Back when I was working at a chain pet store I have had an incident where I was trying to teach a customer how to go about caring for the new pet that they were getting for their daughter, and they complained to my manager about it and decided not to commit to the animal. This got me in trouble because I was “discouraging another sale” and was basically told to just hand them a care sheet and sell them the animal with the complete wrong set up and diet just to make the sale and keep people happy... and literally all I did is tell them about how often they should expect to have to clean the cage, told them about the animals diet, and recommend a tank over a critter trail.
I currently work at a smaller chain pet store and although my managers are great with me giving the right care, I’ve gotten lots of negative feedback when I tell a customer to at least but a male betta in a 2.5 over a .5 gallon tank. And that’s not even what I personally use for my betta fish. I’ve gotten multiple customers get mad at me for telling them the right care, and sometimes people are just stubborn and don’t listen.
PREACH!! I own a green iggy and they are A LOT of work. My husband and I spent days and hundreds of dollars building a sizable enclosure for her and she’s going to grow out of it. They are expensive, large, and have attitudes like no other. Pet stores should not be selling iguanas because most people, including the employees at the pet store, do not understand the care they require.
Oh ok Bye they take full UVA/UVB and large enclosures and the price on both those add up. They need a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and calcium supplements which means you have to go buy food about once a week because it goes bad. They can have good temperaments but you have to handle them frequently (like every day) to get them used to human contact. They have every ability to tear you up (sharp claws, sharp teeth, and a bull-whip of a tail), so handling is very important. They also need enough water to soak in because they love to submerse themself in water so for a small iggy, a large reptile water bowl works, but for larger iggies you need to either take them out and put them in the bathtub or put like a large plastic container full of water in the enclosure. And all this is just the basics I could think of right now! There’s more to it than all of this, but basically if someone is not experienced and financially stable, they probably aren’t a good fit for an iguana
My neighbor legit almost bought a Chinese water dragon from Petsmart for her son. I told her that they need like 7 foot enclosures and she was like ok no. Now they have fish :)
My boyfriend was sold on how the petstore told him Chinese water dragons are like a mini iguana but nice and dont need a large cage. I was resurrecting and he impulsively bought one. Only after he realised how big a cage she needs and now regrets getting her. I tell my friends and coworkers who want reptiles to do research first because petstore lie to use. My water dragon is mean and wont let us touch her.
at least petsmart has cages that can actually house anything they sell.for example the 120 or 125 gallon long fish tanks are long enough to house a chinese water dragon and you can walk into the store any time and buy one right there and then.they even sell tanks for their tank buster fish cause the biggest tank they sell is a 240 gallon(it's online order only but at least they sell it). also petco is worse then petsmart.cause petco sells a lot more massive animals but the biggest tank they sell is like a 55 gallon which can not house their largest animal.
Brianna Harter, yeah but those are really expensive. And sadly the pet store won’t usually tell the buyers that they need that size cage because they think they won’t buy it. Wish they would raise the price to at least $75
Sadly both Petco and petsmart said I would only need a 40 to 50 gallon tank for me reptile. I ended up going to a reptile store and buying a 6ft cage for her.
I'm not saying they are prefect.I'm saying when it comes to petsmart the option is there to buy the right size cage even if it is expensive. While petco doesn't even give you the option to buy the right sized cage.
I disagree with "any animals" but they should definetly stop selling the quantity of animals they do and should focus on teaching their employees better. Like my friend worked at Petsmart and was a wildlife major in college and even though they did hire her they told her she was over qualified lmao. They should sell less and focus on more beginner type pets and stop selling the more advanced ones
I work at a Petco. My Petco has people that hate how the animals are but do the best with the situation. We have the right to refuse sales of animals to people who aren’t going to give them good homes with the proper enclosures and diet. We refuse sales every day and try our best to get the animals in the best enclosures we can give them. We’re just trying to make the best out of the situation. Although other Petco’s aren’t like this
bai watson what I like about my pet store (Pets at Home, I’m from the UK) is that they have another charity attached to the store that has animals for adoption from previous owners that couldn’t look after them anymore or just didn’t want them. I adopted three rats, one that has a neurological disorder. Checked over by the vets, they’re all healthy. I love them to bits.
I couldn’t agree more I don’t think Petco or petsmart should belong selling iguanas, boas, monitors, chameleons and even some gecko species that require more work than say a crestie or a Leo but that’s just my opinion
Well since changing the CEO people are now getting the proper training to care for the animals they way they should be. The animals wasn’t put first for a long time but now that we have changed CEOs there is more focus on health and safety for the animals. I’m not saying every store is great there are bad eggs. But I myself always make sure to do research on the animals sent to us so that I can give them the proper care they need. Like I said it depends on the store.
Dori Gonzalez I agree but I think still the kinds of people that shop at the big box stores usually 9 times out of 10 haven’t done there research when it come to any of the animals
I think it just depends on the animal, but it’s not a bad idea! Teach the kids how to be gentle with the animal and how to take care of them and interesting facts. Just as long as the animal has all the proper needs and care as it is still a living thing
my third grade teacher had two salamanders, they were amazingly taken care of and it was really great watching them in class and I would stay after school to help her take care of them. But then my sixth grade teacher had like six class pets that were not taken care of the best which was really sad, she was really mean and crazy herself though too. She always fed the snakes live mice and sometimes during or right before class it was horrible because even though I loved the snakes I was traumatized by watching them eat especially since I was never used to that. Also they weren't even feeder mice she got them from the pet section at petco because in the back room there were boxes they were in that said "congrats on you're new pet!" It was so cruel and heartbreaking. I know some snakes are picky and may need to eat live for a bit but she wasn't even trying frozen it seems. So I've experienced both ends of the spectrum. If the animal has correct husbandry and is not being stressed out from excessive attention then it can be really great, but they are often poorly taken care of. I know you were asking tyler and not me but I just remembered all this and started writing it out haha.
I was a teachers assistant my senior year for my zoology teacher and it was my job to maintain all of the class pets! Not all are un cared for but most definitely don’t get proper care
Tye hurricane that hit us (Florida) in 92 destroyed reptile shops. The snakes and iguanas were able to survive and thrive in our "southern" weather. People have added to this thus causing the huge problems we're having. They are amazing animals that you MUST do your research on. The only places that should sell them are reptile stores NOT huge chain stores like Petco. You MUST have hours to spend with them a day just to get them used to you. You MUST be able to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, have a kiddy pool for their water bowl, clean them everyday and learn how to read their body language. It's best to have help once they get bigger and hope you never lose your job cause they cost a LOT of money to set up and keep up. My cage was 12ft long, 13ft high, and 3.5ft wide when they were 3ft long. Be prepared to give them a room to themselves once they get 4plus.
Being able to "turn around" is the standard for a pet carrier. You know, for transport. A little messed up to suggest that is enough space for a habitat
As someone who is an employee, each Petco is different and my store does not sell iguanas. My store leader strongly disagrees with them being sold from chain pet stores because we don’t have acceptable holding facilities for them to live comfortably because they need so much space. However I don’t agree with how they house the crested geckos and have in fact made it know that it should be something that’s changed.
Honestly, they shouldn't even sell any animals. Here in Australia, we have hardly any animals sold in pet stores. People mostly rescue or go to a breeder.
Well some people don’t have access to breeders and pet stores such as Petsmart where I live hire people who have experience with at least 3 animals sold in the store. I planned on buying a leopard gecko after doing tons of research but I then bought (with out knowing anything about them) a bearded dragon. One of the workers told me about how she cared for her bearded dragons and how to properly care for them. She told me the tank sizes and a proper diet. He is now almost 4 years old. That day I lost all of my money.
Its really unerving to walk into my local petco, and see literaly 7 baby green iguana there, all in one small 20 gal tall. I mean, my local petco is real clean, and the animals look healthy, and have nice fresh food for each animal, but its still overcrowded, and im still seeing things like, 3 spider ball pythons in the same tank.
Yesterday I literally went to a Petco and saw the iguanas. I said, “I don’t even know why they sell them!” And my mom said, “Yeah. They get big.” Then I said, “They get HUGE.”
Watching this while my parents build a 6 foot tall, 4 foot long, 4 foot wide enclosure for our juvenile iguana lol (shes be upgraded to a bigger one when she becomes an adult)
I've had my iguana for 7 years and now own a blue tongue skink. The blue tongue skink is far easier to care for than an iguana. I too bought the iguana on impulse when I was younger and when it got bigger, I decided to make a commitment to it as it was in my hands and my responsibility now so I had to give it a much larger enclosure, etc. But everything is fine now and I love my lizards.
Before I bought her my cockatiel was fed some terrible kaytee seed mix, had nothing to chew on, and had two cheap plastic toys one of which she couldn’t even reach.
