PetSmart Near Me Has a BEL, Albino, Pied, and Banana. Not Happy With What I Saw.

Very surprised to see these morphs there while getting some fish food at Petsmart yesterday. And very pissed off to see the poor husbandry. All were babies and under 75 grams in a 72 degree tank with no visible hot spot. One small 10 gallon tank held a Banana, BEL, and Pied and all three were packed in a hide together. Another tank held an underweight albino and the snake was perched up on a fake vine trying to warm up with the overhead lights. Last tank held a normal that wouldn't stop frantically roaming the tank. It was VERY underweight and had visible loose skin.

I called over a staff member and started complaining about about what I saw. Staffer could've cared less about my concerns, so I just turned and walked out. I'm sending corporate an email today expressing my disgust for what I saw.

The prices of the snakes were as follows:
- BEL $499
- Pied $299
- Albino $299
- Banana $349
- Normal $39

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Originally Posted by Stingray74

with no visible hot spot.

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You are right, you don't see UTHs. I know Petco has regulated belly heat and I am pretty sure PetSmart does to.

Unfortunately I do not believe Petsmart has the UTHs, at least not from what I've seen from working there. They have basking bulbs. Except some don't get night basking. So they just get cold. The tanks are itty bitty, smaller than 10 gal for the babies, we have a year and then some old ghost pastel enchi that's been in the store for over a year now in a 10 gal. While she eats well and gets through sheds okay and has the best temper I've ever seen, she's borderline obese and always shoved in her log all day and night. Don't get me started in how obnoxious the husbandry is, lol.
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It's a very stressful location for the babies who can act out aggressively and strike the glass, or just are stressed and terrified and hiding. We lost one banana baby because it just withered away without eating besides force-feedings, and one we have now that is very very skinny and being treated with VERY unneeded betadine daily soaks for "mites" I now see are just natural freckles. He is force fed every pinkie meal, and always dehydrated. I am working on getting my managers informed on his freckles and already left two notes on it last night.

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Also a normal we recently got who is striking at the glass. You can see the tiny space he has as the picture pretty much as the entire setup in it.No more space than what is shown. ]

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2F1UA661gl.jpg

The banana and the enchi are priced at $350.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

You are right, you don't see UTHs. I know Petco has regulated belly heat and I am pretty sure PetSmart does to.

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Hi Pit,
I was able to see through the bottom glass of the tank as the substrate was very thin and was shoved into one area of the tank. I couldn't see anything under there, but can't be sure. It was more like a 6 gallon tank that these all were in. Very sad indeed.

That's a big selection. I've only ever seen Fancy/Normals and Bananas there.

Sometimes you catch more flies with honey..

Offer your expertise. Ask to speak to a manager, introduce yourself and your credentials when it comes to reptiles. Respectfully offer some advice, printouts, caresheets etc.

They might blow you off..but you never know, you might just find a open ear and make a change for the better..

Re. the banana and its "mites" - have you tried showing anyone the freckles through a magnifying glass? I would think that would make it pretty obvious that they're coloration and not bugs. Poor little thing.

There is actually a beautiful pied bp at our local petsmart,also where i got our super fire pastel and butter pastel..i was so tempted to get the pied but cant afford the price tag right now anyways

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The "mites" banana I left notes about last night and today they've started to come to the consensus between me, and my two managers that know snakes better, that he's healthy minus the being skinny. Always feel free to tell a manager if there's something wrong and cruel. I go to them when I see something off and they always say or do something about it. When you have a big chain store it's not likely you'll have experts or professionals as managers or employees. My co workers are pre-vet, I'm just a meds student who reads a lot about animals haha. The managers are no experts either. Offer your opinions. Usually the snakes are healthy, they're just skinny because they're all fed once every seven days a meal that's too small. If you get them home and fed right, I bet they'll be just fine. None of the animals are in ideal situations, but a pet store doesn't have the time or resources to make it all perfect. The animals there are meant to stay very temporarily. And the normals fly off the shelves, the $119 pastels and very beautiful "fancy" balls do occasionally too.

