First off, my name is Danny. I would like to tell you my story so you know a little about why I started this.

After doing a TON of research and learning everything in regards to bearded dragons, their habitats, what to feed them, how to care for them etc, I talked my parents into allowing me to get my first pet, Draco Rex. One thing I didn’t Do a lot of research on was WHERE to buy animals from. Little did I know, until it was too late, that Petsmart was the last place we should have chosen.

We purchased Draco Rex from Petsmart in October 2022. When we purchased him, we were told by a Petsmart employee that all he needed was this “kit” that was specifically for bearded dragons. It came with a 20 gallon tank, a carpet substrate, and lights that were incorrect for his needs. We immediately upgraded him to a much larger tank, proper lighting, and plenty of places between his hot and cold side. His temps, humidity and everything were perfect. If we had to guess, when we got him, he was between 1-3 months old. He was still very small. Also, we didn’t realize that’s what they were at the time, but he was covered in stress marks when we got him, which is a sign of illness. There are a lot of different opinions on how much bearded dragons eat at that age so we weren’t really sure what to expect regarding how many crickets he would eat per day. We took Draco to an exotic vet just to make sure he looked healthy and all was well.
They told us based on weight he looked to be healthy so we took him home.

Fast forward a few weeks, he still wasn’t eating very well and really hadn’t since we brought him home. A cricket here, a Phoenix worm there, but nothing of substance like you read online. He then started acting pretty lethargic and had diarrhea. We decided to take him back to the vet and they said he had parasites and that he probably got them from the crickets from Petsmart. He was also impacted. They gave us medication to give him and advised that I bathe him 2 times a day. The first day of giving him his meds, he seemed to be doing a little bit better. However, he still wasn’t eating much so, a few days later, we were given emergency food to give him by the vet. He took the first feeding and we thought he was getting better. However, as the day went on, things went really downhill fast. He started acting really weird, shaking a lot, and later that night he unfortunately passed away. I was heart broken. He was my very first pet, and I really tried to do everything I could to help him but it seems as if Petsmart set me up for failure.

After Draco passed away, I decided to dig in a little deeper into Petsmart, and stores like them. I realized that they are the wrong place to buy any type of animal from. Petsmart and Petco mistreat animals by doing things such as having them in tiny cages and housing too many animals together, leaving them to die, not giving them proper lighting and heat (even as far as selling the wrong lighting to reptile owners), and allowing them to fight and injure each other. They also sell calcium sand and walnut shells, which can kill the animals they are marketed for.

If things don’t change, more animals will suffer and die. We need to do what we can to change that now. Please stand with me and support this petition to ban these stores from selling live animals. Let’s let our legislators know we need them to take action now and create legislation to stop this abuse. It will also really help to share the link so we can get as many signatures as possible. Thank you.

Sources other than my experience https://www.peta.org/features/petsmart-stores-cruelty-revealed/​

https://investigations.peta.org/animals-gassed-frozen-petco-petsmart/​

https://www.idausa.org/campaign/farmed-animal/fish/latest-news/tell-petco-to-stop-killing-betta-fish/​

https://www.idausa.org/campaign/wild-animals-and-habitats/latest-news/petco-petsmart-stop-bird-sale/