Wait'll you hear what the pet lady said.

Went to a local pet shop just to look around cause itll be a few weeks before Im ready but its still nice to look.I meet the lady in the reptile section. So we get to talking and I tell her bout the setup Im putting together and she says " you cant use platic! you need a glass tank!" well I told her I had been talking to an awful lot of BP owners who are doing well with plastic containers cause they heat so nicely and hold in humidity. She tells me "No, glass holds heat and humidity better, only breeders use plastic hobbyists use tanks The plastic will melt. Plus you have to have a clamp light."
Needless to say I left that store right after that. :shock:

LMAO.

It just goes to show how much pet store employees know about the advice they are giving. I'm sure we all have at least one "pet store" experience similiar to that. I'm not saying ALL pet store employees are like this, but you give a guy a corn snake for a week and he's over on KS.com advising people how to breed their macklott's. :? LMAO...

Jennifer

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I'm not saying ALL pet store employees are like this, but you give a guy a corn snake for a week and he's over on KS.com advising people how to breed their macklott's. LMAO...

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I KNOW exactly what you mean..lol

You have to remember, too, that one job of pet store employees is to sell SUPPLIES. If you buy a Rubbermaid container and a heating pad from Wally-world, then you aren't buying a terrarium, UTH, and clamp light from the pet store. That's money that isn't going into their till.

You also have the problem of people who think there is only ONE "right way" to do something like house a BP. The most important thing isn't what works well for, say Bob Clark. What's important is what works well for YOU and YOUR Ball Python. All the success that someone like Bob Clark has doesn't mean a hill of beans if your snake isn't thriving under the same conditions. His experience offers a great deal to consider, but your snake may not act exactly like most of Bob's do.

(Note: This is not a "put down" of Bob Clark. I'm simply using someone who has had a LOT of success in the Herp world as an example.)

I have had some bad experiences at Pet Shops too, most of them are the employees dont know what thier talking about. Makes ya wonder if they are even taking care of the critters right in the shop. Not long ago, I worked for a pet shop, I had to correct and re-teach my co-workers. Most of them were lucky to know their head from a hole in the ground.

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Originally Posted by Hoomi

You have to remember, too, that one job of pet store employees is to sell SUPPLIES. If you buy a Rubbermaid container and a heating pad from Wally-world, then you aren't buying a terrarium, UTH, and clamp light from the pet store. That's money that isn't going into their till.

You also have the problem of people who think there is only ONE "right way" to do something like house a BP. The most important thing isn't what works well for, say Bob Clark. What's important is what works well for YOU and YOUR Ball Python. All the success that someone like Bob Clark has doesn't mean a hill of beans if your snake isn't thriving under the same conditions. His experience offers a great deal to consider, but your snake may not act exactly like most of Bob's do.

(Note: This is not a "put down" of Bob Clark. I'm simply using someone who has had a LOT of success in the Herp world as an example.)

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I agree with your points. Also, I know from experience that some pet shop employees got bonuses if they sold an x amount of supplies/animals. So therefore they'll tell you anything to sell some stuff.

I know how the pet store thing goes and I was lucky that one girl at the store has years of experience and also took me to her home of I think 7 snakes.

There was also another girl who didn't know schtuff but a real sweet heart and tried to be helpful but her boss was yelling at her because she wasn't giving me the correct info.............
So I told her to come to my elderly home to apply as a caregiver and she showed up today and I hired her!

-Edited by RPlank for language-

I have worked at many petstores, so I know firsthand the idiocy that goes on there. I ended up leaving or being fired from every one because the people there just don't care about the animals.

I have only worked in pet shops and vet offices for my entire working life (besides a few 3rd shift wharehouse jobs) and I know what you mean about their employees.
I have been lucky enough to be management of 99% of the jobs I've had so therein I can make sure the proper training is done. I used to travel for a chain store I managed just to train the employess! It is hard with small mom and pop type stores (that's the type I first started at) it is much more economic to hire high school kids (who sometimes just don't care).
Thanks
Rusty

I had a good pet store experience yesterday. Went to the store of the only guy in this state licensed to have certain venomous reptiles, and every critter in there looked healthy. The baby ball python looked good, as did the gtp's, dragons, geckos, rattlers, cobras, gators, monitors, skinks, reticulated, anaconda, burmese, even the fish. We watched one of the pythons (I don't remember what kind but it was dull red and orange) shed while we were there. The employee went along the rows misting the cages too, so I know they were watching humidity. Oh, and it was truly a pet store -- there was one tiny section of thermometers, hides, lizard supplements, and such, about 4'x6'.

Marla, I'm glad that you have a "good" pet store in your area. All of the ones I have been to around here, simply put, suck! When I had gotten my cage for my bp, I was at a local pet store, and the girl at the register asked what I was going to put in the cage. I told her a captive bred bp. She said, "what, a captain bred?" I then reitterated what I had said. She was like, "oh, the one's we have are captive bred." I then proceeded to the door. I do understand the whole high school kid thing. It is hard to go to a pet store and actually find someone who has an incling as to what is going on.

Well, it's not exactly in my area. It took about an hour to get there 30 minutes before closing time. Most of the pet stores I tend to think of as places to buy supplies, because they're not good sources of animals. This store is very good though, and there's another I plan to visit about an hour in a different direction because a local herper told me he thinks it's the best in the area.

forget ever asking help from a pet shop employee. It's disgusting how many of them are so poorly trained. There needs to be a test that they need to pass, seriously. You figure, over the period of a day they probly sell 5 animals per employee, and give awful advice to at least 15 more. Then they go home and care for their pets poorly all because they'd never second guess an "expert" pet sho employee.

Forget pet shops, come to bp.net for all your questions :)