Nothing like a verbal assault from Petsmart....

[Jay_Bunny]

Yep our store cares a lot for our animals. We actually have a hamster the store has already spent over $400 on because she has a disease (the other hamsters are okay. Its just her). They say as long as she keeps fighting, so will they.

Not all pet stores are dumb. Yes, you will find a few stores here and there (like you will with any company that has stores across the nation) that are managed and staffed poorly, but for the most part, Petsmart is looking out for the best interest of the pet.

Think of how many people feed live incorrectly. I've had tons of people come into my store and tell me about how mice or rats bit their snake. Some have even brought in their snakes to show me the bites. And at least in my area you get a lot of those people that think its cool and tough if you have a big mean snake and they like to watch the snake kill a huge rat and are only feeding live for the thrill of it. (We get a looooooot of these people in our store).

And no, we do not judge you by how you look. We have people from all walks of life coming into our store and just because you are an adult male getting mice, we are not going to treat one customer different from another based on age, gender, or whether you feed snakes live at home or not. At least, we are not supposed to. I know that crap doesn't happen in my store.

Look bottom line is. I don't mind if you come on to this forum and say you've had a bad experience at that particular store, but when you start calling out an entire company and all its employees based on your experience at one store, I get a little peeved. I am a Petsmart associate and I do my job well and being someone who keeps snakes, I know that feeding live is fine for the snake if done correctly. Heck, I even feed live about 50% of the time. But I do understand that some people are not so happy to find out that snakes eat live mice. They would rather go on with their day believing that Petsmart wouldn't dare sell those cute widdle fuzzy mice as food for snakes. And Petsmart is trying to respect those people.

I mean, if I go into a store and buy a hamster. Most people assume I'm buying said hamster as a pet. They are cute, fluffy, run in wheels, and stuff their cheeks. Adorable, right? But then you here that I'm buying the hamster to feed it to my ferret, alive. I'm going to set the hamster in the bathtub and watch as my ferret hunts, kills, and eats the little hamster. Would you not be a little put off by it? Petsmart sees it like this. They have to look out for all their customers and how that customer feels. That is one of the reasons why we are not supposed to feed the snake in the enclosure. We have to remove the snake to the back room in another container to feed. This is mainly so that people don't have to see us dangling a newly thawed mouse baby into the cage while they are on their way to get dog food.

So please don't call the entire company out on your experiences with one store. It does not represent everyone, including myself. When people come on here and say that all pet store people are dumb, that insults me.

Maybe I shouldn't take it so personally, but I see it on this forum all the time.