Irresponsible Petsmart...like always

[therunaway]

So, I went to Petsmart to get a larger Kritter Keeper for my crestie and while I was there I glanced around the reptile section and noticed they put in a new "wall of reptiles." I looked at the various reptiles in the new section, it consisted of a Rose Hair T., being held in a mini KK, a crestie in a small KK, (which was reasonable to an extent), a "fancy" corn snake in a mini KK, a Chinese Water Dragon in a normal Petsmart tank, and a few others I couldn't stand to even look at because the freaking T. and the corn snake in mini KKs pissed me off so much that I just got the Medium sized KK I needed, purchased it, and left. Oh, and to top it off, while I was in line, there was a mom, a dad, and their son who looked to be about 8 or 9, they were returning a "Snake Starter Kit", I asked them "What kind of snake are you getting?" They looked at me like I was crazy and then said "We're returning the cage, we had a corn snake but haven't seen it since we bought it, it's been hiding under the water bowl." So, at this point I'm starting to get even more pissed and then shake my head and say "How long have you had the snake?" The mother just looked at me blankly once again, and said "We've had it since the first." I was just so shocked, all I could say was "Oh, sorry for not being satisfied by my hobby, I quite enjoy it." So, then we are stuck behind them a little longer while the stupid cashier went to find a manager because she didn't know what she was doing, the son looks at me and says, "How many different kinds of snakes do you have?" I just kind of knelt down to his level, and replied with "At the moment I have none but in the past I've owned a corn snake, who was very adventurous in the tank, a ball python who was lazy, as expected, a boa, who was beautiful, and an anaconda that ate my father." The boy just looked up at his father and I walked away to another register to get out of that hell-hole as quickly as possible. So, as expected, I had a terrible time at Petsmart () which was semi brought back up by the family that had absolutely no information on an animal they had only for four days, who I enjoyed messing with. /

[TheSnakeGuy]

Don't hate on PetSmart. They give their animals the most basic of care, the same as some of the people who shop there. It's a business, not an animal resort. And don't expect a store associate to inform customers about the full range of care of animals they themselves may have never owned. All some of the associates know is what is in the pamphlets given with animal sales. The pamphlets do not include every aspect of the care of the animal. That is for the customer to research themselves. That family simply didn't know what they were getting into.

[therunaway]

I didn't say it had to be an animal resort, but I mean, really, a T. the size of the palm of my hand, in a mini KK, and other animals in too small of a cage? I disagree with you there, I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not when you say "Don't hate on Petsmart, they give their animals the most basic of care." but I'm pretty sure you are. If not, then here's my response to you, I understand not giving the animals some five star hotel like enclosure as it may not be their long, but really? a Kritter Keeper, much too small for the animal? That is not okay.

[Mephibosheth1]

What size cages/tanks/tubs are the snakes at reptile expos housed in during the 2-3 day expo??





only about 2x as big as the snake is...still pretty small.

Businesses do what they 'have to' do, but can always improve. Sad fact.

[alykoz]

Don't just hate Petco, hate capitalism in general.

[bcr229]

I'm sorry, but you threw away a chance to educate this family by explaining that hiding is perfectly normal behavior for a baby corn snake as it's a perfect sized meal for many birds and it doesn't know that it's safe and living protected in a tank. Once it grows up a little it will be out and about more often.

[Mephibosheth1]

Unfortunately most people wouldn't respond well even to kind gentle education like this

I've found most people just blow off most of what herp experts tell them in preference to what the internet or some PetCo employee would do.

[Andys-Python]

Just some thoughts:

Its places like these that get people started in the hobby. I got my first snake at PetSmart. Some of the things they told me were correct. Other info was not so right. Yea, I did it the wrong way, but now I have educated myself and taken every opportunity to educate the people I know and meet. I’ve gone back to PetSmart, on several occasions, to give updates on my purchase and to share what I’ve learned. They look forward to seeing me and Bellatrix (my first purchase) and now pass on what I have taught, to their new employees and customers.

It’s up to US to educate the ignorant. It’s the only way we’ll eliminate the prejudice.

The 'trick' is not to come off like a know-it-all or with condemnation. I will ask questions on how they do things and offer what I have learned. I remember having a new employee show me a baby BP saying “Be careful of that one, he’s mean”. I showed him how to approach the snake from behind and pick it up and hold it until it relaxed and started to move. From then on, that snake was a ‘favorite’ of the store and everyone was sad to see it sold.

In defense of the OS... My first reaction is to slap the _ _ _ _ out of people too. LOL With age, comes wisdom (if you've paid attention), and I should be pretty wise at this age! LOL

[Eric Alan]

[SOAPBOX]

I'm completely confused by your post. It is a retailer's job to provide proper basic care for a short period of time while the animal is in their store. Nothing in this post suggests they were doing otherwise - you said nothing about the health of the animals other than being cramped.

I'm not sure how much tarantula experience you have, or how large your palm is for that matter, but I'd much rather see a rose hair being kept in a mini Kritter Keeper in a pet store than a too tall ExoTerra/ZooMed terrarium where it was prone to falling from the ceiling. To further the point, most tarantula breeder's collections are kept in containers that many people unfamiliar with the hobby would consider to be too small for them, but they are obviously thriving with proper care and maintenance. Also, you never said how large the fancy corn snake was that you were so upset by seeing in a mini Kritter Keeper. The ones I've seen being kept in this size are no bigger round than a pencil and are proportionally comparable to keeping hatchling BPs in shoe box sized racks - obviously nothing wrong with that. I also second the post that Mephibosheth1 made about Reptile Expos - the animals are obviously kept for short periods of time in enclosures that obviously don't meet their husbandry requirements. Compared with these expos, the display that you were so put off by at Petsmart is a resort - complete with free heat, food, and water!

I'm also not sure why you were so put off by the experience you had in the check-out line. PetSmart has a return policy on any animal they sell (for any reason - health or otherwise) because they understand that things happen in the real world once the new pet arrives home. It's the associate's job to provide basic care information - not give them the encyclopedic knowledge that you seem to think it takes to care for a snake or give them a real world snake keeping preview. That's what these forums are for!

Also, would you rather a cashier screw up a transaction at the cash register, or ask for help when needed? It also sounds like they also opened up another register so you won't have to wait as long behind the family you were getting impatient with. What horrible service!

What really gets me though is that you were the one pouring fuel on the fire with the family you encountered and weren't by any stretch of the imagination being a good ambassador for the hobby. I mean, seriously - an anaconda ate your father? Who says that to a stranger's child? Obviously, the family had some interest in bringing an unusual pet into their home, decided it wasn't for them, and you enforced their declining feelings towards our hobby and the type of person they now feel owns snakes.

[/SOAPBOX]

Eric

[Buttons]

I just kind of knelt down to his level, and replied with "At the moment I have none but in the past I've owned a corn snake, who was very adventurous in the tank, a ball python who was lazy, as expected, a boa, who was beautiful, and an anaconda that ate my father." The boy just looked up at his father and I walked away to another register to get out of that hell-hole as quickly as possible

Great job on possibly scaring a harmless child out of this hobby/community.