A WARNING TO BUYERS

Hey i just wanted to let all the users that intend to buy lizards from XXXXXXXXXXX petstores, the one in derry had just announced that they were going to sell leo's and beardies, i am not on this to be disrespectful to them but just thought people need to know this, i bought a gorgeous little male leo from them who seemed healthy and was extremely good to handle, two weeks after i got him i sold him on to a fella that lives near me due to having my hands full with other matters. He was only gone two weeks when i got a very disturbing text that the little fella was on his last legs due to crypto, this was extremely embarrassing for me as you can imagine. i was more annoyed because i payed alot for him and sold him for half that, of course they are denying all responsibility for it but crypto doesnt just pop up over nite and my tank was brand new and bought specially for him. then because he had such a docile temperment the fella who bought him put him straight in with their female who is now also infected, so they are pretty upset about it as well. You think you can trust these big stores but they dont even worm their animals before they sell them and when you get them its too late. I have to apologize deeply for this matter but hope people can understand that this angers me aswell and i intend to follow this through.

Thanks for the heads up on your own particular dealing with this large pet store chain.

Firstly, as a general rule, we do not name shops or store outlets [see forum guidelines on the homepage] for a variety of reasons, not least it offers that commercial outlet an avenue of redress, so EIE as the platform for this particular announcement may be open to scrutiny, legal or other. It is for this reason I have deleted the store name and inserted a series of X's. We don't have a great deal of pet store chains in NI anyway and as such your reference is obvious.

However, I also think it right and proper to be able to have your say and offer a precautionary note to potential buyers, that you've done and very appropriately, if you don't mind me saying.

Remember....

Every once in a while you'll pick up an animal through trading that will be harbouring some ailment or other, this is simply a fact of life. I'm a snake keeper with a relatively large collection of animals, my standard practice on procuring a new arrival is a period of isolation...this for a couple of reasons, acclimatisation and quarantine, the latter in order to assess the animal's ongoing health [prior to housing in the main collection area]. The theory here is obvious, if the animal is displaying ill heath and has a communicable disease only the single animal will be affected, not the entire collection...the loss of one animal no matter how annoying/upsetting, surely is a far better scenario to cope with. An indication of ill health whilst isolated can quickly be followed up by an appropriate course of treatment. Forewarned is forearmed.

Remember, when dealing with commercial outlets the main motivating factor is business, that is, making money in exchange for a product on the marketplace, sometimes this business focus is to the detriment of the animals [and potential buyers] everyone needs to be aware of this from the get go.

In any case have you spoken to the store in question? What was the outcome? Please do let us know and thanks for a very important post........all take heed!!

There is nothing I can add to Tonys reply but for those people who are not aware of it here is a link with some information regarding Crypto diagnosis in a gecko (Cryptosporidiosis)

http://www.reptilechannel.com/reptile-health/lizard-health/lizard-cryptosporidiosis.aspx

i was going to start a new topic about how annoyed i was when i went into a normal pet shop in belfast and saw the way they where keeping there beardies, they had 4 babies and 2 adults when i was in and all the babies are showing early signs of mbd, on a closer look at there tank i noticed a dish full of calcium powder and the greens totally dried and not a water bowl in sight!!
being my normal self i asked who was looking after them, but after asking several people all i was told was ''sum we girl'', i found this 'we girl' and asked her why she was keeping the lizards like that, her response being thats how your suposed to.
by this stage being slightly frustrated i told her it was not how you where meant to keep them, and explaind the signs of mbd in all the babies, just to be told that they have there licence so they must be doing it right.
i mean really do these pet shops just not care, as long as they can make money from it???
i was tempted to wait for the manager but i think i might have lost the plot if he/she was as ignorant as the staff
so just a warning to anyone buying from pet stores, please check for all signs of disease before you buy these little things.

Sounds unacceptable...however, it may have been worth while pinning down the boss...you'd quickly get a sense whether he/she would accept a few pointers...unless someone else has been in and identified the problem and discussed it with the owner, this shop's husbandry will continue to be below average or even poor.

If we're concerned about the animals' welfare...do you're level best to advise and educate and of course only where you think you're able to have a positive contribution....in other words walk away if there looks to be an issue of confrontation.

If you need to discuss this in more detail, feel free to PM me.