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

Today was my second day at petsmart. They apparently had just lost a ball python a day or two beforehand and they were concerned for their last one. The guy I was training with had worked for them for like 3 years, and had never so much as seen a ball python STRIKE at the food they had offered them. I took a look at their last ball python and he was horribly thin. His belly was actually going inward, and he couldnt even support his own weight with his tail. He was mid shed as well and completely incapable of removing the skin. After two tries, I was able to get him to eat a fuzzy, and I gave him a bath to help moisturize his skin but im still very worried about him. I plan on giving him another fuzzy when I work on monday but even though he has food now im still concerned he might not make it. Is there anything else I can do to help him? I really want to just buy him, but im not allowed any more snakes in my current living situation so whatever I can do for him at work is really all I can do..

I would just keep feeding him (at least a 5 day schedule if you can) and monitor him, without buying him I don't think there's much you can do. I would talk to your manager also and how him your concern, he (or she) may be able to let you do more for it (like bringing in a tub for it, buying better hides, etc).

I looked at the baby BPs at my local Petsmart that they had in the back and one sounded exactly like the one you're talking about: very thin, it wouldn't eat for anyone, stuck shed, etc but they were keeping it in bad conditions - ie, wide open tank, huge hide, heat lamp only, and it was in a room with noisy birds and rodents. I think a good setup would do wonders for it, at least make it feel more secure.

I told my manager I wanted to bring in my temp gun to confirm temps, but everything looks right. Im not allowed to spray, only bathe them like I did today for humidity. The temp guages seem right and its a good size tank for how small he is. The hide is appropriate as well. What I noticed was that they just didnt know how to feed them properly. They put them in a super tight container, and using tongs dangle a mouse a good bit above the snakes head which just freaks them out. It really doesnt help that they dont thoroughly thaw the mouse. the one they tried to feed it before I tried was still cold to the touch. and if he didnt take it right away they just stuck him back till the next week. Im definitely going to teach peple how to properly feed them for the future. I just want this little guy to make it through so badly @_@

if there was only more people like you working at places like that well done chap hope he becomes a nice pet for you at work ;)

Hahaha. I wish that as well. This guy came in a few minutes after I fed him and asked if he could buy the little guy. I asked him if he had his enclosure set up and what the specs were and he hadnt bought a single thing yet and didnt want to spent more than 50 dollars on it.(snake not included) After I explained the costs of an enclosure and that he would eventually need a bigger tanks than a 15 gallon he said he wanted it but he wouldnt get a bigger tank and I refused to sell it to him.(perfectly within my rights if I dont feel that whatever animal i question will be properly cared for) Its gonna really suck if I manage to get this little guy healthy again and he gets sold to somebody who's going to give him a bad life..

I mean he could have at least done some research before attempting to make the purchase. He didnt even know what they ate..

Typical Petco/PetSmart. Glad they now have someone who knows how to properly care for them, so good on you for that. :gj: Sometimes I go in and ask questions like I have no idea what a Ball Python is. The answers I get scare me due to the lack of knowledge. Our local ones always have thin animals. :mad:

IMO, i wouldnt feed it on a 5day, maybe 7-8 for now, if you feed a seriously underweight animal, or human for that matter, the amount of food a healthy animal can eat, it can kill them just as easy as no food, so i would start on like a 7day for a month or so, then six for a few feedings, then to 5, that way you gradually introduce the idea of food being in the body, if you go from no food, to a bunch, it can become terribly sick, and just make it worse

yeah go dude i wuda done same as you lol not right to treat them diffrent from us there still living creatures

ya know he wouldnt be buying it from petsmart but steralite tubs work better than glass aquariums for bps anyway.....and I can buy alot of tubs for the price of glass

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Originally Posted by jjmitchell

ya know he wouldnt be buying it from petsmart but steralite tubs work better than glass aquariums for bps anyway.....and I can buy alot of tubs for the price of glass

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Valid point. If he had said he was using tubs I would have been fine with it. but when I asked him about his enclosure this is what he said. "Naw man, I havent worked that stuff out yet. I jus came to git the snake."

