malduroque
New member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2008
- Messages
- 54
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Orange County, CA
- Country
- United States
Though I've never been particularly thrilled with this store itself and how they keep their herps (it's all purpose old-school pet shop with dogs, cats, birds, fish and herps), they have the best price around on crickets and they have the mid-size ones that I need.
Awhile back, I noticed an enclosure that had fire-belly newts, fire-belly toads and bullfrog tadpoles all together. I examined the tank a little closer and noticed that the two FBN that I could see seemed to have missing toes. I called over the herp guy that they have and asked if I could see the FBN closer. My point was of course for him to see them. When he picked up the two and brought them out, it was true, there were missing toes and even a missing foot on one. I pointed that out to the worker and asked if he had any others. He lifted a few rocks and they had quite a few more. He began to examine them and lo and behold all but one had a missing appendage(s). I asked him what he thought the problem was and he shrugged his shoulders and said that it was maybe disease that they came in with. I said maybe so but how about the possibility that the tadpoles are nibbling on the newts? He thought a second or two and replied, "Uh, it's possible. I'll check into it."
When I returned for more crickets a couple of weeks later I noticed that whole aquatic setup was gone and they had moved the tadpoles to another location in the store. I asked if they intended to carry newts again and he told me, obviously not remembering me from our previous encounter, that no, "something weird happened to the last couple of batches we had so we're not carrying them anymore." I wouldn't exactly call that problem solved, but it's an improvement.
Now, I'll get to the more optimistic part. That same day I noticed that they had picked up some tree frogs. They had some dumpy (near full grown), golden (about 3") and green and gray all in one large tank. I brought this to the attention of the herp guy and told him that since they run a real good chance of the greens and greys "disappearing" at the hands (or mouths) of the larger frogs that it would make good business sense to separate them at least by size. No sense having the inventory eaten. He said he would talk to his manager when she was in. So I thanked him for his time and was on my way.
My next visit was two weeks later and I half expected him to tell me that they don't carry greys and greens anymore because weird things were happening. Picked up my crickets and went over to the amphib section and was pleasantly surprised. They dumpys were gone (sold I presume) but I saw that dividers had been put in the large tank and the gold tree frogs were separate and (you species separatists are going to love this), the greens and greys each had separate quarters!
Just to encourage, I complimented the herp guy on his solution and asked him to thank his manager for me.
Now I'm not at all taking credit for this as I'm sure other customers pointed out the same things, but it was heartening to see that they were willing to make some changes based on customer requests and probably a little research on their part.
Mal
Awhile back, I noticed an enclosure that had fire-belly newts, fire-belly toads and bullfrog tadpoles all together. I examined the tank a little closer and noticed that the two FBN that I could see seemed to have missing toes. I called over the herp guy that they have and asked if I could see the FBN closer. My point was of course for him to see them. When he picked up the two and brought them out, it was true, there were missing toes and even a missing foot on one. I pointed that out to the worker and asked if he had any others. He lifted a few rocks and they had quite a few more. He began to examine them and lo and behold all but one had a missing appendage(s). I asked him what he thought the problem was and he shrugged his shoulders and said that it was maybe disease that they came in with. I said maybe so but how about the possibility that the tadpoles are nibbling on the newts? He thought a second or two and replied, "Uh, it's possible. I'll check into it."
When I returned for more crickets a couple of weeks later I noticed that whole aquatic setup was gone and they had moved the tadpoles to another location in the store. I asked if they intended to carry newts again and he told me, obviously not remembering me from our previous encounter, that no, "something weird happened to the last couple of batches we had so we're not carrying them anymore." I wouldn't exactly call that problem solved, but it's an improvement.
Now, I'll get to the more optimistic part. That same day I noticed that they had picked up some tree frogs. They had some dumpy (near full grown), golden (about 3") and green and gray all in one large tank. I brought this to the attention of the herp guy and told him that since they run a real good chance of the greens and greys "disappearing" at the hands (or mouths) of the larger frogs that it would make good business sense to separate them at least by size. No sense having the inventory eaten. He said he would talk to his manager when she was in. So I thanked him for his time and was on my way.
My next visit was two weeks later and I half expected him to tell me that they don't carry greys and greens anymore because weird things were happening. Picked up my crickets and went over to the amphib section and was pleasantly surprised. They dumpys were gone (sold I presume) but I saw that dividers had been put in the large tank and the gold tree frogs were separate and (you species separatists are going to love this), the greens and greys each had separate quarters!
Just to encourage, I complimented the herp guy on his solution and asked him to thank his manager for me.
Now I'm not at all taking credit for this as I'm sure other customers pointed out the same things, but it was heartening to see that they were willing to make some changes based on customer requests and probably a little research on their part.
Mal
