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  1. #1
    Registered User Hi I am Snek's Avatar
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    Pet Store Troubles and Bringing Problems Home

    OK, so I work at a pet store and my job is taking care of all the animals. I do pride myself on providing the best care that I could with the limitations the store enclosures have (habitat size, humidity issues, limited choice of bedding, etc.) My responsibilities include interacting with the animals so they'll be more use to being handled by people, feeding, cleaning, and ordering more animals when needed. I'm not a fan of the last part because I have no idea on the conditions these animals are born and living in BEFORE coming into my temporary care and sometimes they do come in sick so I have to get them back to health. I prefer buying from local breeders, but no one bred anything other than small mammals and bearded dragons...and because of the COVID-19 stuff every single breeder I typically go to have shut down due to not being able to sell animals and they couldn't afford to keep them anymore.

    So with the background out of the way, let's get into my issue here. I recently bought 2 snakes for the store from this distributor that I absolutely hate ordering from: a Kenyan Sand Boa and an Albino Nelson's Milksnake. They came in, and for about a week they seemed fine; however the store has also been EXTREMELY busy so I unfortunately didn't have as much time as I liked inspecting the animals. Well, I then found mites crawling over them one day...and they've gotten into a Colombian Rainbow Boa's enclosure. Now, the mites themselves I'm able to dispose of and a regular customer wanted to help and so he bought the Rainbow Boa (at a really good discount) and from what he told me, it's doing fine now. I've been doing proper procedures of cleaning ALL cages regularly to stop the spread and eliminate the mites, as well as set the other 2 snakes up in quarantine.

    No other reptiles in the store has mites, but I also recently had hamsters come in with fleas and so I had to do everything all over again...but with mammals this time. And for several weeks, I've been paranoid about bringing these parasites home to my own reptiles (bearded dragon, corn snake, and ball pythons) and mammals (dogs, cats, and a hedgehog). I've been throwing my clothes in the wash as soon as I get home and then hopping in the shower every time before even thinking about interacting with any of my pets. Sometimes at work I even spray my hands with the mite spray I use just in case one is crawling around and I can't see it.

    My question is: am I doing enough to prevent bringing mites home to my own animals?
    Last edited by Hi I am Snek; 05-24-2020 at 03:36 PM. Reason: adding details

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    Bogertophis (05-24-2020)

  3. #2
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    I think so...but saying that cautiously...& I truly HOPE so too. I don't know what more you could do, & it's nice to hear from a really caring pet store employee who
    is doing their best to "go the extra mile" for the animals under your care, both on the job & off. It's very sad to hear about local breeders giving up their operations. Out
    of curiosity, what state are you in? You can PM if you'd rather not post your approximate location, or decline to answer at all...I'm not a stalker, lol, but I do understand.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  4. #3
    bcr229's Avatar
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    Re: Pet Store Troubles and Bringing Problems Home

    Quote Originally Posted by Hi I am Snek View Post
    My question is: am I doing enough to prevent bringing mites home to my own animals?
    If I were in your shoes I would get a can of OFF and spray myself with it in the store parking lot before getting into the car to drive home. Otherwise your car upholstery may end up a home for fleas. When you get home continue the practice of immediately washing your clothing and taking a shower.

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    Bogertophis (05-24-2020),Hi I am Snek (05-24-2020)

  6. #4
    Registered User Hi I am Snek's Avatar
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    Re: Pet Store Troubles and Bringing Problems Home

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    I think so...but saying that cautiously...& I truly HOPE so too. I don't know what more you could do, & it's nice to hear from a really caring pet store employee who
    is doing their best to "go the extra mile" for the animals under your care, both on the job & off. It's very sad to hear about local breeders giving up their operations. Out
    of curiosity, what state are you in? You can PM if you'd rather not post your approximate location, or decline to answer at all...I'm not a stalker, lol, but I do understand.
    I'm in Ohio, actually!

