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.