Its the $350 ones that get stuck there way way too long. Then sickness can follow.

In conclusion: Always feel free to offer an opinion, they should be open to learn. If you come to us saying you're concerned about the wellbeing of an animal because x y and z, you should be heard. Just understand there are things we have NO control over.

Isn't $299 for a pied a good price? Usually the price is jacked up high for normals and morphs at petsmart and petco.


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Originally Posted by BPGator

Isn't $299 for a pied a good price? Usually the price is jacked up high for normals and morphs at petsmart and petco.


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That's not a horrible price... If it's med-high white, it's a decent price. If it's a high-white female, it's an even better price. For a very low - low white, I'd say that could be anywhere from a little high - good price, just depends. I can't find a pied around me anywhere for under $400, so I'd say it's a good deal. You can find nice pieds on morph market and other places for $350 or so...

I personally seen a very nice baby pastel in my new local petsmart that just opened and it was infested with mites!! I told the person there and they went to the manager and asked what to do after they asked me about the process that it takes to deal with them. the manager just told them to take it in back and give it a bath... I offered to buy the snake at a reasonable price because the fact it needed a lot of help and knowing it would not get he help it needs and they told me no.. I went back a few days later for fish food and saw the same poor snake back out front in its tiny cage covered with mites.. after I saw that I just left the store and drove to Petco 15 min away just for my fish food.. I called petsmart company and made a formal complaint and told them exactly what happen and they just said ok... I will not be buying anything from petsmart again after that.

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Originally Posted by norcal707

they asked me about the process that it takes to deal with them.

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What information did you supply them with?

I told them I'm no expert, but usual process is to quarantine the snake, clean enclosure thoroughly take it to a vet.. I told them that ive used reptile spray twice a week for a few weeks and it worked for me. I over herd the manager say that all they do is run it under warm water and that was it, nothing more.

Retail market is not like private/hobby ownership.
They do not and cannot afford to quarantine an animal for 3 to 6 months, that is what the end user should be doing.
No need for a vet but a warm soak with a couple drops of Dawn can go a long way.
Problem is the animal turn over rate and all the people cooing through the business can continue the mite problem.
This is a reason many small breeders do let just anyone in their house, who know what you are carrying.
There is always a larger picture than just what we want to see.

One thing I find ironic is that every time these threads come up, we end up with the paralell discussions of "is this a good price for x morph" and "look what a sorry state their husbandry is in, can't they be bothered to take decent care of their animals".

I'm not excusing any store's bad care practices. But I'm definitely seeing a double standard here.

Yes, pet stores should still take care of their animals and they need to be aware of what prices the market will bear; and they mostly make money on the sale of pet supplies and food, not on the actual pets.

But it doesn't help the situation to howl if the price doesn't come in below the average of what you might see on morph market, and then wonder why the care is substandard and the animals are overcrowded.

Retail is expensive. A pet store that has products on display in a store front with a location people will find and staffed all day every day costs more to run than a basement breeding operation or an online business run out of a garage or warehouse or whatever.
If you do find a store that has knowlegeable staff and takes good care of their animals and charges $25 or $50 more than the same morph from someplace online, don't complain that they are ripping you off. That price difference is the price you are paying to be able to walk into a nice store and talk to experienced keepers and walk out with a healthy animal, and know that you aren't paying for someone to mistreat the other animals in their care.

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Originally Posted by Coluber42

One thing I find ironic is that every time these threads come up, we end up with the paralell discussions of "is this a good price for x morph" and "look what a sorry state their husbandry is in, can't they be bothered to take decent care of their animals".

I'm not excusing any store's bad care practices. But I'm definitely seeing a double standard here.

Yes, pet stores should still take care of their animals and they need to be aware of what prices the market will bear; and they mostly make money on the sale of pet supplies and food, not on the actual pets.