    And thank you, and I hope the precautions I'm doing are enough...Yeah I hear a lot of horror stories about pet stores, so I try to do better to show they're not all bad...it just doesn't help that without the local breeders I have to get animals from places who mass-produce them now, instead of buying them from people who actually care about their animals. And there really is a HUGE difference between the quality of health and temperament between the two. Idk, maybe I should be a breeder for the store; I mean, I was planning on breeding feeder rodents anyway (both for the store AND for my snakes) so why not add hamsters and gerbils to the mix? I've done a ton of research into it this past week and I do really like hamsters/gerbils/guinea pigs, but honestly I'm not sure it's wise to do so because I know I won't be able to keep up with the demand a pet store has...which is why I either went to the distributor or the few local breeders in my area; and now I have no breeders left which leaves me little choice Either I breed the animals myself to ensure the store doesn't get sick animals (plus I could take them to the vet if they do fall ill while in my care at home) but that would mean I never stop working PLUS running the risk of eventually not being able to afford it anymore like all the other breeders...or I order from a distributor that for all I know treats their animals poorly until they arrive in my care.

    I never knew how much I relied on small breeders until they're no longer around...

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    Bogertophis (05-24-2020)

  8. #5
    Registered User Hi I am Snek's Avatar
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    Re: Pet Store Troubles and Bringing Problems Home

    Quote Originally Posted by bcr229 View Post
    If I were in your shoes I would get a can of OFF and spray myself with it in the store parking lot before getting into the car to drive home. Otherwise your car upholstery may end up a home for fleas. When you get home continue the practice of immediately washing your clothing and taking a shower.
    That's a good idea, and my store is close to a Lowe's so I could get some before my next shift! Thanks!

  9. #6
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Oh, I thought you meant you were thinking of breeding snakes for the store. If you decide to breed hamsters, I'd recommend the Russian dwarf type, they're MUCH
    easier to breed because they're social with each other & also make much better pets. I used to breed them too, & supply others incl. stores (rats, mice & hamsters).

    I got into the hamsters because the local stores had these HORRIBLY inbred hamsters that would attack & bite as if wild, even as babies...& like you said, they got them
    from a big supplier that didn't care one bit beyond supplying the # of "warm furry bodies". The local pet stores kept losing money on them, ended up only selling them
    off as snake food. I had lots of fun breeding them...I had a house-full of snakes (or what I call, "ready customers" for any culls) so in no time, I had very few that weren't
    pet quality, & I actually guaranteed to replace them on my next trip if they weren't happy with any of them. They were prolific, & I wanted people to be happy with their
    pets (they're cute!), & I could feed off any that didn't measure up. They ended up "selling like hot-cakes" & replacements were very rare, so everyone was happy. I had
    handled them enough to vouch for their temperaments before delivery, & I was usually dropping off like 10 to 16 young ones that played together like puppies.

    With the hamsters I started off with a pair of normal brown ones (good temperaments) & a sickly albino mom with babies that a pet store didn't want to deal with. I got
    that mom thru raising her litter by supplementing them all with cottage cheese & bits of kale. (babies have teeth & growl & even bite while their eyes are still closed, UN-
    like rats & mice that don't defend themselves until their eyes open) The mom was clearly old & didn't live much longer, but all her babies grew up & had interesting coat
    colors, so pretty soon I was producing all the coat color combos you can think of by crossing them. That made them even MORE appealing...like a "box of chocolates",
    hard to pick just one, & they reproduce FAST when healthy & socialized. Hamsters that are friendly make great affordable pets & right now people need both...the
    distraction of keeping an easy pet, & one that doesn't break the bank. I'm on your side, can you tell? (there IS work involved though, lol...)
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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    Hi I am Snek (05-24-2020)

  11. #7
    Registered User Hi I am Snek's Avatar
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    Re: Pet Store Troubles and Bringing Problems Home

    Well, I am going to be breeding ball pythons for my own side hobby...but I wasn't planning on selling them to the store unless they were normals or single-gene morphs because stores have to at least double the selling price of an animal...and right now I just have pieds and pied combos which will end up being pricey, and they're still babies so it's gonna be a while anyway lol Maybe I should get some Corn Snakes and Leopard Geckos for that purpose? Idk...

