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Another sad sight at Petco today. They have a huge tank full of snails, the majority of which are huge - and dead. Probably 80% of what was in the tank was empty shells. When asked what they were fed I got the standard answer "Algae and we throw in a few algae pellets every now and then." I tried to educate the guy but got nothing but glazed eyes and a nodding head in return. There was the cutest little crayfish in the tank, but it was pinching at a poor marisa, trying to pull it out of its shell. Not sure if the marisa was dead or alive.

There were two snails that I almost bought. They were huge - canas I'm pretty sure, but there was more of an angle to their spires (?) than my canas. It could have just looked different because they were bigger. The largest was dark bodied with an ivory shell with faint brown/burgandy stripes the other just looked ivory colored, but I didn't get a chance to see the body. I am so sad because I know they are just going to die there at Petco, but I don't have the $9/ea they wanted for them and my tank is overloaded already. I would be happy to pick them up and ship them to anyone who wanted them for the cost of the snails/shipping. I'm not very experienced at the different species yet, but maybe they were something special. (Wishful thinking???)

Just had to vent

Man, if they are charging $9 you think they'd at least feed them!

Terri

Exactly! At that price they probably had a few hundred dollars in dead snails in that tank.

dusti wrote:There was the cutest little crayfish in the tank, but it was pinching at a poor marisa, trying to pull it out of its shell. Not sure if the marisa was dead or alive.

You know, that sounds like their biggest problem. Crayfish are aggressive little monsters.

If it is an ivory-shelled cana then it's a cool new thing and Donya might be interested - she found one in a snail shipment to her LFS a while back...

Yeah that little crayfish was something else. Cute to look at but I would probably scream if I had to touch it!

I was thinking that maybe if I pointed out the money they are losing by not feeding the snails to the corporate office they might take a bit more notice. They could care less about the snails, but maybe losing $9/ea would upset them a little bit more.

Dusti...

Very serious... write in. I sent an e-mail stating how disgusting the tank was that they kept the snails in at the Petco by me. (Off of Quincy) They tore down the tank... the snails are in their own tank. Still low survival rate though.

What you need to point out to them is that they are being very inhumane in their treatment of the snails. Forget the financial aspect... they make enough to ignore that viewpoint.

They like to push the idea that they actually give a hoot about animals.

PETCO is committed to responsible companion animal ownership. Throw that comment from their website back at them.

Oh.... if you have a H U G E shovel.... you can read their lil write up about their commitment to animals.

Yet more fodder to fuel the flames.

Ask to speak to the manager. Then write in. They will respond to you.

I think I will write in. I would like to take a picture of the graveyard tank to send in with the letter. I will get back up there this weekend and see if things look any better. Maybe between the two of us we can straighten out the Denver area! LOL

I found a LPS here in Lakewood that is great with their snails. They don't feed them as much fresh food as I probably would, but at least they feed them and try to educate their customers! I just picked up a large insularum they had and they have several more big ones in case you are interested... They had two that looked really nice. They were in quarentine still so I couldn't get them.

Oh man.... me wandering home with an insularum would spell out divorce. LMAO! I may just have to check it out! Please pm me with the info! I have to head out to Lakewood this weekend anyways.... might as well make a detour.

I stopped to look at the snails in a local Petco last week and all of the Brigs were in a tiny little critter keeper at the bottom of an aquarium.

Just write into them at petco.com Ask them why they are deliberately endangering the lives of the snails. Inform them that you have many snails as pets... Notify the manager. Bring a print out of the snail care from this site. Also if you can print out a section where it talks & shows a diagram of their lung and gill.

The managers are useless... but if you mention that you informed the manager... and nothing was done... they perk up.

I had to shine up the halo when I wrote in.... cause the urge to poke 'em to pieces with a pitchfork was overwhelming.

No flame mail... just voice your concerns and disappointments. You can also state that you can not, in good conscience, purchase anything from a LFS with such little regard for an animal's well being.

Pay attention to the tanks too.... they seem to be getting really lax about removing dead fish. Not to mention the fuzzy bettas.

Takes you just a few minutes to write them a letter... and just possibly you may help many snails along the way.

Di wrote:I stopped to look at the snails in a local Petco last week and all of the Brigs were in a tiny little critter keeper at the bottom of an aquarium.

That's pure ignorance... they're used to doing that with crabs to protect the other critters and they don't realize that they're drowning the snails. snailstreaks is right, time to start a campaign of education!

And for the record, Petco seems to vary widely from location to location. Of the stores that I have within driving distance, my local Petco takes the best care of its small animals and aquatics. So be sure to send copies of your letter to the owner of the local store --- s/he may be the one to actually make change happen, if it's a different person than the manager that was there.

You're right, they areSTUPIDbecause they should move the snails and I only got my snail for two dollars !!!!!!!

i went to a garden centre where i got my gold diffusas and only 1 of them is still alive and it looks rater dead to me actually
theere were empty shells, snails with cracked shells and it was horrible. then i found a new garden centre where i got my purples and jades