Petco Balls

[sunshinenorcas]

Tali was a Petsmart brat as well. The only issue I had with husbandry at their store was they were co-habbing the ball pythons, but it was only two of them- not like petco where I've seen 10+ snakes in one 20L :/ She eats like a pig and is sweet and curious. She was a bit underweight, but they had been feeding the balls mouse fuzzies instead of hoppers or adults. The employee who had been helping me was not a 'reptile guy' and ended up asking me a bunch of questions and making sure that the reptiles looked ok and if they were doing the right thing. I told him what I knew about cohabbing (although, I don't think they can change that) and that fuzzies were too small for the balls. (I also got her on sale, so she ended up being about 40 dollars, so yay). I felt comfortable going to that store but for the next one, I plan on going to a breeder

[MsMissy]

*grumbles* Needed a heater for my new Betta tank <meanest betta EVER so had to get him his own home> and Petco was easiest so in I went. I really don't get it... They had a beautiful <yet pissy> Columbian red tail boa and his enclosure was decent; repti bark, good hide placement even if it was the wrong type of hide. The iguana enclosure is always nice and situated, but then to the Bp's. The only snakes in the store stuck on aspen shavings <I'm on the outskirts of the Mojave where it tends to be bone dry.>, one substandard half log hide. They have a beautiful spider right now but it's overpriced and def not in the greatest shape. *sighs* If I didn't have fake finger nails, I probably wouldn't have nails at all after having to hold my darn tongue. Not an easy thing for me, one of these days I'll snap while in there.

Ok, end rant... I really need to boycott that place. Would save me some stress.

[Trackstrong83]

Never been to a Petco, but I work at a Pet Pupplies Plus, and take pride in what I do. I have convinced my boss to order our BPs from a good friend of mine who just needs to get rid of his normals, so I can guarantee that the snakes we get our 100% healthy. Because some snakes we have received from "large" reptile distributors have had RI.
I take pride in what I do because I feel like I have extensive reptile knowledge, and if I am stumped on a question a customer has about a reptile, I instantly come to this website, or other credible ones to educate myself.
I do laugh at some main chain pet store employees that tell me that feeding my baby ball pythons every 5 days is "power feeding"

So I recommend that what people hear from pet stores they take with a grain of salt, and do research for themselves. After all, before I fell in love with this site, I looked a tons of different websites for snake information.

[crepers86]

my first ball came from petsmart, the girl that sold it to me didn't give me a pamplet she told me what I needed to know because she keeps several different types of snakes including balls. She was also the one that recommended I use sterilight tubs over a tank because the keep husbandry easier and cheaper in the long run. at the petsmart all the employs that worked in petcare had a lot of good knowledge, however the petco across the street was a different story. there Red Tail Boas where in great shap and better housing. the balls looked like a word I can't say here. Stuck on shed 8 in one 10 gal tank poop everywhere and When I asked if I could get a discount for how bad they looked I was only offered a 10% discount off of $80. now 3 weeks after I bought my first snake and a lot of research I found that my friend bought two balls from that same petco. one died a week later. they told him he needed a hotrock and a heat lamp. his cage had no hide how ever it was the right size. and whats worse they sold it to him as a Boa. the snake stayed with stuck on shed for 5 weeks thinking he was going to do some research after I told him to. nothing changed. I had found a local petshop that we went to where I bought my second ball that was an adult. I picked up proper equipment for my friend (heat pad, hides, and the right size feeders since petco told him to feed a pinky once a month [you could see light shinning through this snake for how skenny this snake was] took my 10 gal fish tank over to his house let the snake soak for about 3 mins all the stuck on shed came off. His dad was like wow that thing has been shedding for more then a month. Luckly there was no eye caps even after the stressful bath and getting the stuck shed off the snake pounded a hopper in less then 2 seconds of sticking it in the cage, took the heat rock cut the cord off re set up the cage explaind things on how to keep humidty and the snake is now thriving very good and is on medium rats now...

every petco I have been into since the balls look bad but the few petsmarts I have been to the balls are always only two to a tank and everything is spot on

[Mephibosheth1]

Even Petco mice look worse than Petsmart....and it's hard to make mice look bad :p

[Crazymonkee]

I was in a Petsmart once right after I got Lex... I went to get frozen mice pinkies cuz I was told that's what I should feed her from a friend that said she was highly knowledgeable, anyhow...
The girl that was working in the section asked me what type of snake I was feeding.. I told her a hatchling bp. She then told me that was way to small, that the only thing they sell close to size I need is the adult mice!
(Didn't really matter... she won't eat f/t as yet.. although I did try!)
She then went on to tell me that ordering them online would be more cost effective and have more sizes (including rats). I was thrilled with her knowledge but I also know it's few and far between!!


Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

[LooptyLoo]

Our local Petco is deplorable, I won't even go in there anymore. The reptiles are right up front and it just killed me to see the conditions they were living in (and that was before I knew anything about BP care, so that should tell you something.) The Petsmart here is definitely the better of the two, though still not as great as it could/should be.

[Mrl249]

Here's a pic I took of a carpet python at
one of our local pet stores. I made a huge deal, and corporate complaint.






Poor thing was skin and bones.

[Neal]

Hey Mrl, clean out your inbox.

[DestinyLynette]

I'll be trying to get a job at the local PetSmart here and then, if that fails, PetCo [this is the first place I've ever lived that has one- I'll pop my head in there and look... depends on how bad it is, in my experience PetSmart isn't bad]. I'll be requesting to be put over the reptile section [a rarity, I'm sure] and my goal is to do what I can to improve reptile care and customer knowledge of the animal they're taking home. I'll be out and about tomorrow and may swing by one or both of them, I'll update here as I learn more about their procedures and whatnot if that helps. That does really trouble me about the f/t business; if I have snakes that are repeat refusers of *properly* prepared f/t, I don't know that I can let them become malnourished... Well, if I get fired early, you know why. I'm definitely gunning for the PetSmart job though; I'm almost afraid to go into the PetCo since I've NEVER heard ANYTHING good about them... and if I get hired, I don't know how much power I have to do anything to fix things, I'll just do what I can.