Picky eater; preference of where to get fish!

[d_virginiana]

lol, I was replying to LeAnn's post with that bit (I should take the time to quote things when I post).

Now that I re-read what I wrote it sounded a bit snippy, but that was just the result of me juggling a couple internet windows and a quiz I was writing. This thread got my quiz tone-of-voice.

Wasn't there a really long thread awhile back where everyone was discussing the pros and cons of various sources and species of fresh fish and filets?

Just out of curiosity why do you prefer petsmart to petco? I'm not really a fan of either. All I know is I buy most of my stuff from Petco and I always want to pull my hair out afterwards (though I should thank them for letting me adopt a perfectly healthy, perfectly behaved BP for free because it had 'behavioral issues')

[RedSidedSPR]

Just out of curiosity why do you prefer petsmart to petco? I'm not really a fan of either. All I know is I buy most of my stuff from Petco and I always want to pull my hair out afterwards (though I should thank them for letting me adopt a perfectly healthy, perfectly behaved BP for free because it had 'behavioral issues')

I'm not a fan of either either. But all the petcos I've been to, especially the one near me, takes the worst care of their animals I've ever seen from a pet store. They have a green tree python right now, half dead and covered in mites with only a half log (no branch) in the cage. The two monitors both have mouth infections. They try to feed crickets to baby corn snakes. Nothing appears to ever be cleaned, water bowls are empty, humid tanks are dry, etc. I don't think one of their animals (and they have a large selection of animals compared to most petcos) is healthy. And they don't care.

One could say the same about petsmart but what petsmart does that petco doesn't do, is only stock particular animals. They don't bring in random animals like GTP's and monitors that they, nor the person who buys it can care for. In addition to that, with my petsmart at least, the employees actually care, at least enough to make an effort to care for them right. They take my suggestions/corrections and actually act on them. So I just prefer them. I can talk to their employees without wanting to break their face.

[d_virginiana]

I also meant the same as Jesse. My reference was not meant towards frozen feeders such as silversides but frozen fish at supermarkets. I should have been more clear. As for the fresh fish, you are correct about risk of parasites. If you have a picky eater or babies trying to start eating and need fresh fish, I would prefer my stream to anything. I can buy at a pet store.

Sorry I misunderstood that (I thought I'd seen you talking about silversides and stuff before, so I was wondering where that was coming from!). Yeah, I wouldn't trust frozen supermarket stuff either.
Ugh. I don't trust anything from local creeks around where I live-- Google the Eden, NC coal ash spill. If you didn't see it when it was on the news, several tons of arsenic and selenium waste got dumped into our river.

I'm not a fan of either either. But all the petcos I've been to, especially the one near me, takes the worst care of their animals I've ever seen from a pet store. They have a green tree python right now, half dead and covered in mites with only a half log (no branch) in the cage. The two monitors both have mouth infections. They try to feed crickets to baby corn snakes. Nothing appears to ever be cleaned, water bowls are empty, humid tanks are dry, etc. I don't think one of their animals (and they have a large selection of animals compared to most petcos) is healthy. And they don't care.

One could say the same about petsmart but what petsmart does that petco doesn't do, is only stock particular animals. They don't bring in random animals like GTP's and monitors that they, nor the person who buys it can care for. In addition to that, with my petsmart at least, the employees actually care, at least enough to make an effort to care for them right. They take my suggestions/corrections and actually act on them. So I just prefer them. I can talk to their employees without wanting to break their face.

Yeah, I've seen our petco bring in some really high-maintenance animals that no one buying from a chain petstore is going to be able to care for. When I'm looking for a new reptile and want to adopt one, I'll usually check out their adoptions though. The one near me has a board at the back where they basically post info on the reptiles they can't sell because they got sick from the crap conditions or bite (which is ridiculous; don't buy a snake if you can't deal with getting bitten). There's only one employee that works there who really seems to care about the animals, but it's clear they don't really give them the training to take care of them.