Good news for normal value...

[4theSNAKElady]

I have been selling some of my collection for a few reasons, but mostly to thin out my normals. Anyways, I sold a normal adult male to a local pet shop a few weeks ago (in my mom's neighborhood)to get credit in feeders. I visited my mom this weekend, and decided to redeem some of my credit. I saw that BP today. They gave me $40 for him. Their asking price: $125.00 .... Holy smokes!!!

[Freakie_frog]

Yep markup is pretty normal.. Remember they have to house, feed and care for it and still make a profit..

[4theSNAKElady]

I just couldn't beleive it! I could almost get a spider for that at a show!!!! And the breeder still has to house it and feed it!

[Crazy4Herps]

I've seen normals going for about that at pet stores, too... and these were CH, too. And of course inexperienced keepers don't know any better (people's rehoming fees for ball pythons on CL reflect this).

[Bruce Whitehead]

People pay it because pet stores are the only place they know to find a snake.

They pay that price and when it is time to rehome it, they slap it on Kijiji for 400.00$ - with the tagline "normal male ready to breed!!!" and wonder why no one tries to buy it from them.

I had a Kijiji'er once offer me a trade for her adult male normal for my female hatchling pastel... and she was really serious and was doing her best to tout why this would be a wise move for me.

Bruce

[stevepoppers]

inexperienced keepers don't know any better

pet stores are the only place they know to find a snake

Yep, they got me. Plus $25 for a leaky fishtank. Could'a got an $8 tub.

Oh, well, though. Lesson learned. I just wish I could help others before they make the same mistake.

[wolfy-hound]

Pet stores have a LOT of overhead, from paying employees, rent, electric, feed, bedding, insurance, licenses.... so yeah, they will mark up the snake a lot. You can also note, the snake was still there with the price of $125 on it. They might start out high and drop the price little by little until it sells.

Sure, people can go to a reptile show and pay $20 for the same snake, but there's nothing wrong with a pet store putting a much higher price tag on the snake at their store. No one forces anyone to buy from their place, or to not do the proper research regarding prices and places to buy from.

It's sort of like my friend who went out to buy a truck, and they bought one at the first place they checked. Raved about how great a deal it was, regaled us about the truck being awesome. Then a week later, they saw the same vehicle for about $4K less a few blocks away at a different dealer and tried to tell everyone how they were "ripped off". Sorry bub, you CHOSE to pay that price rather than take the time to check prices elsewhere, and you were happy to pay that price at the time of the purchase. The truck was as advertised, the price was the agreed upon price.. so you have no room to scream. To me, that's the same as prices at a pet store vs reptile show. It's not a rip-off, it's just business.

Similiarly, if a breeder or dealer in snakes wants to sell their pastel males at $1K each, as long as the snakes are advertised as pastel males, and they are genetically pastel males... I don't think it's wrong. If someone wants to pay $1K for that snake, let them. If they didn't do a lick of research first, and they were happy at the time of purchase, that's on them. It's the seller's snakes, and they can charge whatever they like. It is no guarentee people will buy their snakes rather than someone else's cheaper snakes, but it's their right to put whatever price tag they like on the snakes.

Just my $0.02 because I'm awake at an ungodly hour for my day off.

[kristan]

I live close to a small, family owned pet store, which charges ridiculously high prices for its animals. However, I've noticed that one of the benefits to buying there (for individuals that just have one or two snakes for their kids, etc.) is that they can keep going back for any problems they have. The people that work in the reptile department there are fairly knowledgeable and will let you bring back the animal to have it sexed, they will help you administer medication (should your pet ever need it) and even take care of it while you're out of town for a few days - all free of charge. They will even help you with animals that you did not purchase there. I was there the other day having one of my green trees probed when a little girl was bringing back her hamster because it was sick (they knew why it was sick, I'm thinking the child had fed it something she shouldn't have). The girl who was working in the reptile/rodent dept was in the process of setting up a cage for the hamster so they could keep it at the store for a few days in order to administer medication and try to nurse it back to health. True, you can usually call a breeder you've purchased from in the event that you have any problems, but in most cases the breeder is not right down the street. It is usually not feasible to grab the snake and drive a few minutes for help administering medication, advice about odd looking scales, etc.

[Seru1]

You know it reminds me of what I was pondering a few days ago. I think the day of the pet shop is largely over. Now not everybody's of course but you know you just see so many bad ones.


I think especially in the reptile industry buying from the breeder is where it's at. BEcause you get super knowledgeable help and well cared for animals. I do own two snakes from a pet shop, and I love them, but there are downsides. The primary being I have no idea what sex they are. Also Now that I want some real veteran Kingsnake knowledge I am not sure what to do. There is no one I can really bug.

I mean we have great people here on our colubrid forum but I mean If I just wanna sit down and read something or call somebody I can't.


This isn't to say all pet shops are bad. I know we have a number of pet shop owners and workers here. But the good ones are great and the bad ones are awful. For me atleast there's no pet shop I know of within a hundred miles that I really trust.

[boasandballs]

You're lucky you got $40 for him. There is a pet store here in Colorado that has a canned statement. "We are not buying those, but we can find it a good home." And people give them the animals. And yes they sell would have sold him for $125.