So Very Sad!

[rabernet]

There's a little mom and pop pet store by me where I first got interested in ball pythons. Every time I'd stop in to pick up dog food, I'd gravitate to the balls.

When I was ready to acquire my first BP, I went back there and handled a few, but noticed they seemed a little thin, so was happy I didn't "impulse" buy from them. Plus, they contradicted everything I had previously read about husbandry. They have some sub-adults (I think 5 or 6) that are in a huge tank together with no hides and a huge water dish and one is always in there soaking.

The babies are all housed in one tank with no hide either. Today when I went in to get a feeder mouse (thankfully they seem to be healthy, it's just their herps that are in sad shape), I went to look at their babies again (after I asked him if he carried Prevent-A-Mite, although I don't see any signs of mites on Kashmire, I just wanted to see if they had it). They had poop all over them, one was belly up with a mite crawling over it, and they were really emaciated. I wished I could "rescue" them, but of course don't have the money for separate enclosures for each of them. I said "you have a dead one in here, I think", then it slightly moved. He was like "yup, we have a couple that we don't think are going to make it" (like it was no big deal). I hate that I have to deal with them at all for mice, but there aren't a lot of options where I am, and right now, since Kashmire hasn't fed for me (I got him Thursday last week and have been allowing him to get acclimated and monitoring his weight, which has remained constant at 74 grams) and has only been fed live, I'm going to be offering him live.

Whether I'll switch to pre-killed or f/t is up in the air, especially reading 8ball's comments on the subject (thank you 8ball for always providing insightful feedback, it's been invaluable to me!)

Robin

[Brandon.O]

I know exactly what you mean..

The petstore here takes horrible care of thier reptiles.

Sometimes even thier rodents arent in good shape, they are all very crowded and every once in a while you will see a dead one in the tank.

I buy most of my feeders from a breeder so i really dont have to deal with them.Sometimes if i see a good lookin, healthy mouse ill bring it home to add to the little breeding group i have.

[frankykeno]

That's so sad when someone in the business of selling any creature treats them with so little knowledge and feeling. I'd be darn careful about hygiene after being in a store like that.

We buy live mice from our local pet store which is pretty good all in all but I still buy a few days early and feed the mice at home where they aren't in a huge mouse colony having to fight for food. I figure a couple of days of good food and water helps the mouse so in the end provides a slighter better prey for my snake. Also gives me a chance to check the mice over a few days to make sure they are healthy looking.

~~Jo~~

[rabernet]

Joanna,


They did give me mouse food, so since Kashmire refused to eat last night too, the little guy (the mouse) is safely ensconsed in his Kritter Keeper to try for another day.

Thank you for your advice yesterday on my regulating temps thread and advising on getting the Accu-Rite thermometer. I LOVE that thing! I picked one up after work and got it for $12 (less than the price on the shelf for some reason). Kashmire thinks it's pretty cool too, both to hide behind and to climb on.

Robin

[new2BP]

same here, the pets unlimited store has no ide what they are doing when it come to reptiles. specially there BPs. they have no hides, only a water dish and one vine to climb on. and they wonder why they are not eatting. I actually purchased one of the Bps when they first got them in, and i am glad i took him home as soon as he came in because i didnt want him stayiong in invironment like that. my bp seems very healthy and is eatting every week and they cant there to eat. they also dont have any temp gauge (analog or dig) to tell them the temps or humidity. ticks me off.

[frankykeno]

Glad you got that Accu-Rite Robin, they are great for the price aren't they. Actually I noticed last week at our local Wal-Mart that the Accu-Rites were down a few dollars so that's always nice for us snake peoples LOL.

We picked up a roll of that neat velcro stuff and have our Accu-Rite velcro'd to the front of the Sterlite on the cool side with the stand flipped up out of the way as it's best for the snake and the Accu-Rite if it's not dragged all over the tank or peed on. A snake could get itself caught in the stand if it's small enough (and I'm incredibly anal about Baby getting any scale damage) so we put it up on the tub side. We used the velcro as it's removable and not as dangerous as something like tape would be to the snake.

A word of caution tho about the probe and the long thin cable. If you feed in the tub as we do, just make sure the cable/probe are well out of the way when the snake is striking/coiling.


~~Jo~~

[iceman25]

There's a little mom and pop pet store by me where I first got interested in ball pythons. Every time I'd stop in to pick up dog food, I'd gravitate to the balls.

When I was ready to acquire my first BP, I went back there and handled a few, but noticed they seemed a little thin, so was happy I didn't "impulse" buy from them. Plus, they contradicted everything I had previously read about husbandry. They have some sub-adults (I think 5 or 6) that are in a huge tank together with no hides and a huge water dish and one is always in there soaking.

The babies are all housed in one tank with no hide either. Today when I went in to get a feeder mouse (thankfully they seem to be healthy, it's just their herps that are in sad shape), I went to look at their babies again (after I asked him if he carried Prevent-A-Mite, although I don't see any signs of mites on Kashmire, I just wanted to see if they had it). They had poop all over them, one was belly up with a mite crawling over it, and they were really emaciated. I wished I could "rescue" them, but of course don't have the money for separate enclosures for each of them. I said "you have a dead one in here, I think", then it slightly moved. He was like "yup, we have a couple that we don't think are going to make it" (like it was no big deal). I hate that I have to deal with them at all for mice, but there aren't a lot of options where I am, and right now, since Kashmire hasn't fed for me (I got him Thursday last week and have been allowing him to get acclimated and monitoring his weight, which has remained constant at 74 grams) and has only been fed live, I'm going to be offering him live.

Whether I'll switch to pre-killed or f/t is up in the air, especially reading 8ball's comments on the subject (thank you 8ball for always providing insightful feedback, it's been invaluable to me!)

Robin

Do what I used to do. Print off our caresheet on BP's and mail it to them, or stick it on there door in the dead of night I prefer the latter cause it seems to make them clean up there acts at least for a little bit. Its only this one store though. I'm not sure it might work for your