Other Turtle Discussion :: Bad shop

[kaimarion]

Well I went to Prestwick today to look for aquariums and the Woman (very nice person) told me to check in the back room where all the fish where , anyway I went and looked at the fish and 1 jumped out of the water so I had to go get the guy so he could put it back in the correct tank then I asked if he had any RES then he showed me a 20 gallon tank with:
1 (4) Female
1 (2) baby
1 (1.5) baby

The water was unclean and the 2 baby RES both had some kind of shell problem (half the shell was white?) and the female looked healthy , the guy offered me the baby turtles for £25 for the both of them.

I will be getting my aquarium from them but I am very unpleased on how they treat there turtles I want to do something about it but what can I do.

[DavidY]

Don't buy your aquarium from them and tell them why. If you give them your business you will be supporting their practice.

[untsmurf]

Yeah, people are constantly trying to rescue sick animals from pet stores, and they don't realize that you are funding this company and they are just going to replace your sick animal with another one. If you don't think it is a good company then do your business elsewhere. I'd rather pay a few dollars more and support a good company.

[kaimarion]

The problem is its not just a few dollars more its £70 about $140 more.
They have some reptiles that are healthy its just the turtles that are the problem there , the women that works there is a good person but it is her husband (not nice person) that seems to care little.

I just want to know how I can get them to raise the standards for their turtles , just letting them conyinue like this is wrong I need to do something but what?

I found a good local breeder and I am going to go see him tomorrow about his RES , I found out about him from a very helpful petshop(nice person) worker , the shop she worked in was pretty big and the fish tanks were very clean so I trust what she told me

I don't mind forking out £25 about $50 for a RES that is Healthy.

[DavidY]

You could try going back there and asking them why their turtles look so sick compared to others that you've seen. They may take offense but at least you'll get your message across. Also tell them about this website to get some more info on how to properly care for their turtles.

[kaimarion]

I'll do that next time I go near there but there is no way in hell am sayin it to the guy cause I know he will go mental so I will have to talk to his wife who is a more understanding person.

Local reptile owners cannot afford to lose this shop since there are no other reptile shops any where near , so getting animal protecting to warn them could have a bad outcome , I personaly won't need to shop there but other folk depend on it for food and other supplies so this is a kind of sticky one.

I could find the breeder that sells them the turtles and warn him but that would be very difficult and a last result.

[DavidY]

I see your dilemma. Well, it's a good thing that the rest of their animals are well cared for, right? Maybe they got their turtles from a bad distributor. From what I understand, some pet stores don't provide their turtles with adequate housing because they expect to move them out quickly. That's not excuse though for keeping any animal in unhealthy conditions.

[kaimarion]

The snakes and lizards are in clean small/normal sized tanks , the rabbits and hammsters looked healthy its just the fish part was below par and the turtles very below par.

I decided today I am not going to get the aquarium from them.

I have came up with a slight problem today the only place where I can get a RES in scotland is there (bad shop) they had a female (4) RES that looked to have no problems but if I got her they would just get another one , my other optoin would be get a yellow bellied slider but I have no info on them or are they just the same as RES?

thanx

[adam85491]

Well when you notice the small animals like rats and such you realize that they are also in small cages and sub-par conditions. It's easier to spot a dirty turtle habitat because of how messy they are-even if you didn't know the proper care. They get away with it because it is a temporary home or something-at least that is what one of the employees at Petco said when asked about their filtration for fish (he was actually experienced and knew his stuff).

[kmichael55]

yes, YBS care is the same as RES

[turboturtle8]

what about cooters??

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Same..pretty much all sliders require the same care.

[Tenodera]

what about cooters??

Basically the same care, although they're a bit more picky about water conditions. They also prefer fast flowing water.

I based Serra's care on the info on this site and she's VERY healthy!

[turboturtle8]

Thats intresting

[kaimarion]

Well I am going to the shop tomorrow and am taking a camera with me so I can take a pic of the turtles but the fun part is I can't let the shop owner see me take any pictures so am going to have to go all sneaky like on there [-----] .