Exactly, I've worked in petstores, and while they aren't the most ideal place to get pets, the ones I chose to work for (no puppies, no kittens), all insisted you learn all you could about the proper care of the animal, that you'd be able to be asked about any animal we carried and reply with the correct answers, and that we were to refuse sales to people who seemed to not be willing to make sure the animal they bought would have a proper set up.

I always tended to be the reptile person, and so many people just don't seem to understand that yes, the initial set up can be costly, but if you set an animal up right from the start, most are fairly simple to keep up with.

Not enough people research before they buy. I had been commenting to a friend I had a reptile setup I had been wanting to fill, but I knew I was best prepared for a tropical reptile, and I kept being offered desert ones. I love them, but what I had was more for a higher humidity pet, especially where I had in mind.

So I guess it was just fate that dropped the little, sick Argentinian Horned Frog into my lap! But, before I took her from the customers, I already knew what the care was for a healthy one, because I had a male years ago who I absolutely cherished.

The problem is I feel, that too many petstores aren't like the ones I've worked for, where people just want to make sales, especially the ones where they work on commission! Not enough really school their employees on care, and people just don't realize that when they walk into a store. So many people mean well, and think that they can come in and talk to an employee- and get all the answers they need, and that SHOULD be the case, but sadly it's not in many places.

I feel for those people, who are trying to make a responsible, informed decision, but don't know enough on how the petstore trade is run to know what to look out for. Personally, to test the knowledge of a place, I'll go in and ask questions of something I know about really well, before I ask about something I don't (say, saltwater fish), but then I go home and use those answers as a starting point for research! Sometimes you need to have a touch of information, before you can really research it well yourself.

Sometimes it just makes me angry that this even needs to be an issue...