PetSmart Care Guides Suck! How is This Even Legal!?

I got my bearded dragon when i was fairly young from Petsmart and I wish they even gave me one of these pamphlets, because I was given entirely flat out wrong information. I asked an employee how many vegetables I should be feeding him, and instead of telling me they weren't knowledgeable enough on beardies, i was instead told that crickets and supplements would be enough. He, of course, passed away prematurely. I was young and didn't think to fact check this online, which I regret, but I do know better now. I've devoted myself to researching and learning about reptiles and amphibians so that when I eventually keep them again, I'm knowledgeable on their care and it won't ever happen again. So sad that this happens so often, I've heard stories similar from other people too

All of these PetSmart videos that you do I keep getting PetSmart ads on them😂

Bro probably didn't notice that it said citrus when it's bad for bearded dragons

you should review the ball python!

I'll admit i work There and they are trash, we don't go by them and since than we have updated them like 3 times so there really good now

anybody know anything about ground english walnut shells for substrate for an adult male beardie- zilla brand they sell it at petco... half tank of that the other bark?

Do all the pet smart care guides!!!!

I disagree with the carpet though, carpet is a good option because if you do natural loose bedding it sets easily up for impaction and bearded dragons have a tendency to dive for their food, so any loose in my opinion is probably not a good idea

Going to three pet stores today, wish me luck

I just started working at PetSmart and know about birds, small animals, and fish, but not reptiles...which is how I found your channel. I have taken a liking to reptiles and want to get one, one day, but right now I want to learn about them for work. I think there are only two people who really know a lot about reptiles outside of what corporate taught them. I'm still new, so if someone were to ask me what size tank, or any other question, I'd probably refer to the guide, so these are great videos. You should definitely make a series out of all of the pamphlets !

can you do the pac-man frog please

I would love to see more of these; being misled and accidentally mistreating my animals is a personal recurring nightmare of mine.

I actually found your channel doing research for maybe getting my first frog; Day 3 and I'm leaning toward a White's tree frog. A care guide on one of them would be rad as Hell from you, but I recognize that there are others to be found, so no pressure.

Love your content, dude! Lifelong reptile dork myself; you're doing the Scaly Lord's work.

We gotta see the one about those frogs

Definitely do the ball python care guide please! It’s ridiculous!

imo the worst petsmart care guide is the garter snake one. It tells you to feed your garter snake gold fish. GOLD FISH! You know, the ones high in thiaminase that prevents the absorption of vitamin b and, over time, will kill a garter snake. Disgusting.

I don't understand why they recommend a smaller enclosure than needed. They would make way more money off of the appropriate enclosures.

It’s hard for me to maintain a high humidity.

One of the big pet store branches where I live got so many complaints about how they kept their animals that they stopped selling live animals :)

I really enjoy these style videos and I’d definitely be interested to see the aquatic turtles guide and others

We need a compilation of all the times Diamond went for your ear

I’d love to see a petsmart care guide review for veiled chameleons. I didn’t get one with ours years back. It would be interesting to see their take on care for ‘em. Also it was nice meeting you and chatting with you for as long as we did at the expo. My sons are still talking about it. Super highlight to our weekend and our expo experience this time. Thanks Adam.

Imagine the difficulty of working in a box pet store and trying to explain to people that the care guides they provide are horrible.
I worked at a PetCo for years and it was a daily struggle trying to give people proper care information while contradicting the terrible guides they provided. I'd have to walk away and grab somebody else to sell an animal to someone who I was confident wouldn't give their animals the care they not only need, but deserve.

I’ve never bothered to actually read them as I definitely go to more reputable sources, but it’s really interesting to see your break down of these pamphlets!

Do Cuban False Cameleon!!!

I work at said store, thank you so much for making this video! It feels like no matter how much we say as associates, how wrong this is, nothing is ever done. (or not near enough) EDIT- I will add, I try to educate as much as possible, always direct folks to this channel and a few others for information.

Imagine if the bearded dragon fell off his shoulder while he‘s calling PetSmart‘s diagram bad.

I used to work at a petsmart in the pet care department and we would all tell the customers that the care guides suck. The official petcare company standards for animals in the store aren't great either.