Not remotely and answer that inspired confidence. and he couldnt have wanted it that badly because he just said okay and left when I refused him the sale. I imagine it was just a passing fancy he had entertained without really thinking about it in depth.

also, im happy that someone fro here got a job at petsmart, maybe you can teach them a thing or two:gj:

Ah yes, I too had a job at a Pet(not so)Smart at one time. Like your store, no one got the balls to eat and they would only offer f/t, even if it meant they starved to death refusing them. I couldn't tell you how many died from lack of nutrition and improper husbandry. We were told to mark in our feeding charts that they ate even when they did not. I did sneak some live rats pups in a couple times from our breeding colony when I could and got them to eat.

Our managers weren't as understanding as yours when it came to refusing live sales, either. I got written up many times for it and I talked my way out of one firing. I ended up getting fired partly because of refusing a sale (as well chewing out a co-worker for being a word I cannot say on BP.net). The times I did refuse a sale they usually wanted to speak to a manager and the managers ALWAYS ended up making the sale and usually told the customers things such as, "He's new" or "He doesn't know what he is talking about" and "He cannot refuse to sell to you, only a manager can" when talking about me.

Man I'm glad I'm out of that place. I tried educating them and doing the right thing, but it was a lost cause. The only thing that mattered was the almighty dollar.

Hopefully you have a better experience than I had and can turn that place around. We're here to help you too if you have any questions. :gj:

Do you have a Banfield in your Petsmart? Maybe the vet there could have a look at him. I worked at the BF down here, and they were always very good about bringing the sick animals to us pretty quickly, even if it was something small.

I'm glad you're being proactive in your job! Our petsmart seems to be an even 50/50 mix of competent people and complete morons in animal care. XD Of course, 99% of the customers down here are idiots. That's how I ended up with my frilled dragon. They were on sale at Petco, and a family with a bunch of kids were banging on the glass, trying to get him to frill. They wanted to buy him (and probably shove him in a 10 gallon like people do to iguanas), but I found an employee first and snatched him up. Said employee also told me "they're pretty much the same as bearded dragons," so I bought a 40 gallon breeder. XD He also had the beginnings of MBD when I got him, totally freaked me out. He's doing great now, and is in a really nice, tall arboreal setup. Lesson learned, don't impulse buy animals no matter how sad they look, and certainly don't take Petco advice without a grain of salt.

tl;dr, most big box pet shop employees seem to be morons, I'm glad you're taking care of business at yours. XD

I was at various pet stores the other day, shopping for a new digital thermometer. Among them, they had terrible conditions - Petsmart included. There's a place called Petland in the Sunray shopping mall near where I live, and they don't have heaters on their reptile enclosures, only lights(not heat producing as far as I could tell). Not only that, but they didn't have thermometers. Ugh. The Petsmart in Woodbury has the humidity at 30%(set at "desert") in their ball python enclosures, which sounds terrible. Then there's a Petco around the same area that has unknowledgeable staff. I asked them about BP's when I was first interested in owning one months ago, and I look back on the answers with disgust. The only pet store in my area that had a decent idea of how to care for reptiles was a place called Twin Cities Reptiles in St. Paul, which is where I bought my BP. They had great service, proper setups, and devoid of just about anything you could be concerned about. Here's their website if you live in the area and are interested: http://twincitiesreptiles.net/

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Originally Posted by AK907

Ah yes, I too had a job at a PetSmart at one time.

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I worked at Petsmart many years ago. When I first started, we didn't even have mice and hamsters!

I mean, I totally get why they would feed F/T. Less danger to the snakes(not that rat pups could do anything, but as a principle) I did find and go over their feeding chart as soon as I got the oppertunity. They really did attempt to feed, the were just unsuccessful something like eight times in a row at one week intervals. I couldnt find anything before that point, but I know they had him longer than that and there was not a single successful feeding.

