It absolutely depends on the store. I have gotten 2 ball pythons from Petsmart and one corn snake from Petco. All 3 animals appeared in good health and I haven't had any issue with them being sick or mite infested. The prices seemed fine to me since I got all mine on sale. Even normal prices from a breeder though would probably be about the same with shipping thrown in. Each individual store from both chains is different. Some have been neat(for a chain store) while others aren't incredibly well done.