Pet Shops!

Disclaimer: This will be somewhat of a rant. Everytime i go into a petshop I make sure to see how their reptile section looks, and honestly I'm usually dissappointed. Numerous species crammed into he same cage, improper substrate, to dry, too wet, wrong food, sick and dying specimens next to healthy ones, etc. I could write volumes on the list of grievances. Perhaps there logic is that the anmals wont be their long so why bother caring for them properly, or maybe its money, or just plain stupidity! Whatever the reason it's sick. Many of these animals can live decades, but aren't likely to survive 6 month from the petshop. I ask everyone who is searching for one of these exotic pets to either get he shipment when it first comes into the petshop, or better yet buy them at a reptile expo!. The private and small time breeders at these shows are knowledgeable and their animals are likely to be healthy (and getting a healthy animal is half the battle).