petco and petsmart

[matt palm]

thinking about going to apply at petsmart or petco which one do you guys think is better or should i just go to a local shop

[Deac77]

Well I work at Petsmart haha so I'm biased either one can always use people to help teach about herps

[matt palm]

yeah i would really love to work in the reptile section plus the discounts would be awsome but the only thing is that its about 20 min away with minor traffic how is the work enviorment and the discounts and stuff fill me in

[Deac77]

Well it's all going to depend on the store and what your pet care manager is like its ALOT of cleaning bout 90% of the job is scrubbing fish tanks lol but it's well with it for 15% off EVERYTHING lol at my store im the "reptile guy" so I get free rain to do what ever I want with the reptiles and frogs along with teaching the new hires about herps. From what happens at my store of your diligent and show that you know what your doing and can make the habitats safe for the animals and still match p&p ( Petsmart standards for animal care) then its a great job and really fun I lie teaching people about reptiles and just recently truly got into amphibians so the job is all fun a lot of the time it doesn't even feel like work that being said idk where you live or who any of your managers are so it could be completely different

[matt palm]

it sounds alright haha do you get a lot of idiots in and ask the dumbest questions becasue right now i work at a marina and you should see all the people who think they can drive boats but any ways im really interested in amphibians and turtles but im not really all that well versed i mean i know some stuff but deff not enough to have your job

[Deac77]

Haha all my info I've learned is bc I'm a herp freak and yea I get some dumb questions but the best part is I have a choice if I want to sell the animal to the person or not according to P&P at Petsmart the animals are considered our pets not stock and we have the right to refuse the sell of we feel the animal will be in harm as in not idiots or feeders as for how I learned so much I troll these forums here and beardeddragon.org to learn all I can an any other forum I can find I also research most herps on my downtime my main job is weekends at the hospital at nights so 3days a week and 1day at Petsmart (I was a manager there but this pays more) ask questions and learn honestly most herps have the same basic needs just varying degrees of those needs temp,UVB,food,calcium supplement after you get those down it's just learning the specific numbers and habitat styles and size

[matt palm]

where are you from? i mainly focus right now on tree frogs, toads, pacmans, turtles, and some fish im not to big of a fan of snakes though

[Deac77]

I'm from Texas haha and I just focus on reptiles in general the whole herpetologist thing is a constant learning game because we are constantly learning new things for instance did you know it was recently discovered that the Komodo dragon is actually venomous it's a very mild venom but up until 2-3 years ago the gila monsters and beaded lizards where the only venomous ones hehe focus on what you like and keep researching it then over exaggerate what during your interview because your going to learn more Id you stay interested even of you just know the basics for fish and herps you'll be a step ahead of most people and be very helpful you'd be surprised how rewarding a job like Petsmart can be although some people will just piss you off when they tell you your completely wrong and they know it all haha

[matt palm]

i knew the saliva is the venoumous part and there is so much bacteria that it basically kills their prey slowly but they follow their meal until it sucumbs to venom and bacteria hahah thanks animal planet but yeah i get that all the time now and i just want to tell them to do my job and see how far they get if they know everything

[Deac77]

Yup haha and actually it's is the bacteria but they have actual venom ducts the bacteria just kills you faster :-P if you love animals and like teaching people go for it being a good salesman comes with being able to teach people how and what would accommodate their life style other than just what looks cool haha

[Katniss Everdeen]

Well, Some people say petsmart treats there animals badly, I think petco is cleaner that petsmart also
petsmart is farther away from me. A local shop may be better cleaner, not just out for money, know about
animals better, are nice!I am looking to get a job a petstore for the summer ! And i would pick local oe petco!

[Deac77]

At my store I can assure you there is no mistreatment of animals even that site that PETA made about us abusing animals is all staged those pictures are from a store where a PETA employee staged that on Petsmarts website there is a letter that PETA sent to corporate saying they would continue if Petsmart didn't start refusing to sell all animals at my store if a animal so much as sneezes from black pepper it is taken to the vet instantly lol also every habitat is cleaned at least once a week and sterilized with a animal safe cleaner I do the cleaning I'd say we are not dirty lol

[matt palm]

I would say id go to my local pet store but they mainly focus on dogs and other mammals which im not really interested and also the petco by me is much cleaner and more organzied than the local pet store plus they have much more of a variety of reptiles and amphibians