Post your weird experiences with Petsmart/Petco!

[QUOTE=Mina;1119940 My jaw dropped when I heard the employee tell her clearly that is was a white amazon parrot. (there is no such thing as a white amazon, not to mention the sign under it stating what it really was)[/QUOTE]

Are you sure they didn't say amazin' parrot...LOL


Anywayhere is a question for those with insect knowledge. I just assumed that insects were generally cold blooooded since they are way less active as temps drop. So would a cricket even give off a heat signature that a BP could track?? or would they just strike at something moving in front of them and if they get lucky the get a bug in the mouth?

I also assume that since garter snakes are diurnal that they would have better eyesight for hunting insects and not hunt by heat signature...


Rob

A BP would have no problem seeing a cricket with its heat pits. They can detect like .01 degree temp diferences. So I'm sure even a cricket couldn't slip past their heat sensing pits.

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Originally Posted by b4r705z

Hey, I recently went to brand new Petsmart that just opened up where I live, and I had a weird convo with the reptile 'expert' there, here it is:

Me: Hey, cool ball python, dude.
Him: Yeah, he's awesome, do you have one?
Me: Yup, but mine is just a baby.
Him: What do you feed him?
Me: Fuzzies.
Him: That's cool, we feed ours crickets.
Me: :O
(I feel pretty bad for the snake, if he was serious.)

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I'm sure he was serious. I had a similar experience at SuperPetz. I just ran in to get aspen, but of course, had to stop to ogle the reptiles. There was a Pueblan milksnake who looked like skin was hanging off him. There were crickets in the tank. I told the attendant to lay off the crickets and feed him a mouse pink before he dies. He told me that crickets were standard snake food. You obviously know what I told him.

Three months later, I ran in for something and had to ogle the snakes again, and found a dead, emaciated, ball python in a tank. I stormed over to ask the attendant WTH? He said that some employees can't stomach feeding mice, so the standard snake food is crickets. I complained to the manager, and she said that they can't feed ball pythons mice because it makes them grow too fast. So, the standard is crickets--which as you know, they don't eat. So I caused a scene.

I called the district manager for the Southeast Coast, and he said he would set them straight right away. I haven't gone back since, so I don't know whether or not HE was serious.

I have yet to find a pet store that sells professional heating items (like Flexwatt and Helix thermostats..) I think that the whole gang of us here, should join together and make a professional herpetology retail chain. We wold doa much better job than those out there now. :(

I don't even buy my cat supplies/litter from these stores.

I have a couple, and some are kind of funny :]

So I took my female BP, Candice, to Petsmart. My mom and I were getting mice and some meal worms for the gecko. I wanted to handle some of their snakes, and I handed my BP over to my friend who came along with us. This employee comes over, and he says, "Nice Ball python!" He also asked to handle her, so he looks at the tail and he says, "Is it a male?" I said no, it's a female. I think that made him feel weird lol.

I took my King snake to Petco over a year ago to show one of the employees that really enjoyed looking at my reptiles. I was also getting mice for the snakes. So I'm walking down the aisle and this girl and her husband take one look at my snake and the girl made this gasping-ish noise and ran away and the husband started laughing. He's a dark snake, almost black looking so he seems kind of intimidating. So my mom sees the girl running down the aisle holding her nose and covering her face and she sees her husband laughing. My mom though, "Oh she must have seen Tiffany's snake." And she tried not to laugh. After she did that I went into the dog food aisle and was like, "Umm.. I don't think I should go back out there..."

Every single time I've purchased a reptile from Petco (I've purchased 3 snakes and a leo from there, not all at once though) has died. All of them except this one King snake I have, whose as mean as can be. Also, he's only a little over 2 feet and he's 3-4 years old. My other King whose 4 feet is 3 years old. So.. I don't know what's wrong with my smaller King..

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Ok, after doing some quick research, here is what I got:
1) Link to Petco's care sheets. NO WHERE in the BP care sheet does it say feed crickets. There are, however, some other inaccuracies in their sheets.

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/snak...ython_Ball.pdf


2) Their care sheet for Garter snakes DOES recommend feeding crickets, so possibly a little employee confusion...

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/snak...erandWater.pdf

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Yeah, but three of my snakes are garters, and believe me when I say they will cuss you up an down if you try and feed then crickets... that is like feeding them wax worms.... they will not eat them!:taz:

Mine would be that they never have the snakes label right... How hard is it to tell that a ribbon snake is not a checkered garter snake.... and a normal ball python, is not a "fancy ball python" yeah the BP was dark and kind of attractive, but not enough to warrant $80 for the snake....

I went to a Petco to buy the finishing touches to my tank for my BP (who i brought home yesterday!) and was looking for substrates. I was told by a vet that the best things to use are newspaper and Carefresh. So I went and got a big block of Carefresh and then went back to the reptile section to finish picking things out for the tank and asked the "reptile guy" if i picked the right things and he suggested pine bedding and was surprised that the vet didn't suggest pine. Now I have read and been told by other reptile lovers to avoid pine like the plague because of the toxic oils that it contains. I just thought that was a little odd.

Like most of you, I always stop by the reptile isle for a few minutes when picking up supplies at Petco/Petsmart for any of our pets. Most of the time they don't even have any snakes in stock (if they do it's just a few baby corns), but if they do, there's a 99% chance some little kid is going "Mommy, mommy, ewwww!!" or acting otherwise dramatically.

Last time I was there, an employee was showing a hatchling normal BP to a little boy and his mother. The employee was spouting out all the usual bogus facts like "The bigger tank, the better" and "If you feed in the enclosure it'll become very aggressive!!" and acting all pompous about it. He then tried to tell them that male ball pythons usually get larger than females, "up to 6 feet." I snorted a bit. He heard it, and must have realized he messed up, since he added a little "...or so I've heard..." at the end. Probably should've said something, but eh. Didn't feel like being kicked out for harassment.

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Wow, if he has a gift like that then what is he doing working in a pet store? :rofl:

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Probably the community service required for his release from the psych ward.