I got a budgie for my birthday ( I already had other budgies) and his poo was green and liquidy which means he is sick because the pet store only feeds them seeds so I tried feeding him more veggies and tried to save him but he died 2 days later
Well I don’t completely agree. Some pet stores are amazing and take great care of their animals and have employees with experience. Such as the Petsmart where we live. It’s is very convenient because there are no breeder that aren’t in other states where you can even see the animal in person.
Thank you so much for making this video!!! I've been keeping iguanas my entire life and I'm constantly devastated by seeing them in pet stores, because for each one I see at petco I see future animals broken and abandoned at my local rescue. Shout out to Nature's Edge Wildlife Rescue, they do great work and are so good for the animals they take in. But it is up to us reptile keepers to educate others on which are and are not good pets!
I work at petsmart and we dont sell iguanas but we do sell Chinese Water Dragons and those usually require custom cages, so most of our customers dont have the means to actually care for them. I like working there so I can give people accurate info, but I hate some of the products we carry and the fact that we sell certain animals but not appropriate enclosures for them. I'm in Florida and my store currently has a Chinchilla. Chinchillas dont do well at warm temps... 🙄
I love that you actually know what you’re doing! I once went to a pet store a while away from me, and they said crested geckos need a horizontal tank, and that they eat fruit! Wth?
Jessica Gomez and chain pet stores can have great looking monitors but a lot of people buy them and don’t know that that little 6 inch lizard gets 6 feet
THE FUN CHANNEL 1 crested gecko, 1 leopard gecko , 1 fire skink , 1 albino pacman frog , 1 green pacman frog , 1 American tree frog , 1 White’s tree frog , I also had a mantis but died of old age and I’m looking to buy one in the future again but I can’t figure out what subspecies I want yet 🙂
Thank you for this video!!! My son win an iguana at carnival( if I had been there I would have stopped him) ...they had a box if them as babies,sitting with a huge crowd passing by,and my son( aged 26) wanted to "save him" now we are trapped with an iguana,trying to accommodate him,trying to set up proper sized enclosure....he hasn't been handling it,and hasn't really time,as he works full time. I am not going to dare try to tame him myself, I know my limits... I can't believe they just give them away as prizes at carnivals,to be given to just anyone who doesn't know what they are getting into. Thanks again for showing how they can harm people,many don't realize it. :-(
@@someonenew2672 you're very kind...we are trying to do our best to care for him. I couldn't in good conscious give him to someone who couldn't handle him. I'm not sure we can care for him properly,but we will try. So far, he hasn't shown aggression ( maybe it's a female?) But I worry as the iguana approaches adulthood. My son has a huge heart,and he couldn't just let the baby sit there scared,in the hot Colorado dry climate....
A reptile zoo i went to had a large greenhouse with the iguanas and it was so big that we could walk around in it and interact with the animals. Also the guides there told us that they dont make good pets and they have been raised from birth to be friendly. They took such good care of all the animals there!
I work at a pet store and I educated a customer about how commercial diets aren't healthy for a bearded dragon, similar to feeding them a diet of chips on a daily basis and he bought it and didn't purchase any live insects for their new beardie. It's frustrating.
Totally agree! I see them all the time in my local rescue centers, it makes me so sad. So many people buy them when they're tiny and dont realize that they get huge.
It hurts but if if children aren’t being cared for, they need better home too right? I’d rather someone give up a pet they can’t take care of instead of keeping it
I used to own a green iguana (I’m from Poland btw) I got it when I was 5-6 years old because I was absolutely obsessed with dragons and lizards. My dad did a ton of research before buying Iggy (that was his name and he was a he, we gender checked him!) and we bought him a “small” enclosure which was still pretty big, it had to stand under our stairs instead of our small cabinet. Once Iggy grew out of his own cage, which was around 1,5 years later, we had fortunately moved to a bigger home and my dad and I spent 2 days building his new enclosure, which was as tall as my dad so 190cm (I know that’s not the biggest enclosure) and around 150cm tall (once again not the biggest). He was a very happy lizard, he got a very healthy diet, he loved daisies in the summer! As a kid, I used to handle him a lot when he was also small, I got nibbled at a few times (fortunately when he was still tiny) and I can confirm, even from a baby iguana their bites are quite strong. We let him roam around our house everyday so he had plenty of space to move around and he loved cuddling and being pet and in the summer we took him into our garden on a hand sewn leash because he loved running away (and they’re super fast and hard to catch). Unfortunately after 8 years of taking care of Iggy we moved out of the country and had to give him away, luckily the people who took him in took amazing care for him, we helped them build an enclosure that was HUGE (it took up a whole wall) and Iggy lived happily ever after. Iggy lived 16 years, sadly we didn’t come back to Poland until after he passed away so I couldn’t say my goodbyes. To this day, Iggy was the most amazing pet I’ve ever had, he was super friendly, cuddly and he had an amazing personality! I don’t wanna encourage anyone to go and buy an iguana now, we were lucky to get such a well tempered lizard and he was the most amazing Iguana. RIP Iggy, thanks for making my childhood dream of owning a dragon come true❤️
I know I'm late to this video but its horrible that they don't have the correct equipment for all animals they sell. I work for quite a big pet shop chain but was very pleasantly surprised by how much training I received. We're also told that our animals come first in all circumstances. If we don't feel comfortable selling a pet to someone we won't and can block them from getting an animal in the future. Because we are such a small store we don't stock everything the company offers so if someone wants to buy a rabbit for example we will make sure they have everything they need and if they don't we'll order it in for them. Its a huge comfort working for the store I do because I know that everyone I work with loves the animals and wants whats best for them. It great when customers come back in a tell us how their pets are doing!
I bought my blue iguana aka green iguana just different morph and I completely agree they are a huge commitment they are just not a particularly good pet of causes their are exceptions but over all they are not good pets please stop impulse buying these animals
I literally don't understand how people impulse buy animals. Like, that is _another life_ you are committing yourself to care for. If you already know how to care for the animal and just hadn't been planning on buying one at the time that's one thing. But how do you just go "I've never owned a hamster/lizard/fish/etc. before and don't know anything about them but I wanna buy this one here and now" I literally can't comprehend it. Unless you're a child(and even then parents shouldn't let theory kid makeall these revisions on their own) there's no excuse.
I worked at a petco for 3 years. We didn't sell iguanas there due to these reasons... Our store wanted us to be very honest with people and would never get in trouble for discouraging a sale for the animals well being. 🤷♀️ our store was also ranked top 3 in company year after year for customer service and my co workers i would still contact to ask animal questions to because they dedicated their lives to being animal lovers.
As an iguana owner I absolutely agree! I love my iguana with all my heart, but I would never recommend anyone get one as a pet. They are massive, temperamental, and hyper-intelligent animals that are impossible to raise without investing large amounts of time, money, space, and blood. I’m lucky in that my adult male is a sweetheart who has never shown an inclination to bite, but that’s due to me spending hours handling and acclimating him every day for over two years. At four years old, he’s now roughly 4.5 ft and even though I trim his claws, I cannot overemphasize how scarred up my arms are. He’s never bitten, never so much as slashed at me; iguana claws are so sharp that just by holding one, you /will/ get shallow cuts and scrapes. Trimming the nails minimizes this, but not all iguanas will tolerate this, even once more or less tame. And at minimum you will face a year of handling before you can tame your lizard, and then you’ll need to start all over again once they reach sexual maturity, so that’s fun! He’s gone through three enclosures, each that I had to build myself and that cost hundreds of dollars and I’m in the process of building him a newer one. It’ll take up most of my living room and cost at least $300-400. Iguanas shouldn’t be in pet stores where misinformed people might buy one and either unknowingly neglect them because they’re given bad information on care or otherwise be overwhelmed and abandon them. I would give up my iguana over my own dead body, but I will never get another one. Be smart, people. If the aesthetic appeal is too hard to resist, get a Chinese Water Dragon.
My dad is Puerto Rican, and he owned huge iguanas as a kid since they are everywhere. At my first repticon, he literally told me to get an iguana. We left with a leopard gecko though. THANK GOD I got Echo. Edit: My parents tried to get my 3 year old brother an iguana, now I’m suggesting a painted agama for him.
Petco CAL here. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO!!! I like to tell people how big they are and tell them they would need basically a whole bedroom to themselves! We wont sell to those who don't understand how big and aggressive they can be! We like to look for people who know what they are doing. Or those who've had one previously. We also advise people and especially kids to do a lot of research before they make any final decisions and to think about other options. Love from Utah!
Iguanas are actually illegal to own in my state. My local pet store has had two iguanas (that I know of) but both were bought as kind of "the store's pet" and each time they had to get a permit to be allowed to keep the iguana. The most recent one they had was Rusty. She was a beauty but sadly passed away about a year or two ago.
