Thoughts on CH babies at pet stores..

I thought of something. Many stores sell "captive hatched" or "captive farmed" BP hatchlings. Whatever happened to quarantine? These snakes are not even 60 days old. There is no way that these stores could have practiced the proper 90-day quarantining that most all of us recommend and use. If the snake is not even 90 days old?
I urge newcomers and really, anyone, in the market for a BP hatchling. Please buy from a respected breeder. You don't know what you're getting by buying neonates at pet stores. Chances are, if they don't quaranting baby snakes arriving there, they probably don't QT adult reptiles either. Ticks, mites, and internal parasites, here we come! (not to even mention worse diseases that could take 60-90 days to manifest..)

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

I thought of something. Many stores sell "captive hatched" or "captive farmed" BP hatchlings. Whatever happened to quarantine? These snakes are not even 60 days old. There is no way that these stores could have practiced the proper 90-day quarantining that most all of us recommend and use. If the snake is not even 90 days old?
I urge newcomers and really, anyone, in the market for a BP hatchling. Please buy from a respected breeder. You don't know what you're getting by buying neonates at pet stores. Chances are, if they don't quaranting baby snakes arriving there, they probably don't QT adult reptiles either. Ticks, mites, and internal parasites, here we come! (not to even mention worse diseases that could take 60-90 days to manifest..)

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Jen i try to stop every person i see interested in buying ball pythons from pet stores for these very reasons.It works sometimes and sometimes it doesnt:(.I avoid pet stores as much as possible anymore because they make me sick :mad:.

I agree with everything said here...but aren't we preaching to the choir, so to speak? I think most people have found their way to this forum for exactly the reasons Geniveve stated.

Even IF pet stores got in a healthy XYZ, I have never seen one pet shop that took the the time to properly clean a previous enclosure. Rather, they just slam the new snakes in where the old ones were.

JonV

I actually work at a pet store, and i would NEVER buy a BP from there. All the things listed above about the care of the snakes there is true. I feel so bad because they take weeks to finish shedding because the humidity is all off, no temperature gradients, nowhere NEAR enough sanitation between snakes.. its awful.

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Originally Posted by azak323

I actually work at a pet store, and i would NEVER buy a BP from there. All the things listed above about the care of the snakes there is true. I feel so bad because they take weeks to finish shedding because the humidity is all off, no temperature gradients, nowhere NEAR enough sanitation between snakes.. its awful.

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Let me guess you work at a petco or petsmart right :rolleyes:

nope, it's actually a small privately owned store. The conditions aren't as bad as petsmart/petco, but definitely not up to my own personal standards, or any other members on here from what i've read so far. We have people come in from petco/smart within a week of buying a BP saying that it died already, usually from UR stuff. Ours definitely don't die and usually can handle the way they are cared for at my store, but i would do so many things differently.

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

I agree with everything said here...but aren't we preaching to the choir, so to speak?

JonV

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I hope so :) It just upsets me to see newbies buying from pet stores. Heck, I got my first BP from Petco years back. I had walked in for fish, and this girl said that they had a "mean" snake that was attacking people and had been returned 2x, so they were adopting it out. I went home researched it, and adopted her.. leading to my now-obsession with BPs. :)
But I still see people that choose to buy from pet stores. They're buying snakes that have not been quarantined, or maybe aren't even feeding regularly yet; it is sad. It upsets me that people have to enter this hobby with snakes that are either ill before they're bought, or become ill, because pet stores do not know how to give people proper info when they buy :(

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Originally Posted by azak323

nope, it's actually a small privately owned store. The conditions aren't as bad as petsmart/petco, but definitely not up to my own personal standards, or any other members on here from what i've read so far. We have people come in from petco/smart within a week of buying a BP saying that it died already, usually from UR stuff. Ours definitely don't die and usually can handle the way they are cared for at my store, but i would do so many things differently.

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Probably a dumb question, but since I can't help myself, how come the owners won't make an effort to take better care of their animals? I'm guessing that you already have mentioned to them how poorly the animals care currently is.

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Originally Posted by twometal

Probably a dumb question, but since I can't help myself, how come the owners won't make an effort to take better care of their animals? I'm guessing that you already have mentioned to them how poorly the animals care currently is.

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I dont think its a dumb question at all.To be honest i was going to ask also :gj:

i like buying those snakes, to give them a better life. everysnake i have got from a petco or wherever have all been gr8 pets with no problems.