Quote Originally Posted by Laooda View Post
"and with all good intentions listens to an employee and takes all they say to heart..."

I think you misunderstood me... I wasn't implying that a new owner had any indifference or malice towards their new purchase.

I think that ideally, an educated staff coupled with a customer that is willing to self educate is the best scenario. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Hey, sorry, that post wasn't directed at you, Laooda. I actually thought you were making a good point by saying that most people on here are animal people and that it's good to also see this from other perspectives, and I wanted to expand on that.

I suppose that working with non-animal people on a daily basis, I start to sympathize with them. But maybe they just need to start thinking outside the box.

Sean, that was a well told anecdote that happens way too often. The parent-buying-for-child story is probably THE biggest cause of improper animal care that I see. The kid begs and pleads with his parents that he will never be happy again unless he has a [insert animal type here]. The parent doesn't really care about the animal, but wants to indulge or satisfy the kid. Unfortunately, most young kids aren't used to having responsibilities and/or are unable to care for animals themselves.

But here's the thing: the kids who receive these animals will also be learning about them, and learning to respect herps - which is definitely a good thing. So where do you draw the line?