I used to volunteer at a reptile rescue and adult iguanas that haven't been socialized can be EXTREMELY challenging to work with. They'll tail whip, bite, try to be dominant, and if you can't cope with that, you're probably not going to enjoy an iguana.
I do NOT think that they should be selled at ex Petco. I totally agree, they should only be sold by breeders. I think it is SO important that you and other big Petyoutubers talk about this kind of things. To educate and make people understand how important it is to know a LOT about the animals they want to buy. Thank you!!🦎
When I was really young my parents bought an iguana for me/the family. I named her Polly (after Polly pocket). She was only a baby but I think we gave her a 20 gallon because we knew she was going to get much bigger. A lot of people say that you can't make emotional connections with lizards but I swear my dad and I did. My dad would hold her all the time and she'd lay on his chest while he pet her. Sadly, she came from a chain pet store and probably had many illnesses and died at a pretty young age. She was my first reptile and I wish I was older to remember her better.
my mom has a green iguana, she adopted him from the humane society, a couple had found him in a field, his tail was bitten off, now he's got a spiky nub in its place
I am SO happy Tyler mentions the pelleted diet thing. We got a 3 year old beardie that was rehomed to us. When the person came and dropped him off, he was in a 10 gallon tank, with only pellets (AND they fed them dry) no insects. But the worst, the VERY worst thing about it was he had zero water dish. They had a freaking hamster bottle in his tank. I really don't know how they thought it was okay but he is back on track, not dehydrated anymore. Fresh greens, dubias and the pellets were thrown out the day he came to us. Long live Parthunaax! Should also mention I guess that he was purchased for an 8 year old kid and the kid had stopped caring for him.
I got my green iguana (Samantha) as a baby when I was six years old. She was super friendly and tame but that is because she was handled all the time and socialized. However, she was not the norm because my neighbor got one at the same time and that one was evil, legit evil.. It tore my neighbors arm and legs up soooo bad... Anyway, Samantha lived till she was 23 years old and sweet, got along with the dogs and cat, hated my sister though. Probably because my sister would harass her when she was younger. Would I get another one? No, because none have been as friendly as Sam and they can do serious damage to you if they want..
We had two iguanas growing up. One was named Oscar who we had when I was 6... I was not allowed to handle him as he was temperamental. I don't know how we got him, but I do know we kept him until he died. Our second was a female named Lily, who was a rescue. We got her from my great grandparents who had her because they were given her when her owners couldn't/wouldn't take care of her anymore. She was being fed on hot dogs and iceburg lettuce. When we got her she had mouth rot and was severely malnourished, stuck shed, backed up internally, etc. We took her in got her treated, into bigger tank, better lighting and she started to thrive. From what I remember (we had her when I was 10 I think) she was a sweet heart.
Ed and Emily of Snake Discovery (on TH-cam) did have a couple of iguanas in the past which they free-roamed (they trained one to use the bathroom in their shower, probably the other as well). Not sure how they had UV/heat/etc set up but they do know a fair bit about reptiles and do not believe green iguanas make good pets.
Clint’s Reptiles also did a great video on iguanas and how they really don’t make good pets for most people. I’m glad that more people are spreading awareness about iguanas!
I had a friend in high school who was working over the summer with his dad to restore a house that was foreclosed on and they bought it. He brought a friend with him to help start cleaning out the house to restore it and flip it. His friend headed down into the basement and soon ran back up stairs screaming that there was a dinosaur down there. My friend went down and soon came back up with a 3ft female green iguana. The previous owners had left her there. He decided to keep her and actually made half of his room into her enclosure. Not sure if he still has her or not, it's been over 12 years now. But I remember he would let her roam the house and she hated his mother and would chase after her. He brought her into class once and she was amazing. I remember he did a lot of research on how to care for her and he treated her very well. Just an interesting story I wanted to share. Really sad when people abandon pets and not all are lucky enough to get a forever home with proper care and attention.
A question I have for the employees in the stores is what happens when the iguanas grow past the size of the average tanks they have for showcasing animals? I’ve been to pretty much every pet store in my area because I have a dog and I’ve never seen a 6’ x 6’ enclosure with any kind of lizard in it! Do they send the larger iguanas to a rescue or do they dispose of them like the other horror stories we’ve seen online.....
Hey do you have a leopard gecko? If not, what’s your opinion on them? My leopard gecko is called Marmalade, and we love to watch your videos together! 💕💕
Hi Tyler! I work at a Petco and unfortunately our store was "chosen" to sell Iguana's as part of our Reptiles. I fortunately rose up and got the power to choose what my store orders. I do my best to keep Iguana's out of my store because they are way to advance, but sometimes they 'push' them on us and surprise! We will have very rarely have iguanas. I don't like selling these reptiles because just like you said, people bring their kids to my store and impulsively buy pets. So finding a home perfect for these guys is very difficult, because I refuse to sell one of these guys to an impulsive buyer. Thanks for sharing this video! I couldn't agree more with you!!
A month ago i found a green iguana on the side walk someone probably let i lose. i tryed helping it but it ran up a tree. i live in chicago illinois it will die during the winter if no one finds it. It was also a full grown adult
My mom used to own 2 green iguanas before I was born. Her larger one was name Goliath and was abt 6ft while her other one was only 4 ft. They had a dedicated room and she often walked them on leashes outside bc they were very active lizards who didnt like being held in an enclosure. She used to just provide lighting In specific spots in the house and would only put them away at night or if they were shedding bc she said they were very temperamental during sheds.
I can not tell you how many iguanas I have seen bought from Petco only to be returned. It’s so sad, but they need a LOT of care. Please do research before you get an iguana, or any animal for that matter.
Hay I just wanted to say love your videos they help educate many people including my self to not make bad impulsive mistakes so thanks for helping me and a lot of others
I 100% agree with this. Iguanas do not make good pets for unexpected reptile keepers. At an expo I went to a couple months ago I saw a ton of people with these tiny green iguanas on their shoulders that cost like $10. It’s sad to me because that was people do not know what they are getting into.
I was one of those kids who got an iguana from a pet store and I was in love. His name was Spike and he was the sweetest thing! I had him out of his enclosure all of the time when I was home. He loved it when I would walk around the house with him on my shoulder. Unfortunately he only lived a few years, but if I had the time and space, I would get another one. I did get to hold one on our trip to Mexico a few months ago and I didn't want to give him back. He was so beautiful 😍 On the flip side I definitely agree that they are an animal that needs a lot of time and care! Thank you for this video! So many people have no idea how big they can get!
I got to meet my coworkers two green iguanas (shoutout to Lewis and Flora!) and they were soooo sweet! Perfectly happy to hug onto you and snuggle. They were both fairly old and had been with her family since they were hatchlings, had an entire bedroom as their enclosure (she showed me pics and it was dope, tons of tall plants and vines going across the ceiling). They were basically spoiled, in perfect condition when I saw them. But their attitude totally changed how I viewed green iguanas. If you take great care of them, and handle them a lot they can be super sweet lizards. They’re a LOT to take on, way too much of a commitment for me tbh. But I got to hold Flora and Lewis and they were basically small scaled dogs, Flora especially loved head scritches. But basically, it took her family a huge amount of money, time, energy, and love to get them to be that way.
I had rescued a green iguana. He was my first reptile and was in such bad shape. But I did all the research I needed to do and fixed him up and he is thriving now. He’s a sweetheart
I recently bought a hamster from petco, (none available for adoption) Shes a young roborovski. But I was grabing a few things for her but I had most things from my previous hamster. My dad if I need bathing sand for her (this is my 3rd dwarf) I told him I have some left over. The worker instantly asked me what kind of sand I used and which I replied chinchilla sand. He went on to tell me if that causes problems to which to child play sand (I knew this info) but it was nice seeing a worker actually care. I also saw him in the fish section helping people set up tanks. And telling people the actual truth about the reptiles (those people walked away with no reptile, pfft afraid of commitment) It's nice seeing sombody there for the animals and not just money.
I just found your channel and I have to say I really enjoy your videos. You’re very straight forward, knowledgeable and funny. Thanks for all the new things I’ve learned while here! Haha 🖤
Imo if someone wants a big lizard, a tegu is a great option (if they're aware of what they're getting themselves into, of course!) :) Awesome vid as always!
I bought the tank i currently use for my leopard gecko from a yard sale. Its a 55 gallon (it's way over the usual recommended size for him but he's been much less stressed since being upgraded). They told me the tank had been previously used for their daughter's iguana, but that as she moved into a college dorm they decided to get rid of it while she was away instead of waiting for her to decide whether to get an apartment to be able to kwep it herself. I struggle with this because I feel bad that her parents got rid of it but also hope he gets a bigger enclosure somewhere else, either way.
I worked at a pet store and it was very frustrating .A ball python had mites and my manager yelled at me for trying to bathe it . Another time someone asked if they could keep their betta fish in the cup it came and I said no and they went and did it anyway.
