Not being allowed to examine BP

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Originally Posted by Ax01

i agree with the OP and KMG. i can see both perspective.

if u cannot hold a snake, it's not necessarily a red flag for unhealthy animal. they gave u their reasons. anyway what is the store's reputation. as a breeder, retailer or whatever, your name and rep means a lot in the community. do they have a good track record? is their store clean, cages clean, general customer service good? and as pointed out, what is their health guarantee? or for reasons will they let u return an animal? the answer to these questions can help u a lot. or if u don't like the answers, just walk.

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I do not know about a health guarantee, I know they don't on live mice (say one died on the way home before you got to feed your snake) which is why I buy live from a different source where they do have returns on live food... as for their rep, I am also not sure. I have only ever bought food from them and tongs. That's it. They don't often have different morph combinations. Usually they have simple morphs like pastels, lessers and pieds so not very often am I interested in what they have. They are not breeders as far as I know. They buy from breeders and then resell them. They have more other types of reptiles such as bearded dragons (which an employee does breed for them). geckos and frogs and such. Corn snakes, boas and ball pythons are the only snakes they sell and they have a very small section of them. Usually their BPs have stuck sheds which is another reason I have never really been interested. Customer service... well, yes and no. They will not come to you but once you get their attention, they help you and usually have good advice. They have a 3 1/2 out of 5 review on google. Their cages are for the most part clean.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Was this a mail order snake or did you buy it in person and it took three days for the RI to develop enough to be noticed?

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I bought her in person. Actually, it was the first time and only time I have ever dealt with an RI. So I guess I was never really payed attention. I have owned, bought and sold BPs and corns for the last three years and never had to worry about an RI so I guess... I don't know. It was learning experience for sure.

Three or so years without an RI and you start to feel confident I guess. So I didn't even look for signs, but the pooping was loud and I found it weird how there was this clear fluid like stuff all over her hide. Whether or not it was there before, I don't know but I also wasn't looking for signs. She seemed healthy otherwise.

I bought her from a breeder, one not super well known and he was advertising off of Kijiji. I did hold her before buying her and the only thing that was off was she was cold, but even my own BPs will roam off the heat once in a while so I never worried about it. I never saw his collection as I waited at his front door when he went to get her in another room. He is mostly known for building rodent breeder racks but does have a small collection. I have never dealt with him since, and I didn't even bother to contact him. I knew I could afford her care and giving her back probably would have been worse for her.

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Originally Posted by BCS

I bought her in person. Actually, it was the first time and only time I have ever dealt with an RI. So I guess I was never really payed attention. I have owned, bought and sold BPs and corns for the last three years and never had to worry about an RI so I guess... I don't know. It was learning experience for sure.

Three or so years without an RI and you start to feel confident I guess. So I didn't even look for signs, but the pooping was loud and I found it weird how there was this clear fluid like stuff all over her hide. Whether or not it was there before, I don't know but I also wasn't looking for signs. She seemed healthy otherwise.

I bought her from a breeder, one not super well known and he was advertising off of Kijiji. I did hold her before buying her and the only thing that was off was she was cold, but even my own BPs will roam off the heat once in a while so I never worried about it. I never saw his collection as I waited at his front door when he went to get her in another room. He is mostly known for building rodent breeder racks but does have a small collection. I have never dealt with him since, and I didn't even bother to contact him. I knew I could afford her care and giving her back probably would have been worse for her.

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Got it. I would have contacted him even if for nothing more to let him know, especially being a breeder. I had a similar situation with my GTP. Its not fun.

Well, I would say that if the store puts that much into protecting their animals from random contact, then the animals are most likely healthy. Anything big would be noticeable.

That said, hubby has another point. He would walk in there with cash in hand and " hold it up and say I want to see that one." If, with the money in hand, they still won't let you see it, run, don't walk to the door.

That's my first thought as well.
Why would I want people handling my animals and who know what you have on you.
My only case of mites came from an expo where I was checking out a bunch of snakes, nothing came home (so I thought).....
Learned my lesson pretty quick.

Most retail stores don't let the exotics get handled unless you are serious about buying since there are way too many tire kicker looky-loos out there. As was pointed out, this protects their inventory from stress and the transmission of diseases and parasites from outside collections.

If you find an animal that interests you, try asking a store employee to hold it while you look at it - you can still visually inspect the eyes and under the chin for mites, listen for RI symptoms, etc.

Alternatively, pull out your wallet and put enough cash on the counter to cover the animal's price plus sales tax, and ask to see it.

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Originally Posted by lunasjy

I do not know about a health guarantee, I know they don't on live mice (say one died on the way home before you got to feed your snake) which is why I buy live from a different source where they do have returns on live food... as for their rep, I am also not sure. I have only ever bought food from them and tongs. That's it. They don't often have different morph combinations. Usually they have simple morphs like pastels, lessers and pieds so not very often am I interested in what they have. They are not breeders as far as I know. They buy from breeders and then resell them. They have more other types of reptiles such as bearded dragons (which an employee does breed for them). geckos and frogs and such. Corn snakes, boas and ball pythons are the only snakes they sell and they have a very small section of them. Usually their BPs have stuck sheds which is another reason I have never really been interested. Customer service... well, yes and no. They will not come to you but once you get their attention, they help you and usually have good advice. They have a 3 1/2 out of 5 review on google. Their cages are for the most part clean.

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You don't know about a health guarantee and you don't know about their reputation. It sounds like you have not asked the right questions and done your homework on them. Until you do that you are not ready to buy a snake from them.

Well, I am not exactly going to walk around with $800 in cash. Oh well. I guess we really all do things differently. I was mostly just curious if you guys would buy a snake without taking a physical look at it. I guess I just wouldn't. I also know if any of my snakes at home was sick, I wouldn't bring that into a reptile store by asking to hold a snake. I understand that the employees of the store don't know that and is being cautious, but I know personally I wouldn't purchase a snake without getting a real good look at it. And besides the shipping cost, this is another reason I wont purchase snakes online. I can always find another Puma, and I know the breeder I usually deal with may have some some time this year. He said his black pastel yellow belly is breeding to his pastel spark right now so I think I may wait anyway. That is where my comfort zone is.

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Originally Posted by lunasjy

Well, I am not exactly going to walk around with $800 in cash. Oh well. I guess we really all do things differently. I was mostly just curious if you guys would buy a snake without taking a physical look at it.

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I guess I'm a little confused. Why wouldn't you have the money if you were ready to by the animal? No one is saying you shouldn't check out the animal however, it's the last step before purchase. My local reptile shop knows that if I'm asking to see an animal, it's practically mine. Of course you want o make sure that the snake you're buying is healthy but like I said, it's really the last part of the purchase.



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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

I guess I'm a little confused. Why wouldn't you have the money if you were ready to by the animal? No one is saying you shouldn't check out the animal however, it's the last step before purchase. My local reptile shop knows that if I'm asking to see an animal, it's practically mine. Of course you want o make sure that the snake you're buying is healthy but like I said, it's really the last part of the purchase.



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I just don't think the op wants to go into the store waving around $800 in cash in the store. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that either honestly. I'm sure the op has the money but just doesn't want to carry around that much cash.


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