Petland Story

So I went to Petland with a friend today. And I went to take a look at their reptiles. They had a baby Piebald! They did not know if it was male or female. And they let me hold it, it was a low white and very skinny. I asked how much they were selling it for and it was $1200!!! For a baby skinny unsexed ball python!!! I was shocked! I got my female pied as a baby for $500. They asked if I was interested and I said I'd think about it. I know that pet stores are always off when it comes to reptiles. But wow!!! I was so surprised! I just thought it was a funny story.

feel really bad for the bp. skinny, husbandry is probably not right either.
Anyone that would pay that price obviously hasn't done their research and it will be an impulse buy.
The horrors of pet stores. :(

Ya it didn't have a temperature gradient and only one hide so it was pretty stressed out and they said it hadn't eaten since they got it :/

So many horror stories from Petland! Poor baby, shame she is stuck in a place like that with little prospect of a good home due to an outrageous price.

A few months ago a local Petco had an absolutely mind boggling clown for $79. They had no idea what it was other than ball python. Also very skinny and malnourished, but a friend took him home and now he is a fat little snake.

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Originally Posted by shadowsnakes

So many horror stories from Petland! Poor baby, shame she is stuck in a place like that with little prospect of a good home due to an outrageous price.

A few months ago a local Petco had an absolutely mind boggling clown for $79. They had no idea what it was other than ball python. Also very skinny and malnourished, but a friend took him home and now he is a fat little snake.

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Clown for $79....come on, Seriously?????

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Originally Posted by joebad976

Clown for $79....come on, Seriously?????

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x2 I need pics of this!

Wish I snapped a few pics. His colors are amazing, I was tempted to bring him home. This isn't too uncommon, I heard of a Petsmart location having a spider in stock with several other baby balls and it was priced the same. I suppose the reptile staff didn't know what they had?

I seriously thought Tali was a low end pastel when I saw her... I STILL wonder what the heck is going on with her, if there is anything at all. She was 40 bucks at Petsmart (I got her on sale).

Sorta funny story, when I bought her they had to fill out a sheet and one of the lines was 'description of animal'... guy put 'yellow alien headed ball python'

http://25.media.tumblr.com/6f9ee4b38...8o7_r1_500.jpg

At my local petco ive seen some cool red tail boa morphs that I know are not normal red tail boas and there the same price as the regular red tails

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Pet store husbandry issues aside - there is nothing at all wrong with their pricing structure. A stick of gum is "worth" $650 if I can get someone to pay me that for it, even if they can get it somewhere else for $ .03. Retail stores are in business to make money, not break even and certainly not to lose money. Consumers (of any product) drive prices, not the entity selling it.

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Originally Posted by BrandiR

Pet store husbandry issues aside - there is nothing at all wrong with their pricing structure. A stick of gum is "worth" $650 if I can get someone to pay me that for it, even if they can get it somewhere else for $ .03. Retail stores are in business to make money, not break even and certainly not to lose money. Consumers (of any product) drive prices, not the entity selling it.

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Sad but true.

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Originally Posted by BrandiR

Pet store husbandry issues aside - there is nothing at all wrong with their pricing structure. A stick of gum is "worth" $650 if I can get someone to pay me that for it, even if they can get it somewhere else for $ .03. Retail stores are in business to make money, not break even and certainly not to lose money. Consumers (of any product) drive prices, not the entity selling it.

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Oh I beg to differ.

Having been in retail for over 13 yrs in another lifetime.

If you wish your business to grow and stay in it for the long haul; customers are like sheep, in that you can shear them many times. But you can only Skin them once!

However your statement may hold true if you are the only game in town- until they discover internet sales.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

Oh I beg to differ.

Having been in retail for over 13 yrs in another lifetime.

If you wish your business to grow and stay in it for the long haul; customers are like sheep, in that you can shear them many times. But you can only Skin them once!

However your statement may hold true if you are the only game in town- until they discover internet sales.

