Petco Reliable Dealer?

[Amphibians]

I noticed some people on here have purchased frogs from Petco. Does anyone have an opinion on how their frogs are? I know the other pet stores around me like Petland Discounts are not really to be trusted with amphibians. Any testimonials? thanks.

[Kurt]

It changes from one Petco to the other. Most Petco management, especially those at the corperate level, don't know squat about animals, never mind frogs. Once in a while they do manage to get some talent working for them.

My White's as well as five of my fire-bellies, and three of my tomatoes all came from Petco. The White's and the tomatoes came from the Nashua NH store. Two for the fire-bellies came from the Plaistow, NH store, while the remaining three came from the Woburn, MA store.

[Tom Highum]

It seems like they have habits of misnaming things (sometimes leads to great deals) and giving bad advice (always double check what they say) but as a dealer they seem to do a good job and have healthy animals. The ones near me seem to do a good job with keeping them healthy and keeping there enclosures clean .I have a white's and have had many other things over the years from them and have never had a problem.

[John]

I've never bought an animal from a petco and I don't see myself ever doing so.

[JeffX]

It all depends on the Petco itself and the employees. I have three of them in my area, and it's hit and miss with all of them. The managers will probably have no clue what they're doing as far as Frog care or anything "exotic." Some of the employees will have a great amount of knowledge while others have very little and are Petco-trained which means they probably don't know anything. I worked for a few years at a couple different Petco's, and the mangers and above knew jack about the Reptile Section and that goes for the higher-ups as well. I could never get them to stop feeding mealworms to the Firebellie's and I could never get them to stop ordering so many snakes and jam-packing them into those smaller cages. I did buy my Firebellies, and my Tomato frog at Petco after I stopped working there. They were in great shape when I got them, and still are. I only wish I had bought a second Tomato as they were onsale for 10 dollars.

[Kurt]

I remember that sale, got three of them for the price of one. Not all Petco locations had them.

[SludgeMunkey]

My personal stance on the Big Two Pet Chains:

Touch and Go, especially here in Nebraska, one of the few states that requires certification for pet store employees by law. I suggest to NEVER take anything one of their employees says for granted, nor would I give much weight to their "care sheets".

I have been lucky enough to have lived in quite a few states and these big chain stores are very consistent in their mediocrity.

[1beataway]

I think it's always going to come down to specific locations. The store I work at is great; I know it's not like that all over the US. My upper management know nothing about reptiles/amphibians. But my supervisor is fantastic. And it definitely shows through in our care of the animals.

You know, SludgeMonkey, it might be worth checking out care guides from the major chains and comparing their information.

[scribbles]

It depends on which Petco you are buying from. I have a pair of healthy Fire-Bellied Toads from Hanover, MA Petco. The Petcos around me (Plymouth, MA, Braintree, MA, and Hanover, MA) take better care of some species than others.

[SludgeMunkey]

You know, SludgeMonkey, it might be worth checking out care guides from the major chains and comparing their information.

I have checked them out for many different species of animal. Believe me when I say that most of the sheets are scant in proper information on the care of many of the animals sold.

I agree too that the employee's knowledge and training varies greatly store by store and state by state. Sadly, the bad far outweigh the good at most locations.

My favorite to date is the PetCo care sheet for Pyxies that states feeding is one pinkie mouse per week.

[1beataway]

Just from PetCo or the other major chains as well? That's interesting.

I would definitely like to know what is off. I know when it comes to frogs I can give more information than the caresheets, but I still don't know everything, and I do use the caresheets a lot more for lizards. Can you tell me some of the issues you notice the most?

[SludgeMunkey]

The number one issue with both company's care sheets for amphibians, and many lizards, is dietary suggestions. Recommending meal worms and wax worms as staple diets is bad news all the way around.
The second most common error is temperature and lighting. While I understand the requirements for each species differs greatly; 80 F with a UVB incandescent bulb for amphibians is just too much bad information on one page to bear.
The third and most glaring error to a self proclaimed exotic pet snob like myself is incorrect, misspelled, or missing scientific names. To me this is the worst error of all as it results in complete failure should a novice herptile owner decide to try and research husbandry and care information.

Now in PetCo and PetSmart's defense, there are innumerable momNpop shops that are just as bad if not worse.

Also, I have yet to meet an employee of either store, anywhere in the country that was not eager to learn proper information about the animals in stock. This is one of the very few reasons I frequent both companies here in the Omaha area. (Well, that and I can take my pugs with me and the manager of one of the stores bent over backwards to get the volume products I need but cannot have shipped in winter.)

[1beataway]

The number one issue with both company's care sheets for amphibians, and many lizards, is dietary suggestions. Recommending meal worms and wax worms as staple diets is bad news all the way around.

Yeah. It would be nice if it said that they should only be fed occasionally. I explain that when I sell reptiles and amphibians, but that doesn't mean any pet store employee in the US does.

The second most common error is temperature and lighting. While I understand the requirements for each species differs greatly; 80 F with a UVB incandescent bulb for amphibians is just too much bad information on one page to bear.

I don't recall that on ours but...I'm usually one who says, "The care guides tell you exactly what temperature and humidity they should be kept at." I'll pay attention on this more, and I'll look through the frog ones next time I get a chance.