I guess the way I see it, if im there long enough I can work my way into a position that I can make the necessary changes. Until then I just have to do what I can whether its the right thing to do or not. In order to change the system you have to work within the systems rules.

I do have a bandfield in my store actually! I didnt think to take him there because he isnt really sick. Just extremely malnourished. I can agree with the 50/50 awesome idiot statement. Just from what Ive seen so far, But my manager ssos far seem like they legitimitely care. I imagine its hard to get the numbers and animal health 100% right with so many priorities to juggle and without a reptile specialist who works there to pass on knowledge and tips. The fact that Im good with snakes was one of my biggest reasons for being hired.

And youre right. If I buy every sad or unhealthy animal I see because I think I could give it a good life id very quickly turn into a horder XDD

Petsmart seems to be better at having more knowledge then petco. Petco seems to refuse to hire ppl with knowledge because they would lose sells

Reptiles and dogs. 2 things that shouldnt be allowed to be sold at pet stores

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Originally Posted by Riv

I mean, I totally get why they would feed F/T. Less danger to the snakes(not that rat pups could do anything, but as a principle) I did find and go over their feeding chart as soon as I got the oppertunity. They really did attempt to feed, the were just unsuccessful something like eight times in a row at one week intervals. I couldnt find anything before that point, but I know they had him longer than that and there was not a single successful feeding.

I do have a bandfield in my store actually! I didnt think to take him there because he isnt really sick. Just extremely malnourished.

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I can understand f/t for convenience and safety, but these animals were designed to eat live prey and with proper supervision during feedings the risk of injury is fairly low. Anyone who has ever owned any number of ball pythons knows that they can be some of the hardest snakes to get switched to f/t. Not all balls are going to take to f/t right out of the egg, especially farm raised balls from overseas (which is where PetSmart gets them). I've never seen anything but baby balls at PetSmart and 8 weeks is a long time for them to go without food, especially since they usually arrive underweight and dehydrated. In my opinion it is far more crucial to get them established feeding with a little weight on them before forcing f/t on them (unless you luck up and they accept f/t without any issues). I'd be willing to bet money if they are not too far gone already and you put a live rat pup in there and leave it overnight it would be gone by morning, if not sooner.

I would think malnourishment would be perfect reason to go to the vet. It might not be as simple as a picky eater. It could have parasites or a host of other problems.

To me this is nothing but neglect on their part and it sickens me to no end! :mad:

You know Ill agree with you on the vet thing. Youre absolutely right. I cant really say I blame the employees themselves because they werent taught any better. But I can blame the people that oversee training and decide what is and isnt taught. We should not be selling reptiles if people arent being taught how to properly care for them.

In their defense(as little defense as there is) They hired me specificly because they were aware that I knew a good bit about snakes(ball pythons inparticular) and they were aware they didnt have anyone with a sufficient level of experience. Experience that they themselves did not have. In corporations its really hard to make changes like that quickly, and if someone higher up doesnt care enough it will not happen at all. In the areas of birds fish and small mammals I found them to be very knowledgable. But these things are all very straightforward as far as pet care goes. Snakes and lizards are a bit harder. And a good amount of people didnt know any better no mater how much they cared whether the animal lived or died.

The fact that they 100% supported me when I asked to step up and try to feed the snake that just "wouldnt eat" and that they were all very happy when he did says to me that they care enough to learn and make the appropriate changes. They just lacked the opportunity until now. After all, with the majority of people in the reptile community having such a stimga against pet stores, naturally none of them would apply to such a place, and their cycle of ignorance naturally continues. With any luck I'll be able to talk to the district manager about communicating the necessary information for ball pythons to thrive in the stores environment, and the reptile area will lose some of its bad rap because it will finally be providing people with quality animals, and spot on information.

After all. Quality animals = more animals sold = more customers coming for quality animals = more money.

But change takes time. So taking it step by step, im going to read up on the rest of the reptiles in the area, do my best to keep them as healthy as I can, spread the knowledge, and eventually change will come.

