This Time of Year Always Depresses Me

First off a disclaimer that this is NOT a slam or whatever at any newcomer to keeping ball pythons so please don't take it that way folks.

This time of year makes me very sad. All over the snake forums I frequent are questions about hatchlings not eating and a lot of them are pet store babies sold to people with no snake experience. All the pet stores I walk into lately have these skinny baby BP's, many to a cage and yippee freakin doodle they are "on sale". Now don't get me wrong, I bought a hatchling from a pet store last year myself. However she was very chubby and to be honest, I pretty much accepted the risks and think I have a good solid knowledge of how to get her eating (and it all went beautifully).

It's just so sad to me though. Watching myself and my friends struggling to help over the internet, wishing I could just get my hands actually on these babies and get them set up quickly. Wanting to smack just about every other pet store manager for selling non-feeding babies. The worst was a post today on another forum where the pet store assured the poster these hatchlings came from a "breeder". Am I stupid or naive here folks? What decent breeder dumps new hatchlings that haven't even taken their first meal into a pet store environment! That's no "breeder" in my books!

Is that the new sales line..."oh it's from a good breeder!"? Replacing the tired old line..."oh yes! it's a great feeder!"

I know it's ultimately the owners responsibility to be well informed but most don't come to a snake forum like BPNet before they buy the poor baby. They come here when trouble hits and hopefully they learn and the snakes make it. I just get so depressed every spring/early summer wondering how many hatchlings didn't make it and hate that waste of precious and beautiful snakeS.

Sorry to be so down, I just needed to vent I guess. :(

It is depressing and sadly most of those un-started BP from pet stores will likely end up in the hands of inexperienced owners.

What a tough way to get into the herp world, this is why I think it is important to get a well establish animal from a breeder that will make that first experience a good one.

Totally agree with you there Deb. A well started baby, with a breeder helping a newcomer with information to set it up properly or steering them to the right information/forums for ongoing support there as well....that's just a much better experience for both human and snake. :)

Believe me Jo, I know how it is. Especially with the pet stores and shops around here in Toledo. It get's even worse with the Giant's. Pet stores will candy coat everything to make it sound like keeping them is a breeze. All we can really do is try and help the new keepers out as much as we can.

Heck yeah Andrew. I don't know if you remember that poor lady last year here on BPNet that a pet store sold a lovely albino BP for her 10 year old son's pet snake. NOT a BP...it was a Burm! Imagine the poor dear woman's shock when she found out the nice 4 foot mature snake she expected this thing to grow into was going to be much, MUCH bigger at maturity. Makes you nuts when a store can't even properly ID a snake (let alone actually give proper husbandry/housing/feeding info!).

Oh and if memory serves, they also talked her into some expensive tall mesh cage thing that was appropriate for an arboreal lizard. :mad:

I agree with you. Just today I saw a local pet store running a "FREE Ball Python" with purchase of a starter kit. (the kit was an aquarium, light bulb, CHE, half log, stick on thermometer, etc. for $99)

It is unfortunate that so many end up in inexperienced hands...but what is worse is the thought that though a few will show up on the forums trying to get help...1000's (if not 10s of 1000s) will not get help and will allow the animals to just waste away. :(

On the giants issue as well, I don't know about you Andrew but I meet a few people every year that when they hear we have snakes they say "oh I had a burm". Of course, I always ask "so what happened to the burm?". It never fails but they respond "oh it got too big".

Just what in holy hell did they think a burm would get?????? Bit like buying a Great Dane puppy and then being shocked it grew into a huge dog! At least that unwanted dog might have a chance to be rehomed, giant snakes...not so much. :(

Gawd but some humans irritate me!

I neer caught that, and would've helped if I seen it! It amazes me what some pet stores will/do pull in order to make a quick buck. Dave's is probably the worst when it comes to it. The "Mr. know it all" of snakes in Toledo. He even called BP's and AfRocks junk snakes, and not worth bothering with!! :( His store is nasty too, and I think its sick he houses Corn snakes, Boa's, Burms, Balls, and Retics all in the same cage!

