General Care Discussion :: pet store turtle displays

[edgerton]

im just wondering to myself... every pet store i have seen turtles in has had the same kind of set up - a little bit of water and lots of land for them to sit and bask on. the water is ussually 2 - 4 inches deep.
from everything i've read on here it is better to give your turtles tons of water and just a little bit of land for them to bask on.
why dont pet stores do it right? its not hard.. plus, i think they would sell more turtles if people got to see them swimming around and 'playing' rather than just sitiin around being lazy

[xsavingsaturdayx]

They would actually lose money,think about.You know how many people would walk away from turtles if they knew how much money it took to care of them.If they see them in a couple inches of water in a tiny bowl,they get the idea "they dont look to hard to take care of" and they often listen to the pet store about turtle care,not knowing any better.I bet you alot of pet stores are aware that their setups are cruel and small,but they dont care because turtles sell,their not in the store long enough to have a correct setup for them.Its all about the money.

[crock1120]

I agree. In the pet stores around here, they have big aquariums with little water and lots of land, with lots of turtles. I have seen as many as 10 turtles in the the same tank with so little water. As xsavingsaturdayx said, the turtles do sell fast. I went back in maybe 5 days later and the tank was empty and they told me all of their turtles have sold. For them it makes sense to spend as little money as possible to care for the turtles when they know they won't be there for long. For us turtle lovers, we see it as cruel.

[Breigh]

I actually have better experiences with pet shops here (in the Netherlands).

Granted, there are some that keep them in not so great conditions... strangely the worst I've seen were in specialized reptile shops.

My two most local pet shops have lovely setups for the turtle hatchlings. One has a 300L corner aquarium completely filled up with a basking area in the back corner, fish, plants etc. The other one has what looks like a 200 L aquarium with everything that is needed as well, even cuttlebone. It makes me so happy when I see pet shops taking such good care.

There are some others that sit somewhere in the middle. Nice big clean aquariums with lots of water and resting areas but no basking / UV lights.