Well You asked and here they are... My stories (very LONG)

[jessie_k_pythons]

The Russian Sand Boa.

While cleaning and moving cages around I found an empty 10 gal. Reptile cage on the top of the reptile viewing rack. (if you want to call it that) Since I had only been working there about a week I figured that it was something left over from the girl I took over for. I started to take the cage down and saw sand in the bottom, but then it started to move. :eek: I gently put back the cage, steeped off my stool and asked one of the girls I worked with if there was something in the cage. She told me that there has been nothing in the cage for about 5 months.

I walked back to the cage and grabbed my sand sifter and proceeded to sift through the sand to see if there was anything alive in there. Finely a small worm like object came through the sand. It was about 8 inches long with silver markings with black and had tiny silver eyes. It was thin and sickly. I talked with my boss when he came into work and asked if he knew that the snake was there, he knew all along but forgot about it. (very unlikely) The cage it's self was not heated nor did it have any water. I checked this odd looking boa out, it had mild mouth rot, and mites. Luckily the store did have a policy about sick or injured animals and he had to be removed. The hard part was to where. I had gone over all the reptiles in the store and had found that over half the reptiles were sick, had mites, or other problems that needed to be addressed. The back room was full of sick reptiles, so I figured I would ask to take this unknown boa home. After being in my care for 3 months the mouth rot was gone, the mites eliminated, and I spent a grand total of $300 in vet bills on this female Russian Sand Boa. I thought that with all that money spent I figured I more than payed for her, so I gave the vet check paperwork to my boss and the bill and asked to keep her. He looked it over and sighed, “sorry this ...Russian...Sand...Boa or what ever is worth at least $500 but thank you for taking the time and money to get it sexed and well enough to be sold.”
(I should have quit then)

$600.00 for a Black back?!?

Around the same time as the sand boa mishap, we got in a very large shipment of Ball Pythons.

This was what I loved about my job. There is no greater thrill in the world then to open a box full of baby reptiles and get to have one on one contact with them. (or to wake up and find a bunch of baby boas or to watch your ball python eggs hatch right in fount of your eyes, but I haven't had that pleasure yet) Apart from that, just getting full access to the stores reptile supplies made it better, I could use anything I wanted to make the perfect showcase for selling my beauties.

After using the last empty cage in the show racks, a 10 gal, I knew I had to sell off as many baby balls as I could to thin out the amount and keep them healthy. While going through the babies I spotted one odd one in the bunch. A small Black Back. It was awesome looking. On a lunch break I brought out 3 snakes and showed them to the girls. I asked if they saw anything different, they pointed out the BB and asked what it was. At this time I didn't know that my boss was eavesdropping on my talk with the girls. After lunch (nothing like eating lunch with 3 ball python babies in your lap) I asked what the going price was on the ball pythons I was told with tax $84.00. later that week I had the money ready to buy the BB baby and my boss came out from his office telling me that the price of that one was $600.00 The guy was out of his mind! “you said it was a Black Back. That is something worth a lot of money.”

Long story short I ended up having to make a trip to CA for a month and when I came back the BB was gone. I asked one of the girls I worked with if it actually sold for $600? She told me it ended up dieing.
With my boss's outrages rules about feeding it didn't surprise me that it didn't sell and it died from not eating. My boss ended up leaving the state for 2 weeks, and I took that time to feed the remaining baby BPs. I even paid for the pinks out of pocket. When he came back and found out from his “little girl friend” that I bought pinks and fed the babies he fired me for “not complying to store policy”.

I have tons more if you ever want to hear some. I have some really good ones on my boss *evil grin*

[Shelby]

Wow, now there's some stupid business practice. What a dolt!

[jessie_k_pythons]

tell me about it ... I'm in the middle of a law suit for some phyical (sp?) dammage that was done to my right eye. I'm blind in it. I was scrubing out a flat open toped bird cage (that wasnt cleand in at least 5 months) and I was told to pour bleach and a something called Highlight D along with 2 other corsives and start scrubbing it. not only did they not provide me with gloves but no eye protection. after adding the bleach and the 2 other cleaners, when i added the Highlight D it gluged out hit the bottem of the cage and splashed up in to my eyes. I ended up in the hospital and they refused to give me workers comp. then the balck back issue happened, i got fired and now i'm sueing the place.

[Grim91Z]

I hate places like that. I hate walking into pet shops and seeing crappy conditions for animals.Heck my G. rosea was in a small container with gravel and some aquarium toy (looked as though it was a fish bowl at one time) before I bought it.

[jessie_k_pythons]

aww the poor thing... wen I first got there that place was a mess! i mean if ASPCA came in they would have shut them down. they had over $5000 in fines for the unkempt animals alone. right after I cleaned the place they has a suprise inspection and passed. they were lucky.

[Grim91Z]

I think in order to run and maintian a pet shop tests need to be taken and passed, as well as weekly inspections by random "customers".

[elevatethis]

For the passionate hobbyist, working at a pet store that carries lots of herps sounds like a great opportunity. I did it for a while, and after a year and a half of busting my butt for crappy pay, I got out. Just too many negative experiences. I watched my boss force-feed a perfectly healthy yearling male ball; the customer insisted upon it because the snake hadn't eaten in a whole 3 weeks- it was January, c'mon. Maybe it was dealing with ignorant people all of the time ate away at me the most. I feel like I give out pretty decent advice- its a shame some people get offended by it.

What is it it about herp-shop bosses that make them all sound about the same. My favorite comment that my old boss made was in response to me feeding a 2500 gram boa a medium rat was "I'm not trying to see it gain any weight, just keep it alive- feed it mice."

Last summer, he went on this stint where he would spray the inside of the snake enclosures with water before we closed, leaving the snakes in tubs with no substrate, sitting in 1/4" of water overnight. Blister disease eventually killed 3 beautiful okatee corn snakes before he stopped doing it.

His other favorite thing to do was puncture the eyecaps of snakes whom he suspected of having retained caps, picking at them with tweezers. How many times did I explain the whole "wrinkly eye" condition to him? I lost count. I've got a ball that he did that to before I bought it, and 3 sheds later its just now starting to heal up. I'm still uncertain whether or not the snake has use of that eye though.

Thats enough ranting. I feel your pain Jessica.

[Freakie_frog]

Places like that are what turn people off to reptile keeper and shops. Sorry to hear you had such a horriable time. My prayers go out to you and the animals that place may have or will have.

[Blu Mongoose]

I know all to well about badly run shops. 3 weeks ago I walked into a petshop with an anaconda about 3 ft. being housed with a very tiny [possible hatchling] burmese. I almost bought the anaconda to keep it out of the wrong hands but a rescue is in fact not a rescue unless you can continue to care for what you take home.

[Ginevive]

Whoa Jess; the sad part about all of this is that I believe you. People are so damned ignorant regarding reptiles, it seriously sickens me.
My friend has a pet store not too far from here, where she mainly sells fish. She branched off into herps and mainly has lizards (lep geckos, a sudanese plated, think that's it for now.) At first she really didn't know what she was doing, but anytime I can, I help her out. I informed her that her BCIs would do better on cypress mulch than on the sand she had; she changed them and they are defonately shedding and generally living better.
To a degree, I know how it is on her end, to have so many things to do in that store that things get forgotten once in awhile. To not have the ability to hire someone because you're barely feeding yourself and your kid for the first few years. BUT, in reality, if someone wants a great successful store, their cleanliness and care for their animals need to come first.