Pet Store Pythons - need to vent

[Valentine Pirate]

With ANY pet store it all boils down to the people they hire. Unfortunately most chain pet stores will hire just about anyone to work in their store. Mom and pop stores too! I don't think the problem is the store itself. Its the lack of training.

This! Not saying I'd go out and buy from Petco/Petsmart, I still prefer to buy from breeders that I know have a good rep in the hobby, but the local Petco here has a regular herp hobbiest as their reptile caregiver/expert, and they've got decent care for the animals. Most pet stores don't think to hire or train someone with this knowledge, but it doesn't mean that they never have a good knowledgeable employee who can shape things up.

[SilverDemon]

I've been in stores that could go either way. My local petsmart isn't the best, but the enclosures are clean and appropriate for the animals (hides for snakes, clean water, etc), it doesn't smell, and the animals all look healthy. Infact, half the time when I go (they're a FAR better alternative than my local Walmart), at least one of the enclosures is in the middle of being cleaned.

The husbandry isn't completely ideal (they have the dial temp and humidity things), but it's a lot better than many places. The generalization that all stores are horrible is very unjust.

[Misfit]

I'm lucky that I have 2 out of 2 amazing pet shops in my town (small town ) and they have more than one capable reptile worker. They also are brilliant about parrots and fish. I've never been to better stores or dealt with better people.

A petco opened in my town, I checked it out and it was.. okay. The prices weren't better than the other shops, but for some reason people think corporation=cheaper prices without even checking to see. I went there a few times, but I'm done. I dislike petco and petsmart in general, I don't care if they're a good one or a bad one, I won't shop there anymore. I'll search out a good mom and pop anyday. ;] I want to shop at a place that cares about animals, not money and I'm lucky to have two such places in my town. (And yes, I know both the owners, so I do really know they care for the animals more than money.)

[wolfy-hound]

Ball python morphs are the result of generations of captive breeding. The need for imported animals is obsolete. The gene pool is plenty wide and captive hatchlings are thriving. I started this thread to vent about my experience with a local PetCo, and to my knowledge MOST (not all) chain pet stores acquire their animals as African imports and do not have knowledgeable staff.
.

THIS is a outright lie. Morphs came from wild caught animals. Name one single morph that was developed from "generations of captive breeding". Morphs were almost ALL wild caught animals that were bred to see if they were genetic or a abnormality. As far as the need for fresh blood being obselete? Check out bearded dragons and the complete inability to acquire new blood and how the hobbiests are always trying to get new bloodlines from overseas.

Almost every year we see another new morph pop up from imports. The first albinos, spiders, luetistics... all imports. Yellowbellies? Imports.

Perhaps you have some skewed idea of how the morphs have been developed, but they rarely ever simply pop into being randomly in some 'generations captive bred' normal snake. The more normal way is to find a dinker in the imports and work with it to see if it's genetic or has a super form.

Some chain stores still import, as stated by others who are knowledgable in this thread, many acquire animals from wholesalers who buy from breeders local to them.

If you dislike poor husbandry of animals, fine. Just don't lump all 'imports get bad husbandry' or 'breeders are all bad and only care about money' or 'selling animals is wrong and no one should make money'. Any store can neglect it's stock. Any individual owner can neglect their pet. Any breeder can engage in dubious practices. And by the same token, they can ALL do a marvelous job with the animals in their care.

Don't dump on everyone for the actions of a few. That's no more fair than places banning all exotics just because one or two people were careless with their own pet.

[Jessica Loesch]

THIS is a outright lie. Morphs came from wild caught animals. Name one single morph that was developed from "generations of captive breeding". Morphs were almost ALL wild caught animals that were bred to see if they were genetic or a abnormality. As far as the need for fresh blood being obselete? Check out bearded dragons and the complete inability to acquire new blood and how the hobbiests are always trying to get new bloodlines from overseas.

Almost every year we see another new morph pop up from imports. The first albinos, spiders, luetistics... all imports. Yellowbellies? Imports.

Perhaps you have some skewed idea of how the morphs have been developed, but they rarely ever simply pop into being randomly in some 'generations captive bred' normal snake. The more normal way is to find a dinker in the imports and work with it to see if it's genetic or has a super form.

Some chain stores still import, as stated by others who are knowledgable in this thread, many acquire animals from wholesalers who buy from breeders local to them.

If you dislike poor husbandry of animals, fine. Just don't lump all 'imports get bad husbandry' or 'breeders are all bad and only care about money' or 'selling animals is wrong and no one should make money'. Any store can neglect it's stock. Any individual owner can neglect their pet. Any breeder can engage in dubious practices. And by the same token, they can ALL do a marvelous job with the animals in their care.

Don't dump on everyone for the actions of a few. That's no more fair than places banning all exotics just because one or two people were careless with their own pet.

Again, agree wholeheartedly.

[OtterGoRun]

Another chiming in to say be careful with over-generalizations. I live in a big area with TONS of Petcos and Petsmarts. The health of their animals are VERY dependent on who they have working there. While I have never seen a ball tank without a hide, one of our Petcos goes above and beyond with their care due to the person in charge of that department. Both of my balls are from that store, and came with origins, hatch date, detailed feeding and shedding records, etc. My oldest ball is 2.5 years old now, and the other is 2. Both are healthy and thriving.

[meowmeowkazoo]

I don't buy from pet stores just because I really hate the way that ball pythons are imported. I don't want to support it. While I agree that imports have given us some amazing genes to work with, one of the reasons I breed is to help reduce the need to take these animals from the wild.

That being said, today I was at Petco, and their baby balls were going through a bad shed. I think humidity is a foreign concept to most pet store employees. The Petco I went to back in Utah even had the humidity gauge upside down.

[OtterGoRun]

I don't buy from pet stores just because I really hate the way that ball pythons are imported. I don't want to support it. While I agree that imports have given us some amazing genes to work with, one of the reasons I breed is to help reduce the need to take these animals from the wild.

That being said, today I was at Petco, and their baby balls were going through a bad shed. I think humidity is a foreign concept to most pet store employees. The Petco I went to back in Utah even had the humidity gauge upside down.

That is definitely the most common issue I see in pet stores (bad sheds). The store I bought from sells captive bred (again, probably due to the guy they had working there), but not all do. Some of the stores readily post what they are selling on the cage cards, others you have to ask.

[Skiploder]

I don't buy from pet stores just because I really hate the way that ball pythons are imported. I don't want to support it. While I agree that imports have given us some amazing genes to work with, one of the reasons I breed is to help reduce the need to take these animals from the wild.

That being said, today I was at Petco, and their baby balls were going through a bad shed. I think humidity is a foreign concept to most pet store employees. The Petco I went to back in Utah even had the humidity gauge upside down.

Based on the number of bad shed posts around here, I'd go as far to say that it's also a foreign concept to many forum members.

[deathfromabove]

My first bp came from petco it was 2 summers ago. I didn't know anything about snakes, all I knew was that i wanted one. They had them half off at the time it was 40 bucks for a bp, I basically jumped on it. I had him for about a month and literally nothing went right, he never ate, well he ate one time the second week I had him and he re-gurged it 2 hours later, he never ate again, and he died 3 weeks later. My temps were correct i made sure of that. There was no reason for him to die.