    But as far as hamsters go, Russians are one of the best-selling species at my store so that was one I was considering; Syrians too because of all the variations of them, but their size and temperament are a bit of a deterrent. Robos are my favorite, so I was also gonna have at least a pair or trio of them. I'm getting a Red Tegu soon as a pet once the enclosure is built for him, so he can help me with the "culling" if things come down to it...basically if there's nothing that can be done to save the hamster/gerbil (which honestly I hope will be rare). But speaking of, gerbils sell really well too and they're one that can live in a small community so it'd be fun to see them all interact with each other

    I have all these ideas on bin cages and providing them with enrichment and things to make their lives as breeders a good one (glass aquariums for the gerbils though), plus I'd get to make sure that my store only has very healthy small animals. Wish I could do the same with reptiles, but they take a lot longer to reproduce and I know I wouldn't be able to compete with wholesale distributors with them because I really don't think I can have the same amount of variety and consistent supply they would

    And thank you, that's a lot of really good advice on the hamster breeding!

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    Bogertophis (05-25-2020)

  13. #8
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    I had some wild rescued snakes at the time that needed the option of hamsters to get them eating, so that's why I got started with them, but I really enjoyed them too-
    seeing the quality & temperament difference it made not to inbreed them. I've always raised my own rats & mice, still do -but just mice now, nothing I keep needs rats
    anymore, & I'm glad...they're smart pets. I actually had pet rats while I was in college, & while they're not as "cute" I'd rather not feed them to snakes, even pre-killed.

    I've done some volunteer zoo-keeping in the past too...that's how I knew kale is a super-food LONG before the health gurus got a hold of it. It's fed daily to monkeys to
    keep them healthy. I consume it in salads etc & usually share small amounts even with the mice I keep now. But it did wonders for those hamsters, & the sickly mom
    was barely able to feed her babies, so I had nothing to lose by offering them cottage cheese too...turned out they liked it, & grew up healthy. Lucky guesses...

    I'd had a few Syrian hamsters many years ago & long before I got into Russian dwarf hamsters. They're just not social, not even with each other, so no matter
    how cute their "teddy bear" fur is, they usually make grouchy pets, & rather locked into being nocturnal too.
    Last edited by Bogertophis; 05-25-2020 at 12:49 AM.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  14. #9
    BPnet Veteran FollowTheSun's Avatar
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    This is a very interesting thread! I'm a nurse and I sometimes deal with bedbugs, lice, and scabies on patients. The general rules we follow is when dealing with that patient we put on a protective gown and shoe covers, and add a hair net if it's lice. At the end of the day we change our entire clothes at work and put the used ones in a bag (shoes too). That way the critters don't enter the car. Now that it's summer you can take advantage of the best method for killing critters, which is to leave them in the bag in your hot car for a few days. The shoes are your work shoes and they stay in the bag in the car, and then are put back on your feet right before you step into your workplace. Don't wear them except at work, and certainly not in your house.

    I LOVE the idea of using OFF! I might have to add this to my toolkit for work to spray on my clothes and shoes before entering the room of a patient with critters.
    Last edited by FollowTheSun; 05-25-2020 at 12:57 PM.
    2 BP's, one ratsnake, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 small caged birds, 7 chickens, and a toddler in a pear tree

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  16. #10
    bcr229's Avatar
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    Re: Pet Store Troubles and Bringing Problems Home

    Quote Originally Posted by FollowTheSun View Post
    I LOVE the idea of using OFF! I might have to add this to my toolkit for work to spray on my clothes and shoes before entering the room of a patient with critters.
    Is that wise? Some people may not react well to the active ingredient, plus it's not exactly odorless. That's why I suggested that the OP apply it in the parking lot as he leaves, to decrease the chance of an infestation in his car without contaminating the pet store critters.

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