Why I won't buy from a pet store

[MarkS]

Well, if I were to bring this animal home. I would set it up in a small shoebox with a thick layer of damp paper towels, a short waterbowl with no more then an inch of water (or maybe pedialite) Something big enough to soak in if it can but not so big that it couldn't get out in it's weakened state. I might even want to leave it soaking in pedialite for a while. I'd try feeding a small pinkie (live first) and I'd leave it alone in a dark room with the pinkie for a few hours. If he takes it, great. If not I might try syringe feeding some egg yolk. Like Stephanie said I'd make sure it was a small meal. If they try to take too big of a meal their system can go into shock and they can die. Once it's got some food in it's belly I'd leave it alone for a few days to see how it does. I'd make sure the heat was right, maybe a hair higher then usual to make sure he can digest okay, and I'd have plenty of hiding spots (crumpled up balls of newspaper work pretty well). I'd keep doing this every few days always trying a pinkie first before force feeding, eventually I'd mix a little ground pinkie with the egg yolk. I'd take it SLOWLY, he didn't get into this state overnight, he won't come out of it quickly. In between feedings I'd just leave him alone other then a quick check and wouldn't handle any more then necessary.

[wilomn]

Keep one more thing in mind. That snake may have something contagious. You might bring home a pathogen that does harm to your snakes. If you don't have a completely separate room, better yet building, you could be getting in over your head. Some pathogens are air born, some transfer by contact, some there is not a definitive answer to how they are transferred.

It's not as simple as taking it home and giving it TLC.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I just spent the last half hour of my life catching up on this thread, I read slow

I see a lot of "do-gooders" here that are getting in an uproar about something that none of us have any control over.
A lot of new people here complaining about it too.
Now you might not like this BUT:

1-all of you new to the hobby should get use to seeing this in big retail pet stores (I'm not saying its right but its REAL)
2- I don't see any of you really wanting to do anything about it
3- you really want to do something about it, ask them for a job and spread all the knowledge that you have learned here. YES, I am serious here. Quit your job and go work for minimum wage to take care or their reptiles.

As much as I don't like chain stores, what brought most of you to this great hobby?
You really want to make a difference? Support your local breeders, get to know who is around you and what they breed.
Then and only then can you help the reptiles in that store. When you are in there (because we all have to buy stuff from them) and see someone looking at the reptiles you can speak up and start a conversation. Now you can recommend where they can get a quality animal and how to properly care for them.

Those are the best two ways you can help, its your choice to change jobs or build your local data base.