My dream come true! YES!

Hey! My dream has come true! I got a job working as a volunteer as a petshop! I start in the beginning of January, and I will be working with the reptiles, and of course some of the other pets (mainly reptiles though)! I am SO excited! I have ALWAYS wanted to work at a petshop! Especially this one, it has like 30 reptiles, and its not a chain, and it cares for their animals properly! OMG I'm so excited! So..like can anyone give me tips of what and what not to do? Like, if Ifinish whatever assignments they give me, should I just hold a herp till they give me a new one? OMG im so excited! Please help me out though! OMG! 8) :shock: :D :P :!:

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Like, if Ifinish whatever assignments they give me, should I just hold a herp till they give me a new one? OMG im so excited!

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I dont think thats the best idea, i think whoever your "boss" will be will think that you really arent there to helpout/work and all you want to do is play with snakes.

Ok, so I wont do that. Those are the kinds of things I was asking, like what I should and should not do. Thanks brandon! And keep them coming!

yeah,30 reptiles thats a lot of cleanin 2 do,i think u also should try 2 find out bout a lot of other snakes,geckos etc. u know what i mean.
Good luck tell us how u get on

Yeah thats a very good idea, you never know when some customer will ask you a question about a certain reptile . Its always nice to know as much as you can.

I would go to the store and look at all the reptiles , go home and research them .

congrats! i hope to pick up a 2nd job this summer at a petshop.

Also 2 b honest i dnt think u will b holdin much reptiles,selling them will b the reptile shops aim,u never know u might do,but would'nt think so,
you will b suprised it will b harder than u think,fun but hard.
sometimes i get tired of cleaning out my snakes vivs,raising the humidity etc.but have 2 do it and would'nt stop!

Yea, brandon stated that wouldn't be a good Idea, so I wont. I mean the other people do, but I wont just to be safe. And well, maybe its not 30, but I'll list what they have:
2 leopard geckos
3 bearded dragons
3 ball pythons
1 burmese python
1 dumerils boa
1 savanna monitor
1 blood python
1 milk snake
1 gopher snake
2 carpet pythons
1 iguana
1 water dragon
3 red ear sliders
1 forest hinged tortoise
2 redtail boas
3 tokay geckos.

I think thats like 27, so close enough to 30.

Oh, and I can't reach the top shelf even when i'm on a stool, so that shelf is off-limits to me, unless they give me stilts, lol. (thank god, it saves me from having to mess with the tokays!)

EDIT: They've also got another girl that does some of the reptiles, so i'll probably have to do the animals that are on the low shelfs (lol), and she'll probably do the shelf I can't reach.

i think u should just research on allsorts of reptiles,when a customer asks u a question would b better if u knew the answer,u should smile 2 the customers suck up 2 the boss u never know he might start paying u.lol.
Helpout jus b really helpful and make its so ur boss will b really glad that he gave u work.
Ur lucky im lookin 4 voulantry work i've started 2 revise on a lot of reptiles,alsowill start to study fish,as the reptile shop near me sells those 2.
Also ask the other employees,they will have good advice,revise on reptile equipment e.g thermostats etc.
Viv sizes 4 diffrent snakes humidity etc.
Best of luck!!
Regards
Jay

I don't think its legal for me to get a paying job, but it would be nice if I could get my feeder food free, like mealworms, crickets, and mice. I am gonna do research on every animal I stated above (except for ones I already know) and find out the ideal temps and humidity for each one, and then you can pretty much tell people how to set up a cage if you know those. SO now, the research starts!

lol,yeah jus fogot they cant pay u but u will get discounts etc.
good luck

Hey awesome, good luck! You'll learn a lot at that job. I know I have at mine.

Be sure to clean up good when you get home from "work" (I'm probably not telling you anythinig you don't know, sorry)

The last thing you want to do is spread something to your collection at home :(

I would recommend that you pay a lot of attention to detail. i.e. constantly be spotcleaning cages, refilling waters, researching product in the herp section so you can give potential clients honest recommendations about items you've used or thoroughly educated yourself on.

From experience, I can tell you that every pet store owner's pet peeve is an employee (or volunteer) who just wants to "play with animals." I simply throw that in because we operate an upscale retail store & weeding out potential volunteers/employees who want to play with animals all day becomes a tedious effort. Staying on top of multiple animals, not to mention multiple SPECIES of animals, in a pet store setting can be tough work. Keep in mind that all day long you're going to have people who act like the place is a petting zoo -i.e. they just want to hold things w/o any intention of buying them. Constant interaction with reptiles will eventually stress them, so it's part of your job to ensure that everything else in the animal's environment is spot-on if the critter is going to be subjected to the continuous stress of lots of handling. Also, learn how to discern window shoppers & give them a polite explanation as to why you can't take out every animal every time.

