2nd Post about Saint John BP Care @ Pets Unlimited

[Jonny2184]

I posted a few months ago about the care the BP's were getting at Pets Unlimited in Saint John NB.
Well yesterday, Sunday, I went to get some feeders for my BP and I asked a girl to get me some mice and rats.
While she was away I snuck over the to BPs that were placed next to the dogs and Parrots, and noticed something HORRIBLE!
TWO baby BPs in the same tank together and they had NO hides! NO HIDES!
It was the middle of the day. Dont you think they wanted to sleep????

So I went over to the girl getting my rats and mice and said "It looks like thoses snakes are looking for somewhere to hide?"
GET THIS! She replied "Its feeding time and we dont put hides in during feeding time!
They plan on feeding the snakes at the same time, in the same inclosure, in front of the entire store, sitting next to the loudest pets they have there "ie Parrots and dogs".

HOLY COW! Thoses snakes are NOT going to eat and if they do eat they might start fighting over a mouse?!?!?! or maybe regurg. YUCK!


What I did last time I had a problem, I emailed the HQ of the pet store and they told me they would fix the problems.
*Last time the snakes didnt have water, had the wrong temps and humdity, and where placed next to the dogs and parrots.*

I plan on complaning again, but not only to the Pet Store HQ but would also like to send a letter to a Animal Safety Board or something like that!?

Who would you suggest I email this problem too?
I want them to do something about it this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When it comes to snakes with me, "TWO STRIKES, UR OUTTA THERE"
They should be from selling snakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sammy]

I noticed the same thing about that Store.. In ST Johns NFLD.. Pets unlimited...

They ( like you said ) have 4 BP in a cage with No hides.... I have had monty now for about 17 months... But i make sure that I place to hides in his tank... he seems to be happy ..

[Jonny2184]

This guy lives 4 hours away and probably never comes to the city, and also the store manager who he most likely spoke with wasnt in the Pet store at the time.

My reply is at the bottem!
I'M PISSED! I dont want them selling snakes ANYMORE! AHHH
Its on like donkey kong



Sir,

My name is Sean Dewitt. I am the Regional Reptile Manager located out of Pet's Unlimited Burnside. I believe we spoke before in regards to the ball pythons. at the time I spoke to management about correcting mentioned problems and future care of these animals.

At this time, the store, after talking to them, assured me that the snakes had a hide. It is store policy that when more than 1 snake is kept in our stores they are totally seperated for feeding. Sometimes this means cleaning out the hide so, if they have to be kept in the tank for their feed (in seperate Kritter Keepers ofcourse) and with dividers to keep the snakes from seeing eachother and stressing. The whole tank must be rid of all ornaments for this to happen so the Keepers can be kept in the tank.

In your original email you mentioned one snake was sick but didn't specify how this snake was sick. If you could I would appreciate an identification of the illness so I can approach the store properly in regards.

I look forward to any other information so I can deal with this situation in a more authoritive manner. Thank you.

Sean Dewitt
Regional Reptile Manager
Pet's Unlimited, Burnside.


MY REPLY-----------------------


Mr Dewitt,



I may have said they were sick but I was wrong if I did. They looked healthy from a distance.

I said they can get sick much easier if they are together. If one gets sick the other will also!

Housing BP’s together causes stress, they only come together in the Wild to breed! BP’s are still wild animals, and will always be.

BP’s have been housed together and have cannibalized, leading to the death of both animals.

If someone was watching these snakes closely, they might notice small problems which will only get worse over time. Stress in captivity as a result of poor husbandry is a silent killer in captive reptiles, often leaving the keeper with their arms in the air not knowing what happened.



But I would hope you should know all this being the Reptile Manager of Pets Unlimited.



I looked into the snake tank, didn’t see a hide and asked the young lady why there was not any, and she replied because they are feeding!

They had a water dish, and it looked like a heat rock or maybe two of them. Hot rocks cause burns by they way, but again, I don’t need to tell you this.

