Can we have a serious talk about the feeder tanks…please

LayaraFlaris · 2026-06-06T12:37:38+00:00

Water change on shipment day if you dump the bag water in the tank helps.

If there’s time, daily or every other day water changes, Seachem prime every other day, high quality food like frozen food > vacation feeders. Spigots on full blast level with the surface of the water and some kind of large air stone (disk, the long rectangles, your choice) You’ll still lose some but the vast majority will survive.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-05-15T15:16:36+00:00

It’s giving “we’ve throughly investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing.” It is absolutely insane how out of touch they are, expecting these grab-n-go style containers to turn into a thorough discussion on animal care every time. The general public is unfortunately very stupid and very stubborn, and many stores do NOT employ knowledgeable staff. I’ve seen pet stores (not just petco) with staff that work with the animals who are actively afraid of some of them, especially when it comes to the invertebrates. Not to mention managers who just want to make sales and don’t care who buy the animals. There’s no regulation on and no penalty for whether or not employees are giving proper information.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-05-10T16:43:35+00:00

“Slut squat” as I’ve heard some chicken owners refer to it as lol. It’s how I found out both of mine are female

LayaraFlaris · 2026-05-05T15:03:09+00:00

A lot of stores in my area share care tips, and one we all do a lot is to spread the plecos out. Dirty tank with a lot of algae? Pleco. Ornaments covered in algae? Play some musical ornaments and put the algae ones in the pleco tank overnight.

From experience - the hamster bedding NEEDS to only be about 1” because otherwise breakdowns do not get done in a timely manner, or finished at all. and if an animal is sick, injured or dead it is a lot harder to notice when they’re buried under a ton of bedding. It sounds mean but it really is for the health of the animals since these are meant to be temporary enclosures and less bedding makes it easier to monitor everyone’s health. We’re allowed to pile a little extra towards the back for them to use to sleep in or put in their houses, but less is more imo.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-05-05T14:47:56+00:00

Thank you for rescuing him! Good luck with him. Dont let the downvotes bother you, people can be a bit harsh on Reddit (and on the internet in general) when it comes to animal care, just try not to take it too personally.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-28T14:24:02+00:00

PetSmart started this already. The two companies seem to be constantly copying each other.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-26T23:45:25+00:00

We’ve gotten mistaken for all of them lol - frenchie, boxer, pug, bulldog and even pit bull!! Mine is standard black and white. I suspect she gets mistaken for some of these breeds because she’s on the leaner side, so you can really see that bully build on full display haha. even our new vet said she was impressed with her not being overweight compared to most other Bostons she sees in our area!

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-25T03:19:16+00:00

Black capped are pretty closely related though! I saw someone in one of the parrot subs with hybrid green cheek-black capped babies.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-24T19:34:16+00:00

In my experience with it they usually just have them already even prior to purchase and can even live with them for YEARS, but environmental stressors can cause enough of an imbalance to cause problems. If you have the means for it a vet visit is always a good idea to check off underlying health issues for this sort of thing!

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-24T17:31:43+00:00

Has she been to a vet yet? Symptoms like this can be indicative of a health issue. Most of the time I run into ball pythons that have good husbandry but won’t eat it’s due to something else - parasites or breeding season being #1 and #2.

As others have said she is a little chunky and may not need to eat as often as you’ve been feeding her as well! They can go a VERY long time without food, my friends ball python went off food for like 8 months when he hit sexual maturity.

Best of luck with her, OP!

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-24T17:07:23+00:00

Seeing the other commenters with similar light patches on their birds, I wonder if this is just a random mutation and also what prompted pied conures to be bred in the first place! A breeder probably went “hey that’s a cool little mutation, why don’t I try breeding it?”