The third and most glaring error to a self proclaimed exotic pet snob like myself is incorrect, misspelled, or missing scientific names. To me this is the worst error of all as it results in complete failure should a novice herptile owner decide to try and research husbandry and care information.

This would be a lot harder for me to spot just by looking, but I know that I've had trouble trying to find some animals (not just reptiles/amphibians either) by the common name in the store. I'm not sure what I can do in my store, unless I just to do whatever Kurt does (how does he know all those names? It's pretty amazing), but that would include trying to look up every reptile, amphibian, and fish we sell, and then trying to remember all that I found. And, I'm a college student. I have lots more I'm trying to cram into my head.

[Kurt]

This would be a lot harder for me to spot just by looking, but I know that I've had trouble trying to find some animals (not just reptiles/amphibians either) by the common name in the store. I'm not sure what I can do in my store, unless I just to do whatever Kurt does (how does he know all those names? It's pretty amazing), but that would include trying to look up every reptile, amphibian, and fish we sell, and then trying to remember all that I found. And, I'm a college student. I have lots more I'm trying to cram into my head.

Remembering the names is easy. I know several and not just amphibians, but a lot of reptiles, arachnids, fish, some birds, and some mammals. I also try to keep up on the revisions. I used to write a little column in the NEHS newsletter so many years ago on the subject of taxonomic names versus common names. I would give a list of taxonomic names on one page and the common names on another.

Here's an example. See how many you know. The first ten are frogs, the last ten are not.

Lithobates palustris
Ameerega trivittata
Anaxyrus exsul
Litoria subglandulosa
Hyperolius semidiscus
Hylarana erythraea
Kaloula pulchra
Mantella laevigata
Pseudophryne corroboree
Rhacophorus reinwardtii

Dendroaspis polylepis
Hylobates lar
Turdus migratorius
Brachypelma smithi
Babycurus jacksonii
Thorichthys meeki
Crotalus adamanteus
Pan troglodytes
Ailuronyx jubatus
Herpele multiplicata

[1beataway]

Isn't mantella a type of dart? And doesn't the ones beginning with "hyla" mean a sort of treefrog? Litoria sounds a little familiar, but I'm not sure why. That's the best I can do.

Edit. I was thinking Litoria sounded familiar from the White's, and I found out I was right, but I'm not sure what Litoria you have named.

[Kurt]

Isn't mantella a type of dart? And doesn't the ones beginning with "hyla" mean a sort of treefrog? Litoria sounds a little familiar, but I'm not sure why. That's the best I can do.

Mantellas are not darts. They are similar, but they are not darts Depending on the line of taxonomy you follow they are either in the family Ranidae (true frogs) or in their own family, Mantellidae.

"Hyla" on its own would be a genus of treefrogs, like Hyla versicolor, H. arborea, H. gratiosa, and so on. In this case Hylarana erythraea is not a treefrog.

Litoria subglandulosa is a close relative to Litoria caerulea, so your on the right trail.

Let me know when you give up and I will reveal the answers.

[1beataway]

Let me know when you give up and I will reveal the answers.

I had classes, and now work, so I'll work on it when I get home tonight. I hope you don't reveal the answers before then.

[Kurt]

I won't.

[1beataway]

I was tired; so far I have only worked on half the frogs. I was trying to use the roots of the word to figure out what they are. I know that Pseudophryne corroboree is the corroboree frog, and I'm going to guess that Litoria subglandulosa is the white-lip treefrog, because I think that's close to the White's?

Otherwise, here is what else I have:
Lithobates palustris litho-rock bates-one that walks palustris-swampy
So this isn't a frog at all. It's a rock that walks through swampy areas. But...If I had to guess, the best I could guess is that it's a toad.

Ameerega trivittata trivi-three ways
Maybe a happy male frog. Otherwise, I have no idea.
Anaxyrus exsul Anax-king Exsul-to be exiled

An exiled King. Still no help.

Hyperolius semidiscus Hyper-over semidiscus-half circle?
No idea, still.

Hylarana erythraea Hyl-matter or wood rana-frog erythr-red
A red frog who lives in wood? I don't believe that's the name for tomato frog though, so again I'm stumped.

I did find a website for the roots that I really like though. And I'll work on more later.

[Kurt]

Litoria subglandulosa is not the white-lipped treefrog. It is the New England treefrog, a native of the New England area of New South Wales and southern Queensland. The white-lipped treefrog is Litoria infrafrenata.

Lithobates palustris, formerly Rana palustris is the pickerel frog, native to the United States. It very much looks like a leopard frog, but its "spots" are rectangular in shape.

With Ameerega trivittata you were almost on the right track. Ameerega trivittata is the three-striped poison dart frog. Its former name is Epipedobates trivittatus.

You were kind of on the right track with Anaxyrus exsul, the black toad. It's species name, exsul, means exile, referring to its limited distribution in California. Its former genus is Bufo.

Semidiscus does mean half circle and refers to an incomplete throat disc in this reed frog's anatomy. Hyperolius semidiscus is the yellow-striped reed frog.

You would think Hylarana would be the wood frog based on your research, but it is not. The wood frogs's taxonomic name is Lithobates sylvaticus. You were, however, very close with the species name. The common name for Hylarana erythraea is the Asian greenback frog or the red-eared greenback frog. Tomato frogs are of the genus Dyscophus.