sad but true

[One of These Yesturdays]

This is a true story copied and pasted from Carolina corn snakes.com.
I think we all know of shops like this just maybe not this illiterate.


Hi! At the beginning of Nov. I went and bought a beautiful little corn. He's about 12" long, and I am getting a little worried about him.
When I brought him home, the pet store included 3 crickets for food, he, (Dagger is his name, due to a perfectly shaped dagger design on his head), has been a non-aggressive little thing from the start. I didn't handle him too much the first couple of days, just a few minutes to maintain contact. Then I handled him daily, just getting to know and trust each other.
He was very active in his tank, drank daily, and the 1st cricket died, I don't know what happened to the second one and there is one that's still there.
For the past 4 days, he's been very listless, is losing weight, stays in one position for hours, even overnight. When I pick him up, he gets more alert and moves around on me, but as soon as I put him back in his tank, he just curls up and seems to sleep. He's lost a bit of weight.
I was told that this is normal, him not moving around at all, sleeping constantly, losing weight, etc. They said hibernation. His tank is stays at 78 to 80 degrees at all times, he has a tree in a 'cooler' section, a large bowl of fresh water, a hide rock, nothing has changed in his habitat.
I really care for the little fellow, so if someone could let me know if this is normal, or should I be worried, it would really help.
Any info at all on how to best take care of him would be appreciated!
Thank you, Wanda and Daggar

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Wanda,
Ok. This is kind of bad. But it is easily fixable. Never feed a snake crickets. The only thing that a snake should eat are mice. That is why your snake is listless... he is starving!!! make sure you get a pinky and feed him as soon as possible!! He will be ok for a while, but you have to feed him. I suggest never going back to the person you bought him from, because they obviously have no idea how to take care of snakes.
~SQ

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Snake Queen,
Thank you so much for responding so quickly to my question! You probably have saved Daggar's life, because I bought him at Mr. Petman instead of a shop that specializes, and they told me to feed him crickets for the next 2 months! I am on my way to the pet store now to get a pinkie. Thank you again! Wanda

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Dear Snake Queen and others,
Last night I posted the story of my 1st corn snake, which I had grown to adore, because I was worried about his health. Snake Queen responded rapidly. I was informed this morning that the pet store where I purchased Dagger had misinformed me that all he needed to eat right now were crickets, and that he needed a pinky.
I went immediately to go get one and on my way out of the door, I said bye to my baby snake, Dagger. He was dead.
Many tears later, I feel terribly guilt ridden because as a 1st time owner of a snake, I should have bought a book, educated myself properly instead of trusting the 'advice' of a major pet store, Mr. Petman. My very, very sweet and trusting snake died a terrible death of starvation because I failed to educate myself.
The clerk at the store was responsible in that she represented how to take care of Dagger, even telling me that he wouldn't need to graduate up to pinkys for 2-3 more months. She also said she owned 2 boas. They are responsible in part for Dagger's death by sending my healthy snake home with care advice that was completely wrong.
I really don't want anyone, or any other snake, to suffer a very preventable, painful death due to both mine and the store's ignorance. If you are getting a new snake, please do better than I did and do not trust your salesperson only, but invest the time to learn before you get your snake as to what they really need.
Thank you for listening, Wanda

[normballpython2]

man that sucks! that like doesn't even sound like a troll...it just sounds sad. i feel sorry the snake and that lady(even thoughshe should have done her research but still) man i really do hate some pet stores