Some Petco Snakes! What you think of the Spider?

[ShaggyRS6]

So I dropped into my local Petco to get some cage furniture and the reptile guy started chatting. He got a spider out that he has had for 4 months. Says its a very placid animal and had never bitten. I held it for a while and he was fine (first time I held a snake, I was a bit jumpy). I took a few pics. The Pastel was very Bitey, so I wanted no part of that. I had no intention of buying from a pet store, but the guy said he/she feeds well. What do you think? Its something to consider. Is that a stuck shed on its back or missing scales?

[duckschainsaw]

That's not a spider. Pretty sure that's a pinstripe.

[coldbloodaddict]

That is a Pinstripe.


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[ShaggyRS6]

My mistake, was looking at Spiders. Pinstripe - Will edit. Same question stands though.

[hazzaram]

Just be careful. I got my second snake at Petsmart. I don't like buying animals from pet stores but I fell in love with her and couldn't leave her there. She was a small yellowbelly they were selling as a normal. I bought her and brought her home and... she had mites. I thought I had checked her over but apparently not good enough! My other male ended up getting mites, too, and I spent the next few months battling them.

[Ax01]

That doesn’t look like stuck shed and is not missing scales. I think it’s just the coloration of this particular pinstripe BP. If you’re concerned, just run your finger across it to make sure it’s not flaking. Pinstripes vary in patterns and this is a nice busy one.

Some forumers here won’t buy from chain pet stores (personal opinions/preference), but they do have some nice animals now and then. If the snake if healthy, eating well and you like it’s temperament/personality and the way it looks, why not go for it.

[wolfy-hound]

If the snake looks healthy, if the rest of the snakes they have look healthy and you like it, yes, buy it.

If any of the snakes look thin, have parasites, stuck shed, bubbles at the mouth, gaping the mouth for excessive amounts of time... etc, then pass. If one animal is sick, it's possible that one is too.

But some chain stores have good workers that care for the animals. It's really a individual store, and how it's run.

[SCWood]

I work at Petco. The animal looks good. If you take him home and set him up and have problems, Petco always takes the animal back ^^ that way if he seems unhealthy, you don't feel stuck

[AKA Dave]

It's a nice looking Pin. I say go for it if you like the snake and are already comfortable with that one.

Dave

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

Petco is a business. They want to supply products and animals that customers will buy. You, as the customer, can help mold how Petco operates as business. When a person "rescues" cheap, imported normals, they are ironically telling Petco that they want them to carry mite ridden, sickly ball pythons. When a person buys a healthy, well taken care of morph, they are telling Petco they want them to carry snakes that are healthy and bought from a breeder (hey maybe even one day it'll be from a small one that's local to the store). Petco is only responding to the people who buy their animals and taking their husbandry and stock cues from them. It's simple supply and demand.

I don't think you need to justify your potential purchase to anyone but, if you need justification, people do help shape Petco's husbandry and stock decisions with purchases like these.