There it is. There's the silly goosery. ☠️ that killed me! 🤣

My favorite pet smart ones are for tarantulas and scorpions, especially when they say to take them to the vet if they're not eating lol

What about Petvalu? I see you're Canadian, and petvalu is the largest pet retail company on Canada! Just wondering your thoughts

I work at PetSmart and I would make sure to educate people and if they refused to do the correct care I would not sell them the animal. Even the fish I would refuse to sell if it was not proper. I work in the salon now so unfortunately I can't teach people, but I made sure to educate the new hirers.

Citrus for beardies!? I have heard that citrus fruits for beardies is a huge no no.

So I worked for a local pet shop where I'm at now and they let me go because I was constantly correcting things they told customers.

LMAO a couple years ago I wrote a 2 page essay-letter to the CEO of petsmart about these guides as an L.A. project

Does’t mention females lay eggs.

It actually makes no sense to advertise smaller enclosures which aren't suitable as the larger ones are probably more expensive and therefore more money for the company. I think it's almost always a mistake to buy something for a pet especially an exotic one from a chain pet shop... usually very focused on just looking good or shifting product quickly rather than actually giving you a suitable enclosure. Never seen a hamster rat or gerbil enclosure or rabbit hutch in a pet shop that was even close to large enough.

I went to petco to see my friend that works there. After looking at the reptile tanks I decided I can’t go into petco or petsmart anymore. Those “people” actually think it’s ok to keep leopard geckos without any kind of humidity. Those poor creatures had nothing but a plant and water. One was shedding but it was the worst I’ve ever seen and it was clearly suffering. And don’t even get me started on the crested geckos… I literally wanted to do something violent to the pet care manager BUT of course after talking to them they don’t give a shit. Just fyi my friend is the dog trainer and he’s going through a divorce so I wanted to check in with him to see if he and the kids were ok. But was told he hasn’t been In lately so yeah…

it's not just pet smart, pet co, and pet supply plus also suck and have a ton of bad info

Agreed. Even though I truly enjoy your videos, and find them very informative, the research never stops there. I am constantly seeking out new information and sources to learn from.
Thanks for another great video Adam!

Adam, you talk about 20% - 30% humidity being unrealistic, but that really depends on where you live. I'm in Edmonton, and the humidity in my room, right now, is about 10%. My arid enclosures are constantly at 0% humidity - it's a struggle to keep my corn snake's enclosure above 40% humidity.

I love these videos! With so many care guides out there, and some that have bad info, it can be difficult to know what’s right and wrong, especially considering we’re always learning more about better care and husbandry. I think that’s why it’s important to look for different sources, articles, videos, and probably most importantly trying to talk directly to people who have cared for these animals. Honestly I have learned a lot just from Facebook groups for specific species, as silly as that may sound.

Calling petsmart care guides bad care guides is insulting to bad care guides.

The guides at PetCo for hamsters are also wayyy out of date, so I go in assuming all the exotic pet guides at big chain stores will be wrong.

Petsmart sucks in general!! I went there to get food for my gecko because I really needed it and I saw geckos in the same cage!! Leopard geckos!!!! They were so skinny :(

As a PS employee, I agree they are very outdated and believe me, those of us in Petcare who know their stuff, we educate customers in proper pet husbandry.

The only animal here (the rescued betta died after close to two years) that came from a big box store is Russian Tortoise. I went in to pick cubes of frozen brine shrimp (only place that consistently has them) and saw a really active and responsive which I take is a good sign for any wild caught animal. I felt the need to liberate him before somebody who didn't do their research got him. He's doing fine in his pen now. Climbed out a couple of times but I'll write that off as good health.

I went to get a 40 gallon Exo-terra for my corn snake that I was getting and when the clerk asked what I was getting and told him he acted like he was an expert and said it was going to be to big that a 20 gallon would be perfect for her entire life🙄. I said did you read that off the pamphlet because those are laughable. Long story short I needed the tank and left angry because he seriously thought he knew what he was talking about and that I was all kinds of wrong. FYI she will get a 4x2x2 eventually. Right now she’s just a yearling, I love her and she is my favorite of the 5 snakes I have. Moral to the story I can’t stand Petsmart and I do my best to not buy anything there.

We have a similar issue with the biggest pet chain here in the UK. They are called Pets at Home and have a terrible track record for animal welfare and appalling advice on animal care

Yeah. Lets see these guides :D