pet store loyalty

[photoman100169]

I have a couple snakes that solely eat asfr's and the place i was getting them from stopped carrying them suddenly and before i could find a new source i was in a bad place. So i picked up gerbils at a local pet store, (which they took just as quick as the asfr's just cost me more) and the guy at the store started asking me a bunch of questions about why don't i just let him get me some rats (like i haven't tried that one not to mention buy rats somewhere else that doesn't sell gerbils for the rest of my snakes) and he GUARANTEED ME that if i just kept smacking the ball python in the face with the rat it would eventually eat it. He told me it might seem cruel but i wouldn't be hurting the snake to beat it in the face with a LIVE rat!!! and then even went as far as to tell me that he may just get really angry and strike it a few times but if i smacked him in the face enough and got the snake mad enough he would just eat it!!!!! Then he told me if that didn't work just kill the rat and shove it down the snakes throat. I told him that i'd prefer to just pay the extra money on gerbils and let them eat on their own untill i found more asfr's. THEN that led to an in depth conversation of me telling him what an asfr was and him telling me i was wrong and there was no such thing as a soft fur rat. i haven't even been back to that pet store since then (just started stocking up on frozen asfr's so i'm never in that position again!!) but i'll never go back there solely based on the pure ignorance of his statements. And i thought i was doing better NOT going to petsmart or petco. I really feel bad for the people that go in there that don't have a clue and take this guys advice and go home and beat there snake to death with live rats and then wonder why it starved to death! So just because i pet store tells you something definately doesn't mean it's true!!!

Of course there is no such thing as soft furred rats. Those things you were feeding your snakes we just your imagination. Come on now, he knows what he is talking about. It truly is amazing how many people really believe everything they hear from these "experts". I have to say that my fav is "this snake will only grow as big as the tank that its in" SERIOUSLY? wow