My grandparents had an iguana that they kept in a 55 gallon fish tank. He could barely move and he was never allowed out of the cage unless they were cleaning it and they used cat litter as the substrate. They were told by the employees at the store they bought him from that he’d only grow to fit the cage and he’d stop growing until they got a bigger cage. They were also told that litter was perfect for a substrate. If my grandparents knew any better they would’ve taken care of him better, they were given false information and didn’t even think to look it up
I fell into the trap of iguanas when I was a kid, I'd never seen a truly full size one and just had no idea, mine was a weeee little 10 inch thing from nose to tail tip when I first got him... but eventually his body was larger than my cat with like 3 feet of tail beyond that, and then he'd turn bright orange during mating season and become MEAN AS HELL :[
I’ve had my green iguana for a little over a year now, and I’ll admit I naively purchased her from petco. I was living with my mom at the time and it’s the first reptile I was allowed to have to I was excited and didn’t take into consideration where I was getting her from all I cared about was that I was getting her at all. I knew what I was getting into when I purchased her since my uncle before he passed would rescue full grown iguanas. However I will say that at the pet store the employee that assisted me made sure I knew how big she was going to be when she’s full grown and how iguanas have their typical attitudes, all of which I already knew and was prepared for. Iggy is an animal I love very deeply and I don’t even for a second regret purchasing her even if it was from a pet store (which I would never do again). In the future I’d love to rescue another iguana they can be such amazing pets if you have the time and space to work with them!
I get that pet stores have all these pet supplies. But the fact that people pick out pets they want is weird. Like the pet is an object. I think pet stores should not sell any animals. Maybe for like adoption days like they do for dogs.
Just started at my local Petco, where we just passed our iguana off to another store (which, coincidentally, is how my store got it). And this girl walked in the other day and asked if she could just hold the iguana for a bit. Just.. hold it.
It sounds like Petco glazes over the recommended minimum enclosure size, which is 6’ X 6’ X 8’, like the enclosure size doesn’t matter. What matters to them, though, is that they sell the animal so they go straight to the humidity. So basically when people get these care guides, they have to guess the enclosure size because the pet store doesn’t tell them that.
They have tokay geckos and a Savannah monitor at my local Monster Pets.. oh, and iguanas of course. I hope the people that work there tell buyers how aggressive all these species are.
I like my local pet store and totally agree with you. They have one adult green iguana, and that's it for iguanas. She's got a lot of space, and I'm not even sure if she's for sale or just lives there.
When I worked at PetSmart we always had our inventory saying 1 iguana so they couldn’t be ordered in and we didn’t sell them. We had one iguana who would come in who knew how to shake a paw, he was super sweet.
Most Petco’s have a 75 gallon, especially during the tank sales. But I do agree they shouldn’t sell them. I always ask if our store can stop ordering them but they end up making them a push order anyway
Brianna Perry I work at Petco and after a fiasco where they pushed Vampire Crabs when we didn’t have tanks for them, we found out you can cancel a push! Management just has to be on board with not wanting to sell them.
For us they’ve canceled some push orders but my managers have tried with iguanas but they still show up. We even tried to cancel ferrets bc their enclosure was being redone and they still sent 2.
Someone i used to be friends with impulse bought a rhinoceros iguana because it was tiny and the employee said it would only get a foot long. Little did they know. Once the iguana started outgrowing its 40 gallon tank, they rehomed it and it now lives IN one of the mom and pop reptile stores and is not for sale. Good ending but a scary story.
When i was little we won a baby iguana at a fair and he was rly sick when we got him. We ended up treating him and giving him to someone who could care for him. He now lives at my best friend’s house and has the whole basement(about 14ft long and 7ft high) to himself. Freaking love that lizard. They are great pets but only if u know what ur doing.
I got a dwarf hamster and I did everything pet supermarket told me to do but then I didn’t realize hamsters need a kinda large cage, it’s to late , now. And they sold NO toys for them there..
I went to a place in Alberta once where they had an iguana. It was a park, and the iguana lived in a building on site where people could get food and meet up and stuff. He was huge and had free run of the building, but mostly hung out in a lower area that was fenced off to keep people (especially children) away from him. Given what I've heard about the damage they can do with their tails, I'm staying far away. (Might get a beardie at some point though. Hoping to get a turtle, too.)
So I haven't worked at a store in YEARS! (like 20 years) and when I did work at a store we had people bring iguanas all the time cuz they bought them at the chain pet store and wasn't told the care. And then they get sick and start to get mean when you do feed them only a few times a week. So many had come to us to be care for a nursed back to health and many were too far gone and would take too much time to rehabilitate so we would have to put them down. We had one in the store it was our mascot she came to us abused this way and survived. Her over night enclose was our glass display at the front of the store. Her "enclosure" was our whole store. We had platforms for her to climb too, and signs where she would rest saying to not touch her. and she never whipped or bit while she was with us. She use to take walks down the street with us. And so many people loved her. She was a lot of work and could eat more then a child! So these are NOT an easy pet to care for. We had lots of awesome creatures we would sell but we always encouraged people to come back and handle the animal a few times. and to set up the enclosure ahead of time. if a person wanted a pet they would put down a commitment fee that was 90% reimbursable if they pulled out. This just made it so we would hold the animal while they set up an enclosure and do the education they need to care for. When they would come back they had to tell us what they did and how to feed ect... Chain stores are horrible.
I’m so terrified of iguanas. The only time I’ve seen one irl was at a pet store when I was a kid, this guy had one on a leash and I guess it freaked out from being surrounded by people and tried to climb on the owner. It ended up clawing the guy’s ear open and he bled everywhere 🤮
Me too,im scared of iguanas....I don't really know why though I love reptiles but iguanas are so big and look like they wanna kill you lol....and I'm so sorry for your experience with iguanas
Back when I was working at a chain pet store I have had an incident where I was trying to teach a customer how to go about caring for the new pet that they were getting for their daughter, and they complained to my manager about it and decided not to commit to the animal. This got me in trouble because I was “discouraging another sale” and was basically told to just hand them a care sheet and sell them the animal with the complete wrong set up and diet just to make the sale and keep people happy... and literally all I did is tell them about how often they should expect to have to clean the cage, told them about the animals diet, and recommend a tank over a critter trail.
That’s terrible. Good on you for trying to do the right thing though 😔
Some people are just horrific these days
breaks my heart :(.
Money is above anything. All some people care is money and i hate that
I currently work at a smaller chain pet store and although my managers are great with me giving the right care, I’ve gotten lots of negative feedback when I tell a customer to at least but a male betta in a 2.5 over a .5 gallon tank. And that’s not even what I personally use for my betta fish. I’ve gotten multiple customers get mad at me for telling them the right care, and sometimes people are just stubborn and don’t listen.
Forget the enclosure! You need a spare bedroom!
Literally though like my bedroom would be the perfect size for an iguana 😂😂
Or you need an enclosure and offer plenty of time out the habitat!
thats what we do for the rabbits, animals need room! they don't belong in cages
i definitley agree a walk in closet woulent even be bigg enough
I was literally about to say that 😂😂
PREACH!! I own a green iggy and they are A LOT of work. My husband and I spent days and hundreds of dollars building a sizable enclosure for her and she’s going to grow out of it. They are expensive, large, and have attitudes like no other. Pet stores should not be selling iguanas because most people, including the employees at the pet store, do not understand the care they require.
Morgan Johnston Props to you! I would not like one, but can you tell me more about them and their care?
Morgan Johnston just curious, what are the best things about them?
Oh ok Bye they take full UVA/UVB and large enclosures and the price on both those add up. They need a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and calcium supplements which means you have to go buy food about once a week because it goes bad. They can have good temperaments but you have to handle them frequently (like every day) to get them used to human contact. They have every ability to tear you up (sharp claws, sharp teeth, and a bull-whip of a tail), so handling is very important. They also need enough water to soak in because they love to submerse themself in water so for a small iggy, a large reptile water bowl works, but for larger iggies you need to either take them out and put them in the bathtub or put like a large plastic container full of water in the enclosure. And all this is just the basics I could think of right now! There’s more to it than all of this, but basically if someone is not experienced and financially stable, they probably aren’t a good fit for an iguana
K M they CAN have good temperaments and be very loving and almost dog-like, but all that is contingent on frequent handling of the iggy
Morgan Johnston Oh wow! Thanks for telling me all of this!