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Heck yeah Andrew. I don't know if you remember that poor lady last year here on BPNet that a pet store sold a lovely albino BP for her 10 year old son's pet snake. NOT a BP...it was a Burm! Imagine the poor dear woman's shock when she found out the nice 4 foot mature snake she expected this thing to grow into was going to be much, MUCH bigger at maturity. Makes you nuts when a store can't even properly ID a snake (let alone actually give proper husbandry/housing/feeding info!).

Oh and if memory serves, they also talked her into some expensive tall mesh cage thing that was appropriate for an arboreal lizard. :mad:

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I meet alot of people like that. Just so happens majority of the snakes that get too big for the keepers in Toledo, wind up with me. I've even come home from work to find a snake sitting in a pillow case at my door step! :mad: I clean them up, get them fattened up a bit and back to proper weight, and find a much better home for them at a $20 adoption fee. What's sick is the size where they "got to big" is normally around 7-8' or so! That's only a 12-16 month old Burm! :(

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

On the giants issue as well, I don't know about you Andrew but I meet a few people every year that when they hear we have snakes they say "oh I had a burm". Of course, I always ask "so what happened to the burm?". It never fails but they respond "oh it got too big".

Just what in holy hell did they think a burm would get?????? Bit like buying a Great Dane puppy and then being shocked it grew into a huge dog! At least that unwanted dog might have a chance to be rehomed, giant snakes...not so much. :(

Gawd but some humans irritate me!

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Originally Posted by AndrewH

I neer caught that, and would've helped if I seen it! It amazes me what some pet stores will/do pull in order to make a quick buck. Dave's is probably the worst when it comes to it. The "Mr. know it all" of snakes in Toledo. He even called BP's and AfRocks junk snakes, and not worth bothering with!! :( His store is nasty too, and I think its sick he houses Corn snakes, Boa's, Burms, Balls, and Retics all in the same cage!

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Well at least that hell hole over in the Polish Village closed down (there is a god apparently!) I went to Dave's once and never again. Bunch of idiots, snakes horribly kept, treated me like a "girl who will scream if she handles a snake" and I would put my last dollar on it that those purebred puppies are from puppy mills! Oh and his "small" rats for $3.99....heck I have bigger rats on their mother's teats! GRRRRRRRRR

Those puppies are from Mills, and from local breeders who drop their puppies off at dirt cheeap prices. I know ;) I talk to a few people who sell to Dave. I used to sell him Ball Pythons....I can say, not anymore! Betcha didn't know, Dave also got slammed with some fines for selling native reptiles!!

Pets over in the Polish village, was horrible too. Brian used to call me up, wanting to buy snakes here and there, but didn't want to pay my asking price. Wanted Ball Pythons for $5, Burms for like $25 etc etc. no way! Ontop of that, majority of the B. c. i.'s and Burms they sold, as well as the other giants were snakes people dropped off at his store for "getting too big".....

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Well at least that hell hole over in the Polish Village closed down (there is a god apparently!) I went to Dave's once and never again. Bunch of idiots, snakes horribly kept, treated me like a "girl who will scream if she handles a snake" and I would put my last dollar on it that those purebred puppies are from puppy mills! Oh and his "small" rats for $3.99....heck I have bigger rats on their mother's teats! GRRRRRRRRR

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even though i am still probably considered still a new snake owner, i have had my bp since march and my corn snakes since early may. but with all the stuff i learned from this place, books, and other internet research, i feel like i have kept snakes for years. so i try what i can to help people out, not only on this site, but outside the internet. i have visited my local petco, which is the only reptile shop for 20 miles, and helped the manager rearrange the set ups to better keep the animals. i was just luckily enough that the manager was willing to talk with me and learn. i just hope it will help educate a couple of people and help them provide the right care the snakes need. if there was anyway i could do more i sure would.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

I know it's ultimately the owners responsibility to be well informed but most don't come to a snake forum like BPNet before they buy the poor baby. They come here when trouble hits and hopefully they learn and the snakes make it.

