Tell Me Your Stories

[Elvyra's Keeper]

I am writing an essay for my english comp. class about pet stores giving new snake owners bad or wrong information. I am asking for your horror stories that I can use in my essay.

disclaimer: I will not use real names of people or stores.

[slartibartfast]

I had a guy running a cruddy petshop, who bragged of 15 years experience breeding snakes, tell me not to bother breeding balls because it's just too hard. He also told me not to give the balls any hides because it "makes 'em mean".

I should add that he kept multiple adult and subadult balls in 10 gallon fish tanks with screen lids and no heat sources.

[frankykeno]

Mike and I were in a local chain petstore awhile back, checking out the ball pythons in a tank. All hatchlings, all underweight and most had stuck sheds. This would have been upsetting enough but we noticed something just barely seen under a fake tree cage ornament. Finally getting an employee's attention we had them remove the "tree". Hidden under it was a dying baby ball python. Skinny beyond belief, encased in it's own old shed, dehydrated and barely alive.

When we expressed our shock and called for a manager to attend, her explanation was "oh we must have missed that one in there, didn't know it was there". We then insisted they remove this dying baby and get it vet treatment. I highly doubt they did more than toss it in a freezer in the back room but at least it was no longer suffering.

How do you "miss" a snake in an enclosure? How do you not know how many hatchlings you have currently stuffed in a tank? How long had it been since that enclosure was cleaned that you couldn't see that snake that both Mike and I were able to see stuffed under that fake tree? How does any store morally sell hatchlings in such awful condition let alone living with a dying snake in their enclosure.

While in this instance they did not directly "give" us information, the way they keep these snakes implies that this sort of thing is just fine to the new keeper. They hold themselves up as the pet experts while keeping snakes in ways that my children would know are wrong! Their example when it comes to husbandry is a terrible one to follow but we often see it on this very forum..."but this is how the pet store I got the snake from did it".

[Elvyra's Keeper]

Thank you both for your stories. They both will help me with my essay.

[Laooda]

Totally off topic: It was nice meeting you!!!! I was the one that had no idea where we were going... till we landed at McD's!

[Elvyra's Keeper]

Totally off topic: It was nice meeting you!!!! I was the one that had no idea where we were going... till we landed at McD's!

LOL. Hey, it was nice meeting you too. McD's was easy to find, I don't know where you were going.

Has it gone down to 5 years now?

[Elvyra's Keeper]

Any more stories would still be appreciated!

[Elvyra's Keeper]

Any one have any other stories?

[Laooda]

LOL. Hey, it was nice meeting you too. McD's was easy to find, I don't know where you were going.

Has it gone down to 5 years now?

Hahaha.... yea, my ever-wobbling time line!

[Laooda]

Sorry I'm no use in the story area... don't EVEN want to get started...

OK! Here's one... I stood there and heard a Box Chain employee tell a customer that BP's ate crickets...

Thankfully the son waited till she walked away and said, "dad... we need a mouse"!