Got a job at Petsmart. Really worried about one of their BP's

Both Valid Points. Im not sure Ill have time in the morning as its my first open, and they want to walk me through all the early morning cleaning procedures. If I can get through that fast enough Ill definitely do it earlier. And youre probably right about the popping.(I might just do it when im in the back room by myself before the feeding though :D)

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Originally Posted by Riv

Both Valid Points. Im not sure Ill have time in the morning as its my first open, and they want to walk me through all the early morning cleaning procedures. If I can get through that fast enough Ill definitely do it earlier. And youre probably right about the popping.(I might just do it when im in the back room by myself before the feeding though :D)

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thats probably the best idea, good luck with the little squirt

I pop most of our snakes for people curious about buying one and willing to take decent care of them.

and they dont say anything?

They don't care, and I think they trust me as "the reptile girl." They also know that many customers really want to know the sex of their potential new pets before buying them (even if it's only to help pick an appropriate name). Any time the animal's old enough and it doesn't require a probe we do our best to sex them, but I'm the one who can do the reptiles. It's not something official, I don't even know if any of the managers are aware that I sex most of the reptiles. It is official with the birds and the furry animals, so I don't think they'd care.

Status update!
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I looked up feeding charts for every snake they had. Not one had been fed in over two months. All charts either blank or claiming refusal. So I set up some feeding tanks, thawed them some Mice, brought them all into the back room and began the feast. Eatings Went as follows. Keep in mind that ALL of these snakes are underweight, so I offered food until they no longer wanted to eat. I made them all new feeding charts and wrote notes in the book stating specifically how many days later each snake should be fed. I also wrote down useful Tips that would help people feed them better just in case I wasnt there, though I more than likely will be. Im happy with this though! Except for the black king snake everyone ate! I have him scheduled for another feeding in 3 days.

Albino Cornsnake-1 Pinkie
Albino Cornsnake-4 Pinkies
Fancy Cornsnake-2 Pinkies
Milk Snake-2 Pinkies
Black King Snake-Refused 1 Fuzzy and 1 Pinkie two hours later
Ball python-1 Fuzzy


On Another note, I got permission to bring in my Temp Gun and scale. I alerted my manager to the fact that the ball pythons humidity was only at 20% and 50% is what it should be normally. 60-70% during shed. The man had no idea and was excited to make the necessary changes = P He actually just bought one of the poor ball pythons who he was scared was going to die in order to try and save it. With my tips, he successfully got it to eat yesterday, has it scheduled to take another meal in 3 days(because it is also underweight) and is now providing it with a good set up = P

All in all its been a very successful venture! The entire snake area of this store is making a 180 and I couldnt be happier. I just need to get that King snake to eat now!

It's really cool that you work at a store where management listens to you.
Good job!

My local Petco has decent animals...as long as they "turn over" fast. If they are past a month...they tend to stop doing well.
I got a dinker that came in probably the day before I got it and it's doing fine.
She eats like a tank, and was in perfect shape when I got her...

But I went up the other day and there was a snake in there with loose skin, stuck shed and it was just skin and bones...
saddens me.

That is awesome! Kudos to you! I wish all these stores would be like this and hire people who know how to care for these animals and actually allow them to make the necessary changes. Your awesome :D

Thanks for all the support guys! I tried feeding the King snake again today. And the Ball python didnt look so hot again today so I tried to feed her too. Both refused though. Im gonna give them a couple more days before I give it another go. Hopefull they get the motivation to eat again soon.

I also got a call today at work from a guy who had purchased a ball python from my store three weeks earlier(so before I started there) He said it had a sunken in stomach so i told him to feed the little guy. He said he did feed the the snake just regurged it. So naturally I thought he either didnt put any hides in the tank, or he was handling it too much directly after the feeding. Then he had the balls to ask me if not having a heat scource could potentially be the problem.

My jaw dropped. I didnt even know what to say. I just kept telling him he needed to come back TODAY and get a heat lamp. That his snake desperately needed food or it would die, and it desperately needed heat or it wouldnt be capable of digesting said food. After that he was like "Oh well, okay. Bye" I have no idea if hes even actually planningon getting one. I had half a mind to tell him to come drop it off at the store and I would take it off his hands. It really made me sick. How the heck are you going to buy a snake knowing that it is cold blooded and intentionally NOT get it any type of heat scource whatsoever.