And if the tanks had hides I can guarantee those snakes would not be out in the fashion that they were.

They were all over the tank. BP’s are nocturnal. They are not very active in the day, if at all.



You also seem to be giving me a different story then the young girl had. Andrew (the store manager was not there at the time and either were you)



She said they were being fed / you say they separate them during feeding.

You also said “The whole tank must be rid of all ornaments for this to happen so the Keepers can be kept in the tank.” I don’t really understand this, but the tank still had ornaments, but was also lacking some if they were not about to be fed.



I don’t mean to be rude and I know it sounds very rude, but all I want is if you are going to sell snakes, at least make sure they are healthy.

The last snake I bought came with mites and I will never buy a snake from you again.

Also I asked for a Ball Python over a year ago from Pet Unlimited, and I was laughed at by your staff and told they are illegal to sell in a Pet Store, and now I see them all the time in yours.





Thanks for all your time, and I appreciate all your effort in fixing the problems!!!

[Snakeman]

now thats the kind of reply i would give any bad pet store.

[J.Vandegrift]

I posted a few months ago about the care the BP's were getting at Pets Unlimited in Saint John NB.
Well yesterday, Sunday, I went to get some feeders for my BP and I asked a girl to get me some mice and rats.
While she was away I snuck over the to BPs that were placed next to the dogs and Parrots, and noticed something HORRIBLE!
TWO baby BPs in the same tank together and they had NO hides! NO HIDES!
It was the middle of the day. Dont you think they wanted to sleep????

So I went over to the girl getting my rats and mice and said "It looks like thoses snakes are looking for somewhere to hide?"
GET THIS! She replied "Its feeding time and we dont put hides in during feeding time!
They plan on feeding the snakes at the same time, in the same inclosure, in front of the entire store, sitting next to the loudest pets they have there "ie Parrots and dogs".

HOLY COW! Thoses snakes are NOT going to eat and if they do eat they might start fighting over a mouse?!?!?! or maybe regurg. YUCK!


What I did last time I had a problem, I emailed the HQ of the pet store and they told me they would fix the problems.
*Last time the snakes didnt have water, had the wrong temps and humdity, and where placed next to the dogs and parrots.*

I plan on complaning again, but not only to the Pet Store HQ but would also like to send a letter to a Animal Safety Board or something like that!?

Who would you suggest I email this problem too?
I want them to do something about it this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When it comes to snakes with me, "TWO STRIKES, UR OUTTA THERE"
They should be from selling snakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do you give the store your business if you do not agree with the way they care for their animals??? I personally think you are way over reacting on this one. The care is certainly not optimal but it is pretty much the norm for pet stores. I could go to 3 stores within 10 miles of my house and see the same thing. That does not make it right but I don't see why you are surprised by this. I went to a reptile pet store last year that just received a shipment of CH babies and they had 75 snakes in one tub. Unfortunately it is pretty much a given that most pet stores are not going to keep their animals in ideal situations. It is unreasonable to expect a chain pet store to house normal BP's alone. Do you think the big wholesalers that bring in thousands of CH imports house them individually?

[Ridley]