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Originally Posted by snake lab

Reptiles and dogs. 2 things that shouldnt be allowed to be sold at pet stores

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and in the case of petco/petsmart, cats, birds, fish, rodents etc.:gj:

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Originally Posted by cmack91

and in the case of petco/petsmart, cats, birds, fish, rodents etc.:gj:

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I will give the PetSmart I worked at and our local PetCo. They have an "adoption center" where they donate space to cats taken in by the SPCA. I respect that. But that puppy mill crap, no thanks!

Mine has an adoption center for cats as well. By puppy mill do you mean the pet hotel? Petsmart as a company doesnt sell dogs or cats. Thye do the adoptions for cats, but any dog they keep there is dropped off by someone so they get attention and get to socialize with other dogs while the owner is at work or otherwise unable to give them the attention they deserve. Its not a bad program at all.

And through all this, they blame all of us, the pet owners and breeders for the inhumane care and cruelty to animals, as well as the release of non native or dangerous species into the wild. Cruelty includes keeping them in a tub because it is boring and unentertaining, let alone small and confined, causing much stress. Dangerous can include anything that kills because it can kill a mouse, thus has the ability to kill a cat and a dog and thus a baby; it includes anything from a ball python which is the same as a boa constrictor and maybe an anaconda too. And so they consider banning pets altogether.

If anything should be banned, it should be such pet shops. Pets, especially special exotic pets, delicate in nature, with specific requirements, should only be sold by private breeders who actually care about the welfare of their animals and wouldnt sell to someone who has no idea. I've heard petshop staff asking why 'cold blooded snakes need heat, they are after all, COLD blooded'. Theres something majorly wrong with this world.

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Originally Posted by Riv

Mine has an adoption center for cats as well. By puppy mill do you mean the pet hotel? Petsmart as a company doesnt sell dogs or cats. Thye do the adoptions for cats, but any dog they keep there is dropped off by someone so they get attention and get to socialize with other dogs while the owner is at work or otherwise unable to give them the attention they deserve. Its not a bad program at all.

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Nah, not PetsHotel. That is just doggie daycare. Great idea for people with money who really love their pets. I'd do it too if we had dogs/cats and had the money. I also fully support non-profit adoption centers like what they provide. It takes a little strain of your local SPCA and gives them a second chance at life. :gj:

I am referring to this bologna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_mill

We have all been to one of those shady pet stores that keeps dogs/cats in cages in substandard conditions. The ones that treat animals as a commodity. The only thing that matters is turning out a profit. I am NOT ok with that!

Jesus. Thats pretty bad. I think they just need to make a descision. Include hopw to properly care for said animals in the training, or remove them as an option. They arent going to sell unhealthy animals anyway, so its not even like theyre making a quick buck. They're just inadvertently killing snakes. Which is also costing them money. Its absolutely absurd.

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Originally Posted by ogdentrece

I've heard petshop staff asking why 'cold blooded snakes need heat, they are after all, COLD blooded'. Theres something majorly wrong with this world.

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i agree, sometimes i feel like the government should just give everyone a test to see what job they get based on what they know and are interested in. but then i think of North Korea, and i feel like doing that could end very bad for us

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Originally Posted by AK907

Nah, not PetsHotel. That is just doggie daycare. Great idea for people with money who really love their pets. I'd do it too if we had dogs/cats and had the money. I also fully support non-profit adoption centers like what they provide. It takes a little strain of your local SPCA and gives them a second chance at life. :gj:

I am referring to this bologna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_mill

We have all been to one of those shady pet stores that keeps dogs/cats in cages in substandard conditions. The ones that treat animals as a commodity. The only thing that matters is turning out a profit. I am NOT ok with that!

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Im behind you on that one 100% Thats awful.

