Somewhat new member/Having issues with members

Originally Posted by Shiari

The petsmart near me sells all their corns for $69.99 so I could get the same low-end morph shipped to me from a breeder and know more about the animal.

Ah well all the petstore near me sell corns for a flat price of $40 each. not to mention shipping costs from a breeder.

Take into consideration the cost of shipping will be $35-$60, depending on the breeder and the distance it has to go and the size of the packaging. So let's say $50 extra. Now the snake is going to live for 15-25 years. It really isn't much additional cost over the course of the snake's lifetime, to have your pick of the whole world of snakes, rather than the limited selection at a pet store.

In addition, eventually you _will_ run out of room. It may take years, but you will. Or your collection will grow to a size that it is no longer fun to care for. Either way, it is very, very hard to part with a snake that has been your friend, that you have raised from a baby, even if you find a wonderful new home for it. So your interests may have evolved, and you may want to add new genes, or the prettiest new morph, and be out of space. It's easier in the long run to make each new addition a conscious choice, something you are sure you can't live without, a morph so amazingly beautiful you have to have it, than to fill up your space and time with cheap, easily-available snakes.

I'm not saying the normals, amels, anerys, snows, etc. aren't beautiful and personable and loveable. They are. That's kind of the problem, if you don't remain content with the basics and want to expand.

When I got into snakes this round, as an adult, I started with a WC normal corn. Then a Cali king that was given as a gift. I was active on this forum, and read about genetics, and looked at the pretty pictures, but I felt at the time like I wanted one of each of every cool snake I saw. I thought cornsnakes were boring. The new species started trickling in. Nelsons Milksnake, Tri-colored hoggy, Florida King, and so on. Fortunately, I realized before my collection was _too_ eclectic that I actually _did_ like the plain old cornsnake the best. They are small, gentle, easy to care for, readily available, affordable. There are lots of genes and plenty of room for a person to strike out on their own and try to make a new gene combination, or to roll their own "designer morph" that they can't afford to buy. So just because you don't think at this point in time that you won't be interested in breeding, maybe only one special clutch a year, it's something many of us evolved into without intending to.

OK let me put my two cent in... Im am not totally against buying snakes from big chain stores.... However, the ones I recently recieve in the mail fron a breeder were overall healthlier, bigger and perfect eaters than the ones I got at the local mom and pop. They shed beautifully as well. I know their history which is a major plus. I also know their hets. Something you will not get will snakes from big chain stores. Ive seen really neat morphs at petco that the people had no idea what they were just that they were fancy. I really lucked out with Piglet but that was one time, not sure I would be always this lucky.

I got off topic sorry, recieving the snakes in the mail was a bit stressful, it was my first time. But the breeder walked me through every step. He even call the morning they were to be delievered!

Check the BOI before every purchasing a snake through a breeder online. Ask others if they have had experiences etc!

But if you see that Petco snake you just have to have... I would say go for it but be prepared to nurse it back to health! It took us 4 good months to get Piglet to his weight and a lot of tender loving care!

I am by no means an expert nor have the most experienced with snakes. I still ask questions almost everyday and I do educate myself constantly!

Originally Posted by kathylove

I consider myself a careful and tactful poster. I always proof my contributions a couple of times before posting, and use the spell check, too. So I get very upset with myself when I find an error or lack of clarity or empathy in any of my posts (and it STILL happens sometimes!). Thus I tend to notice similar items in other posts.

I realize it is very difficult to put yourself in another person's "shoes". That is especially true if you are new and unsure of yourself here, or when posting in an emotionally charged thread you are passionate about. But if you look back at a problematic thread later, when you are not as involved with it, you may (or may not) be able to see something in your own writing that might come off as aggressive or defensive, as Shiari noted. I have to admit that it raises my hackles a little when I come across posts from people who seem to have a bit of a chip on the ol' shoulder, too. But I try to ascribe it to just "one of those Internet things" because you can't get the real tone, gestures, and other body language to give you the real intent behind the words. Of course there are posts that are truly rude or aggressive by anyone's standards!

I guess my main suggestion is to try to ignore those who don't play well with others (or are just having a bad day for some reason) while enjoying the majority of our members who have a lot of knowledge and who really enjoy interacting with others who share some of the same interests, but often bring diverse ideas and opinions you might not have thought of yourself.

Well said Kathy and you are so right on not being able to see the person face or body language and I myself need to remember this too. Iam a very sensitive person and sometimes I think that pepole are just being mean too me when they really not.

i'm not advocating buying from chain pet stores. i'm just saying for some of us it may be the better choice. personally i dont care for breeding and i really don't plan on ever doing it and as far as more snakes...i don't plan on getting even 1 more for at least 5 years...so while i would have loved to have a blizzard from a breeder online (over $100), a snow from the local petco ($49 with tax), is just fine with me.

I got Piglet onsale for 20 bucks! But I had to nurse him back to health!

Bad enough for PetCo and PetSmart to sell them, but when WalMart does it truly will be the Apocalypse

I don't care where people get their snakes, could care less what morph they keep, what breeder(s) they know, none of it. I still come here because A: I've always been here (1st inception Dec 2002 I think) and B: I just like snakes. With all the personalities over the years I just turn a deaf ear to the rude ones, or the know it all's. Sheesh not too hard to keep them anyway, so being a "know it all" on keeping corns is on par with coming in 7th in an 8 man race.

You get out of it what you put in to it. Don't take it, or other people too seriously. It's really just a corn snake forum

Originally Posted by chris68

Bad enough for PetCo and PetSmart to sell them, but when WalMart does it truly will be the Apocalypse

I don't care where people get their snakes, could care less what morph they keep, what breeder(s) they know, none of it. I still come here because A: I've always been here (1st inception Dec 2002 I think) and B: I just like snakes. With all the personalities over the years I just turn a deaf ear to the rude ones, or the know it all's. Sheesh not too hard to keep them anyway, so being a "know it all" on keeping corns is on par with coming in 7th in an 8 man race.

You get out of it what you put in to it. Don't take it, or other people too seriously. It's really just a corn snake forum

Amen my friend!! very well said

I got my friest corn snake from Pet Supplies Plus and I'm very happy with him and he is a great eater he was 69.99 dollars. He is sure worth the money thir is not a mean bone in his body.