I agree. I don't see a real problem. Alot of big breeders don't use hides, albeit there aren't 500 kids a day tapping on the glass. Ever go to a reptile show and see all the snakes(and many high end snakes at that) in bright lit displays and little clear containers for sometimes days on end? Doesn't seem to effect them much. If it did, I doubt you'd see many multi thousand dollar snakes sitting out!! My balls seem to care less about thier hides, and regardless of thier natural state, seem to move around quite a bit in the daytime, and have no problem feeding during the day. Before I built good racks, I had some Balls housed together(4), and fed them together. I always kept my eye on them, but never once was there a problem. With some of my other reptiles, that would be impossible. The Balls seem to instinctively know when another has already claimed a mouse, at least that is how it worked with mine. It is what it is though, a store that sells reptiles. It's hard to sell something that the customer can't see. If the Ball is out roaming around, it has a much better chance of selling. They were probably all imported CH balls, and thier caging at the store sounds pretty posh compared to how they are shipped over here. Dozens to a tub that get pretty filthy along the way. Beyond that, it's absurd to expect a large store to have a separate cage for each animal. It's just not feasible, or cost effective. They make maybe what, 20$ a Ball after all is said and done? More than likely they are happy to break even on the snake and make 15-20% off of the caging. Do you realize how much money it takes to start a run a big pet mart? Trust me, I have seen and heard of MUCH MUCH worse than what you describe. If a shop has the heat and humidity halfway right, and the animals look fed, Thats about all you can, or should expect from a discount pet mart dealing in low end import animals. As for the hot rocks, sure there have been problems, but the fact is tens of thousands of those are sold each year, and the vast majority work as advertised and cause no harm to the animals. Way back in the day, when I first got into reptiles, I had one and it was rotated through the years to several different animals including the ball python I posted about rescuing, and it worked great. It wasn't till years later, and after doing some research on the net did I hear of some of the horror stories. Most work fine, some don't, so why take the chance. It's hard to sell products though that you can't display being used in your own settups though, so a pet store has to do what it has to do. There ain't no money in selling unattractive looking 3$ a foot flexwatt and 100$ stats to the general joe schmoe, when there's a product that "does it all" and looks like a nice little rock ta boot. I don't, and won't ever use them again, but if they were as bad as thier internet reputation, they would have went out of business long ago. Try to look at the whole situation from the business standpoint trying to make enough money to make a go at it. Things will look much differently

[Kaa2448]

Snakes dont hear loud noises

[snakedude56]

Snakes can not hear loud noises but can sense the vibrations caused by loud noises. If these vibrations are constantly hitting a snake, the snake may become stressed and refuse to eat. So noises loud enough to create such vibrations are harmful to a snake.

[KidWithTwoBalls]

I posted a few months ago about the care the BP's were getting at Pets Unlimited in Saint John NB.
Well yesterday, Sunday, I went to get some feeders for my BP and I asked a girl to get me some mice and rats.
While she was away I snuck over the to BPs that were placed next to the dogs and Parrots, and noticed something HORRIBLE!
TWO baby BPs in the same tank together and they had NO hides! NO HIDES!
It was the middle of the day. Dont you think they wanted to sleep????

So I went over to the girl getting my rats and mice and said "It looks like thoses snakes are looking for somewhere to hide?"
GET THIS! She replied "Its feeding time and we dont put hides in during feeding time!
They plan on feeding the snakes at the same time, in the same inclosure, in front of the entire store, sitting next to the loudest pets they have there "ie Parrots and dogs".

HOLY COW! Thoses snakes are NOT going to eat and if they do eat they might start fighting over a mouse?!?!?! or maybe regurg. YUCK!


What I did last time I had a problem, I emailed the HQ of the pet store and they told me they would fix the problems.
*Last time the snakes didnt have water, had the wrong temps and humdity, and where placed next to the dogs and parrots.*

I plan on complaning again, but not only to the Pet Store HQ but would also like to send a letter to a Animal Safety Board or something like that!?

Who would you suggest I email this problem too?
I want them to do something about it this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When it comes to snakes with me, "TWO STRIKES, UR OUTTA THERE"
They should be from selling snakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a pet store at my area and they keep all the baby ball pythons (about 5) in a 5 gallon with just 1 cave to hide in (these are the ball pythons that were just born and not big enough to sell) the yearling 4month old ball pythons are all houses in 1 20 gallon cage (1-10 ball pythons) AND THEY HAVE NO CAVES!!!!!!! They also have all mites!

[bigballs]

you should see how some of the animals are kept at the store i work at...


it makes me sick. i do what i can but im still the new guy and cant really say or do much yet...