I was the GM of a Petco for about a year while finishing up my degree... To this day I hate that company. Within a month of taking over that store, I fired all but three employees for animal care issues (as well as general worthlessness.) Especially with reptiles, the husbandry was terrible. We weren't allowed to feed live until the snakes hadn't eaten for two months. So I forged quite a few feeding charts in my time. With sick animals, while they did let us take them in to vets, they didn't want to spend money on treatment. Most of the time, the decision was to euthanize the animal. The one saving grace, is that the vet that was actually on retainer, and came around to the stores for normal stuff was a herp specialist, and a totally awesome guy. I'm friends with him to this day. If you're in the Denver area and need a snake vet, he's fantastic. Drop me a line and I'll give you his name. He would always authorize any treatment I requested, as well as give me the green light to feed live whenever I felt it necessary.

Anyway, I'm rambling... But it was seriously the worst job I've had in my life. I dearly hope that company goes under. Which with how it's ran, will be sooner rather than later.

Nice job with what you're doing. You're making a difference. Snakes can't talk, but I'm sure he's grateful to you. Hope he pulls through, and finds a good home. :D

Now that I have hatchlings of my own, I suddenly realize that most of the teensy tiny ball pythons I've seen for sale at Petco/Petsmart ARE hatchlings. I bet some of them die never having eaten.

And most of that is Petco/Petsmart's fault... but I wonder if the breeder could give these little guys a slightly better chance by getting them properly started?

Its not hard to figure out what is wrong with this situation. Its simple. You have a pet store that doesnt pay crap and doesnt train employees right, and hires either fresh out of school kids or people that need a job so bad they are willing to work for peanuts. Now there is a small percentage of people that work there just because they love the animals so much. Congrats to them but the problem is you have people working there that do not know anything about reptiles nor do they care about them. Therefore the animals suffer. And every manager only cares about one thing, the bottom dollar. This is why pet stores are no place for reptiles. Unless its is a specialty store geared directlly at reptiles and they have the knowledge needed to care for them

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Originally Posted by loonunit

Now that I have hatchlings of my own, I suddenly realize that most of the teensy tiny ball pythons I've seen for sale at Petco/Petsmart ARE hatchlings. I bet some of them die never having eaten.

And most of that is Petco/Petsmart's fault... but I wonder if the breeder could give these little guys a slightly better chance by getting them properly started?

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The "breeder" is typically a BP farm in Africa. The hatchlings are mass imports straight out of the egg, which have never eaten before they get to the store.

Most pet stores dont care about quality and they buy imports cause they pay like 10 bucks a piece and sell them for up to 90 bucks.

-face palm-

I'd like to point out that not all pet stores are crap. There's a local chain of pet stores where I am that take excellent care of their animals. Said store also gets their reptiles from a local breeder.

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Originally Posted by Raptor

-face palm-

I'd like to point out that not all pet stores are crap. There's a local chain of pet stores where I am that take excellent care of their animals. Said store also gets their reptiles from a local breeder.

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I don't think anyone said ALL pet stores were bad, but the majority of them are, especially big name stores like PetSmart/PetCo which place profits above everything else.

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Originally Posted by Annarose15

The "breeder" is typically a BP farm in Africa. The hatchlings are mass imports straight out of the egg, which have never eaten before they get to the store.

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From what the4y told me, the company they get their ball pythons from "supposedly" feeds them 3 times live before threyre shipped off. But the employees I was speaking to seemed to doubt this. It just makes me wonder how many snakes have died because of this in the last three years that they havent seen a single one eat.

I got my little girl Pakul from the very same story only 9 months ago. She's had horrible eating problems and to this day is still almost 300G underwieght and would barely eat for me the first seven months I had her. Shes finally getting better, but she was probably a close call as well and I just didnt know it. The little fuzzy she had after the fourth month very well may have been her first meal.

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Originally Posted by AK907

I don't think anyone said ALL pet stores were bad, but the majority of them are, especially big name stores like PetSmart/PetCo which place profits above everything else.

