pet store loyalty

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Originally Posted by Shiffy420

I have a couple snakes that solely eat asfr's and the place i was getting them from stopped carrying them suddenly and before i could find a new source i was in a bad place. So i picked up gerbils at a local pet store, (which they took just as quick as the asfr's just cost me more) and the guy at the store started asking me a bunch of questions about why don't i just let him get me some rats (like i haven't tried that one :rolleyes: not to mention buy rats somewhere else that doesn't sell gerbils for the rest of my snakes) and he GUARANTEED ME that if i just kept smacking the ball python in the face with the rat it would eventually eat it. He told me it might seem cruel but i wouldn't be hurting the snake to beat it in the face with a LIVE rat!!! and then even went as far as to tell me that he may just get really angry and strike it a few times but if i smacked him in the face enough and got the snake mad enough he would just eat it!!!!! Then he told me if that didn't work just kill the rat and shove it down the snakes throat. I told him that i'd prefer to just pay the extra money on gerbils and let them eat on their own untill i found more asfr's. THEN that led to an in depth conversation of me telling him what an asfr was and him telling me i was wrong and there was no such thing as a soft fur rat. i haven't even been back to that pet store since then (just started stocking up on frozen asfr's so i'm never in that position again!!) but i'll never go back there solely based on the pure ignorance of his statements. And i thought i was doing better NOT going to petsmart or petco. I really feel bad for the people that go in there that don't have a clue and take this guys advice and go home and beat there snake to death with live rats and then wonder why it starved to death! So just because i pet store tells you something definately doesn't mean it's true!!!

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Of course there is no such thing as soft furred rats. Those things you were feeding your snakes we just your imagination. Come on now, he knows what he is talking about. It truly is amazing how many people really believe everything they hear from these "experts". I have to say that my fav is "this snake will only grow as big as the tank that its in" SERIOUSLY? wow

Man, those poor reptile helpers at the pet stores are almost always wrong, There was a guy helping this couple that where trying to decide between a leo, king, corn and ball. the helper guy, was all wrong in almost everything he was saying, he acctually told them that the leo would need a 55g tank so it would have room to run. I stopped the guy mid sentence, and told him he was all wrong.:colbert:He denied every thing of coarse. So, I told him to hold on a sec ran over an got the care sheet they provide and showed him what it said. it was generally correct, I wouldnt look at it for any long term knowledge but basics it ok, but I digress. any ways, I told the couple before they buy any of them, check out this forum, or for the sake of the animal just even google it and not to just buy it a whim...I happen to be back buying crickets the next week and saw the same couple so I asked them what they had found out. they decided on the leo, and bought a 10g tank with a normal heat lamp, not the UVB the guy was trying to sell them.

So, I guess the moral of the story is if nothing else help the animal. :gj:

It's really sad to sit here and read this about all the pet stores out there who do nothing but just want to make money, and not really sell the correct supplies for an animal and not even care for it's welfare. Lucky for me, I work at a private family owned petshop that has been owned by this family for over 23 years. I, myself take care of most of the reptiles and do my best to inform people on the proper care of their future pet. I often go to the local petsmart, petco & of course can't forget petland and find that most of the employees there feed you nothing but nonesence. Like someone previously stated "I just nodded politely and smiled". That is exactly what I did.

It's to bad that so many pet stores out there are like this. But I would never sell an animal, let alone a baby ball python with a 55 gallon tank & say "he'll grow into it".

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Originally Posted by shescountry89

It's really sad to sit here and read this about all the pet stores out there who do nothing but just want to make money, and not really sell the correct supplies for an animal and not even care for it's welfare. Lucky for me, I work at a private family owned petshop that has been owned by this family for over 23 years. I, myself take care of most of the reptiles and do my best to inform people on the proper care of their future pet. I often go to the local petsmart, petco & of course can't forget petland and find that most of the employees there feed you nothing but nonesence. Like someone previously stated "I just nodded politely and smiled". That is exactly what I did.

