Insider Video: Dead, Sick, and Injured Reptiles Uncovered at Xenia Breeding Facility

For Immediate Release:
December 2, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Xenia, Ohio –

A whistleblower who worked at Reptiles by Mack—a local breeding operation and supplier to PetSmart stores—has provided PETA with damning video footage showing that bearded dragons at the Ohio facility shook and twitched uncontrollably as a result of a suspected virus, suffered with severed limbs and tails, and were denied basic necessities including water, among other severe deprivation. The former employee found 69 bearded dragons dead in less than eight weeks. In response, PETA is calling on PetSmart to, at a minimum, stop selling bearded dragons—and urging consumers to boycott the chain until it stops selling all live animals.

The eyewitness—who worked at the operation for nearly a year—told PETA that he “stuck it out” at the facility “to see what I might be able to do to help the animals,” but that he was “at the end of my rope … as every attempt to nurture the dragons is met with stern threats of write-ups for ‘being off task.’”

The whistleblower’s reported findings include the following:

At least 420 bearded dragons—including dozens of babies deemed “slow growers”—were gassed to death with carbon dioxide in less than eight weeks.
Staff were instructed to leave injured reptiles in bins until a veterinarian might examine them on his reported weekly visits. A supervisor left one dragon to suffer from a severely injured arm, claiming that the veterinarian could do nothing for her.
Zip ties were placed around the necks of dragons used for breeding, and female dragons were left in garbage cans to lay eggs, apparently for up to six days at a time, without food or water.
Dehydrated reptiles scrambled to lap up water droplets during infrequent cleanings of the filthy, barren bins they were confined to and drank continuously when the whistleblower misted the enclosures.
Many of the bearded dragons shook and twitched violently, which a supervisor attributed to an adenovirus—a contagious and potentially painful virus spread by poor sanitation—which the supervisor said “every single” dragon at the facility had. The facility seemingly took no measures to contain the virus and may have shipped sick dragons and/or asymptomatic carriers to pet stores nationwide.
Big-box pet stores’ representatives reportedly gave the facility a week’s notice before visiting, and staff worked late to “deep clean” before PetSmart reps visited the bearded dragon department—one of the chain’s “main focuses,” according to a senior worker. Otherwise, the plastic tubs the bearded dragons were confined to went up to a full week without being cleaned at all, according to the whistleblower.

An image captured by a whistleblower shows the skeletal remains of a baby bearded dragon at Reptiles by Mack.

“PetSmart’s animal sales are the meal ticket for miserable breeding operations like Reptiles by Mack, where vulnerable bearded dragons were reportedly deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them and denied even a drop of water,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on consumers to avoid being complicit in the rampant suffering, cruelty, and neglect of the pet trade industry by not spending a single cent at this animal trafficker until it ends all live animal sales.”

The whistleblower also documented that thousands of additional baby bearded dragons were imported from overseas, packed by the dozen in tiny plastic containers.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.