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Well, profit is what makes the business stay in business but I agree with your point. These stores have GOT to be told the proper care for these animals. I think a lot of these stores would see an even bigger profit margin if they had some sort of "expert" on site or at least listen to the advise of the experts. Then we wouldn't have customers come on here (just like I did 7 months ago) saying they were told to care for their BP in a manner that is completely wrong. As a matter of fact, if my local PetSmart told me the right way to do stuff with our first BP, I would most definately be a repeat customer and even refer more people to them. Instead what I do whenever I go there and get dog food is check out the people that are checking out the BPs and strick up a conversation about the proper way to care for them. I can't tell you how many folks I have refered to this site before they decide to buy. So they end up loosing business because the customer isn't being told the correct information.

So for any business profit is what pays the bills and keeps them in business but it's the way they go about getting those profits that becomes the problem.

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Originally Posted by AK907

I don't think anyone said ALL pet stores were bad, but the majority of them are, especially big name stores like PetSmart/PetCo which place profits above everything else.

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I'm seeing people say that "reptiles don't belong in pet stores" . That says enough to me. Additionally, big name stores aren't the only ones that are can be bad. Small mom & pop stores can do the same.

And surprisingly, the local petsmarts in my area take decent care of their reptiles. It really boils down to how the individual stores are ran.

Speaking of all of this, how can I get some BP.Net brochures to hand out whenever I get a chance to talk to someone.

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Originally Posted by AK907

I will give the PetSmart I worked at and our local PetCo. They have an "adoption center" where they donate space to cats taken in by the SPCA. I respect that. But that puppy mill crap, no thanks!

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i didnt know the cats were from the SPCA, and now that i do, im fine with it, i was just trying to think of things they most likely breed in the basement in a shoebox

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Originally Posted by Raptor

I'm seeing people say that "reptiles don't belong in pet stores" . That says enough to me. Additionally, big name stores aren't the only ones that are can be bad. Small mom & pop stores can do the same.

And surprisingly, the local petsmarts in my area take decent care of their reptiles. It really boils down to how the individual stores are ran.

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I think you misinterpreted what he meant by that and took it a little too literally. I am sure he didn't mean EVERY pet store, but was making a point about how very few pet stores have the knowledge needed for reptiles to thrive. I know all too well how poor mom & pop stores can be. I've posted many times about one of our local stores and the horrors that go on there. Tails chewed off, dead animals liquifying in water bowls for weeks, a years worth of fecal matter from 20 different animals kept in the same tank without ever cleaning it. The least of their problems are the mites.

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Originally Posted by cmack91

i didnt know the cats were from the SPCA, and now that i do, im fine with it, i was just trying to think of things they most likely breed in the basement in a shoebox

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They also give quite a bit to charities as well. :gj:

Unfortunately Petsmart is a huge contributor to the HSUS. Once I found this out I stopped donating that $1 they always ask for at the register. They also lost most of my business. I only go there when I can't find the pine bedding I need for my rats now. I had hoped the Petsmart boycott would last a lot longer but I guess it didn't.

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Unfortunately Petsmart is a huge contributor to the HSUS. Once I found this out I stopped donating that $1 they always ask for at the register. They also lost most of my business. I only go there when I can't find the pine bedding I need for my rats now. I had hoped the Petsmart boycott would last a lot longer but I guess it didn't.

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whats HSUS? all i can think of is humane society of the united states?

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Originally Posted by cmack91

whats HSUS? all i can think of is humane society of the united states?

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You'd be correct. HSUS is nothing more then a lobbying group.

I forgot about them having ties to HSUS. We haven't even been to a PetSmart in years and that isn't about to change. They lost our business a long time ago.

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Originally Posted by cmack91

whats HSUS? all i can think of is humane society of the united states?

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Yup, but they aren't like your local SPCA. They are an animal rights group, quite similar to PeTA. They would rather burn down ski lodges because they have elk heads on the wall or smearing blood on themselves and protest outside of a slaughterhouse rather than taking in animals after a natural disaster or rescuing abused and neglected dogs from bad homes and helping them find new owners. If you want the latter, support your local SPCA!

