A good Petsmart experience

[cristacake]

I went to Petsmart today specifically to look at the ball pythons there. First of all, they had a gorgeous pied that I wish I had the money for. I should have taken pics but I was too excited I'm still pretty bad at identifying morphs so I wasn't sure what the other one was. The colors looked strange to me but other than my own, those two were the only other BPs I've seen in person so it's probably just my inexperience. It was around $80 so maybe it was a pastel or something?

Anyway, there were two BPs in one tank, yes, but they both looked good and healthy. Additionally, the guy who was working there that I spoke to seemed to be pretty knowledgable although I didn't grill him with questions or anything. And, best part of the visit yet as far as I'm concerned, when I asked if I could handle one of the BPs, he told me that no customer is allowed to handle them unless they're purchasing! He explained that it was for their safety and to keep them free of "diseases." I'm sure that his explanation was simplified so that he could quickly tell that to customers with little knowledge of snake stuff.

What do you guys think? Should all pet stores prohibit customers from handling their herps? I thought this was a great idea, even if I was a teeny tiny bit disappointed I couldn't get a better look at the little beeps. Man, that pied was *cute*!

I found the visit to be great. The BP tank was properly small and crowded with safe decorations and closed-off hides, the bedding for the rodents was being changed (I was there about half an hour before closing time), and the cats were in cages with wire doors so they could be petted and played with, unlike at the other location in town in which they are in cages with plastic doors facing the public so they could only headbutt and meow but couldn't be touched But at this location the animals all seemed okay, and it seems that at least the one guy I spoke to handles the animals and gives them interaction at least once in a while. He showed me some holes in his shirt from where a guinea pig had chewed through earlier.

Okay, this was probably a boring post to read but I thought it was cool to visit a Petsmart and come away with a good impression like that. The other location was definitely lacking, so I'm glad to have tried out this one.