Just a comment on Petsmart: since having my ball python (who I purchased from a breeder about a month ago) I have been in Petsmart several times with many questions about my new snake. I always ask if there is someone experienced with snakes, and they always direct me to someone in the "reptile" department, who has no idea at all about snakes.

Every time I have asked the Petsmart "reptile" staff, I have been fed no misinformation, but a complete and utter lack of information and knowledge. If a store sells snakes, they should be trained in snakes. The cute little ball at my local Petsmart only has a heat lamp on his tank (and every time Ive gone in there to inquire about UTHs and thermostats, Ive just been told to buy a heat lamp and be done with it) and he looks awful thin.

As someone who has had quite a learning experience with my new snake, I can tell you that these are not animals you can just guess at. You need to do quite a bit of homework in order to give the animal what it needs. They should make sure Petsmart employees do their homework in order to keep the animals alive and healthy, and not give the inquiring public wrong or uneducated information.

I weighed that not so hot ball python today. At 3-4 months old she's only 62 grams..

We got two more in today as well. Theyre in pretty good shape, AND IM GONNA MAKE SURE THEY STAY THAT WAY xdd

There underweight Female I was talking about has been sold to a collector with a good knowledge of snake, all the proper tools and a small but healthy collection = P

Im so incredibly happy she's gone to a good home. I just hope he can get her to eat and manages to get her up to weight.

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Originally Posted by Riv

There underweight Female I was talking about has been sold to a collector with a good knowledge of snake, all the proper tools and a small but healthy collection = P

Im so incredibly happy she's gone to a good home. I just hope he can get her to eat and manages to get her up to weight.

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Awesome! :gj:

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Originally Posted by Riv

There underweight Female I was talking about has been sold to a collector with a good knowledge of snake, all the proper tools and a small but healthy collection = P

Im so incredibly happy she's gone to a good home. I just hope he can get her to eat and manages to get her up to weight.

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Glad to hear. I used to work for petsmart but our snakes were usually in good health. Most people that work at petsmart are complete pricks. its good to see that at least one person that works there knows the proper husbandry for ball pythons.

I hate going into the local Petsmarts or Petco's, I always go check on their snakes and I'm always sad when I do. :( Like it's been said, the almighty dollar rules.

Although I did work at a place called Today's Pet, and they actually took really good care of their animals. People were hired selectively, and there were teams for the "fuzzy pets" (puppies, kittens, rotents), and then special people for the reptiles and for the fish. They really cared about all their animals! (Although I didn't much like this one breed of lizard we had; the first chance it got it would dart out of the cage and we'd all have to try and catch it without hurting it. Man those things were FAST! :O ) Then again that could've just been our store, I've never been to another one.

I'm needing a second job, so I think I might try and get a job at a pet store too, see if I can't help out at least those that come through there.

I work at petco and my store would never let that happen to any animals! Dont you guys hae an onstaff vet?! We have a wellness center that all of our animals go to if they even look like they could be sick and are seen by a vet. You guys need a vet to give vitamin injections and something to make them want food. It is easy to do and normally pretty cheap.

They're great with the rodents. I think they slacken on reptiles and fish because in their eyes their isnt a lot they can do for them. Ill look into vitamin injections, but I feel like they would have done that already if it was feasible.

But either way! The small littel girl has been sold to loving owners, and They called to let us know she's taking meals regularly and is doing very well!

Also the new balls pythons took their first meal today! They arrived 2 weeks and 1 day ago, but theyre finally both eating. These guys are in great health.

Awesome! I keep hearing horror stories about Petco and Petsmart. Me and my friend both bought a ball in the last 6 months from them. He actually knew one of the girls that worked with the reptiles and she seemed pretty knowledgeable about them, but I don't think they were her favorite lol. I guess he and I both got lucky. Both of our are doing great. His can be a bit of a picky eater but mine never misses a meal and is quite healthy looking lol.

I do think both stores are pretty overpriced on their reptiles, mainly their snakes. Balls for 80 and RTB's for 150 :O Not to mention their f/t are freaking high......

i went to my petsmart a couple days ago, and the humidity in the bp enclosure was 20% :no: i wanted to buy them to get them out of there but i had no money, or enclosures:( i told someone that they need to raise the humidity, and they looked at me like i was an idiot and said they live in the desert, so i tried explaing how the savannah i sfar from a desert, and they said that africa is actually one big desert, i was speechless, so i bought my f/t's and left