Robin:

I agree with what you're saying about your experience with the Petsmart near you. My only point is that your experience doesn't match mine. The BP we have from Petsmart was a better choice for a novice owner than the three we have from a breeder, based on my experience with various pythons.

I have three "big box" stores near me and several smaller pet stores. I would never recommend the smaller stores because of the low quality of the animals and the poor care they receive.

Of the bigger stores on the highway, Pet Goods is the best with Petsmart second and Petco a distant third. Pet Goods is a small local chain (3 stores here) and they purchase their reptile stock directly from breeders or occasionally from reptile shows like Hamburg, PA and White Plains, NY. They feed properly sized live mice or rats and provide very good care.

I have seen Petsmart employees feed F/T hoppers to the young BP's and Corn's. Could they eat larger mice? Yes, but not much larger. On the plus side the snakes don't hang around more than a few weeks. The tanks are too small and they will keep up to three in a tank.

I'm not sure if anyone at Petco knows anything about any of the animals they sell.

My point again:

"ALL generalizations are dangerous, even this one."
- Alexandre Dumas

JohnNJ