the petco sale

I was in PetCo the other day and saw, once again, a sale tag on the bp's. They are selling them for $30. Does anyone else have problems with this? I just feel that it is not right to have sales on exotic animals. I think that this encourages impluse buying by people who have no idea how to provide the proper care for the animal. I know that many breeders have their bp's priced around $30, but seeking out a breeder and then buying from a breeder requires effort on the part of the buyer which makes it non-impulse. Also, breeders typically talk with their clients to help them with care needs. I just cringe at the thought of John Doe walking into a PetCo and just randomly buying a bbp because it is cute and he is saving $50...what a deal!!

Am I missing the big picture here or do some of you feel the same?

Ive only been to one Petco (Marietta, Georgia) and from that experience, IMHO, they have NO right to sell animals. Dead animals everywhere. Not just a couple but 10-20, frogs, turtles, snakes everything.. Extremely disturbing to see what poor conditions they lived in. And yet when you said something to them about the dead animals, everytime there excuse was "oh they are just asleep" or "no they are not dead, thats just the way they act" :irkd:

usually when they are having the sales its because they have too many and are getting more in and they are going to be overcrowded, it's to get rid of them fast. Does it increase impulse sales? Probably, and the petco I live by informs you correctly on the care of these animals, its the nicest one I've been to, but I have heard horror stories about other petco's.

I don't know if that's so true Alec as the last $30.00 sale PetCo had it seemed to be pretty much every store everywhere. Personally I hate those sales as we see a pretty immediate increase in posts on all forums from people who never really wanted a BP, they just grabbed one up because "it was a great deal". Some PetCo's are great, the one here in Toledo is fantastic but some aren't and could really care less if you've go $30.00 you get a snake and not one bit of advice on how to care for it.

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Originally Posted by CritterLover

I was in PetCo the other day and saw, once again, a sale tag on the bp's. They are selling them for $30. Does anyone else have problems with this? I just feel that it is not right to have sales on exotic animals. I think that this encourages impluse buying by people who have no idea how to provide the proper care for the animal. I know that many breeders have their bp's priced around $30, but seeking out a breeder and then buying from a breeder requires effort on the part of the buyer which makes it non-impulse. Also, breeders typically talk with their clients to help them with care needs. I just cringe at the thought of John Doe walking into a PetCo and just randomly buying a bbp because it is cute and he is saving $50...what a deal!!

Am I missing the big picture here or do some of you feel the same?

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Sales also happen because of a rival store in the area. I think they have the right to charge what they want.

yea, I do agree with you on that. I hate to see people get any animal whether it be exoctic or not and not know how to care for it. Alot of people think because it's a good deal on price, why not get it. That's why when I bred my sugargliders I never once sold any of them without knowing if they people knew anything about them without me having to tell them, then the things they didn't know I informed them of and sent them to a bunch of different sites on careing for them.

The other side of this whole deal is that as a hobby/industry we tend to over produce/import and these have to be sold somewhere, somehow.....
Someone was willing to sell these snakes to PetCo at a great price so they can turn around and offer them at a great price. Retail sales are a science and it is amazing what people will buy just out of human nature. (if you are really bored one day, read 'Why we buy' by Paco Hill,(i think))

Also, How did you get into the hobby? I would bet if you polled reptile hobbiest you would see a high number of folks that bought a reptile at a pet store due to some promo.
I got into the hobby by working at a pet store and one of my fellow employees pawn a really bad bull snake off on me at a great price. The rest is history.

I get this same feeling in my gut when I go to the May, June, and July reptile shows in Indy. There are people selling unsexed BP's for $15.00. Right next to the green Iquanas for $10.00.

I doubt PetCo is getting those BP's from any small time breeder with some spare normals. They are more likely getting them from some import supplier at a few bucks a snake and making quite a tidy profit of them.

Yep, they got me! I went in looking at frogs and came out with a BP. I have other snakes and had been thinking about getting a BP, but yes, it was more or less an impulse buy because of the price. I still didn't get out of there until I spent $200 though! All I bought was a 40g breeder, more aspen and a uth. The others are right about marketing and sales.

I actually think that the quality of care depends on the store. The Petco near me actually appears to take care of their reptiles. Their cages are clean, they all have fresh water and hides, and they don't overpopulate. I'm sure there are stores out there that neglect their animals and shouldn't have them, but others do care.

I just bought one at petco, first snake, but to be fair I've been looking into them for a while at the sale was just a fortunate coincidence. I couldn't find any breeders in my area and getting one shipped from across the country just didn't sit well with me. They seem knowledgeable enough on the subject and my snake seems perfectly healthy, feeding well the first day I had him

It must be a national sale, there are several new BP owners poping up in various LiveJournal communities with brand-new baby BP's.

We've all gotta start somewhere.

there isn't a sale here.

I just got a baby ball a week ago. I read more in the last month than I have in a year....lol...all ball python stuff. I felt that I was ready. I did go to a petco to hold one and see how my fiance reacted (he is afraid of snakes). They were originally 79.99 but if you held their pet pals card they were 29.99. Well, I asked them where they were hatched and the girl just looked at me funny. I ask "Were they captive bred?" She runs to get a manager who informs me they were farm raised. Somehow I don't see free range pythons slithering around a quiant little farmhouse. This leads me to believe they are wild caught or had wild parents. They also didn't know if they were feeding...red flag number 2. So I waited and got my snake at an expo, made sure they had shed and ate. The guy I bought mine from seemed ok, although he didnt tell me anything about care; it's a good thing I already know all about it. He didn't even ask me. *sigh* I feel bad for those snakes that do go to homes where people are either uninformed/misinformed/or dont care "cuz like, dude, i got a snake...throw a rat in there!"

