Quote Originally Posted by Inknsteel View Post
I refrained from posting in the other thread hoping someone would bring up a few things that I haven't seen come up yet...

First, you are making reference to the caresheet here on this site. Yes, it's a great caresheet and does lay down some guidelines for IDEAL husbandry for new snake OWNERS. The caresheet here is by no means LAW, nor does it state anywhere that this is the only right way to do things.

You have to also understand that you are dealing with a STORE, not an individual snake keeper. They aren't in the business of snake keeping, and as such, aren't going to go through the time, effort and expense of setting up individual tanks or tubs for each animal, making sure they have two hides, probed thermometers and hygrometers, etc. They will put the snake in an available tank to display for customers. In their ideal scenario, that snake will be there the shortest amount of time possible before going to what is hopefully a permanent home. The fact that there is a water dish, a heat source of some kind, and only one snake in the enclosure is a big step ahead of some of these stores I've heard about. Is this the ideal setup for long term care? Nope. Is this considered "deplorable conditions"? Not even close. If that were the case, you'd have to report pretty much every pet store in existence...

If you don't like the conditions of the animals, simply do not support the business with your dollars. But I don't think it would be in ANYONE'S interest to take such drastic action simply because you don't deem their husbandry to be worthy of your standards. If you feel like putting that much time and energy into fighting for better conditions for that animal, your efforts would be better spent trying to educate than anything.
I completely agree. I was just talking to someone else about the fact that ideal care in pet stores would cost them more than they are willing to pay. If they spent the money to make their enclosures perfect, they would have to raise the price of the animals itself and ultimately have less sales... which would mean that the snake would most likely grow up at that pet store, which would not be ideal. I'd rather them be in less than ideal conditions for a shorter period of time then be taken home (most likely from a person new to BPs) but would be more likely to receive "proper" care.


As long as the snakes aren't sick and dying, in my opinion, they should be alright. They do have heating and water, and are fed (maybe not as much as they should be). I went to Petco yesterday and was actually surprised at how good the BP they had looked. Good size enclosure for it as well.