Tell me what's wrong with this picture

[bcr229]

Wow! And all we fight for in these trying times as a nation. I hope that retic and ball python weren't breeding. Did anyone get that impression or am i on cloud 9?

Fortunately based on the retic's size I doubt it's anywhere near breeding age.

[SCWood]

Fortunately based on the retic's size I doubt it's anywhere near breeding age.

Do you think I should have said something? I feel bad for not doing so but they were rushing me out

[wolfy-hound]

Multiple animals in one cage for display... yeah, I understand this at times with certain species.

Retic with ball python? Nope. I wonder if they even know they are different species?

[PhoenixGate]

Just wait until someone hears about how ball pythons get 3-5 feet and are docile and slow, then buys that lean ball python with the jaggedy markings.

And then feeds it mouse fuzzies.

This is how I got my rescue ball python (that was later disappeared by an evil roommate). They brought me a ball that they had bought from petsmart, said he was five years old. I weighed him in at about 300 grams when I first got him. He was skinny and had at least three layers of stuck shed on him. I listened in horror as they told me they fed him one MOUSE FUZZY every OTHER week. I had the tank in hand and was thinking "just give me the poor snake and go." Fortunately they had no plans to ever get another snake.

First time he ate for me, he shook like a leaf and took an hour to eat. Somehow I got him on rats, although now I realize I was heating a hopper mouse for my corn snake in the same container as his rat, so he was really eating mouse scented rats while I had him. In a couple weeks he put on 40 grams for me. I still feel really bad that he disappeared during my move in 2013. I still don't know if he really escaped or if my roommate did something to him. All I know is I came to move my snakes and his cage was empty with a note on top, which I couldn't read. Then the roommate in question wouldn't answer my calls.

Sorry about the rant. It really upsets me when people get reptiles and either get the wrong information or end up abusing them without knowing what they're doing, after no research on their part. Sir Giles really broke my heart. I had him looking so good by the time I had to move, and I'll never know what happened to him. I had recently bought probes and had a suspicion that he was really a she as well.

[PhoenixGate]

And one fully soaking in the water-- not a good sign.

Can't imagine the surprise someone uneducated might get when they buy that "ball python" and it grows to 15-20 feet....

This is honestly why I would love to open a small pet store someday. I could have one staffed by people who knew what they were talking about and could provide real information to people walking in off the street. A lack of knowledge in my opinion is the number one reason so many snakes suffer from inadequate conditions.

[Coluber42]

My first job was at a pet store. There were often multiple snakes housed together, whether of the same species or not (although at least they were generally around the same size). There were a handful of us teenage flunkies who worked there, some more sensible than others. One day, there was a tank with three snakes in it, and a kid who'd been instructed to feed them tossed three mice in there. Predictably, two of them got wrapped around the same mouse (or rat, I don't really remember), and I got the job of separating them. It was no easy task, and I just remember thinking how glad I was that one was a large-ish rat snake and one was a young boa, because if they'd been the same color it would have been much more difficult. In the end, one got the rodent and the other got the skin off the rodent's tail.

Don't worry though, that pet store has been out of business for at least 16 years.

[Kaali]

There was like 6 I couldn't subtly get a pic of the whole cage

[Andylee11]

Crazy. .. They have to know . How can't you .

[marya1962]

Umm...talk to highest up at store. They blow it off, report over-crowding to whatever local authorities you have that are supposed to look after animal welfare in your area. Take whatever pictures you can, too, toward that end BEFORE you do all this because everybody will be able to put two and two together...

Sent from my SM-G530P using Tapatalk

[SCWood]

GUYS I went back in and they're still together! I tried talking to the people on staff and they dismissed my concerns. They said that "they're doing no harm, they are basically the same snake when it comes to care, and that they like to cuddle" I feel so bad for these snakes...