PetSmart Near Me Has a BEL, Albino, Pied, and Banana. Not Happy With What I Saw.

[LittleTreeGuy]

Isn't $299 for a pied a good price? Usually the price is jacked up high for normals and morphs at petsmart and petco.


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That's not a horrible price... If it's med-high white, it's a decent price. If it's a high-white female, it's an even better price. For a very low - low white, I'd say that could be anywhere from a little high - good price, just depends. I can't find a pied around me anywhere for under $400, so I'd say it's a good deal. You can find nice pieds on morph market and other places for $350 or so...

[norcal707]

I personally seen a very nice baby pastel in my new local petsmart that just opened and it was infested with mites!! I told the person there and they went to the manager and asked what to do after they asked me about the process that it takes to deal with them. the manager just told them to take it in back and give it a bath... I offered to buy the snake at a reasonable price because the fact it needed a lot of help and knowing it would not get he help it needs and they told me no.. I went back a few days later for fish food and saw the same poor snake back out front in its tiny cage covered with mites.. after I saw that I just left the store and drove to Petco 15 min away just for my fish food.. I called petsmart company and made a formal complaint and told them exactly what happen and they just said ok... I will not be buying anything from petsmart again after that.

[PitOnTheProwl]

they asked me about the process that it takes to deal with them.

What information did you supply them with?

[norcal707]

I told them I'm no expert, but usual process is to quarantine the snake, clean enclosure thoroughly take it to a vet.. I told them that ive used reptile spray twice a week for a few weeks and it worked for me. I over herd the manager say that all they do is run it under warm water and that was it, nothing more.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Retail market is not like private/hobby ownership.
They do not and cannot afford to quarantine an animal for 3 to 6 months, that is what the end user should be doing.
No need for a vet but a warm soak with a couple drops of Dawn can go a long way.
Problem is the animal turn over rate and all the people cooing through the business can continue the mite problem.
This is a reason many small breeders do let just anyone in their house, who know what you are carrying.
There is always a larger picture than just what we want to see.

[Coluber42]

One thing I find ironic is that every time these threads come up, we end up with the paralell discussions of "is this a good price for x morph" and "look what a sorry state their husbandry is in, can't they be bothered to take decent care of their animals".

I'm not excusing any store's bad care practices. But I'm definitely seeing a double standard here.

Yes, pet stores should still take care of their animals and they need to be aware of what prices the market will bear; and they mostly make money on the sale of pet supplies and food, not on the actual pets.

But it doesn't help the situation to howl if the price doesn't come in below the average of what you might see on morph market, and then wonder why the care is substandard and the animals are overcrowded.

Retail is expensive. A pet store that has products on display in a store front with a location people will find and staffed all day every day costs more to run than a basement breeding operation or an online business run out of a garage or warehouse or whatever.
If you do find a store that has knowlegeable staff and takes good care of their animals and charges $25 or $50 more than the same morph from someplace online, don't complain that they are ripping you off. That price difference is the price you are paying to be able to walk into a nice store and talk to experienced keepers and walk out with a healthy animal, and know that you aren't paying for someone to mistreat the other animals in their care.

[cletus]

One thing I find ironic is that every time these threads come up, we end up with the paralell discussions of "is this a good price for x morph" and "look what a sorry state their husbandry is in, can't they be bothered to take decent care of their animals".

I'm not excusing any store's bad care practices. But I'm definitely seeing a double standard here.

Yes, pet stores should still take care of their animals and they need to be aware of what prices the market will bear; and they mostly make money on the sale of pet supplies and food, not on the actual pets.

But it doesn't help the situation to howl if the price doesn't come in below the average of what you might see on morph market, and then wonder why the care is substandard and the animals are overcrowded.

Retail is expensive. A pet store that has products on display in a store front with a location people will find and staffed all day every day costs more to run than a basement breeding operation or an online business run out of a garage or warehouse or whatever.
If you do find a store that has knowlegeable staff and takes good care of their animals and charges $25 or $50 more than the same morph from someplace online, don't complain that they are ripping you off. That price difference is the price you are paying to be able to walk into a nice store and talk to experienced keepers and walk out with a healthy animal, and know that you aren't paying for someone to mistreat the other animals in their care.

It's no different on any pet forum. You should see the betta forums. It's the same on music forums. Sam Ash/Guitar Center = Petco/Petsmart. They are mad because the display instruments are in horrible shape and salespeople cant answer questions about the instruments except for the price. It's the nature of any specialized message board. Bottom line is YOU choose where you spend your money. If you like the convenience of going to Petsmart, that's ok. Life goes on.

[zina10]

Very true.

Petstores wouldn't still be selling animals, if there weren't people constantly "rescuing" (at full price, overpriced at that) these animals that are often in less then ideal shape...

[CALM Pythons]

We have those also here in NY. Im told they come from Reptiles by MACK. Thats how they could be getting so many Diff morphs these days. (All hearsay of course)

[Hlow87]

We have those also here in NY. Im told they come from Reptiles by MACK. Thats how they could be getting so many Diff morphs these days. (All hearsay of course)

Exactly why i dont see why people bash the large chain pet stores..i find the breeder more at fault for keeping supplying the pet stores with snakes knowing they dont get taken care of and not knowing what kind of care the snake will ultimately end up in

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