Farmed refers to captive hatched over in Africa then shipped here as hatchlings (Adam knows about all this stuff but he's not here...how dare he have a dang life LOL).


Actually we are very lucky here in Toledo, OH our PetCo is a really nice store with decently informed staff and lovely enclosures for all their living stock. I still don't trust any pet store but at least I love seeing one that actually keeps their stock clean and well tended.

when i worked at the pet store there would be sales on livestock IF you bought the appropriate caging... otherwise it was full price.

although some people had cages, tanks etc... i liked the fact that the person had to leave with the right stuff to save the $$ on the live animal.

and as far as impulse buying.... come on people... we all do it... and i'm probably the worse of them all... hence the reason the petstore CALLS ME AT HOME to tell me they got in a new frog/snake/lizard etc etc etc lOL

Hm.. the Petco in West Seneca (not too far away) isn't that bad.. but I would never buy a snake from there; nothing but snakes from reputable, trusted breeders for me, here on in. I would rather get a snake shipped from halfway around the world, from a trusted breeder, than buy one down the road at Petco! CBB all the way, baby. :)

I hardly ever shop at Petco because the ones around me are just HORRIBLE! I hope hope hope the ones around here arn't selling ball pythons, or any other kind of snakes!!!!

I am afraid I have to disagree on both counts. First of all, I see just as many impulse buys at reptile shows as I do pets stores-Petco, or any other store which sells snakes for that matter. I was at a reptile show once where a guy was selling baby alligators for $40...they were sellin like hotcakes!!!! Dads were buyin em for their kids for goodness sakes!!! Now, as far as the Petco where you live, there is NO excuse for that. I have worked fof Petco for six years, and I have never seen one in the deplorable state you are describing. Just to let you in on something, if you see that the animals at any Petco store are not being properly cared for, there is a hotline you can call to report it. The company does take stuff like that pretty seriously. However, not all Petcos are bad....there are some good ones out there...;).

Sales ended here a few months ago. I was at PetCo today (for doggy stuff) and saw the ball pythons dark but faded in color. One was still in half shed from the last time i went (last week).

At long last, the pet store near me has finally turned to the dark side. I used to love all the snakes they had in there, they were all healthy-looking, had their own individual enclosures, fresh water, a snug hide and were on their own individual thermostats. But what did I find when I was looking through in there yesterday? Around ten hatchling royal pythons crammed into a single cage, several of them looking underfed and four of them not able to fit under a single, snake-packed hide. I asked one of the assistants why they were all crammed into a single enclosure when there were plenty of empty ones. The answer I got? "They enjoy each others company". I was fuming. On a positive note though, there was one with his own enclosure, albeit one too large, who was gorgeous, nice and fat, beautiful, light patterns. He even overcame his shyness and emerged from his hide to have a drink in front of me. Sadly, he’ll probably be sold by the time I go to get mine.

Well I do think its a nationwide sale, they are on sale here also for $30 Im in Augusta GA. It was there were I got my bp on friday but I adopted him cuz they didnt get him to eat and they could not feed him live animals at the store, so If I didnt take him home or someone eals well he would have died Im sure. Here well he still has not eating, but I will be taking him to the vet this coming week to see what we can do about it. I really dont even know how many they had who knows maybe they are even selling bp's that are sick. The only reason that they let me adopt him was cuz the person I went with hasa few bp's and he told her that that bp was not ok and she said something to the nature of ok dont buy it but u can adopt it. That made me want it even more cuz I was thinking well, maybe someone will buy him and just not care about it to be able to take care of it probly let him die and just go to the store to get a replacemnt

Yes, i agree with the bad reputation of animals from not just petco but all large chain petstores. Yes of course they aren't in the buisness to sell a bunch of happy little creatures. They are that big for a reason, money. They have animals thier so when someone buys an animal they sell you all the expensive little accesories with it. Say you do buy a ball python from petco and all the accesories they sell you. You will spend way way way more than you save on the snake at that place. I think that is why they have sales like that. Ok, i'll admit it about a month and a half ago i was ready to buy a ball from a small local petstore that i trust. It was three feet long and was very tame. Except the morning i was going to purchase it i had to buy some mice for my cornsnake at petco and thier it was... One ball python left and it was only 35 bucks. I almost crapped myself to see that price in a petstore. I took it out and looked it over. Overall im really GLAD petco had a sale. Yes, many people do impulse buy but for people like me where there is no breeder remotely close and don't want to risk the internet buying, petco was a life saver. At least i know i bought it from petco and not some impulse buyer that will lose intrest in two weeks. It is real healthy and has eaten 1 mouse per week since i have gotten it. I can play with its head and it just chills on me. It was a great purchase for a great snake. So whatever you say THANK YOU PETCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i dont like petco at all i bought my bp billy from there and the poor thing had mites

I see your point about impulse buying. And you do have reason to be concerned,
however I was one of those "impulse buyers" and I've been non-stop seeking more and more information about Ball Pythons. And from what I've been hearing I got a GREAT Snake! He never has tried bitting me, never had to be forced fed, doesn't have mites, shedding was all in 1 piece... I guess the point I'm trying to make is that even though it promotes impulse buying, some of those people will be like me! I take extremely good care of him/her ( still haven't got it probed )and I handle or interact with it every day.

So to every yin, there is a yang.

The PetCo I bought my snake from by coincidence was the one I helped to build.
( well... put the lights in ) lol