Damn Petshops!

Hi all,

More of a rant from me here than anything

The other day I went down to one of my local petshops to grab some emergency crix and check the price of their Exo-terra Nanos as I'm after a few. I'd not been down to this particular shop in years as it doesn't have a good reputation and we have some pretty decent, proper reptile shops about.

Anyway they had an Emperor scorpion, that for obvious reasons caught my eye straight away. For starters they had this poor Emp on a spread of bone dry coco fibre and 2mm thick!! I was instantly annoyed. Then I notice the water bowl, filled with BUG GEL!! That just got me more enraged. The tank had no lid on it, so even if there was a single drop of water in there it would have evaporated straight away, so much for humidity. Not to mention the light directly above the tank.

It was up for sale for £30 quid and written on the tank it says " buy the tank and get the scorpion for free due to old age". I thought to myself, how the hell do you know how old it is? There's not a chance you raised it from young which would be the only way. More like it's been sitting in the shop for an age and you want to get rid of it!!

So I ended up making myself walk out, there and then, before I said some things I regretted. Now it's been playing on my mind ever since.

So I put it to you, my fellow scorpion lovers, what would you have done or what would do? Should I have politely informed the shop keeper how to properly care for a scorp, if you met this woman you would know it would go in one ear and out the other. Should I have rescued the scorp, gaving her £30 quid for keeping the animal in poor conditions and for it to no doubt be replaced by another one in the same poor conditions. Ring RSPCA, will they even be bothered about a bug?

Basically I don't think there's much that can be done, it's just a big shame

Dude that is some messeed up stuff! lol if it was me i would have told her off, but that is just me.But honestly its kinda like you cant save every scorp you just have to hope someone will buy it and take good care of it.

Thats to bad! i wish there were places to buy scorpions in arizona, but i wouldve given her scorpion class 101!

Actually Jay, what you did by walking out is right. There is no point arguing with an idiot. They might be thinking " Why bother listening to this dude, i'm sure another kid will pick up my scorpions for sure..."

Yes, some of the kind hobbyist might buy the scorpion out of goodwill or lacking in knowledge on proper scorpion care.. and true enough, the shop will get a replacement for that "shabby lodge" in no time.

I suppose one of the way is to influence the mentality of the shop owners. If everyone does NOT buy scorps when they are in the "wrong and poorly setup tank", the shop owners might be "forced" to find out why... and hopefully, come to an understanding that it does not take a great deal of effort to set things up right for a forest scorpion!

You got the right idea about telling her. Whatever you do, don't just buy the scorp and walk out without saying anything. You're just encouraging them to get more in. Sadly there isn't much you can do as an individual, unless you wanna start a petition to them. Hell, I'd sign it ;-)




Edit: Posted as I did, lol. Ditto marks to what GS said

Thanks for all the replies guys!

I feel the same, that if I give in and buy that scorp, there will just be another one in it's place and that won't do. No way am I giving her £30 for treating a scorp like that. Your right GS, as much as I want someone to buy that scorp and care for it properly, I more want it to not sell so the shop doesn't get any more in.

I mean come on, you only have to read the very first emperor scorpion care sheet to pop up on google to know how they're keeping it is all wrong. They're not exactly hard to look after, just basic requirements by the scorp like drinkable water and moist substrate. The poor thing looked emaciated.

I feel in this day and age petshops need to at least read a basic care sheet about what they are keeping/selling. You'd think this would be basic common knowledge to them.

This shop is the kind of shop that tries to do everything. Jack of all trades master of none. They've got from fish, mammals, parrots, reptiles to puppies all in a tiny shop, not selling all the right stuff to look after all these animals. Like the reptiles, they have beardies but don't sell UV lights!

The annoying thing is all these adult WC emps need to be being used for breeding now that Emps are on cities and not being collected anymore. That scorp could be producing CB young, such a waste.

JamieLavrence wrote:

The annoying thing is all these adult WC emps need to be being used for breeding now that Emps are on cities and not being collected anymore.

The sad thing is that although they've been on cites for a while, they're still being collected and smuggled over to europe and US.

Back to the original topic, I agree with GS and you on buying, talking etc.
The only thing that will stop these cases, is if nobody buys that animals from that kind of dealers. Unfortunaly, somebody always ends up buying them.

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Should I have politely informed the shop keeper how to properly care for a scorp,

Absolutely, and if she was as complacent as you said i'm not sure she should deserve the "polite" aspect..

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Basically I don't think there's much that can be done, it's just a big shame Sad

Defeatism Jamie...which i bet is the last thing on your mind after a 14 day baiting campaign resulting in that much anticipated bend in the rod....why let it take over now?
Why not go back to the shop with a care sheet in hand and try and correct her ignorance...if she started getting stroppy or dismissive you could always let her know how you intend to name and shame her on whatever public animal forum you can find.....I'm not saying that'd help in any way but at least you would have stuck your neck out for something you believe in..at least you would have tried..

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come on, you only have to read the very first emperor scorpion care sheet to pop up on google to know how they're keeping it is all wrong.

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If everyone does NOT buy scorps when they are in the "wrong and poorly setup tank"

The thing is...these types of animal dealers are quite often fully aware of how to keep emps...maybe initially many of them had kept them correctly...trouble is though...an emp in it's correct environment is an invisible emp...Imagine having to dig it out every time some punter or the other was interested in buying it....Those same dealers have probably also discovered that emps are very hardy animals and can tolerate quite adverse conditions compared to what it should have and for lengthy periods to boot...
We as scorpion keepers are obviously enraged by dealers that keep their scorpions under incorrect conditions but the truth is....almost all animals for sale are kept under incorrect or stressful conditions on way or another...just the fact that there's humans walking by them all day with bright glaring lights and noise is enough to stress many animals..Then you have 50 rabbits or guinea pigs to a small cage/enclosure..dozens of canaries and zebra finches relegated to all sit on 2 or 3 bamboo twigs in a 2 by 2 meter cage or a thousand small carp in a 1 by 1 meter tank........the list is endless.

The only way any of this trade in "misconduct" can be stopped is if we the punters stop buying them...and quite honestly, that's never going to happen..
You and I can say.."Right, i'm never going to shop there because they keep a particular animal that i have an affinity for under incorrect conditions"...and you and i can be adamant about it.....thing is though, you and i are the minority.....the majority of people that buy animals either know very little about them, buy them on impulse, buy them to replace one that has died, buy them because a friend has one, have no other shop in their vicinity or simply just don't care..they want this or that animal and that's that.....most knowledge comes first after the experience!

If only every person that had walked away from a pet store with a grievance or misgiving actually said something about it to the owner/s then maybe things might actually change...trouble is though...the majority will shy away from those types of conflicts and while an occasional person might stand up to be counted, they are usually few and far between..

Cheers for the insight Den and you speak the truth.

Maybe I should go back and say something, even just about the bug gel and advise her to use water that they can actually drink, that's the main issue I suppose. I won't be caresheet in hand though