Illegal slider market

[turtlepunk]

It makes me so angry that those disgusting vendors are STILL allowed to sell those baby red eared sliders!
Here in California you can STILL find them at a fair or carnival or "chinatown" or different places in LA.
This weekend I will be obtaining or more like RESCUING 2 red eared sliders from an acquaintance from high school. She just recently contacted me about taking two sick baby sliders off her hands that she had purchased from chinatown and no longer wanted.
she sent me some pictures of them. They are no longer quarter sized but they are still under 4" AND STILL IN THAT DAMN PLASTIC CONTAINER with nothing but an inch of water and absolutely no source of heat or rays. No wonder they are suffering from soft shell syndrome.
It pisses me off that those vendors are still selling them.
It pisses me off that IGNORANT people buy them without caring or being told how much MAINTENANCE and CARE they REALLY need!
BUT
I admit that I was once the same ignorant little girl who made my parents purchase two sliders from one of these vendors.
I remember the vender saying NOTHING about the care and maintenance of them!
I remember them even telling me to feed them lettuce and to KEEP THEM OUT OF THE SUN?!?!?!
WHAT!!
But at least I cared enough to actually research them when i got home! my parents FLIPPED as soon as they found out how much money would be needed to be put into the PROPER CARE of them!
But i had these two turtles. and i was DETERMINED to keep them alive.
so the next day... shopping spree at a local pet shop.
200 bucks later...........
ugh it just sickens me to think about HOW MANY of those little sliders die..................
ok.END OF RANT

 

[toxxxickitten]

Aww, I feel your pain. It's because they are so cheap to buy in the first place and because "they are cute." that people want them when they don't realize the care that actually goes into them to keep them properly. It's kind of the same way with Green Iguanas. I've wanted one for some time, but have yet to get one because I know I couldn't properly house one.

 

[hanniebann]

when i lived in Stockton, Ca they were selling them for $15 each, or 2 for $25 in the smallest kritter keeper that exists, with a plastic palm tree, cold water and a baggie of Betta fish food... I worked at a local pet store and would get people coming in going, "What do I need to buy for it? O, that's WAY more than I want to spend on it... It's lived just fine without that for a year, it's still active." It made me so sad to see these people condemn these poor babies to death because they're impulse buyers and don't know what they're getting themselves into. The lucky turtles go to either pet owners like us who rescue them and give them good care, or into the wild, where they become an invasive species...

I've obtained a total of 3 baby turtles as rescues so far, all of which I had to convince their owners to give up. One had lockjaw, a paper-thin shell and wouldn't open its eyes. It died before I even left work that day :''[ The other two I got as a pair, one was missing an eye and was dying from some sort of internal infection, who kept fairly stable and started to eat after a few days and the other somehow pulled through really well... When I moved, I gave the pair to East Bay Vivarium, where I knew they would get quality care.

Though I only had a 33% success rate rate with these poor guys, I'd try and rescue 100 more if I could. Unfortunately people are selfish and ignorant. So all we can do is educate the people around us, and take even better care of our animals. I've made it a point to NEVER support people buying from stores like Petco and Petsmart, or any "big box" place. Because a good deal of the time the animals are just numbers to them. I've worked there for years, all the animals sent to us were on auto replenish, and came in in the worst conditions. It made me sad when baby bearded dragons would often die in your hands while seizing; just days after we would receive them into the store. Is that from inbreeding? Malnourishment? Some would just wither away and die after a day or two after arrival from bacterial infections.

Make it a point to support breeders like Bobby, who breed only for what he has a demand for, with care, and with a good heart :] Get to know them, if they give you the time of day and give you good advice, they're worth giving money to :]

>>If you actually read all of the way through that without cursing me-- I love you. lol.

 

[turtlepunk]

when i lived in Stockton, Ca they were selling them for $15 each, or 2 for $25 in the smallest kritter keeper that exists, with a plastic palm tree, cold water and a baggie of Betta fish food... I worked at a local pet store and would get people coming in going, "What do I need to buy for it? O, that's WAY more than I want to spend on it... It's lived just fine without that for a year, it's still active." It made me so sad to see these people condemn these poor babies to death because they're impulse buyers and don't know what they're getting themselves into. The lucky turtles go to either pet owners like us who rescue them and give them good care, or into the wild, where they become an invasive species...

I've obtained a total of 3 baby turtles as rescues so far, all of which I had to convince their owners to give up. One had lockjaw, a paper-thin shell and wouldn't open its eyes. It died before I even left work that day :''[ The other two I got as a pair, one was missing an eye and was dying from some sort of internal infection, who kept fairly stable and started to eat after a few days and the other somehow pulled through really well... When I moved, I gave the pair to East Bay Vivarium, where I knew they would get quality care.

Though I only had a 33% success rate rate with these poor guys, I'd try and rescue 100 more if I could. Unfortunately people are selfish and ignorant. So all we can do is educate the people around us, and take even better care of our animals. I've made it a point to NEVER support people buying from stores like Petco and Petsmart, or any "big box" place. Because a good deal of the time the animals are just numbers to them. I've worked there for years, all the animals sent to us were on auto replenish, and came in in the worst conditions. It made me sad when baby bearded dragons would often die in your hands while seizing; just days after we would receive them into the store. Is that from inbreeding? Malnourishment? Some would just wither away and die after a day or two after arrival from bacterial infections.

