Stupid freakin' pet stores!!!

You know, I need to rant to someone and you guys are probably the only people that will understand my complete and utter FRUSTRATION when it comes to pet store staff.

All I wanted were live bloodworms. (which, by the way, I never GOT because some truck delivery guy forgot to take them off of his truck. grr)

And the aquatics/amphibian "specialist" lady wanted to know what I was taking care of... you know, just out of curiosity. So I told her and we got into a discussion about the habitat and how excited I was to be a new owner.

Do you know that wretched woman got in an argument with me about my substrate. She was TRYING to get me to buy *gravel*... insisting that the sand (that *everyone* here very strongly recommends from personal experience)was going to compact my new friend's bowls...

like eating large chunks of gravel wouldn't?!?!?!

ugh. and then she wanted me to buy shrimp pellets. *pellets* to feed my axie. -=headdesk=- I was incredibly calm, but she just wouldn't let this go... So is there really danger of sand hurting my axie too? I don't know... I DO know that since I've put him in a new holding tank (for while I change my substrate) I've already found little pieces of gravel from his previous owner's tank.

The reason I like forums, is because you get information from people that have DONE IT. Tried and true, right?

any other 'frustrated-with-staff-who-don't-know-a-thing' stories?

ps: BIG thanks to everyone on this forum for helping me make some key decisions regarding the best interests of Allegro!

Zuko, sand is much less likely to cause impaction than gravel. The smaller particles will pass through much easier than large gravel pieces.

Pellets aren't a bad food, as long as they're not used exclusively (at least, certain pellets). Some animals won't eat them, though, as they don't wiggle like worms.

Pet stores usually don't know much. It's rare to find one that's worth its' salt when it comes to amphibians.

I agree with Kaysie. Always check here before you trust the pet shops says. Just so you know he can keep passing the gravel for a year or more.

so I've read here, at any rate. Honestly, if I hadn't checked here before going to the store, I probably would've done exactly what she said.

I guess the main reason why I'm so irritated is because this isn't a regular pet store... they claim to specialize in reptiles, amphibians, and aquatics. But thanks anyway.

Did the store have axolotls?

I know what your saying Zuko, i just went into the pet store i got one of my axies from asking if they did water tests.
he asked what i was taking care of and i told him im cycling a tank for my axies. he then looked at me strangely and said i shouldn't need to cycle it if its freshwater, only if its tropical, and in his words he "just pours tap water in, put some water conditioning in it and then loads it up with the fish"!!!
he also said if im using gravel, which im not anymore thanks to all on this forum, then i futher should have no need to cycle a tank.
what??!!!
and the only reason i have to cycle a new tank is because of the misinformation given to me because of his store!!
thanks for letting me blow off some steam!
its sad to think this is the only fish/pet store in my city.

Here in Yeppoon AUS. there is a shop about half an hour away in Rockhampton called PJ's Pet barn. I got my first axie from there and they were giving gravel and meal worms to me. The second time i went there they were giving earthworms and saying sand is better. I don't know where they got their info from but i'm glad they got it. I'm getting an albino from there in a few weeks as they always sell healthy ones. They are always in a tank with just themselves (no fish etc). And if any are sick they put them in a tank by itself and treat it.

They are really good.

Hi Ellejay, which part of the country are you from? You can pretty much buy things alot cheaper online than at the petstore.

If they don't do the tests, you can get some master test kits online cheaper (which include tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH low and high) for about $45-$55; whereas at the petstores they cost about $65-$75) If you can only afford one get the ammonia test kit to start, they're start at $18.95 at the petshop.

Gosh wonder where he gets his information on cycling from. Tell him he should check some of the aquarium clubs as they'll certainly tell him cycling should be done on all tanks = freshwater and tropical.

We are from Wanganui, yeah we are looking at some of the master test kits on Trademe, we are gonna get one soon.

His reasoning only cycling tropical is because of the coral when you put it in, because it used to be a dead animal. This is coming from a petstore that "specialises" in aquatics...

It makes me so angry because we didn't know about this site when we bought the axolotls (it was kind of a spur of the moment decision lol, but so happy we did!) and we basically wasted all the money we spent other than for our little baby! It worries us because its the only pet store in Wanganui and we wonder how many people are in the same situation as us.

If it wasn't for this site our little Poco would probably be dead!

No, sad to say but the majority of petstores are like that! The 2 I visit have gotten used to me popping in and checking on the axies, especially my comments to remove the gravel, and the amount of times I've given Caudata and axolotl website address is well numerous to say the least. One girl finlly took advice and stopped feeding mealworms, also phoned the breeder they use to find out what the "fish" was actually reared on and what it was eating prior to them buying it! I've bought and tested a numerous amount of internal filters they sell - the worst being the shark and stingray = only to return them with the advice to not sell them to anyone who buys an axolotl! Even my kids tell them what they should and shouldn't do with axies. Now I tend to buy more from TM; apart from the tonic salt and dechlorinater, or the odd bag of schist rocks.

this particular store didn't have any in stock at the moment, butthey do typically sell axies. I honestly just could not BELIEVE that this woman had the gall to *argue* with me.

i'm just wondering how she managed to come to the conclusion that SAND would be more likely to impact my axie's bowels then GRAVEL. it doesn't make any sense at all. And Allegro's totally FAT with gravel.

which he finally started passing. Thank heaven's he's pooing finally.

Let me start off by saying, I've only ever come across 1 person (this forum aside) who even knew what an axie was! So you can imagine my pet store adventures as a new axy owner.
Petsmart (big pet store chain) told me I shouldnt have to cycle my tank for anything freshwater. So I went to this aquarium store, where still, no one knew anything about axies.
Luckily the owner was there and knew what they were and gave me some tips. He was super excited about it cause he hadn't heard of anyone having them in years. So when I got them I took them back to the aquarium store so he could see them. He was super crazy helpful.
Sadly, last time I went to buy filters there, I found that the chain store down the street had run the smaller store out of business. Me= super sad.
People who work at the chain store are all high school kids who couldnt get jobs at the mall. Thank heavens for you guys.
.vent complete.