My neighbor legit almost bought a Chinese water dragon from Petsmart for her son. I told her that they need like 7 foot enclosures and she was like ok no. Now they have fish :)
My boyfriend was sold on how the petstore told him Chinese water dragons are like a mini iguana but nice and dont need a large cage. I was resurrecting and he impulsively bought one. Only after he realised how big a cage she needs and now regrets getting her. I tell my friends and coworkers who want reptiles to do research first because petstore lie to use. My water dragon is mean and wont let us touch her.
at least petsmart has cages that can actually house anything they sell.for example the 120 or 125 gallon long fish tanks are long enough to house a chinese water dragon and you can walk into the store any time and buy one right there and then.they even sell tanks for their tank buster fish cause the biggest tank they sell is a 240 gallon(it's online order only but at least they sell it).
also petco is worse then petsmart.cause petco sells a lot more massive animals but the biggest tank they sell is like a 55 gallon which can not house their largest animal.
Brianna Harter, yeah but those are really expensive. And sadly the pet store won’t usually tell the buyers that they need that size cage because they think they won’t buy it. Wish they would raise the price to at least $75
Sadly both Petco and petsmart said I would only need a 40 to 50 gallon tank for me reptile. I ended up going to a reptile store and buying a 6ft cage for her.
I'm not saying they are prefect.I'm saying when it comes to petsmart the option is there to buy the right size cage even if it is expensive.
While petco doesn't even give you the option to buy the right sized cage.
Part 2
Why chain pet stores should STOP SELLING ANY ANIMALS
I disagree with "any animals" but they should definetly stop selling the quantity of animals they do and should focus on teaching their employees better. Like my friend worked at Petsmart and was a wildlife major in college and even though they did hire her they told her she was over qualified lmao. They should sell less and focus on more beginner type pets and stop selling the more advanced ones
@@toriandtilly I'm in college and I'm a wildlife major too! Definetly would be hard to work at a pet store as I would educate all the customers
Sauri Squibb YASSSSSSSS
I work at a Petco. My Petco has people that hate how the animals are but do the best with the situation. We have the right to refuse sales of animals to people who aren’t going to give them good homes with the proper enclosures and diet. We refuse sales every day and try our best to get the animals in the best enclosures we can give them. We’re just trying to make the best out of the situation. Although other Petco’s aren’t like this
bai watson what I like about my pet store (Pets at Home, I’m from the UK) is that they have another charity attached to the store that has animals for adoption from previous owners that couldn’t look after them anymore or just didn’t want them.
I adopted three rats, one that has a neurological disorder. Checked over by the vets, they’re all healthy. I love them to bits.
I couldn’t agree more I don’t think Petco or petsmart should belong selling iguanas, boas, monitors, chameleons and even some gecko species that require more work than say a crestie or a Leo but that’s just my opinion
Most of them also fail at taking care of simple lizards like leos and cresties.
MeKarDoor your right as sad as it is
Well since changing the CEO people are now getting the proper training to care for the animals they way they should be. The animals wasn’t put first for a long time but now that we have changed CEOs there is more focus on health and safety for the animals. I’m not saying every store is great there are bad eggs. But I myself always make sure to do research on the animals sent to us so that I can give them the proper care they need. Like I said it depends on the store.
Dori Gonzalez I agree but I think still the kinds of people that shop at the big box stores usually 9 times out of 10 haven’t done there research when it come to any of the animals
Dori Gonzalez it’s just another fool, nothing will change.
Could you talk about your opinions on class pets? I'm interested in hearing your opinions!
Bad. Mostly taken poorly care of
I think it just depends on the animal, but it’s not a bad idea! Teach the kids how to be gentle with the animal and how to take care of them and interesting facts. Just as long as the animal has all the proper needs and care as it is still a living thing
I think a fish tank or some sort of salamander maybe would make a good class pet, like something that you can't hold, observational pets..
my third grade teacher had two salamanders, they were amazingly taken care of and it was really great watching them in class and I would stay after school to help her take care of them. But then my sixth grade teacher had like six class pets that were not taken care of the best which was really sad, she was really mean and crazy herself though too. She always fed the snakes live mice and sometimes during or right before class it was horrible because even though I loved the snakes I was traumatized by watching them eat especially since I was never used to that. Also they weren't even feeder mice she got them from the pet section at petco because in the back room there were boxes they were in that said "congrats on you're new pet!" It was so cruel and heartbreaking. I know some snakes are picky and may need to eat live for a bit but she wasn't even trying frozen it seems. So I've experienced both ends of the spectrum. If the animal has correct husbandry and is not being stressed out from excessive attention then it can be really great, but they are often poorly taken care of. I know you were asking tyler and not me but I just remembered all this and started writing it out haha.
I was a teachers assistant my senior year for my zoology teacher and it was my job to maintain all of the class pets! Not all are un cared for but most definitely don’t get proper care
lmaoo that iguana looked so proud that it bit the owner 😭😂
Yeah, Marley there was like, “I just bit my parent. I did good job.”
Tye hurricane that hit us (Florida) in 92 destroyed reptile shops. The snakes and iguanas were able to survive and thrive in our "southern" weather. People have added to this thus causing the huge problems we're having. They are amazing animals that you MUST do your research on. The only places that should sell them are reptile stores NOT huge chain stores like Petco. You MUST have hours to spend with them a day just to get them used to you. You MUST be able to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, have a kiddy pool for their water bowl, clean them everyday and learn how to read their body language. It's best to have help once they get bigger and hope you never lose your job cause they cost a LOT of money to set up and keep up.
My cage was 12ft long, 13ft high, and 3.5ft wide when they were 3ft long. Be prepared to give them a room to themselves once they get 4plus.
I asked my local Petco what enclosure size I needed for the iguana and they said the 55 should do most of its life like what the hell😣😣😣😣😣😣
Whaaaaat!! That is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard!
I actually work at Petco and I think it depends on what store leader or managers you have because my store refuses to sell iguanas.
Also 55 is ridiculous
Yeah and that person can go live in a closet!
The best Psycho they are literally 3 times longer than a 55 gallon tank
Being able to "turn around" is the standard for a pet carrier. You know, for transport. A little messed up to suggest that is enough space for a habitat
You gave a warning for the injury, but it's in your thumbnail 😂😂😂
😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
What time in the video does it show the picture?
As someone who is an employee, each Petco is different and my store does not sell iguanas. My store leader strongly disagrees with them being sold from chain pet stores because we don’t have acceptable holding facilities for them to live comfortably because they need so much space. However I don’t agree with how they house the crested geckos and have in fact made it know that it should be something that’s changed.
Dori Gonzalez I’ve never seen a petco sell iguanas. I’ve seen petsmarts, but definitely not petco.
@@kaitlinmeier8564 I live close to a Petco that sells iguanas.
Why Chain Pet Stores should Stop Selling *ANY reptiles at all.*
why they shouldn't sell animals lol
Honestly, they shouldn't even sell any animals. Here in Australia, we have hardly any animals sold in pet stores. People mostly rescue or go to a breeder.
@@reina8942 it's the same in Germany, most people adopt and the only pets really sold at petstores are some small birds, mice and hamsters
Well some people don’t have access to breeders and pet stores such as Petsmart where I live hire people who have experience with at least 3 animals sold in the store. I planned on buying a leopard gecko after doing tons of research but I then bought (with out knowing anything about them) a bearded dragon. One of the workers told me about how she cared for her bearded dragons and how to properly care for them. She told me the tank sizes and a proper diet. He is now almost 4 years old. That day I lost all of my money.
@@chbrski2091 yeah. at my petco there is one dude who knows a whole bunch about leopard geckos(he owns a few himself). very helpful :)
Drop that skin care routine ❤❤ your skin is so glowy
sweet peaches lights,lights,lights (jk) mostuiser(minor spelling mistake)
Foundation, bb cream (makeup)
Its really unerving to walk into my local petco, and see literaly 7 baby green iguana there, all in one small 20 gal tall.
I mean, my local petco is real clean, and the animals look healthy, and have nice fresh food for each animal, but its still overcrowded, and im still seeing things like, 3 spider ball pythons in the same tank.
Yesterday I literally went to a Petco and saw the iguanas. I said, “I don’t even know why they sell them!” And my mom said, “Yeah. They get big.” Then I said, “They get HUGE.”
Watching this while my parents build a 6 foot tall, 4 foot long, 4 foot wide enclosure for our juvenile iguana lol (shes be upgraded to a bigger one when she becomes an adult)
How is it doing?Just curious ^.^
I've had my iguana for 7 years and now own a blue tongue skink. The blue tongue skink is far easier to care for than an iguana. I too bought the iguana on impulse when I was younger and when it got bigger, I decided to make a commitment to it as it was in my hands and my responsibility now so I had to give it a much larger enclosure, etc. But everything is fine now and I love my lizards.
How big is your enclosure?
@@4swordsluver It has a whole room to itself.
They should stop selling animals period. The birds there always look so miserable 😢
Before I bought her my cockatiel was fed some terrible kaytee seed mix, had nothing to chew on, and had two cheap plastic toys one of which she couldn’t even reach.
