6 snakes in 1 small tank at Petco!!!

I was visiting Petco to get some more F/T fuzzies for my BP when I decided to take a look at their snakes. They had 6 Ball pythons in 1 small tank. Probably smaller than a 10 gallon. All they had in it was a bowl of water and nothing else. The temp was at 75F and humidity was at 40%. I asked the employee and he said that their bps run out very fast. They also had 3 boas in similar conditions except they had a climbing tree in there as well. How horrible is that? How long will these snakes last like this?

This isn't necessarily suprising. And though it's far from ideal they'll most likely survive plenty long enough to be purchased. Ball pythons are more hardy then some people give them credit for. Though it's no excuse to keep them in sub par conditions.

shocker.

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Originally Posted by Entropy

This isn't necessarily suprising. And though it's far from ideal they'll most likely survive plenty long enough to be purchased. Ball pythons are more hardy then some people give them credit for. Though it's no excuse to keep them in sub par conditions.

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But 6 of them in smaller than 10gallon tank? I have 1 BP in a 20g tank all by himself.

nothin new.....

Its Petco. What did you expect, thriving conditions with knowledgable people to help customers and give great advice? LOL. Im just very thankful that I found this site to help me out in times of need.

i know petco has some different policies but i am in the process of getting a job at petsmart. i take offense from the sarcasm of "knowledgeable people" there is a vet tech working as a pet care specialist (which means paid pooper scooper) and while you may think it is cruel we really don't have a say as far as how to take care of of any of the animals they sell. it is standard corporate procedure that we must follow so please don't knock some one who is just doing what they are told.

It's one thing to make all petstore employees seem dumb and cruel...but it's another alltogether to point out the sad fact that a majority of people hired by those stores really don't know the first thing about the animals. I was even starting to think that they prefer hiring the clueless people just to avoid problems and shake-downs from those who know the policies and procedures are incredibly outdated and wrong.

Serpents-prey: Please don't take all the digs at petstores personally. It is just a sad fact that there aren't enough of us truly knowledgeable people working for those stores...not to mention the fact that it can be hard to tell at times who is just doing what they are told and who really doesn't know any better.

One thing to keep in mind is that they're in business to sell animals, supplies, etc. Though by having them cramped causing stress, can cause illness, etc. they are just seen as products. They're not ment to stay on the shelf long. I don't condone what they do when they are placed in a situtation like that. But most stores don't have the space to keep 1 per cage. They'd be defeating their purpose of "selling more" if they kept everything in ideal conditions. Which is sad...

If I ran things, I'd keep my live stock low, maybe two BPs, but in proper cages, setups, etc. I can always order more and it keeps them healthy and happy in a correct environment. Have other animals in their proper setups but keep the amount of them in smaller manageable numbers. Order more when needed.

At my petco they all the times I've been there they've had clean water, hides, branches, and from what I can tell from their cheap stick on readers, good temps.

Just my two cents...

Very well said... and it's sad but true. If an animal at petsmart or petco dies, they just write it off and order another one (or three) regardless of available room. I remember once, we had about three spare 10gal equivalent cages open and my B**** manager ordered a TON of frogs, geckos, and skinks! I had to do some fancy footwork rearranging everyone and hated cramming so many animals together...but had no choice. The one thing I did insist on, and got, was that the Schneider's Skink we got had his own 20L tank.

No, even the associates who know what to do have no choice or say in how the animals are housed overall, but at least we could try to make their lives tolerable while they were in those conditions. And sometimes, some of us succeed.

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Originally Posted by Ringo

Its Petco. What did you expect, thriving conditions with knowledgable people to help customers and give great advice? LOL. Im just very thankful that I found this site to help me out in times of need.

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My girlfriend worked at a petsmart and she actually does have knowledge of pets and animals. I would say around 50% of the people that work in petcare actually have knowledge and the other half doesn't. Also when you go into a petsmart or a petco you actually have to find a petcare specialist and not a cashier or a stocker, because they usually have no idea what you are talking about. You have to know that when you work at a corporate pet store the employees have no say in how to setup animals habitats. All of the setups are sent down from corporate and if they try to setup the habitats the way they are supposed to be (that benefits the animal) the managers come around and tell them to put back to the way described by corp. I am in no way defending petsmart or petco, but some of the people that work at the corporate pet stores.

We adopted a blue tongue skink that has mbd from petsmart. It has mbd because they were feeding him crickets and not vegetables and the setup was completely wrong. He is doing great now and is running around everywhere in our house.

