feeding time

[angllady2]

Believe it or not, it is quite common for them to put crickets into the enclosures with baby snakes. Somebody got the brilliant idea that the babies are too small to eat mice, so they need crickets. I am not joking in the slightest.

I spoke with the employee in the reptile department at my local Petco about this, and that is how I know. I asked to speak to the manager of the store. Was very calm and polite about it. When he came out I asked the manager about it. He said that yes, the little tiny snakes are fed crickets, they are too small for mice. I asked him exactly how many crickets the babies eat. He couldn't say for sure. I asked how many of the babies he'd seen eat even a single cricket. He said none really. I asked him how many had died since they started feeding crickets. He got kind of huffy and said that they take good care of the babies.

I kept my smile, and asked again how many had died. I told him very calmly I breed these snakes, and there is no point in lying to me. He swallowed really hard, and then said several had died, but he was certain it was because they were sick when they came in. I nodded my head and said that was probably true, but if he didn't stop starving them to death feeding them crickets, which they never eat, I was going to report him for abuse. I never stopped smiling at him.

He swallowed hard again and asked me what was he supposed to do when the babies came in so small. I said you just offer them mice, same as the others. I said even a newborn ball that hadn't shed yet could eat a hopper mouse. I said you guys just thaw the mice and drop them in, no wonder they don't eat. I said the food has to be hot or they won't eat it. I told him this is the trick. On feeding day, after the store closes, you take the tank the babies are in into the back. You use a heat lamp or if you aren't to cheap a hairdryer and heat those mice good and hot, and then offer. I told him most will still refuse sometimes because of stress, but I bet they would eat better that way. He thanked me, and had the employee to remove the crickets while I waited.

I went back to this store after their remodel, right before closing time, and low and behold the employee was coming out of the back with a tank with four baby balls in it. I watched him put it back int the display case, then asked how it was going. He said since they started trying the method I suggested, most of the babies ate about every other week. Not the best I grant you, but an improvement.

Now I'm not saying every Petco/Petsmart does it, but I know of several who do.

Gale