horror story

[Brandon.O]

ok, so today i went to the pet store to pick up some food for rocky, i didnt even plan on going into the room where he keeps the snakes but he was feeding the balls and asked me if i wanted to help. So i went back there and looked to check on the snakes and see how many of them were in there becuase he got a new shipment in. and then i looked up into the cage above them and was VERY surprised to see a VERY large BCC the only really i was surprised is becuase he usually doesnt sell larger snakes, he usually only has babies so i saked him where he got it from and he told me that his friend had rescued it form another pet store where it was being kept in a tank with a burmese python and brazllian rainbow boa. The burm and the bcc were both about 8 feet long and im not sure what the brazillian was but he said they were being kept in a very small tank with no hides and barely any humididity, he also said that the pet store thought they only needed to be fed every 3 weeks so thats when they fed them . He wasnt very thin but you could tell he wasnt getting the food he needed.I wonder if he and his friend are going back to the store to buy the other two snakes, i sure hope they are.The guy said he is not going to sell the boa for some time , until it gets to be a good weight and even then he wil make sure the person who buys him will be able to treat him right, like all the animals he sells.

[Anonymous]

I never understand how you could rescue a snake from a pet store.
When you buy a snake from a pet store that can't handle the snakes, you're just funding them to buy more snakes they can't handle.

[Brandon.O]

Well i dont think he actually purchased the snake, i think the owner of the store decided to let him take it off his hands.i think he is going to call the animal police to have them go over there and check it out.And even if he did actually buy the snake he was just trying to help and probably saved the snakes life.

[Anonymous]

Well if he did buy the snake, no doubt the store owner of that pet shop will buy more snakes, because you're supplying his demand for snakes by buying them.
Everytime you buy a snake you fund him to buy another one he can't handle.

[sophie42204]

It's not Brandon's fault, he's just relaying the story here. Also, you walk a fine line sometimes, do you 'rescue' the animal even though you are 'funding' the petstore or do you let it suffer knowing that the petstore is still going to buy more snakes w/or w/out your 'donation'? I say, rescue the snake and deal w/the petstore another way. Call attention to their gross neglect by picketing in front of the store, or call the authorities, this way the snake wins and you're at least doing something proactive to resolve the situation.

[Anonymous]

I know its not Brandons fault, but theres always other ways then "buying the neglected snake" You can just save time and report the pet shop to the authorites, and when the pet shop does get shut down , you adopt the snake from your local reptile rescue

[sophie42204]

It's a possibility, but rarely does the store get shut down (unless of course they discover a puppy mill in the back or something like that) they are usually just warned or given a citation. They might improve their care for a little while until the attention is off of them, but ulitmately, the animals still suffer in the long run....there's no easy solutions to this problem unfortunately.

In any case, I don't begrudge anyone who purchases a suffering animal as sometimes that's the best course of action.

[Brandon.O]

Im pretty sure that store isnt going to get any other snakes, its a fish store mainly and in the whole year i have been here they have NEVER had snakes. i have no idea where they got all three of them from, maybe somebody dropped them off there and since its not a reptile store he didnt know how to house,feed and handle them so he just dumped them all in a cage together

[Anonymous]

It's a possibility, but rarely does the store get shut down (unless of course they discover a puppy mill in the back or something like that) they are usually just warned or given a citation. They might improve their care for a little while until the attention is off of them, but ulitmately, the animals still suffer in the long run....there's no easy solutions to this problem unfortunately.

In any case, I don't begrudge anyone who purchases a suffering animal as sometimes that's the best course of action.

Aw, well you made me see the light, I guess it isn't to bad if he bought the snakes. :blushes:

[sophie42204]

Aw, well you made me see the light, I guess it isn't to bad if he bought the snakes.

We're all entitled to our opinions, Blink! I see your point as well. The problem w/petstores just stinks and I wish there was more we could do to really make a change. grrrrrrrrr