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Originally Posted by Argentra

No, even the associates who know what to do have no choice or say in how the animals are housed overall, but at least we could try to make their lives tolerable while they were in those conditions. And sometimes, some of us succeed.

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that is all you can do! i learned the hard way. i would always make suggestions to correct improper conditions only to be seen as a trouble maker who thinks he knows everything. i dont know everything but when you have a high school drop out as a manager who doesnt know a basilisk from a green water dragon(and has no desire to research) i can see how a little bit of knowledge can offend. most of the time the knowledgeable employees are the ones who sit back and enjoy the show becasue they know that there is nothing they can do...

Heh... don't get me started on my manager... she was the witch from hell. A hyper little thing who knew NOTHING about animals and only cared about speed and 'efficiency'. Yeah right... she was so efficient that she smeared all the fish tank fronts with her lightning wipe downs and used the frickin shop vac on the bird cages! I can't even tell you how many finches were sucked up by that woman... and when she 'cleaned' reptile cages the rest of us spent the morning catching all the escapees, or at least the ones she hadn't stepped on. She's the reason I left.

Obviously they don't have enough space to fit one reptile per cage, but they can do better than 6 per 10g tank(or less) WITHOUT any hides and substrate and correct humidity/temp. Can't we complain to their corporate heads or whatever?

yeah i can tell customers at petco where i work at how to set them up freely etc. but what i cant do is rearrange the setups the way i want them to be or to lessen the amount of animals in one cage because it's petco policy" and whatever they say goes.

Better than some of the pet stores here in Toledo....examples...

- a baby BP so badly dehydrated and near death that it was hidden under a fake tree, they weren't even "aware" that snake was in there (makes you wonder when that cage was cleaned last doesn't it!)

- baby BP's covered in stuck sheds, so skinny their spines are up and they are "on sale" for $49.99 (wow what a deal, I'll take 5...NOT!)

- BP's housed with boa constrictors

- ball pythons housed for sale with baby burmese pythons....the very little note on the cage mentioned the size difference at maturity...a very little sticker....very hard to see....very stupid!

In Toledo, PetCo is actually one of the better pet stores. :(

When I used to go into Petco, I would check on the bps. I wouldn't worry too much about the relatively healthy animals (ok I did at first but I had to find a middle ground), but feel free to point out one that is dehydrated or emaciated. Those animals can be taken to the back, and given a bit more TLC.

The best way to express your dismay, is to write the corporate office and refrain from supporting that particular store. Find a store or breeder that does have the husbandry and ethics you like, and support them instead. :yes:

I feel I shut down the petco in Midland here, I didn't actually, but I like to think I made a difference.
This petco carried only a few snakes, BP's and Rat snakes and maybe a kingsnake.
The BP's were near death when I wrote these letters, they were mite infested, dehydrated, living in their feces for days, and about 10 in a small tank. They too were "on sale" for the low price of 50$ each, (from 89$).
I wrote several letters that night condemning there store saying that corporate needed to get in there before they were held accountable for abuse.
Needless to say, it took 3 months for them to get back to me, but 1 month later, Petco goes out of business. They were doing well, in a well to do city.
I know how corporations work, they probably weren't making the sales like they could have been.
I like to believe I made that difference. :)

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Originally Posted by Snakeman

yeah i can tell customers at petco where i work at how to set them up freely etc. but what i cant do is rearrange the setups the way i want them to be or to lessen the amount of animals in one cage because it's petco policy" and whatever they say goes.

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i thought you guys are supposed to stick to what their caresheets say?

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Originally Posted by python.princess

i thought you guys are supposed to stick to what their caresheets say?

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we're supposed to do a lot of things they say but does that mean its good for the animals health?

the caresheets at my store are garbage. i dont know where you bought your bp from but if your following a store caresheet i wouldnt expect you to know much about your animal. but your a member here so you must be learnin somthin!;)

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Originally Posted by python.princess

i thought you guys are supposed to stick to what their caresheets say?

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The care sheet I got was crap. It listed 1 hide, water bowl and a lamp as the only requirements. UTH was optional. Substrate was optional. Misting for humidity was optional. It recommended their stick on humidity/temp gauge and didn't have any info about thermostats.

Heh, those caresheets are about as outdated as their policies. I never followed or even gave out those terrible things. If I didn't know something about an animal's care, especially a reptile, I sent the customer down the street to the small specialist store where they really do know their stuff. Heck, even for supplies I would often refer people to dollar stores and Walmart for decor and hides, and some good online sites for heating and such.