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My statement holds true whether you're the only game in town or not. It holds even more true when you're talking about things like pets, jewelry, cosmetics, video games, things that are not necessities. If you don't have to have it for survival and you buy it anyway, then you are to blame if you "paid too much", not the person who sold it to you.

In addition, it's only 'too much' if you value it as such. My normal was $80. I was green at the time, but if someone sent me back in time with the option of buying Magnus or buying a different normal for 20, I'd still have gotten Magnus. Its the same with any retail situation. In my business, some folks say that 6 bucks is too much for a bar of soap. But we also have customers that come back and spend $120 on our soap every three months. So value is subjective.

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Originally Posted by joebad976

Clown for $79....come on, Seriously?????

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No way. They sell regular bp as 89.99 and pastel at 149.00 here. Wow..

"Snakes don't bite. Just humans."

my petshop has normals for 80 and pastels for 180!!!
Talk about a rip-off

Our local store sells normals for 100. The chains have them for 80.

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Originally Posted by shadowsnakes

So many horror stories from Petland! Poor baby, shame she is stuck in a place like that with little prospect of a good home due to an outrageous price.

A few months ago a local Petco had an absolutely mind boggling clown for $79. They had no idea what it was other than ball python. Also very skinny and malnourished, but a friend took him home and now he is a fat little snake.

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Sweet deal. I'm gonna go look at Petco today.

Petland is awful. So many threads on that place

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Originally Posted by granitestate

Sweet deal. I'm gonna go look at Petco today.

Petland is awful. So many threads on that place

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I find the $79 clown hard to believe, personally. Petco sells pins and spiders for $199. Don't think a clown would be $79, as no one in their right mind is gonna wholesale out a clown for that price. And if by chance they would... I want their name lol
Petco also has horrible threads why would you even look there either???

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

I find the $79 clown hard to believe, personally. Petco sells pins and spiders for $199. Don't think a clown would be $79, as no one in their right mind is gonna wholesale out a clown for that price. And if by chance they would... I want their name lol
Petco also has horrible threads why would you even look there either???

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Being sarcastic. I've seen pastels there for 189$. My local guy 50$.

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Originally Posted by granitestate

Being sarcastic. I've seen pastels there for 189$. My local guy 50$.

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Ooooh Ok lol

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Our Petco only sells normals. They are $80. Occasionally they'll sell them for $40 if you have a Pals card. I bought one a couple years ago for my daughter for $40. It died (failed to thrive).

(I giggle that they sell their corn snake morphs as "fancy corn snakes." )

But I'll never buy a live animal from Petco again, at least not this one (I've had good finds at Petcos in other cities). I'd rather go to expos or buy online.

Although I do have a very pretty leopard gecko that was given to me last weekend that came from Petco and, after 2+ years of crappy care, is amazingly still alive.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

Oh I beg to differ.

Having been in retail for over 13 yrs in another lifetime.

If you wish your business to grow and stay in it for the long haul; customers are like sheep, in that you can shear them many times. But you can only Skin them once!

However your statement may hold true if you are the only game in town- until they discover internet sales.

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I'm with Brandi on this one! Balls would be in the same category as fossils or archeological artifacts. My dad has paid $2400 for a mastodon tooth and jaw bone segment (one piece) and $14K for an 8' mammoth tusk, where as even if I had my dad's money I wouldn't pay more than say $1K for the tusk and the same price for the jaw/tooth piece. I have and would again pay more than $500 for BPs however my dad wouldn't take one if I paid him $500. Value in this case is in the eye of the beholder/buyer.

Ive seen pieds from breeders for $475 up to $1000. I wouldnt want to pay more than the usual price range of 475- 675. I shop around. Wish I had the money to get one. My girl could have a boyfriend in the next enclosure. Not that I would breed because I don't know the first thing about it. Its sad how large chain stores don't care that much for these sweet creatures. Petsmarts and Petco's rats are dirty, stinky, and mean. I looked at both places for a pet rat after mine past away and told the "expert" they needed to clean out the enclosure and handle the rats themselves.