I'm so furious - pet shops should be outlawed

Hi everyone,
I know the issue of pet shops has been raised here before but I am just so angry at the moment I need to vent. I went with my Mum this morning to get her fish food at the local pet shop. This guy has 2 axies in a graveled tank full of feeder fish. They are both very very thin and one of them appeared to be dead. It was 'standing' upright on it's tail with it's body curled around into an arc suspended by the water. I told him it was dead and he went on and on about how it was fine and that they do that all the time. He thought I was just a clueless potential sucker so started telling me how they like to do that, and float on their backs and lie on their backs on the gravel. I said if it's not dead it's very unwell and you should fridge it. He laughed at me like I was an idiot and said that would kill it because they need to be kept above 20 degrees C. I lost it and screamed at him, my poor Mum just stood there in shock. I can't afford $35 each to save these poor axies, and I can't stand what is happening to them. I cried all the way home in fury. This shop is in south east Melbourne - I don't know what to do. Are there any Melbournians here that know who I can call to report this?:sad:

I understand your frustration. It is unfortunate that we can not save all of the animals that are kept in sub-par conditions. What makes me angry is that even when we purchase the animals and give them a better life we are still putting money into the ignorant shop keepers pocket and they perpetuate the cycle once more. I hope you can find an agency to report this shop to. They clearly need to be educated on how to treat animals.

That is something I just do not get. Why would you not invest the extra bit of money and time on the animal. Ok, so a few bucks in food and space is saved, but at what cost? When looking at the opportunity costs of opening up and running a pet shop, it would make sense to invest in the animal and build a strong customer base who is 100% sure that any person they refer to it would receive a quality animal. That would lead to a greater market share and happy customers willing to spend money in that particular shop. But that's just what I think...

That sucks, if you can find out the name that would be really great as I would not like to frequent that shop. I suggest you write a letter with information on correct care. You could also ring the RSPCA and see what they have to say, they might have better advice.

Hi Sarah,
I don't know the actual name of the shop but it's in Brandon Park SC. It's the only pet shop there. I've calmed down a bit now, and yes I think I will call the RSPCA, hopefully they will take me seriously.

I felt that you handled that a lot better than i would of lol. I probably would of screamed at the dude, attacked, grabbed the axolotls and then proceed to run for our dear lives :angel:

LOL sherylbobbins that would be a sight. How do you 'grab' axies, they are quite slippery little suckers. I could just see my Mum freaking out as I was frantically swishing around the tank trying to grab the pair of them, shove them in my pocket and bolt. What I really would have liked to have done was grab the store owner and jam him into a tank, but he was a big ugly mongrel so maybe not my best plan.

I live in Newcastle NSW and every pet store I have been to that keeps axolotls (at least 4 or 5) keeps them in tiny tanks at sub-tropical temperatures, filled with gravel with a whitewater-esqe filtration system. At least 80% of them are bone thin with nothing more than stubs for gills.
It makes me so angry that pet shop clerks just pretend to know what they are doing when clearly these animals are suffering. When i confronted someone about having gravel in the tank and how it will clog the axies system they tried to tell me that it was good for their digestion.
....deep breaths, deep breaths....

I went to a Chinese restraunt near my home town and while waited to be seated I noticed an aquarium. Curious to see what type of goldfish they had in the tank I got a little closer. Only to realize they had about 12 baby axies in there! I grabbed my boyfriends arm! "babe! They have a bunch of axies in that tank!" "honey do not make a scene here, please"

I vented the entire time we were there. These axolotls must have been about 8 months old because you could visibly see their little black toes on their arms and legs, but they were quite honestly no bigger than about 3 or 4 inches! Most of them were missing parts of their gills and all of them were ghastly skinny.

It makes me so mad when people want a pet and think they are cute and just buy one. I may not follow all the rules on axolotl care, but Squishy is big and beautiful and seems very happy in her home. I am glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Jishy said:

I live in Newcastle NSW and every pet store I have been to that keeps axolotls (at least 4 or 5) keeps them in tiny tanks at sub-tropical temperatures, filled with gravel with a whitewater-esqe filtration system.

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I live in the newcastle area too!
I got my axolotl at East Maitland.
They seem to know a bit,
but insist on rocks to sand,
and told me about mealworms not blood worms etc.
But my axolotl was in a 2ft tank with two others, one plant, a small filtration system and a couple of guppies.
He his happy and healthy.
Not ALL of them are bad.

Oh wow. The poor little guys....
There is only one pet sop I know of in my area that sells axolotls and they all seem to be fine. (A bunch of little ones, the guy that we were talking to at the pet shop admitted that their shouldn't be that many in the tank because they are cannibalistic when they are little.) I guess I just got lucky that the pet shop I go to knows what they are doing. (We get all our fish and snake care stuff there, and soon a little axie for me.) Yeah the guy my dad and I were talking to seemed to know a lot about them.

Its all down to money.
These animals wouldn't be in shops if people werent prepared to pay for them.
You only have to look at my local paper. 30 adverts for puppies on one page and yet the local animal shelter is crammed fit to burst, its truely appalling.

I imagine a lot of people will disagree with me, but looking at the price of some of these puppies I start to feel that breeders are only breeding for the money, its got nothing to do with the welfare of their baby animals.

So you can't blame the shops for selling them(axolotls) when we are demanding them. And as long as people keep buying the poorly sickly little axie in the tank also occupied by piranhna and a giant alligator, then they will keep keeping them like that.
Of course there are SOME good shops, but you will still get the odd sickie animal slipping through their hands.You could ask yourself a question.
Where are the shops getting the axolotls from?
Breeders.
So why do we insist on breeding animals of whom their babies we have no intention of keeping or at least most of them.