The sad truth of it is this: Big chain pet stores LIKE hiring kids who know nothing because it helps them sell more of THEIR stuff. Someone who knows snakes, for instance, will tell you not to get a huge tank (sometimes no tank at all), to get your thermostat from someone else online (no store really sells t-stats, they're all online), and to use plastic plant pots from WalMart for hides. How is this helping the store? Answer - it isn't.

Now, in contrast take the uneducated typical pet store employee. They were told very vauge stuff in regards to snakes. They learn from antiquated care sheets in the store. So, when a customer needs things for a new snake they tell them to get huge tanks (from their store), a crummy rheostat if anything to control the heat pad, heat rocks, expensive hides, and analog thermometers...all things sold at that store.

When these stores 'accidentally' hire someone who really knows their stuff, it seems, they do whatever they can to discourage that person from staying long because it "hurts the bottom line". I was one such person at Petsmart and they did alot to keep me down. I still told customers where to get the good stuff...and continue to do so in the stores to this day.

It would be great if pet stores could start selling the proper EQ for all animals. Heck, even the stuff they sell for small mammals is usually crap. Cages too small, food that's junk, etc. But, as long as these places are making money by selling the bad stuff, they won't change. Sad.