Awful pet shop

Report on pet stores that are either doing a great or terrible job of looking after their hermit crabs on display.
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pkoo
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Awful pet shop

Post by pkoo »

Hi I went back to the pet shop where I bought my first 2 hermies today, one of which has already died. The other is buried and not been seen for a week and a half. I was appalled by the conditions of the tank - no lid on the tank, no hermie huts, a mix of shell grit and sand for substrate about an inch in depth. It was hard to see where the hermies were. The shop assistant came over and I told them how my first hermit crab had died. She offered to help me find the hermies, not that I had asked because I didn't want to buy any more from that shop. Nevertheless she said that they usually hide under the water bowls and to my horror she lifted the bowls and roughly dug out ~ 15 hermit crabs grabbing them roughly with her fingers like pebbles and dumping them at the front of the tank in the open. I told her that I didn't think that the crabs should be handled like that but I don't think she heard me or wasn't interested - so focused was she on digging out the crabs. There was even one crab that was out of its shell. I said that that one must have really been stressed to be in that condition. She quickly scooped it up, said nothing and hid it in her hand. (She'd obviously seen those before). It was probably dead. She did mention that the heater malfunctioned recently and that many crabs overheated/died. From my understanding of the shop through a previous enquiry, they used an undertank heater and left it on all day then turned it off at night. There was no thermostat, no thermometer, no hygrometer. Food in the tank looked like it had been there for days. I couldn't wait to get out of the shop. A last remark from the shop assistant about the crabs she'd just dug out and dumped on the sand... "They're not moving now, but they will..." In my mind I was thinking: "Not for much longer" - poor things.

Can I name and shame the pet store in question here or is it best to leave it a little ambiguous? It is one of the Pet's Paradise stores on the North shore of Sydney. I'd love to name it because it is notorious for treating animals like commodities with many kittens and puppies kept in small glass enclosures to entice buyers. Totally unethical, cruel and inappropriate. Clearly they're not in the business of responsible pet ownership, rather just pet sales.

P.S. Don't know what happened there. I'm sure I just posted this once, but it appears to have gone through a number of times. Sorry :( (?) (!)
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Wai
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Re: Awful pet shop

Post by Wai »

I've never been impressed with Pets Paradise. All of the ones I have seen have been appalling and I doubt many (if any) of their hermit crabs would survive in such tanks for a year. It's such a shame that their tanks set bad examples for the unwary customers who think they are being educated by knowledgeable people.
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pkoo
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Re: Awful pet shop

Post by pkoo »

Can you recommend a better place to source crabs from in Sydney? I would like to get some crabs for my son that are more likely to make the distance and not succumb to worsened PPS due to their poor treatment at the pet shop.
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Wai
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Re: Awful pet shop

Post by Wai »

I would have no idea as I am from Victoria. Most pet shops will have a bad tank set up; however, you can look for the most active hermit crabs as they probably haven't been in the tank for long. Hermit crabs who have been stuck in the pet shop for longer tend to be more dormant and are at greater risk of dying.
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ladybug15057
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Re: Awful pet shop

Post by ladybug15057 »

Do you have any idea when the pet store receives their shipment of hermies? Another option could be to get them on the day the shipments come in before they are subjected to the pet store conditions?
Marie (aka ladybug15057)

If you are contacted privately (via pm or e-mail) and enticed to join another forum, please contact a Crab Crew member. This is an unethical practice.
pkoo
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Re: Awful pet shop

Post by pkoo »

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look into do that.
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