Make it a point to support breeders like Bobby, who breed only for what he has a demand for, with care, and with a good heart :] Get to know them, if they give you the time of day and give you good advice, they're worth giving money to :]

>>If you actually read all of the way through that without cursing me-- I love you. lol.

i really do wish we could rescue them all! =(
that petsmart story is so sad =( I watched an undercover video I found on youtube on a HUUUGE petsmart animal breeding warehouse. it was AWEFUL!! reptiles were left without light in heat. there was actually no lighting in there at all! in one part of the video (the most disturbing of all) an escaped hamster was climbing over the feet of one of the so called "workers"
instead of actually having to bend over to pick it up what did he do instead? he STOMPED on it to kill it!!
ugh!! how does petsmart not lose their license to keep animals?
how does any big corporate pet store not lose their license?
=(

 

[White_Lotus]

Its not just sliders man its ALL reptiles!! I found my chacoan tegu AT A PET STORE!!!!!!!! Bobby and i talked for about a week about her, when i got ahold of her she was AGGRESSIVE, not defensive...AGGRESSIVE. Come near her cage she was tail whipping, hissing, biting, shooting poop and piss at you. I mean she hated ALL people. And i understand why, she was underfed PURPOSEFULLY because they couldnt keep up with her appetite, they needed her to stay small, and as a result she was pissed off, kids would pull on her tail and poke her while she was hiding, instead of installing a damn lock they just leave it open for any idiot in the world to mess with her! I had to buy her, i mean she's freaking VARNYARD stock and is being treated like a kids toy. I bought 2 lbs of turkey kept her full for a week 4 DOLLARS TO KEEP HER HAPPY for a WEEK! 4 DOLLARS! They couldnt afford 4 DOLLARS they were feeding her mice ALL THE TIME said it costed them 10 bucks a week to feed her and she was still hungry. I love tegus more than any other animal anywhere. I own 3 and i'm looking into another one and to see someone knowingly starve a tegu and let it be harrassed by people who are even more ignorant than they are THEN BLAME THE TEGU for its "bad behaviour" is enough to get me banned for inappropriate language use. Then there was her cage....the 30 gal long fish tank for the 2ft tegu, on guinea pig bedding, with an EMPTY water dish that she hid under, the strip light they i know wasnt doing anything because IT WAS ON THE OUTSIDE OF HE CAGE!!! Who was the genius that put the uvb light on the outside of the glass side...not even on top of the cage..

...man it hurt to write that...
I love that tegu i have a section with her in it somewhere round here she's my success story, strong little Gu.

I went to a family petshop in the inner city area of where i live...the guy had 4 sliders in a tank had em all for sale 20 each...upon further investigationg 3 of thm where dead. One was laying in the far corner hiding from everything...i've seen healthy ones and they are rather active so i could only wander what had him so shocked that he just hid in the corner all the time. I'm kind of glad i dont see them anywhere anymore, there were always like 30 of em in 1 tank that had to much stuff in it.

I'm gonna end this rant before it turns into a mindless ramble

 

[Moondust]

I see it happen to all reptiles. No one cares to put the research into an animal. And doesnt know what time and effort reptiles need. I work for petsmart, and it akes me so sad that these people come in here and dont even research the animal. I had a guy want to buy a bearded dragon for his son. He had a ten gallon set up, I asked if he read anything about them. He said no. His son just wanted a lizard. I was like, well alright but these lizards have the ability to get up to 2 feet long. And he was like, oh oh, nevermind. What else you got? I showed him anoles (easy for a 7 year old to take care of as their very hardy lizards) and the rotten brat was like 'no no, thats stupid.' So, even though I had told the man REPEATEDLY to go home and research and make sure he was certain he wanted this animal (as they decided on a leopard gecko since it stayed small). I told him they were alot of work, even though it was a beginner lizard.

So I start to tell him of having to dust crickets a couple times a week with calcium and he looks at me with this stupid ass blank look and goes "It eats crickets? Does it have to?" .....yes, it has to. So he kind of rolle dhis eyes and let out a breath and bought some crickets. i told him he had to feed it everyday, and the man went "ummm everyday?"....yes, everyday, like you would a cat or dog.

Then he turns to his SEVEN YEAR OLD SON and goes "Are you listening to everything shes saying? Becuase your taking care of it, not me." Like a seven year old can take care of this lizard without your help...pffft...it makes me sick. Then he asked the most idiotic question I've ever heard. "What do I do with it if we go on vacation?" ....Have someone take care of it like you would a cat or dog...its your pet....not a stuffed animal....then he was like "Can I put it in a carrier and bring it with us?" No no, he needs his heat pad and proper temperatures or he wont be able to digest. So, he looks at me again. "Oh...so what do i do if I go on vacation?"

Really man,do you frequently take these popped out your ass vacations or are you being ignorant on purpose?

God. People are so stupid.

 

[james.w]

I agree it is all reptiles, look at the fact that you can buy a nile monitor for as low as $20, and a water monitor for as low as $75. These things get huge, can kill you and are very expensive to keep.

 

[hanniebann]

I think people should have to take an IQ test, or have a special license to do a lot of things. One is owning ANY animal, the rest I'll keep to my self. lol. But anyways, it is too bad that because of these ignorant people, and swindlers in the pet trade that animals die of poor care.

 

[turtlepunk]

I think people should have to take an IQ test, or have a special license to do a lot of things. One is owning ANY animal, the rest I'll keep to my self. lol. But anyways, it is too bad that because of these ignorant people, and swindlers in the pet trade that animals die of poor care.

hey! thats a good idea! I really wish it could be put into action! =/

 

[hanniebann]

we should totally petition, we'd get hundreds of thousands of signatures... ;] can you do an online petition??? serious!!

 

[Rhetoric]

i felt the same way when i saw savy's at petco. no sign saying how large they really get.. their temps were 80* so sad i wanted to 'save' one but my dad had to remind me they would just order

---

more.. i still would like another savy though! lol