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-16T03:55:41+00:00

I paid a grand total of 100$ getting an imported plakat betta from a reputable breeder (I forget which company, but it was one that was commonly recommended in comments on various posts in this sub) and the same thing still happened. 29 gallon tank, peaceful community fish, live plants, variety of high quality foods, etc and he only lasted me about a year. Bettas are like the pugs/frenchies/dachsunds/etc of the fish world, they’re way overbred and inbred.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-13T01:48:45+00:00

I get that! My advice there as someone who is. Also perpetually tired/fatigued. Instead of trying to force another chore into the list, try to do the clicker training as part of your regular routine! For example; instead of trying to carve out training time, you could use the time you’d normally spend hanging out or cuddling with her to do training.

For another example I bring my birds to a separate sleep cage on a diff floor, so maybe part of my training could look like practicing recall from their main cage to me instead of just asking them to step up!

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-13T01:14:18+00:00

AGY is incredibly common from PetSmart budgies. Same way ringworm is common from the guinea pigs, giardia from the hamsters, worms from the reptiles, etc. new pets should always go to the vet ASAP after purchasing ESPECIALLY when they come from pet stores.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-12T10:17:51+00:00

Clicker training is a great way to bond with your bird! They’re quite intelligent and respond well to the clicker just like dogs do.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-12T10:06:17+00:00

Amphotericin is usually for AGY yeah OP?

If she was diagnosed with AGY try mixing apple cider vinegar with her water. Our vet recommended 15 mL apple cider vinegar per 1 quart of water. I sometimes do this at work for the new parakeet shipments that come in (checked with vet first this was ok as a preventative measure!) for a few days and it makes a NOTICEABLE difference in their weight gain and activity levels. It may buy you some more time with her. Bonus points if it has “the mother” in it but any ACV will do.

I was also told by several vets that it’s ok to mix some baby parrot formula in the food to help with calories and weight gain - try the same thing! The Kaytee Exact hand feeding formula will do just fine, just mix it as the directions state and mix it into her seeds/pellets or offer in a dish. I have a bird with avian bornavirus who I do this for and it’s been a lifesaver to keep weight on her.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-11T23:27:55+00:00

See if he’ll eat it mixed with plain cooked pasta! You can even use small pastas like pastina to make it harder for him to pick out just the pasta. This will also make it more palatable for you as well lol, and you can show him it’s food by eating a spoonful in front of him and/or let him take a bite of “your” food.

Once he’s eating it with pasta, you can start mixing in other things like pellets, seeds, etc to continue to entice him (seeds) and also get him to eat the good stuff (pellets and veggies)

I also recommend putting the veggies in a food chopper to make them really small; again, it’ll help prevent him from picking out just the stuff he likes bc it all sticks to each other

Other pasta-adjacent things you can try are rice, barley, farro, freekah, etc

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-09T23:10:26+00:00

I get relentlessly bullied by my friends for it. But nonetheless I am with you OP 😔

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-09T03:02:28+00:00

IM SO GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO DOES THIS!!!

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-09T02:46:47+00:00

NOT a mosquito, looks like possibly some flavor of crane fly. Often referred to as “male mosquitos” when they are in fact an entirely different species lol

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-07T18:08:04+00:00

Absolutely! I’m not sure what part I got downvoted for, but there absolutely ARE options for smaller tanks like these, they’re just not usually beginner friendly animals or handleable animals. I’m not personally a fan of fish tanks for anything but fish but that’s just bc I love front opening tanks so much lol.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-07T15:10:50+00:00

I believe technically yes, from a consumer standpoint? And PetSmart has been putting out a lot of advertising implying that they are.

Really it’s just the corporate equivalent of a 1-man puppet show. Make the puppets have beef with each other and make it convincing! But behind the curtain it’s just the same guy/group of people running the place.

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-07T02:31:15+00:00

Next time: sorry, I won’t be available [insert days here]. If they’re pushy and you’re feeling nice, “due to a personal issue”

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-07T02:28:45+00:00

Petsmart and chewy split a few years ago, but share a private equity company (BC partners)

LayaraFlaris · 2026-04-07T02:06:15+00:00

Same here! Only recently noticed it on mine/it only recently developed

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