It's to bad that so many pet stores out there are like this. But I would never sell an animal, let alone a baby ball python with a 55 gallon tank & say "he'll grow into it".

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I really enjoy going into the little mom and pop stores.(the good ones anyway). One just opened in the town next to mine. You can tell this guy really enjoys these animals, and takes really good care of them...everytime I go in there they are cleaning something or holding something and talking baby talk to it. lol. I do it to. whatever. I went in there the other day just to buy a couple rats and we started talking, I think I was in there for almost an hour. He wanted to show me some boas he just hatched out and the new bumble bee he just got, anyway what I'm saying is there are always good pet store employees/owners. I just wish that the big chain stores would teach their people at least a little about what they are selling and not try and sale a burm to some 10yr old boy that wants a cute lilttle baby snake. lol

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Originally Posted by photoman100169

Of course there is no such thing as soft furred rats. Those things you were feeding your snakes we just your imagination. Come on now, he knows what he is talking about. It truly is amazing how many people really believe everything they hear from these "experts". I have to say that my fav is "this snake will only grow as big as the tank that its in" SERIOUSLY? wow

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lol yeah i mean how do you even go about trying to argue that one:confuzd:

you even gotta be careful with the mom and pop stores, not saying that all are bad, but its really all pet stores. You just got to have you guard up, and don't take what they say as fact, and do your own research. A lot of these kids just wanted a job I'm sure, and aren't very passionate about animals and their needs, and are just trying to do their job so to speak(if they only knew the real damage they were causing). I do come across lots of employees there who are very helpful though so I guess it can go both ways. Best way to prevent bad advice is to do good research yourself. And never trust ONE source whether it be a person in a pet store or a person online.

SO there are two local pet stores, one that I will not even go to, and the other that is pretty helpful and well informed....The first that I mentioned is owned by a man and wife that run the local zoo, and for someone that is the curator of the local zoo, they are sadly missinformed.... They tell people on a regular basis that hatchling ball pythons should only eat one pinky mouse every two weeks.... an adult only needs an adult mouse every two weeks and so on.... They also sell Supposed "hets" that when bred to normals will produce visual morphs (like carmel, axanthic and they dont know which line....,albino, and pied) I personaly doubt they are even hets... They have thier "huge" female redtail on display that is like 4 years old and only 4 ft long...It is a columbian but they are taking an agressive feeding approach of 1 mouse every two weeks.... So yeah it is sad that people buy into this kinda crap. The first post that I read here was the post about correcting people on misinformation and it made me instanly feel like i was going to be able to learn something. So thank you every one that has helped me, and I hope at some point I can pay it forward....

I attempted to work at petland. They refused to feed veggies to a uromastyx, or give it a hide. Every single BP had a stuck shed and was under weight. When I attempted to feed them properly, I was fired.

I loathe chain pet stores. Refuse to buy anything from them, even if it is at a cheaper price.

sad;y and lcuky me ther only 2 places in my area that currently stocking reptiles me ( mostly rescued snakes this year) and a place on te far side ofthe county. All oth other places have either closed or removed reptile ( animals from the option of buying for the most part due ot the regulations and other headaches from permits. I still waiting for the new appications I have to fill out and I only have 30 days before the old one are worthless. I am not gonigo t be bugging them for an appication that the head person in charge promised to send me since I was an pest 3 weeks ago. they claimed then the permit were not yet printed up and would be sent out next week.(3weeks ago)

I am keeping my snakes and if they ever try ot give me grief over it I point 1 to the old permit I got and 2 say I am still waiting for the state vet lady t osend my appication for the new one as promised( they got tire of me calling about back in 2009 what i point out so I dropped it ) it not my fault that they dropped the ball and never got back with me.

Ha. Oh yeah I almost forgot, on the real subject of this post...

My own sister grilled me after I bought her a ball python and told her how to take care of it. All because I gaver her a book with it to learn more. She started that "I need a bigger tank because it will stop growing if I don't get one." crap.