I got a budgie for my birthday ( I already had other budgies) and his poo was green and liquidy which means he is sick because the pet store only feeds them seeds so I tried feeding him more veggies and tried to save him but he died 2 days later
Ramen Lover what pet stores
Well I don’t completely agree. Some pet stores are amazing and take great care of their animals and have employees with experience. Such as the Petsmart where we live. It’s is very convenient because there are no breeder that aren’t in other states where you can even see the animal in person.
“Iguana enclosures”
You mean an entire room or outdoor aviary? Hahahah
How are petstores seriously selling these monster lizards with a straight face.
Thank you so much for making this video!!! I've been keeping iguanas my entire life and I'm constantly devastated by seeing them in pet stores, because for each one I see at petco I see future animals broken and abandoned at my local rescue. Shout out to Nature's Edge Wildlife Rescue, they do great work and are so good for the animals they take in. But it is up to us reptile keepers to educate others on which are and are not good pets!
I work at petsmart and we dont sell iguanas but we do sell Chinese Water Dragons and those usually require custom cages, so most of our customers dont have the means to actually care for them.
I like working there so I can give people accurate info, but I hate some of the products we carry and the fact that we sell certain animals but not appropriate enclosures for them.
I'm in Florida and my store currently has a Chinchilla. Chinchillas dont do well at warm temps... 🙄
I love that you actually know what you’re doing! I once went to a pet store a while away from me, and they said crested geckos need a horizontal tank, and that they eat fruit! Wth?
If they don’t do well in warm temps then they’d do great in new york
TigerArtYT or in Canada
Haha chinchillas are sassy 😂😂
I 100% agree!!!! And they should not sell Nile Monitors too so basically any lizard bigger then nova lol
THE FUN CHANNEL I saw a monitor yesterday !! They seemed healthy but I know nothing about them . I own smaller lizards and frogs
Jessica Gomez I’m just wondering what lizard do you have:) lol
Jessica Gomez and chain pet stores can have great looking monitors but a lot of people buy them and don’t know that that little 6 inch lizard gets 6 feet
THE FUN CHANNEL 1 crested gecko, 1 leopard gecko , 1 fire skink , 1 albino pacman frog , 1 green pacman frog , 1 American tree frog , 1 White’s tree frog , I also had a mantis but died of old age and I’m looking to buy one in the future again but I can’t figure out what subspecies I want yet 🙂
Jessica Gomez wow I got a gecko too lol
Thank you for this video!!! My son win an iguana at carnival( if I had been there I would have stopped him) ...they had a box if them as babies,sitting with a huge crowd passing by,and my son( aged 26) wanted to "save him" now we are trapped with an iguana,trying to accommodate him,trying to set up proper sized enclosure....he hasn't been handling it,and hasn't really time,as he works full time. I am not going to dare try to tame him myself, I know my limits... I can't believe they just give them away as prizes at carnivals,to be given to just anyone who doesn't know what they are getting into. Thanks again for showing how they can harm people,many don't realize it. :-(
I’m glad your not just giving it away! Good luck trying to tame the big guy! Your a hero
@@someonenew2672 you're very kind...we are trying to do our best to care for him. I couldn't in good conscious give him to someone who couldn't handle him. I'm not sure we can care for him properly,but we will try. So far, he hasn't shown aggression ( maybe it's a female?) But I worry as the iguana approaches adulthood. My son has a huge heart,and he couldn't just let the baby sit there scared,in the hot Colorado dry climate....
Fish is already pushing it but IGUANAS? HOWWWWWW?
If you can’t do it and your son doesn’t have time, maybe there’s a rescue that can help?
A reptile zoo i went to had a large greenhouse with the iguanas and it was so big that we could walk around in it and interact with the animals.
Also the guides there told us that they dont make good pets and they have been raised from birth to be friendly. They took such good care of all the animals there!
Oh wow I didn't know they got so big. I always learn something new from your video very interesting
I work at a pet store and I educated a customer about how commercial diets aren't healthy for a bearded dragon, similar to feeding them a diet of chips on a daily basis and he bought it and didn't purchase any live insects for their new beardie. It's frustrating.
0:20
False, I never sold any Iguana
:'D
HAHAHHAHAHA
@@tylerrugge hi
Lol I was confused for a second
Totally agree! I see them all the time in my local rescue centers, it makes me so sad. So many people buy them when they're tiny and dont realize that they get huge.
YES TYLER YOU GO
"If you have a pet you want to get rid of..." kind of hurts though
pets are like children ☹️
It hurts but if if children aren’t being cared for, they need better home too right? I’d rather someone give up a pet they can’t take care of instead of keeping it
I used to have a pet iguana... She was so nice... She lived well beyond her years... I miss her so much
You have inspired me a lot keep up the good work
I used to own a green iguana (I’m from Poland btw) I got it when I was 5-6 years old because I was absolutely obsessed with dragons and lizards. My dad did a ton of research before buying Iggy (that was his name and he was a he, we gender checked him!) and we bought him a “small” enclosure which was still pretty big, it had to stand under our stairs instead of our small cabinet. Once Iggy grew out of his own cage, which was around 1,5 years later, we had fortunately moved to a bigger home and my dad and I spent 2 days building his new enclosure, which was as tall as my dad so 190cm (I know that’s not the biggest enclosure) and around 150cm tall (once again not the biggest). He was a very happy lizard, he got a very healthy diet, he loved daisies in the summer! As a kid, I used to handle him a lot when he was also small, I got nibbled at a few times (fortunately when he was still tiny) and I can confirm, even from a baby iguana their bites are quite strong. We let him roam around our house everyday so he had plenty of space to move around and he loved cuddling and being pet and in the summer we took him into our garden on a hand sewn leash because he loved running away (and they’re super fast and hard to catch). Unfortunately after 8 years of taking care of Iggy we moved out of the country and had to give him away, luckily the people who took him in took amazing care for him, we helped them build an enclosure that was HUGE (it took up a whole wall) and Iggy lived happily ever after. Iggy lived 16 years, sadly we didn’t come back to Poland until after he passed away so I couldn’t say my goodbyes. To this day, Iggy was the most amazing pet I’ve ever had, he was super friendly, cuddly and he had an amazing personality! I don’t wanna encourage anyone to go and buy an iguana now, we were lucky to get such a well tempered lizard and he was the most amazing Iguana. RIP Iggy, thanks for making my childhood dream of owning a dragon come true❤️
I work for Petco and we haven’t had them in our store for over a year for all of these exact reasons.
I know I'm late to this video but its horrible that they don't have the correct equipment for all animals they sell. I work for quite a big pet shop chain but was very pleasantly surprised by how much training I received. We're also told that our animals come first in all circumstances. If we don't feel comfortable selling a pet to someone we won't and can block them from getting an animal in the future. Because we are such a small store we don't stock everything the company offers so if someone wants to buy a rabbit for example we will make sure they have everything they need and if they don't we'll order it in for them.
Its a huge comfort working for the store I do because I know that everyone I work with loves the animals and wants whats best for them. It great when customers come back in a tell us how their pets are doing!
I bought my blue iguana aka green iguana just different morph and I completely agree they are a huge commitment they are just not a particularly good pet of causes their are exceptions but over all they are not good pets please stop impulse buying these animals
I literally don't understand how people impulse buy animals. Like, that is _another life_ you are committing yourself to care for. If you already know how to care for the animal and just hadn't been planning on buying one at the time that's one thing.
But how do you just go "I've never owned a hamster/lizard/fish/etc. before and don't know anything about them but I wanna buy this one here and now" I literally can't comprehend it. Unless you're a child(and even then parents shouldn't let theory kid makeall these revisions on their own) there's no excuse.
I worked at a petco for 3 years. We didn't sell iguanas there due to these reasons... Our store wanted us to be very honest with people and would never get in trouble for discouraging a sale for the animals well being. 🤷♀️ our store was also ranked top 3 in company year after year for customer service and my co workers i would still contact to ask animal questions to because they dedicated their lives to being animal lovers.
As an iguana owner I absolutely agree! I love my iguana with all my heart, but I would never recommend anyone get one as a pet. They are massive, temperamental, and hyper-intelligent animals that are impossible to raise without investing large amounts of time, money, space, and blood. I’m lucky in that my adult male is a sweetheart who has never shown an inclination to bite, but that’s due to me spending hours handling and acclimating him every day for over two years.
At four years old, he’s now roughly 4.5 ft and even though I trim his claws, I cannot overemphasize how scarred up my arms are. He’s never bitten, never so much as slashed at me; iguana claws are so sharp that just by holding one, you /will/ get shallow cuts and scrapes. Trimming the nails minimizes this, but not all iguanas will tolerate this, even once more or less tame. And at minimum you will face a year of handling before you can tame your lizard, and then you’ll need to start all over again once they reach sexual maturity, so that’s fun!
