I know it is said all the time, but this makes me sick!

[Marissa@MKmorphs]

I was at Petco buying some cat food and decided to stroll by the reptile section and what I saw disgusted me.

Look at how ridiculously emaciated this baby is. It is about a foot and a half long, maybe a little more...poor baby.

This makes me sick.

[LunaBalls]

Sucks, They shouldn't take in animals they cant take proper care of. I refuse to go to petco or petsmart.

[nor_cal1980]

I was at Petco buying some cat food and decided to stroll by the reptile section and what I saw disgusted me.

Look at how ridiculously emaciated this baby is. It is about a foot and a half long, maybe a little more...poor baby.

This makes me sick.

The last time I was in my local petco it was even worse then that....hard to believe but true. They had three baby balls all were emaciated like this and one had a very bad stuck shed....eye caps and all... i try to not even go into petco anymore because my first instinct was to buy if not all three, but at least the one with the stuck shed so I could take him/her home and fix him/her up. But I don't have room for qt and can't risk exposing my collection to sickness.....i felt guilty for not saving the poor thing...

[nazitra]

I was just at Petco two days ago and saw a little baby ball with stuck shed all over his (or her) head and what looked like the beginnings of scale rot. He was also stressed and unhappy because a bigger snake was taking up the only hide, he was really zooming around.

I wanted to buy him and give him a happy home too, but I know that'd just give them the money to do this to more of the poor little guys.

[tysonsowner]

the petsmart in westminster md is the worst was in there just yesterday. they have a norm bp very apparent bad shed pieces all over him including eye caps. hes about 3 ft long in a 2 1/2 gallon tank humidity at 0 temps above 90 hes balled up like the tnk is his hide its so small. i wish i could of bought him but i cant afford another tank setup. and they had a small baby there(i almost bought him when i bought tyson but decided not to as he repeatedly struck at me). SAME CONDITIONS.

also i was there as they were moving them to feed them that was even worse the big one was pulled out with a hook very aggresivly then they grabed hum around his head and he was dangling there with no support. and then dropped into aanother 2 1/2 gallon carrier he barely fit in then the juswt dropped the frozen mouse in it looked so hard for him to even get the thing in his mouth.

also im a newb so whats emaciated mean

the smaller one was also being shown when the sales lady pulled him out he was striking the guy looking at him knew wat he was doin and was handling him (even tho he was very aggressive) and the sales lady was steady talking jibberish and poking and prying on the poor baby(no he didnt buy him)

this was very upsetting so if anyone around this area wants a norm bp please go save these guys they are on sale for 59.99. i've been searching craigslist for some supplies and a 20 long tank if i find some im gonna go save that baby. unfortunatly i think the big one is too far gone for my skill levels

[cinderbird]

also im a newb so whats emaciated mean

this was very upsetting so if anyone around this area wants a norm bp please go save these guys they are on sale for 59.99. i've been searching craigslist for some supplies and a 20 long tank if i find some im gonna go save that baby. unfortunatly i think the big one is too far gone for my skill levels

Emaciated means extremely thin.

The problem with these pet stores, are that when you buy an animal, it gives them money to buy more animals to suffer. It sucks, really, really badly. We want to save them all. The way to save them is to not buy them, that way no more snakes come in its place. People don't buy "ugly" snakes (thin, stuck shed, striking, etc). The best thing is for these stores to learn they can't take care of these animals and to stop selling them entirely.

[bmilhansen]

I got mine about a week and a half ago from a reptile shop that looked almost like that, 19 inches long and 100 grams, ive gotten it up to 150 now and feeding is tonight, very irritating

[Johan]

It sucks because pet stores always want babies because that is usually what the customer wants. Sadly, these little guys need extra good care and get :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: real fast in a place like petco. Even if a customer buys them their life expectancy is low as the advice from the shop is terrible. Hopefully those people come to a forum such as these

[stratus_020202]

Also, make sure you report them. It might do good, and it might not, but doing nothing is worse. If there is one thing we can learn from all the legislative issues, it's silence is NOT golden.

[angllady2]

I've seen this time and time again.

It breaks your heart, it really does. I've shed a few tears over situations like this before.

But I cannot stress the importance of saying something to whoever is in charge at the time.

Drag them over and point out the snake. My favorite line is, " Aren't you ashamed of your store for letting this poor animal get in this condition ? It's obviously in very bad shape, you can see it is way too thin, it has retained shed all over it's body, I doubt it can even see. This set up is obviously not what this snake needs to stay healthy. I shop here frequently, and I have to say I am appalled you'd let things get this bad. It reflects very poorly on you and your store. I trust you will see this matter gets taken care of promptly?"

No, it isn't what I'm really thinking, but you really do catch more flies with honey. If you give the manager a way out, they'll usually take it. It has worked for me a few times, and a few times it hasn't, but at least I tried.

Gale