I am currently having a HUGE problem with Petco. I have a pair of Harlequin Shrimp and most of us know that their diet consists of starfish. I have a couple of Lfs's that occasionally sell chocolate chip starfish that are about the size of a silver dollar. Petco has pretty good size starfish. Now, for the problem, I have asked the employees to please order at least 2 a week for the next several weeks. I will be putting them in my seahorse tank until needed. The first request was ignored. I went back into the store a week later and spoke to the same employee, she showed me the request that she wrote in the book the week before. I gave her my name and phone number and asked her to have the boss order them and call me when they came in. Well, day before yesterday, the gal that does the ordering called me and asked me why was I wanting so may starfish and I told her that I have Harlequin Shrimp. Then she told me that the regional manager told her to tell me that they will no longer sell the starfish to me because I am using them as food. I asked her what business is it of theirs what I do with them. No response. I then said "what if I by them to put in my seahorse tank?" I was told that they will sell me one. I asked her "so, you are telling me that you will never sell me another starfish?" and she said "no, we will not". Yesterday I called customer service and spoke to Anthony and explained the prior day. I asked him since Petco sells Harlequin Shrimp why won't they sell me the food to feed it. He as completely dumbfounded. He said he was going to send the report to he GM of the store and then he asked me if I wanted a call back from the GM....OF COURSE!! Now, am I just dumb, but isn't the regional manager higher up than the general manager? It has been almost 24 hours since I made the complaint, with no call back. What do you think I should do now? :cry:
Petco Issues
- Thread starter uall8up
- Start date
- Tagged users None
EZMAC114
Well-Known Member
They shouldn't have a problem selling you the starfish since more that 50% of the fish they get probably die from ich...at least that's how it looks at the petco by me. Not that starfish get ich or anything but they obviously don't have a handle on keeping fish alive lol
Last edited:
Exactly!
ReeferRookie
Well-Known Member
.... As upset as u might be im proud of petco for not selling pets for food. They have a strict policy against it always have and they stand by the policy. Anyways petco sells animals as pets thus they dont usually sell a high number of one specific animal due to the probability that the person is either using it for food or is selling it for more then they sold it for. Sorry for your troubles but thats just theyre policy theyre PET FRIENDLY lol. once they found out i was using the mouse to feed my snakes they banned me from buying mice. Im not mad its just their beliefs
SeahorseKeeper
Where's the mysis?
Petco does sell live feeder mice. I know this with absolute certainty. I find it to be unethical for them to sell harlequin shrimp and not have a viable food source available for sale to sustain them. If they did not sell harlequin shrimp, I would feel very differently in this situation.
ReeferRookie
Well-Known Member
They dont sell feeder mice at my location. Nor crickets.
jasonp87
Well-Known Member
It is pretty crummy that they wont sell a necessary food for an animal they sell. If they stand behind their policy they need to not sell harlequins anymore.
Anyways, have you ever considered buying 3 or 4 stars and cutting off 1 limb at a time? This way you don't have to keep buying more stars. Cut leg 1 from star 1, then leg 1 from star 2 and so on. By the time you get back to star 1 leg 1 it should have grown back. This is a natural mechanism for star fish.
Anyways, have you ever considered buying 3 or 4 stars and cutting off 1 limb at a time? This way you don't have to keep buying more stars. Cut leg 1 from star 1, then leg 1 from star 2 and so on. By the time you get back to star 1 leg 1 it should have grown back. This is a natural mechanism for star fish.
ReeferRookie
Well-Known Member
Well then they shouldn't sell snakes. Or mice or ferrets or fish should i go on ? They sell pets. Not food. Its their policy why be upset go to another source ? They lose money not u
I wonder if some species even belong in the trade at all, harlequin shrimp being one. Maybe you could start a starfish tank, and just feed arms.
SeahorseKeeper
Where's the mysis?
Snakes don't require live food. They can be fed frozen. It is healthier for the snake. If your Petco does not sell crickets, they should not sell reptiles. It is irresponsible to sell pets and not have the proper food source for them.
Mallowolf
Community Member
I'm 100% certain that all of the petco's in my area sell feeders. Mice, rats, goldfish, bugs etc. Petsmart however doesn't sell mice or rats as food, they do however carry feeder fish and bugs.
Makes no sense that they won't sell you food that is necessary for an animal's survival. The petco's near me are awful. They get beautiful shipments of designer clowns and whatnot and then the next week they are all dead by the filter.
Makes no sense that they won't sell you food that is necessary for an animal's survival. The petco's near me are awful. They get beautiful shipments of designer clowns and whatnot and then the next week they are all dead by the filter.
DaveMorris
MACNA2016 Co-Chair
Petco here in San Diego sells feeder mice, crickets, etc. They also put choco stars in the tank to feed their Harlequins. And Petco is based here in San Diego so I know it is not a corporate policy to net sell live feeders of any type. PetSmart sells frozen feeder mice which is confusing to me because whats the difference between freezing a mouse to kill it for food and letting nature do it the way God intended?
Mallowolf
Community Member
I have been working at a mom and pop store that specializes in reptiles and fish. I can say the reason why people use and prefer to use frozen mice is for the safety of the reptile. If a snake is not hungry and you just drop a live mouse/rat in it's cage the mouse/rat can actually kill a snake or do some nasty damage. It's just safer and easier. You just defrost them like you would chicken
ReeferRookie
Well-Known Member
+1I have been working at a mom and pop store that specializes in reptiles and fish. I can say the reason why people use and prefer to use frozen mice is for the safety of the reptile. If a snake is not hungry and you just drop a live mouse/rat in it's cage the mouse/rat can actually kill a snake or do some nasty damage. It's just safer and easier. You just defrost them like you would chicken
I also have snakes but found they prefer their food alive. Needless to say most mice dont get time to react
reeffirstaid
Active Member
The damage petco has done to this hobby, is disgusting and dis-graceful. I wrote an op-ed piece for Reef2Reef a while back about it, and it seemed to make folks angry that I targeted Petco, and not the hole in the wall LFS. Those LFS's are just as bad, it's simply that Petco does it on a massive scale. It's ironic that any store would sell an animal species, yet refuse to supply the other animal species it feeds on. Especially when said franchise sells a variety of other animal species, that prefer live food of some sort. At any rate, if you want to feed your harlequin long term, I would suggest adding asterina starfish to your refugium. Some folks (myself included) don't like the presence of asterina stars in a reef. They may, or may not, cause damage, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. They reproduce quickly and are abundant, if they procreate in a refuge, away from constant predation. These are a simply food source for harlequins, and much cheaper and easier than constantly providing starfish.
Similar threads