He’s gone through three enclosures, each that I had to build myself and that cost hundreds of dollars and I’m in the process of building him a newer one. It’ll take up most of my living room and cost at least $300-400.
Iguanas shouldn’t be in pet stores where misinformed people might buy one and either unknowingly neglect them because they’re given bad information on care or otherwise be overwhelmed and abandon them.
I would give up my iguana over my own dead body, but I will never get another one. Be smart, people. If the aesthetic appeal is too hard to resist, get a Chinese Water Dragon.
My dad is Puerto Rican, and he owned huge iguanas as a kid since they are everywhere. At my first repticon, he literally told me to get an iguana. We left with a leopard gecko though. THANK GOD I got Echo.
Edit: My parents tried to get my 3 year old brother an iguana, now I’m suggesting a painted agama for him.
Hey! I saw you at the Tinley Park convention! It was awesome to talk to someone as cool as you!
Petco CAL here. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO!!! I like to tell people how big they are and tell them they would need basically a whole bedroom to themselves! We wont sell to those who don't understand how big and aggressive they can be! We like to look for people who know what they are doing. Or those who've had one previously. We also advise people and especially kids to do a lot of research before they make any final decisions and to think about other options.
Love from Utah!
loved the format of the video! it's really interesting when you visit the places or test proof the enclosures and supplies.
Iguanas are actually illegal to own in my state. My local pet store has had two iguanas (that I know of) but both were bought as kind of "the store's pet" and each time they had to get a permit to be allowed to keep the iguana. The most recent one they had was Rusty. She was a beauty but sadly passed away about a year or two ago.
I used to volunteer at a reptile rescue and adult iguanas that haven't been socialized can be EXTREMELY challenging to work with. They'll tail whip, bite, try to be dominant, and if you can't cope with that, you're probably not going to enjoy an iguana.
I do NOT think that they should be selled at ex Petco. I totally agree, they should only be sold by breeders.
I think it is SO important that you and other big Petyoutubers talk about this kind of things. To educate and make people understand how important it is to know a LOT about the animals they want to buy. Thank you!!🦎
When I was really young my parents bought an iguana for me/the family. I named her Polly (after Polly pocket). She was only a baby but I think we gave her a 20 gallon because we knew she was going to get much bigger. A lot of people say that you can't make emotional connections with lizards but I swear my dad and I did. My dad would hold her all the time and she'd lay on his chest while he pet her. Sadly, she came from a chain pet store and probably had many illnesses and died at a pretty young age. She was my first reptile and I wish I was older to remember her better.
my mom has a green iguana, she adopted him from the humane society, a couple had found him in a field, his tail was bitten off, now he's got a spiky nub in its place
I am SO happy Tyler mentions the pelleted diet thing. We got a 3 year old beardie that was rehomed to us. When the person came and dropped him off, he was in a 10 gallon tank, with only pellets (AND they fed them dry) no insects. But the worst, the VERY worst thing about it was he had zero water dish. They had a freaking hamster bottle in his tank. I really don't know how they thought it was okay but he is back on track, not dehydrated anymore. Fresh greens, dubias and the pellets were thrown out the day he came to us. Long live Parthunaax!
Should also mention I guess that he was purchased for an 8 year old kid and the kid had stopped caring for him.
I got my green iguana (Samantha) as a baby when I was six years old. She was super friendly and tame but that is because she was handled all the time and socialized. However, she was not the norm because my neighbor got one at the same time and that one was evil, legit evil.. It tore my neighbors arm and legs up soooo bad... Anyway, Samantha lived till she was 23 years old and sweet, got along with the dogs and cat, hated my sister though. Probably because my sister would harass her when she was younger. Would I get another one? No, because none have been as friendly as Sam and they can do serious damage to you if they want..
YES. THANK YOU! it kills me when I see people at the store like “look we should get an iguana for our pet!” It’s like NO stop don’t!
We had two iguanas growing up. One was named Oscar who we had when I was 6... I was not allowed to handle him as he was temperamental. I don't know how we got him, but I do know we kept him until he died.
Our second was a female named Lily, who was a rescue. We got her from my great grandparents who had her because they were given her when her owners couldn't/wouldn't take care of her anymore. She was being fed on hot dogs and iceburg lettuce. When we got her she had mouth rot and was severely malnourished, stuck shed, backed up internally, etc. We took her in got her treated, into bigger tank, better lighting and she started to thrive. From what I remember (we had her when I was 10 I think) she was a sweet heart.
TheTacosAreHere amazing
I wonder if people just keep the iguana in the house free roaming
Bad idea bc they do not get proper humidity, UVB, or heat.
Ed and Emily of Snake Discovery (on TH-cam) did have a couple of iguanas in the past which they free-roamed (they trained one to use the bathroom in their shower, probably the other as well). Not sure how they had UV/heat/etc set up but they do know a fair bit about reptiles and do not believe green iguanas make good pets.
Clint’s Reptiles also did a great video on iguanas and how they really don’t make good pets for most people. I’m glad that more people are spreading awareness about iguanas!
I had a friend in high school who was working over the summer with his dad to restore a house that was foreclosed on and they bought it. He brought a friend with him to help start cleaning out the house to restore it and flip it. His friend headed down into the basement and soon ran back up stairs screaming that there was a dinosaur down there. My friend went down and soon came back up with a 3ft female green iguana. The previous owners had left her there. He decided to keep her and actually made half of his room into her enclosure. Not sure if he still has her or not, it's been over 12 years now. But I remember he would let her roam the house and she hated his mother and would chase after her. He brought her into class once and she was amazing. I remember he did a lot of research on how to care for her and he treated her very well. Just an interesting story I wanted to share. Really sad when people abandon pets and not all are lucky enough to get a forever home with proper care and attention.
My little cousin wants to get one and I’ve tried telling her get something small first because they are just so expensive and difficult to care for.
In San Diego they have wild parrots because someone’s breeding birds got loose
Same with Florida too
In Phoenix too 😆 we have a thriving population of the peach-faced lovebirds
A question I have for the employees in the stores is what happens when the iguanas grow past the size of the average tanks they have for showcasing animals? I’ve been to pretty much every pet store in my area because I have a dog and I’ve never seen a 6’ x 6’ enclosure with any kind of lizard in it! Do they send the larger iguanas to a rescue or do they dispose of them like the other horror stories we’ve seen online.....
Why dont you have more subs ????
Thx for the ❤️
I don't think chain pet stores should be allowed to sell ANY animals at all
Hey do you have a leopard gecko?
If not, what’s your opinion on them?
My leopard gecko is called Marmalade, and we love to watch your videos together! 💕💕
DiamondWolf cute name!
Ashley Aikins Thank you! 😊
Hi Tyler! I work at a Petco and unfortunately our store was "chosen" to sell Iguana's as part of our Reptiles. I fortunately rose up and got the power to choose what my store orders. I do my best to keep Iguana's out of my store because they are way to advance, but sometimes they 'push' them on us and surprise! We will have very rarely have iguanas. I don't like selling these reptiles because just like you said, people bring their kids to my store and impulsively buy pets. So finding a home perfect for these guys is very difficult, because I refuse to sell one of these guys to an impulsive buyer. Thanks for sharing this video! I couldn't agree more with you!!
YESSSS ANOTHER VIDEO!!
A month ago i found a green iguana on the side walk someone probably let i lose. i tryed helping it but it ran up a tree. i live in chicago illinois it will die during the winter if no one finds it. It was also a full grown adult
My mom used to own 2 green iguanas before I was born. Her larger one was name Goliath and was abt 6ft while her other one was only 4 ft. They had a dedicated room and she often walked them on leashes outside bc they were very active lizards who didnt like being held in an enclosure. She used to just provide lighting In specific spots in the house and would only put them away at night or if they were shedding bc she said they were very temperamental during sheds.
I can not tell you how many iguanas I have seen bought from Petco only to be returned. It’s so sad, but they need a LOT of care. Please do research before you get an iguana, or any animal for that matter.
Hay I just wanted to say love your videos they help educate many people including my self to not make bad impulsive mistakes so thanks for helping me and a lot of others
I 100% agree with this. Iguanas do not make good pets for unexpected reptile keepers. At an expo I went to a couple months ago I saw a ton of people with these tiny green iguanas on their shoulders that cost like $10. It’s sad to me because that was people do not know what they are getting into.
I was one of those kids who got an iguana from a pet store and I was in love. His name was Spike and he was the sweetest thing! I had him out of his enclosure all of the time when I was home. He loved it when I would walk around the house with him on my shoulder. Unfortunately he only lived a few years, but if I had the time and space, I would get another one. I did get to hold one on our trip to Mexico a few months ago and I didn't want to give him back. He was so beautiful 😍 On the flip side I definitely agree that they are an animal that needs a lot of time and care! Thank you for this video! So many people have no idea how big they can get!
