OK, I really want to know this, so those of you who have far more experience than I, please respond!

So, I go into this same pet store that I buy Kash's feeder mice from today to get two more mice to fatten up for Kash's next feeding (now that I don't need hoppers, they have them, go figure! LOL).

So, they have 4 sub-adult/adult BP's (not sure how to tell if they are sub/adult or adult) in one tank together. Well, I wanted to hold one, just to have hands on how Kash is going to feel when he gets bigger. Nice looking snake, nice blushing, good weight on it, no mites, etc (I'd never buy a reptile from them though, you'll see why in a minute). Clearly from the housing (no hides by the way either and no source of heating that I could see) they don't know proper husbandry.

I love to challenge their knowledge of BP's (it's the Taurus in me) every time I go in there. So, just for grins and giggles, I ask them to weigh him/her (they swear they're all males, because breeders won't sell females, because they don't want the competition - we ALL know that, right??? *drips with sarcasm*). So then I ask, so, I'm looking for a breedable female (this ball was 2.75 lbs, I haven't figured what that was in grams yet), and if I bought it, and took it to the vet to get it probed, and it's male, can I return it? Answer - No....with the elaboration that probing incorrectly will permanently sterilize the snake. "you may find out you have a female, but she won't be breedable anymore because most people do it incorrectly" (exact quote). And besides, we ALL know that breeders intentionally raise the temps of their incubators to produce all males to sell on the market, right????? (more sarcasm from me)

At which point one guy tells me that these are all wild caught and that no wild caughts are females, because the females stay in burrows and they can only catch wild caught males (after the OTHER guy told me that all of these were surrendered snakes that people decided they didn't want any more and yet ANOTHER employee told me they purchased these snakes from a breeder).

I had told Kash's vet that they had told me that probing would sterilize before (yeah, they told me this before) and he said they were full of it. The shop keeper told me that ANYONE who tells me that it won't sterilize them is full of crap, including vets.

GRRRRRRRR, why do I try to get into it with them all the time? I should just learn to walk in, buy the mice, and get out!

So, those of you who have been in this business, does what they say about sterilization have even an ounce of truth?