??Do people care who buys there animals any more?

[frostysBP]

I know that petco and them dont want to see animals hurt but they dont activly try and make things better... they sell snakes to people that havent eaten with thwm or even f/t and then when people go my snake wont eat tge say we vant sell you live... thats just poor business practice In my opinion. ... its not like I go to peoples house but I ask them a list of basic questions and of they cant answer what temps they should have then ther def not getting a snake from me.... I would rather feed it and know that its healthy and happy...... then agian im not producing thousands of snakes.... just for instance not to bad mouth anyone at all because I love this breeder and will buy thing from him forever but I never once got ask anything when I bought my retics..... I think it more lies on personal feelings and beliefs than anything

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[Doggey75]

I certainly care. I'm currently in the process of selling a majority of mine because I'm going into the military. So, for like a month now I haven't sold a single one because I'm trying to find the right owner lol

[Tash]

I'm not a huge fan of pet stores like petco and pet smart. There was an issue a while back with a Petco getting caught throwing LIVE animals in the trash. Almost all of them reptiles, for various pathetic reasons. On the other hand I know several people who work for both companies who really care for animals so I'm not attacking them as a whole. The situation just left a terrible impression. I can't even go there for pet food anymore after that.

[Tash]

I also want to point out that you can ask questions and inquire all you want but as someone stated, it's easy to lie. It's still important to try however. It's frustrating to see people trying to rehome pet snakes such as BPs that have terrible set ups. (So many baby's in humongous tanks with no heat! For real? Why!? It's called Google people!) One guy was trying to sell his normal ball and setup for $200 because he didn't have time to play with it every day and he felt bad for it. It was just a baby in a 50 long with nothing. Everyone has their own ideas on good husbandy but I think it's safe to say that's way too big and stressful for a tiny ball python. It was no wonder the guy couldn't get him to eat. So often o see this and I want to scoop them all up. I don't understand the, "I don't have time to play with him anymore," reasons either. I see it all the time. I'm going to stop ranting now lol.

[GoingPostal]

It's not limited to snakes, you see people selling all animals without really questioning where they are going or how well they will be cared for. I've only had one breeder question my knowledge and setups, every other one has been more of a pick an animal, send money, get snake kind of deal. I do think some general questions are a good idea but some people are accomplished liars, plus even if you do sell to a good owner, six years down the line that snake could have changed hands a dozen times over. Doesn't seem like very many pets end up sticking around in their original home for very long.

[JoshSloane]

From my experiences selling animals at expos, the best that you can do is take some time to vet the individual, provide them with written basic husbandry information, and make yourself available if they have any questions. Although infrequent, I have refused sales multiple times to individuals who seems completely uninformed about the species they were about to purchase, and were adverse to learning anything about their care. I would rather hold onto an animal than let it go to someone that is obviously not ready to own it. That being said, someone has to come across as an overtly horrific potential owner for me to refuse selling to them. As stated previously, people can lie about their experience level and how they plan on caring for the animal. As a breeder you would drive yourself insane if you perseverate over every single sale. Taking time to weed out the obvious bad sales is the best we can do.

As a breeder I also take it as my responsibility to be available for questions once the animal is home. I find that providing written information is much better than just telling the person. Most people in the excitement of buying the snake, and the expo in general, do not retain a lot of what you have said. There is a lot of outdated and bad information on the internet, as we all know, so the last thing you want your customer doing is pulling up some old care-sheet from an outdated source and going down the wrong path.

Because I am a very small time breeder I have the time to quickly answer most inquiries whether by phone or email. After my first expo I actually agreed to visit one of my customer's houses, and help them re-setup their enclosure. However, I wont be doing this again in the future.

[Kayak Steve]

Many years ago my wife and I were in a pet store in our hometown that "specialized" in reptiles and we overheard the owner telling a mom and her young son that a juvenile common Boa Constrictor makes a great pet that only gets to about 4 feet and needs a small aquarium to house it. I also recently noticed someone on a social media site looking for "feeder corns or balls" and I'm sure that some nice person will sell him some of their surplus "trash snakes." I like my snakes more than I like some people.

[JoshSloane]

Many years ago my wife and I were in a pet store in our hometown that "specialized" in reptiles and we overheard the owner telling a mom and her young son that a juvenile common Boa Constrictor makes a great pet that only gets to about 4 feet and needs a small aquarium to house it. I also recently noticed someone on a social media site looking for "feeder corns or balls" and I'm sure that some nice person will sell him some of their surplus "trash snakes." I like my snakes more than I like some people.

Disinformation in pet shops is rampant. Almost unbelievable. When I purchased my first snake in the mid 1990s I bought it from a pet shop. It was an adult corn snake. I was sent home with a 55 gallon tank, under-tank heater that I was told is "plug and go" AND a 150 watt infrared heat bulb with a giant deep dome. Without the internet at that point, it was hard to get easy access to information. One bad shed after the next compelled me to seek out some experienced people. Luckily my mom was an animal lover and helped me figure out how to properly care for the snake, regardless of the horrific info the pet shop gave me.

[Kayak Steve]

Just yesterday a new employee at the company that I work for told me that he has been feeding his daughter's corn snake one live mouse once every three months for two years. He said that is what he was told to do and he seemed slightly horrified when I told him that every 10 to 14 days is more appropriate for an adult corn. How that snake didn't starve is a miracle and I'm hoping that he takes my advice. It's very sad to think of how many defenseless creatures, including young humans, that are improperly cared for every second of every day. The best we can do is try to educate the well meaning folks and hope that we don't run across the other type of person.

[bcr229]

I also recently noticed someone on a social media site looking for "feeder corns or balls" and I'm sure that some nice person will sell him some of their surplus "trash snakes."

Kinked babies are often sold or given away as feeders. Also ball pythons were commonly used as feeder snakes before morphs were discovered.