I got to meet my coworkers two green iguanas (shoutout to Lewis and Flora!) and they were soooo sweet! Perfectly happy to hug onto you and snuggle. They were both fairly old and had been with her family since they were hatchlings, had an entire bedroom as their enclosure (she showed me pics and it was dope, tons of tall plants and vines going across the ceiling). They were basically spoiled, in perfect condition when I saw them. But their attitude totally changed how I viewed green iguanas. If you take great care of them, and handle them a lot they can be super sweet lizards. They’re a LOT to take on, way too much of a commitment for me tbh. But I got to hold Flora and Lewis and they were basically small scaled dogs, Flora especially loved head scritches. But basically, it took her family a huge amount of money, time, energy, and love to get them to be that way.
I had rescued a green iguana. He was my first reptile and was in such bad shape. But I did all the research I needed to do and fixed him up and he is thriving now. He’s a sweetheart
I love your videos and this subject is a very important one thank you for sharing this I think petstores should not sell any reptiles
I recently bought a hamster from petco, (none available for adoption) Shes a young roborovski. But I was grabing a few things for her but I had most things from my previous hamster. My dad if I need bathing sand for her (this is my 3rd dwarf) I told him I have some left over. The worker instantly asked me what kind of sand I used and which I replied chinchilla sand. He went on to tell me if that causes problems to which to child play sand (I knew this info) but it was nice seeing a worker actually care. I also saw him in the fish section helping people set up tanks. And telling people the actual truth about the reptiles (those people walked away with no reptile, pfft afraid of commitment) It's nice seeing sombody there for the animals and not just money.
I just found your channel and I have to say I really enjoy your videos. You’re very straight forward, knowledgeable and funny. Thanks for all the new things I’ve learned while here! Haha 🖤
Imo if someone wants a big lizard, a tegu is a great option (if they're aware of what they're getting themselves into, of course!) :) Awesome vid as always!
I bought the tank i currently use for my leopard gecko from a yard sale. Its a 55 gallon (it's way over the usual recommended size for him but he's been much less stressed since being upgraded). They told me the tank had been previously used for their daughter's iguana, but that as she moved into a college dorm they decided to get rid of it while she was away instead of waiting for her to decide whether to get an apartment to be able to kwep it herself. I struggle with this because I feel bad that her parents got rid of it but also hope he gets a bigger enclosure somewhere else, either way.
Chain pet stores should stop selling ALL animals! They don’t know anything and they are bred irresponsibly
I worked at a pet store and it was very frustrating .A ball python had mites and my manager yelled at me for trying to bathe it . Another time someone asked if they could keep their betta fish in the cup it came and I said no and they went and did it anyway.
My grandparents had an iguana that they kept in a 55 gallon fish tank. He could barely move and he was never allowed out of the cage unless they were cleaning it and they used cat litter as the substrate. They were told by the employees at the store they bought him from that he’d only grow to fit the cage and he’d stop growing until they got a bigger cage. They were also told that litter was perfect for a substrate. If my grandparents knew any better they would’ve taken care of him better, they were given false information and didn’t even think to look it up
I fell into the trap of iguanas when I was a kid, I'd never seen a truly full size one and just had no idea, mine was a weeee little 10 inch thing from nose to tail tip when I first got him... but eventually his body was larger than my cat with like 3 feet of tail beyond that, and then he'd turn bright orange during mating season and become MEAN AS HELL :[
I’ve had my green iguana for a little over a year now, and I’ll admit I naively purchased her from petco. I was living with my mom at the time and it’s the first reptile I was allowed to have to I was excited and didn’t take into consideration where I was getting her from all I cared about was that I was getting her at all. I knew what I was getting into when I purchased her since my uncle before he passed would rescue full grown iguanas. However I will say that at the pet store the employee that assisted me made sure I knew how big she was going to be when she’s full grown and how iguanas have their typical attitudes, all of which I already knew and was prepared for. Iggy is an animal I love very deeply and I don’t even for a second regret purchasing her even if it was from a pet store (which I would never do again). In the future I’d love to rescue another iguana they can be such amazing pets if you have the time and space to work with them!
I get that pet stores have all these pet supplies. But the fact that people pick out pets they want is weird. Like the pet is an object. I think pet stores should not sell any animals. Maybe for like adoption days like they do for dogs.
the local petsmart was selling baby green igaunas as adults. like telling people they're full grown.
That's so bad 😱
Just started at my local Petco, where we just passed our iguana off to another store (which, coincidentally, is how my store got it). And this girl walked in the other day and asked if she could just hold the iguana for a bit. Just.. hold it.
It sounds like Petco glazes over the recommended minimum enclosure size, which is 6’ X 6’ X 8’, like the enclosure size doesn’t matter. What matters to them, though, is that they sell the animal so they go straight to the humidity. So basically when people get these care guides, they have to guess the enclosure size because the pet store doesn’t tell them that.
They have tokay geckos and a Savannah monitor at my local Monster Pets.. oh, and iguanas of course. I hope the people that work there tell buyers how aggressive all these species are.
I like my local pet store and totally agree with you. They have one adult green iguana, and that's it for iguanas. She's got a lot of space, and I'm not even sure if she's for sale or just lives there.
When I worked at PetSmart we always had our inventory saying 1 iguana so they couldn’t be ordered in and we didn’t sell them.
We had one iguana who would come in who knew how to shake a paw, he was super sweet.
Most Petco’s have a 75 gallon, especially during the tank sales. But I do agree they shouldn’t sell them. I always ask if our store can stop ordering them but they end up making them a push order anyway
Brianna Perry I work at Petco and after a fiasco where they pushed Vampire Crabs when we didn’t have tanks for them, we found out you can cancel a push! Management just has to be on board with not wanting to sell them.
For us they’ve canceled some push orders but my managers have tried with iguanas but they still show up. We even tried to cancel ferrets bc their enclosure was being redone and they still sent 2.
Someone i used to be friends with impulse bought a rhinoceros iguana because it was tiny and the employee said it would only get a foot long. Little did they know. Once the iguana started outgrowing its 40 gallon tank, they rehomed it and it now lives IN one of the mom and pop reptile stores and is not for sale. Good ending but a scary story.
When i was little we won a baby iguana at a fair and he was rly sick when we got him. We ended up treating him and giving him to someone who could care for him. He now lives at my best friend’s house and has the whole basement(about 14ft long and 7ft high) to himself. Freaking love that lizard. They are great pets but only if u know what ur doing.
I hate how in pet stores the enclosures the animals are in are HUGE and then the biggest enclosure they sell is 1/8 of the size
I got a dwarf hamster and I did everything pet supermarket told me to do but then I didn’t realize hamsters need a kinda large cage, it’s to late , now. And they sold NO toys for them there..
What if you get one of those corner showers from lowes and convert it into a enclosure? That could work right?
I went to a place in Alberta once where they had an iguana. It was a park, and the iguana lived in a building on site where people could get food and meet up and stuff. He was huge and had free run of the building, but mostly hung out in a lower area that was fenced off to keep people (especially children) away from him. Given what I've heard about the damage they can do with their tails, I'm staying far away. (Might get a beardie at some point though. Hoping to get a turtle, too.)
Can you do a video about top pets if you are a bigger, your second pet, your third pet, medium, medium-high, and advanced please.
I used to live in Miami, and Iguanas were everywhere :/ I thought they were native animals. That's really sad
So I haven't worked at a store in YEARS! (like 20 years) and when I did work at a store we had people bring iguanas all the time cuz they bought them at the chain pet store and wasn't told the care. And then they get sick and start to get mean when you do feed them only a few times a week. So many had come to us to be care for a nursed back to health and many were too far gone and would take too much time to rehabilitate so we would have to put them down. We had one in the store it was our mascot she came to us abused this way and survived. Her over night enclose was our glass display at the front of the store. Her "enclosure" was our whole store. We had platforms for her to climb too, and signs where she would rest saying to not touch her. and she never whipped or bit while she was with us. She use to take walks down the street with us. And so many people loved her.
She was a lot of work and could eat more then a child! So these are NOT an easy pet to care for.
We had lots of awesome creatures we would sell but we always encouraged people to come back and handle the animal a few times. and to set up the enclosure ahead of time. if a person wanted a pet they would put down a commitment fee that was 90% reimbursable if they pulled out. This just made it so we would hold the animal while they set up an enclosure and do the education they need to care for.
When they would come back they had to tell us what they did and how to feed ect... Chain stores are horrible.
I’m so terrified of iguanas. The only time I’ve seen one irl was at a pet store when I was a kid, this guy had one on a leash and I guess it freaked out from being surrounded by people and tried to climb on the owner. It ended up clawing the guy’s ear open and he bled everywhere 🤮
Me too,im scared of iguanas....I don't really know why though I love reptiles but iguanas are so big and look like they wanna kill you lol....and I'm so sorry for your experience with iguanas