the heat rock, not needed for a beardie, and no heat mat either (unless you have a very cold house when the beardies lights/heating is turned off.

What size is the viv you got? What UV light came with it? And what spotlight bulb? Sorry for all the questions, but the more thats known the better it will be to try and sort the set-up out for your dragon : victory:

A pic would be good too if you can get one :2thumb:

ps...please ignore this if your deffo not having the beardie back and your taking set-up back lol


----------



## katter

Pets at home are just interested in £££ value. The staff are usually students trying to make a few quid on a minimal wage. If the company would invest in proper training and pay a decent wage then they would be much better. They have the potential to do this but until they commit to this they will be macdonalds compared to Harrods...... come on pets at home!!! pull your socks up!!!


----------



## MrsDeadOutReptiles...x

pets at home only do care about the money , my cousin bought 2 guinea pigs from ther , that were suposedly boys , and it turn out one was a girl , they no nothing about animal and have obveously not had the training needed for the job


----------



## Emohtastep

Pets at home do care alot about there animals regardless of what most peoples opinions are. Those that complain do you actually take the time to speak to a manager or even a general staff member. There not just students looking to earn a buck or two. In store training is in place and you cannot sell animals until you are committed to being able to speak with great knowledge about them and are able to be confident with handling them, sexing them and giving a five point top to tail exterior health check. I can assure you that if you gave them 5mins out of your mining that they will be more than happy to show you this and talk to you. This company is not just out to make money. There are more than60% of breeders out there that are just doing it for the money and not the welfare of the animals at all. It angers me to see people slating a company that do there best in training there staff on all areas of animals and fish. There are some many external courses they go on to!! Just give em half a chance for once.


----------



## ptsmith

all employees have there expertise areas and pets at home tend to cater more in dogs, cats and rodents so regular domestic animals. The problem is you need to study into your chosen pet before purchasing. There products are fine but its how you utilise them. I am quite new to the dragon world but loads of information can be gathered from many sources, its then combining the knowledge just take the points stated from pets at home with a pimch of salt. They also told me that you should use a heat mat but dragons do not tend to feel the heat through their feet so can burn from it, use a ceramic bulb in the evening or red bulb and have one or two high wattage bulbs during the day depending on size of the tank


----------



## *Beckie*

Well actually yes I have spent endless hours at a variety of Pets at home stores in the midlands with their team members, store managers and the area managers and I know exactly how Pets at home work.
The mistakes that I personally have corrected along with other work peers is shocking.
I do think their knowledge about domestic animals are fine and I have no issues about that. I do personally think that the selling of reptiles in the pets at home stores should be questioned. 

My post previously was not about slagging off pets at home, I was merely advising someone about their beardie. 

I personally went into one store and asked about a tortoise. (I had no intension of buying one from them, I was just testing their knowledge about these species merely for the benefit of the animals sold) I asked what species of tortoise it was, the member of staff went in the back and told me it was a hermans tortoise (after reading it from a sheet of paper) 
My next question was what subspecies of hermans is it, as there are three I wanted to know which one it was to ensure I provided the correct husbandry conditions, plus certain subspecies grow to different sizes. The staff members face just fell, and she said she didn&#8217;t know. 


I also feel that the other people that have posted comments on here, are not out to bad mouth the company, they just care about animal welfare. It is not fair on the public to be told incorrect information about the animals they want to purchase, and also not fair on the animals as they are the ones which will only suffer in the long run.

I can&#8217;t justify someone doing a 3 day college course and then being classed as a reptile specialist.

And also about the money&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; mmmmm pets at home sell 1 standard beardie for £70 and the beardies from private breeders can cost as little as £10. &#8211; where you can also see the parents and receive background information about health etc. 


Pets at home are also soon to be selling corns snakes!


----------

