the petco sale

I actually think that the quality of care depends on the store. The Petco near me actually appears to take care of their reptiles. Their cages are clean, they all have fresh water and hides, and they don't overpopulate. I'm sure there are stores out there that neglect their animals and shouldn't have them, but others do care.

I just bought one at petco, first snake, but to be fair I've been looking into them for a while at the sale was just a fortunate coincidence. I couldn't find any breeders in my area and getting one shipped from across the country just didn't sit well with me. They seem knowledgeable enough on the subject and my snake seems perfectly healthy, feeding well the first day I had him

It must be a national sale, there are several new BP owners poping up in various LiveJournal communities with brand-new baby BP's.

We've all gotta start somewhere.

there isn't a sale here.

I just got a baby ball a week ago. I read more in the last month than I have in a year....lol...all ball python stuff. I felt that I was ready. I did go to a petco to hold one and see how my fiance reacted (he is afraid of snakes). They were originally 79.99 but if you held their pet pals card they were 29.99. Well, I asked them where they were hatched and the girl just looked at me funny. I ask "Were they captive bred?" She runs to get a manager who informs me they were farm raised. Somehow I don't see free range pythons slithering around a quiant little farmhouse. This leads me to believe they are wild caught or had wild parents. They also didn't know if they were feeding...red flag number 2. So I waited and got my snake at an expo, made sure they had shed and ate. The guy I bought mine from seemed ok, although he didnt tell me anything about care; it's a good thing I already know all about it. He didn't even ask me. *sigh* I feel bad for those snakes that do go to homes where people are either uninformed/misinformed/or dont care "cuz like, dude, i got a snake...throw a rat in there!"

Farmed refers to captive hatched over in Africa then shipped here as hatchlings (Adam knows about all this stuff but he's not here...how dare he have a dang life LOL).


Actually we are very lucky here in Toledo, OH our PetCo is a really nice store with decently informed staff and lovely enclosures for all their living stock. I still don't trust any pet store but at least I love seeing one that actually keeps their stock clean and well tended.

when i worked at the pet store there would be sales on livestock IF you bought the appropriate caging... otherwise it was full price.

although some people had cages, tanks etc... i liked the fact that the person had to leave with the right stuff to save the $$ on the live animal.

and as far as impulse buying.... come on people... we all do it... and i'm probably the worse of them all... hence the reason the petstore CALLS ME AT HOME to tell me they got in a new frog/snake/lizard etc etc etc lOL

Hm.. the Petco in West Seneca (not too far away) isn't that bad.. but I would never buy a snake from there; nothing but snakes from reputable, trusted breeders for me, here on in. I would rather get a snake shipped from halfway around the world, from a trusted breeder, than buy one down the road at Petco! CBB all the way, baby. :)

I hardly ever shop at Petco because the ones around me are just HORRIBLE! I hope hope hope the ones around here arn't selling ball pythons, or any other kind of snakes!!!!

I am afraid I have to disagree on both counts. First of all, I see just as many impulse buys at reptile shows as I do pets stores-Petco, or any other store which sells snakes for that matter. I was at a reptile show once where a guy was selling baby alligators for $40...they were sellin like hotcakes!!!! Dads were buyin em for their kids for goodness sakes!!! Now, as far as the Petco where you live, there is NO excuse for that. I have worked fof Petco for six years, and I have never seen one in the deplorable state you are describing. Just to let you in on something, if you see that the animals at any Petco store are not being properly cared for, there is a hotline you can call to report it. The company does take stuff like that pretty seriously. However, not all Petcos are bad....there are some good ones out there...;).