But it doesn't help the situation to howl if the price doesn't come in below the average of what you might see on morph market, and then wonder why the care is substandard and the animals are overcrowded.

Retail is expensive. A pet store that has products on display in a store front with a location people will find and staffed all day every day costs more to run than a basement breeding operation or an online business run out of a garage or warehouse or whatever.
If you do find a store that has knowlegeable staff and takes good care of their animals and charges $25 or $50 more than the same morph from someplace online, don't complain that they are ripping you off. That price difference is the price you are paying to be able to walk into a nice store and talk to experienced keepers and walk out with a healthy animal, and know that you aren't paying for someone to mistreat the other animals in their care.

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It's no different on any pet forum. You should see the betta forums. It's the same on music forums. Sam Ash/Guitar Center = Petco/Petsmart. They are mad because the display instruments are in horrible shape and salespeople cant answer questions about the instruments except for the price. It's the nature of any specialized message board. Bottom line is YOU choose where you spend your money. If you like the convenience of going to Petsmart, that's ok. Life goes on.

Very true.

Petstores wouldn't still be selling animals, if there weren't people constantly "rescuing" (at full price, overpriced at that) these animals that are often in less then ideal shape...

We have those also here in NY. Im told they come from Reptiles by MACK. Thats how they could be getting so many Diff morphs these days. (All hearsay of course)

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

We have those also here in NY. Im told they come from Reptiles by MACK. Thats how they could be getting so many Diff morphs these days. (All hearsay of course)

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Exactly why i dont see why people bash the large chain pet stores..i find the breeder more at fault for keeping supplying the pet stores with snakes knowing they dont get taken care of and not knowing what kind of care the snake will ultimately end up in

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Petsmart is supplied by Reptiles by MACK. And again, a big chain store doesn't have the resources to deal with sick reptiles flawlessly. We can take them to a vet if it's a bad illness, but mostly I've only seen beardies get isolated because they need to eat and the same with leos, or snakes that are just skinny or in bad sheds. It mostly depends on the staff for reptiles. If it's like my store in Indiana, we have multiple employees that love reptiles and keep eyes on them, bathe them when they are in a bad shed, and remove shed skin from leos' toes. However if the staff is not careful enough, then you'll see the horror stories.

Rarely will Petsmart be able to offer you a "special price" even for an ill animal. That would have to go through the store manager to the district manager who will usually only go down like 20% if that if they decide to do it.

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Originally Posted by Hlow87

Exactly why i dont see why people bash the large chain pet stores..i find the breeder more at fault for keeping supplying the pet stores with snakes knowing they dont get taken care of and not knowing what kind of care the snake will ultimately end up in

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I hear ya, thats the problem with everything from Dogs to Snakes...hellnto Mail order brides.. Ohh wait thats anothet forum :) Just Kidding hahhahah
I do have 3 Pits though and its a huge problem in NY as it is many places... Breeders turing a Buck, where the Dog goes has no bearing, SAD :(

Oh so true! Sad,but true..

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I just picked up some food for my Ball Python at Petsmart in my area 2 days ago. I looked at the snakes and all of the humidity levels was around 30-40% and the housing was horrible. I'm glad I had the chance to rescue my Ball Python from that madness. And, I can't ask for a better snake. He lets me do just about anything with him and I trust him. When I first got him he was head shy a good bit, now I can pet his head and the side of his face with no fear. He's like a little pup. Hell, her was wrapped around my hand as I was eating dinner and he didn't even care.

Now, I noticed the weight gain in him to. He's gotten chubby in the month and a half I've had him. The feeding chart they gave me said he denied all 4 times they fed him. First 3 times I fed him, he took so well. Just really happy he's happy and healthier now.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...eb453dd117.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5d5e8887ab.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d2736be076.jpg

Yes, I'm aware that the gauges suck. I'm saving money for a huge upgrade for his habitat. If I'm gonna upgrade, I'm gonna upgrade one time and make it right. Then off to saving for the next home for my next snake. Pure addiction lol


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