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exactly...

I lurked around this site for months before registering so I could learn before I actually purchased my first bp. I finally registered 3 months before I got my bp to ask whatever questions I had unanswered. When I finally did get a bp I bought 2 from NARBC Chicago and from well known breeders.

I wish that more people would realize that they should think about the care first and get the animal later instead of the other way around.

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It's just so sad to me though. Watching myself and my friends struggling to help over the internet, wishing I could just get my hands actually on these babies and get them set up quickly.

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Don't be sad. As with everything in life there is a bad to go with the good. There is a happy Ball and Blood Python in my home with new enclosures and better husbandry because of you and 8b8ll and all the info on this forum.


:rockon:

I know how you feel i went to petco today to get some stuff and the way they housed their ball pythons made me so angry i didn't buy anything from them. :( I'll just order off line, but anyways its good to know that there are people out there like everyone on this board that do care.

Here is my story... I did not want a snake. Frankly, I did not want a pet. My wife kept asking for a snake pet. I said they are slimy, and any other excuse to avoid dealing with the pet issue. We live in an appartment. Two summers ago, my daughter went to a summer camp that had a "zoo" which had several snakes, spiders, toads, turtles, bunnys, rats, and birds. All in cages which were a NO TOUCH ZONE.


Last summer she went to a sleep away camp which had a petting zoo, sheep, cows, rabbits, various large birds (owl, parrot, etc.) and one 4ft female Ball python. My wife said "hold the snake you'll love it". So to quiet her nagging, I held the snake. What a wonderful experience. Very docile, held on just snug enough, did not smell, was very smooth and clean. OK, so I said maybe we could get a snake. But I want to do some research first.

I found BP.net and we went to all of the pet shops on RT 100 (the 10 mile long strip mall in Westchester Co., NY.) EVERYONE had BPs, multiple to a 10gal tank. One has BPs with visible ticks running all over them. One snapped at my son.

I knew that I was going to need to see a VET if I got any of those snakes, so I called the "best snake vet in NY" in Mount Vernon. He said wait for next NY Reptile Show at the Westchester Co. Expo center. WOW what a difference.

So, be relieved, not all NOOBs are uninformed.

What gets me upset and sometimes mad is when someone buys a snake and comes on a forum asks questions and when you tell them something that is wrong (husbandry, etc...) they are so set on what a pet store told them to do and the proper way to care for the animal that everything someone more experienced tells them has to be wrong.:(

This is the first forum I have ever spent any real time at, because usually I hate all the nonsense that goes on. I have my moments when I hate this place too, but overall it's a great place to be, for the most part people real care about their animals. I think it's a great resource but I just wish people would put the time and effort into really finding out about things, I just feel like very few people actually care to research about the animals before getting them and I feel like this goes hand in hand with what you're saying Jo. It's just frustrating all the animals that suffer due to people thinking, oh, whatever, it's just a snake. I could go on for a while, but I think I'll spare all of you.

Thanks everyone. It's just always been a sore spot with me that it's hard enough to adjust to a pet you've never owned before but if you start out with one of these sad pet store babies, you're just almost set up for problems. Mix that in with someone who hasn't done the research many of you did before purchasing and in the end, it's the snake that's paying the cost.

Being part of BPNet is a pure joy to me. I've made such wonderful friends here and if I'm in anyway part of a helping group here, then the time and effort will always be worth it. BPNet was and continues to be a huge part of our family's learning curve with the snakes and lizard so it's a great way to pay back a bit of the time given to us by other members. :)

It's also a great excuse to get another snake LOL. I can always point to someone on BPNet and say "ohhhh but so and so has WAY more snakes than we do! one more can't hurt!" hehehehehehehe (some of you are such enablers...you know who you are! :D )