HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Went to petco yesterday looking for an e species buddy. Didn't find one but oh well I'll keep looking. However when I was examining the crabs or more like she was holding them up cause she wouldn't actually let me touch them i kept saying "no purple" meaning the species. This lady asked me if I was looking for a natural colored crab. Really? Shows how little they know about their animals they take care of. And then something that really made me mad was that the humidity was at ten percent. The substrate was dry and there was no food in the tank. Not even an empty bowl. Seriously. Petco is horrible but that's the only place I know of you can buy an e and its getting too cold to start shipping crabs.

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I had a bad experience with a Petco a few years ago. The tank conditions were terrible and they refused to listen to my advice so I called the corporate number and reported the store, as well as the clueless, negligent employees. I constantly checked up on that store to make sure things would change and after my second call to the corporate headquarters they did something about it. I have called and reported several Petco and Petsmart stores. I suggest you call and report that store, as well as the employees responsible. Another thing, is that it might be difficult to find E's in both Petco and Petsmart. I personally haven't seen any for years at any of the stores I go to.

Yeah except it was one I don't normally go to so I don't know anything about it except that its in humble Texas and its new

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it kills me that they don't require their employees to have even a general idea of how to care for the animals they sell. A few weeks ago a girl working at Petco was explaining to someone that the hermit crabs' shells were painted with a special kind of paint that won't chip off, "kind of like nail polish." She kept calling the animals in that particular area her own ("my geckos" "my bearded dragons" etc) which I assumed meant that was her area of expertise until she started in with the paint thing.
Also when I was first setting up my tank last year and was shopping for heat sources, a guy working at petsmart told me it was a silly and I didn't need anything for that, and said he had 3 the size of baseballs at home.

I feel bad for the pets of idiots. They think that since their animals live that they are taking proper care of them. And if they die them oh they weren't supposed to live very long anyway. They don't stop to think that maybe they are doing something wrong.

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The employee at the Petco picked up a lizard to see if it was alive because it was "lying funny" and when he tried to get away she squeezed him.

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She needs to be reported. It's really easy. Here is the number (858) 453-7845. Make sure you get the stores address before you call in. Did you get the name of the female who squeezed the lizard? They will want her name as well. Report every sing of neglect and animal abuse that you've seen. That employee needs to either be trained properly or she needs to be banned from interacting with any of the animals, and that store in general needs to get into trouble.

Yeah. The employees were rude and it seemed they couldn't care less about the customers or their animals. I did not get her name though.

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Note: I don't buy crabs especially from pet stores.

However, I have noticed that the Petco's in my city, Austin, Texas, take excellent care of their crabs. They always have fresh finely chopped produce in the tanks, close to proper heat and humidity, two water dishes and plenty of hiding spots. They don't have a deep substrate, but they really can't because then all of the merchandise would bury and not be found.

Also, I wouldn't call the employees stupid because they don't know or are following protocol taught to them. Not knowing doesn't make one stupid. If that were the case, most all of us would be stupid because most of us started the hobby not knowing. Just saying...

I was mostly calling her her stupid cause she made me mad. She wouldn't let me examine the crabs and she was rude. And she squeezed a poor little lizard.

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And it's not that they don't know that they are stupid. It's that they refuse to learn. Not knowing is fine. A lot of people don't know stuff. It's when you think what you are doing is right and refuse to learn the right way to do it and in the process you are hurting animals. That's what I find stupid.

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NLindsey921 wrote:I was mostly calling her her stupid cause she made me mad. She wouldn't let me examine the crabs and she was rude. And she squeezed a poor little lizard.

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They do not have to let you handle animals. If you were pinched or bitten, it would be a liability, or the animals could be injured by customers.



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Well I bought a dead hermit crab before cause the lady swore she felt it move so I'd much rather examine the hermit crabs myself. Especially when I have to go all the way across town to return it if it does indeed end up dead.

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I am locking this thread.

If you have an issue with the practices of a pet store, I would advise you to write or contact their corporate office.

We do not allow members to call each other names here at HCA; so it is not okay to call nonmembers names, either.

If you choose to contact management or corporate, please make sure you remain calm and polite. Do not attack or become abrasive in your statements.

Provide sources to back up your claims; don't just start screeching at folks that they're doing their jobs wrong.

Also it is a good idea to keep in mind that employees at store level are only allowed to do so much and usually only have the knowledge given them during training.






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