Yep. When we found out about them being a big contributor/supporter to that nut job Florida senator Bill Nelson fighting against USARK (Andrew Wyatt, the president, is the one who goes to all the hearings to fight for our rights as snake owners) to get those first snake ban bills passed, we (the reptile community) spread the word about their true cause. A lot of dirt was dug up about the HSUS. They don't even have a single shelter, yet they televise those awful commercials about neglected animals needing help. They're terrible. I try not to deal with any company that supports them.

Each Petsmart store can't really be blamed though. They are a corporation and have to follow the rules. I just wish when it came to the care of the animals someone at corporate would take the time to do the proper research needed. Then change their ridiculous care sheets and policy's so that the animals actually get the care they need.

If you think about the true purpose of HSUS, how they are similar to PETA and are against pet ownership, the fact that they are on the list of "charities" that the donations made at Petsmart go to, and the fact that many if not most Petsmarts do not take proper care of their animals, there is definitely some irony in all of that..

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Each Petsmart store can't really be blamed though. They are a corporation and have to follow the rules. I just wish when it came to the care of the animals someone at corporate would take the time to do the proper research needed. Then change their ridiculous care sheets and policy's so that the animals actually get the care they need.

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i agree with that, you cant blame every individual store or employee, unfortunatly 99% of the people in the corporate world would rather make an extra 5c on lower electric bills then raising the temp in the cages of the animals theyre supposed to know and care about. what im confused about is how they dont realize that by saving that 5cents on electricity is killing their animals which makes them lose more money than if they would just pay the 5c.

and im really glad i heard about all that hsus bull**** (sorry admin.) i have officially resigned as a customer of petsmart thanks to all you good folks on this forum. although someday i might go there to rescue some BP and give it the care it deserves, i think i'll go to my local one soon and act like im interested in my first snake and see what they say i need to do

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The "breeder" is typically a BP farm in Africa. The hatchlings are mass imports straight out of the egg, which have never eaten before they get to the store.

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The breeder where the Petsmart that I (unfortunately) work at is actually Reptiles by Mack, and I am appalled by how they ship their animals. I am also certain that even though they claim they only send out ball pythons that have eaten (I believe they claim three meals) they've never actually had a meal. Luckily we don't have snakes dieing on us, but they are usually sold severely underweight and our in store policy is to assist feed even if they ate for us the week before :mad: I've talked to my manager and coworkers about this, but it's still the policy.

In general our reptile care is pretty good. Correct temps, in range humidity, clean habitats, proper feedings. It's never perfect though, and I'm the only one in the store who really cares about the reptiles and cares to do the research to properly inform people planning on buying any animal in the store.

Unfortunately we're not allowed to ever refuse a sale. I can strongly discourage it, even tell people that their animal will die if they do as they plan, but I still have to sell them the animal. The most I can do is deny them the 14 day guarantee. :mad:

And I hate that they contribute so much to the HSUS. If you really care about animals give to your local SPCA, humane society, or even better--your local no-kill shelter and herp society.

I've only worked there since June and I'm already trying to find something better.

Wow. I really didnt know anything about the HSUS. Im glad you guys brought it up. No longer intending to donate.

Im going to stick it out for now. I feel like it will be difficult to change these places if there arent enough people within driving them to do it. Who knows where it goes from here. But I think theres potential for positive change in the future.

As far as that little bugger Iwas talking about earlier goes, Im opening tomorrow and going to attempt another feeding midday. Its only a fuzzy, but the guy needs all the food he can get right now. At least I can take comfort knowing that next time we get them in I will have a far larger chance at making sure they are properly fed from the get go. Hopefully they'll take their meals.

I was also considering popping him tomorrow before his feeding. It would be a useful selling point to know the gender if someone that is actually interested and knows how to take care of them, and im curious about it myself. Do you guys happen to know if I could be reprimanded for that? Im not really sure how they would feel about me sexing them.

you should try feeding it in the morning since naturally they come out at dawn and dusk to hunt, so maybe it'll br more inclined to take it then. and as far as sexing goes, they'll probably just think your trying to kill it so i wouldnt do that since i doubt anyone there has ever seen a snake get popped