Your manager will probably be a lot more open to you handling animals during downtime if you make it a point to be a rockstar when it comes to animal care & client interaction.

Just my $.02

K

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Originally Posted by Schlyne

Be sure to clean up good when you get home from "work" (I'm probably not telling you anythinig you don't know, sorry)

The last thing you want to do is spread something to your collection at home :(

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This is SO true.. be obsessive!

Yes, I'll make sure to clean up good. After i'm done with cleaning and cricketing cages, i'll see if I can move this one animal to a different cage. See, they have this beardie, and its like 2 ft. long, and its in a 15 gallon, but then they have this other beardy like 10 inches long, in a 30 gallon, so I hope to switch those animals, that way they can have more apropriate sized cages. But other than that I am just gonna do what they tell me.

P.S. I made a chart with all of the reptiles they have their's names, size, temps, and humidity, and I plan to memorize this chart before january.

Just out of curiosity, at which store will you be volunteering? I hope it's one of the better ones and not like Pet Superstore. You'll learn a lot more at a good store.

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Originally Posted by BallPythonBabe448

P.S. I made a chart with all of the reptiles they have their's names, size, temps, and humidity, and I plan to memorize this chart before january.

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Be aware that if these are all animals for sale, the likelihood that it'll be different animals when you're there is pretty good. But either way, it's a good thing to know the basics of the most popular herp pets.

Yea, but they have multiple of most of the species, and I've noticed that when they sell one of the species, they get a new one to replace it, kind of like you re-stock your refridgerator when the food is gone. And, a TON of the reptiles they have get pretty big, and the carpet pythons and ball pythons are full grown (less likelyhood of being sold, and they've been there for 6 months).

It isn't a pet superstore or any big chain petshop, its a very small family owned one. They take good care of their herps, but I do notice a pile of feces in most of their snake cages, and I am pretty sure thats because the other girl that does the reptiles, is scared of snakes, so she doesn't clean them. But I'll be sure to clean all the cages CONSTANTLY.

I"M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

I am working at my friend's pet shop, albeit one day a week, and I actually get paid (almost what I make at my "real job." :)
You can be a huge asset to the owners, and they will prize you for it. When things get busy in the store, it's hard for one (or even sometimes two) workers/owners to deal with everyone at once and make sure no one is trying to steal things, etc. Be aware of what's going on, be alert to tank spills and defecations and clean those up; they can really turn a customer off. Find out the store's feeding schedule; some prefer to feed after hours, and some shops have strict food rationing "rules."
Are you dealing with fish too? I do, and they can be such a pain to catch! Especially if someone wants "that certain one" in a group of 50. Usually they will just say "two gouramis" or something and walk away, which is the best; it can be a bit nerve wracking if they stare at you, but you have to expect that! And you have to learn the right way to "bag" crickets and fish, so that the bag holds enough air and has no holes. Wrapping fish in newspaper is good for those who stress easy and/or are delicate, such as angelfish.
The possibilities are limitless. Just take things one day at a time, and don't be too childish, playful, or worse, get attached to every animal. If you honestly don't know something about a particular species, don't be afriad to say so, and don't make things up! And always make it clear to people who walk in, that you work there, and can help them. "Hi, my name's ____ and if you want anything in particular, or have questions, let me know." But don't jump all over them; give them some space to shop, and just be friendly overall.

Ok, well I researched on all the animals they carry, so I know everything a custumer should ask (unless its those weird questions that you can't answer, like why would you want a snake, and stuff like that).

I am really excted, I am gonna go down there today (to pick up some feeders) but now its gonna be akward to buy stuff there when I start the job...cus like...i dont know, it just will be...lol

Anyways, I am almost finished with the graph on reptiles, i'll post a link to it when I get a chance!

They need some help there badly, they have the same girl working 7 days a week (shes like a teenager) and she is like the only one ever there. I askewd for 50 medium mealworms, and she gave me 50 medium crickets, she needs a few days off.

Maybe I can fill in for her ;)

Sounds like you could be a huge help. Then in the future, maybe you could get a paying position there, or work at another petstore and already be experienced with that sort of thing.
It is not all fun and games. There will be annoying customers (especially the ones who come in ten minutes before closing time just to look at things and not buy anything!) Good luck. :)

Lol, I think I qualify as one of the annoying customers, except I normally come in in the middle of the day. not at night ;)

Im one of the annoying customers who will go into the pet shop, look around, hold a couple snakes and then just buy a hermit crab sea shell or something just so i dont look stupid.

lol, the petshop lady knows the routine i do.

I walk in, go straight for the herps, look at them, sometimes ask to hold one, and then after ab0out 10 minutes I go up and get crickets or mealworms.

Yesterday, I walked in went straight for the herps, looked at them, and after 10 minutes the lady comes up and says "Your crickets are up there" lol.