# Petco .. :(



## jknight (Jun 25, 2009)

How often does everyone see Darts at Petco? 

Just saw the first ones I've ever seen at Petco the other day. Made me really sad.. it was 2 or 3 Azureus. Setup didn't look terrible.. but they looked pretty skinny... and couldn't have been more than a couple weeks OTW. 

They were pretty expensive for Azureus.. like 60$ per froglet. I'm feeling guilty for leaving them there.. 

How many of you have bought darts just to "save them" from the store, or any inexperienced keepers with the $ ?

-J


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

jknight said:


> How often does everyone see Darts at Petco?
> 
> Just saw the first ones I've ever seen at Petco the other day. Made me really sad.. it was 2 or 3 Azureus. Setup didn't look terrible.. but they looked pretty skinny... and couldn't have been more than a couple weeks OTW.
> 
> ...


No need to feel guilty about leaving them at the store. Sounds like they may have already been on the decline when you saw them, and if they die, the purchaser is less likely to re-stock them. By not 'saving' them from the shop, you may ultimately save many more frogs from ending up in the same situation.


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## Gibbs.JP (Feb 16, 2016)

Check out this very similar post on someone "saving" a dart from Petco... It makes some good points.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/beginner-discussion/294057-opinions-petco-darts.html


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

Dane said:


> No need to feel guilty about leaving them at the store. Sounds like they may have already been on the decline when you saw them, and if they die, the purchaser is less likely to re-stock them. By not 'saving' them from the shop, you may ultimately save many more frogs from ending up in the same situation.


I think if it were a small retailer, then this strategy would work. But Petco isn't small and they've been selling darts for a few years now. Buying them or not doesn't seem like (to me anyway) it's going to have any impact on a retailer as large as Petco.


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## AbeV (Jul 12, 2015)

There's two Petco's in my area that will occasionally carry darts and mantellas. The darts were tiny, couldn't be much more than a month or two OOW. It was also the same situation, very skinny, underfed frogs with SMALL crickets(not pinheads) in there with them. It was actually pretty sad.


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## jknight (Jun 25, 2009)

Dane said:


> No need to feel guilty about leaving them at the store. Sounds like they may have already been on the decline when you saw them, and if they die, the purchaser is less likely to re-stock them. By not 'saving' them from the shop, you may ultimately save many more frogs from ending up in the same situation.


Never thought of it like that.. and I see your point. Guess I was thinking with my heart rather than my brain.



Gibbs.JP said:


> Check out this very similar post on someone "saving" a dart from Petco... It makes some good points.
> 
> http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/beginner-discussion/294057-opinions-petco-darts.html


I didn't realize this was such a well documented topic on the board.. Should have remembered to do a search.


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## Ginja (Mar 9, 2015)

I know a thing or two about this. I started the thread that was linked earlier in this thread. My frog was really skinny when I got him but I saw him in the store when getting some treats for my pup and I had been planning on getting a dart frog for over a year and had everything set up to do so. I decided to buy a powder blue tinc from my local petco and he was super skinny. I ended up contacting petco to try and find out the lineage of my frog to make sure I didn't inadvertently support a supplier who breeds hybrids and they did end up calling me personally but I didn't get a straight answer except for an assurance that my frog wasn't a hybrid. I don't regret my decision but I also won't be buying another frog from petco. I would much rather buy from people on this forum and support this hobby in the most responsible manner possible instead of just giving petco more money.


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## Calebrh (Jun 7, 2016)

I've never seen poison frogs for sale there. That is a bit ridiculous sounding to me (not that I don't believe you, I do, I just can't believe them haha). Sounds pretty typical of their usual care and up keep of their reptiles, amphibians, and fish. I'm not surprised in the least.


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## jknight (Jun 25, 2009)

I am going to be emailing the manager of the store an who ever else I can get ahold of. I went back today. Makes me sick..

Temp was over 85 degrees. humidity less than 80%. No leaf litter. LARGE water dish, and deep as well. 

The dumb kid working there was handling the froglet. I go up to him. "what are you doing!? You're just stressing the poor frog even more"

He gives me a smirky attitude. Says " he likes to be held" .

I walked out before I completely blew up on the Kid.


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## hp192 (Feb 28, 2016)

My local store received a bunch for the first time a few months ago. I spent about an hour talking about their care with the employees. They had been trying to feed the Juvi tincs with crickets. Top of the cage was open...no humidity inside. I felt pretty bad for those frogs. The employees remarked that they had received absolutely no care tips prior to receiving them.


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## Stryker (Nov 7, 2016)

I feel that it is our job to educate those people that obviously unknowledgeable. In todays world we have the means to show that we are true hobbyist and that we know what we are talking about. For example most mentioned that they see them trying to feed crickets to the darts. Well at my local Petco no dart frogs but I have seen them selling fruit flies in small vials. Simply saying to the manager "You know they would eat better if you fed them fruit flies and kept their humidity up by placing a solid cover and misting them would help."

A local pet store did have Lucs and though expensive the owner was very happy when I questioned him and then gave him advise as to how is darts would be happier and how his customers could benefit from my knowledge.

So if you talk to the manager at Petco, leave them your name and number. Tell them that you keep dart frogs and show them pictures of your thriving dart frogs and tell them that if they need advise or a customer need advise to call you. We should be more than just hobbyist, we should be educators.


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## froggy_skibum (Aug 10, 2013)

When I working for Petco back in college it wasn't unusual for us to get random shipments of promotional animals we didn't order when ever Petco got a good deal on something corporate thought we could sell. Usually there would be an email notice a month or two prior and a shipment of a new line of cages, but the message rarely got passed on from management


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## Denny (Jul 1, 2016)

I don't think petco should sell any animals personally. There animals are always in bad health overpriced and the employees give bad info. This might not be all the Petcos but in my area this is the case. I buy from local small business or online and find this to be a much better networking and overall a lot more rewarding in the hobny


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## Alan (Jan 12, 2005)

I've never seen them - and hope not to.

Don't buy them.


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## The Drunken Gnome (Dec 10, 2016)

I really would love to see under knowledgeable big box stores stop selling exotics and stick to dog food!


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## eek_420 (Jun 27, 2016)

if they are going to sell them they need to know how to properly care for them I hate you go in to a store that's selling animals and you see something you might want to get and look in to the care for it and the way they have been caring for is completely wrong I've seen frogs at petco where the humidity was around 40percent and told them they needed to raise it up and got told we spray them down in the morning and at night so I asked what about the middle of the day too cause those little ones need the moist air to breath


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## Geckomander (Jan 8, 2013)

In what states/cities have you guys been seeing petco (or possibly petsmart) selling dart frogs? Fortunately, our local petsmart doesn't sell them and I haven't seen them at the few other petco's that I have been to in the state. I'm curious if it is a regional thing, or completely random.


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## Krakkin (Jul 1, 2013)

I saw some azureas in a petco here in Colorado a couple of years ago, think they had 2 or 3 of them. Every time I was in there (they were there for 4 or 5 months) they looked fairly well taken care of and healthy. Turned out they had a guy who knew what he was doing but even he didn't think they should be there when I talked to him. I've never seen them again after that though in any petco or petsmart


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## Marcello (Dec 3, 2016)

Petsmart is the popular chain in my area and fortunately I haven't seen any dart frogs.


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