Needing to vent

So I went to a nearby mall and low and behold there was a reptile shop! All reptiles, it was like a mini zoo in there. Super cool.

I went in, browsed around and started talking to the man working there. I'm far from am expert but I'm fairly certain everything he said was horrible advice! I was really surprised a small locally owned shop that was specialized to just reptiles could be SO misinformed.

I'll list some highlights. If any of this is accurate info, please correct me!

-you want her warm side to be 90 so you just need a UTH and no thermostat.
-when I told him I just started feeding her fuzzies that weighed about 5 grams he asked how big she was. I said she was 28 grams. He said "that means nothing. How long is she. You can stop weighing her and her food"
-just feed her like 3 pinkies. You can then move up to rat pinks when she's big. You don't need to feed her anything else.
-when I said I thought pinkies didn't have much nutritional value he said "yeah they do as much as anything else. They have bones. You can feed her pinks forever if you wanted, just give her like 3 or 4"

At about that point I mumbled a thank you and left. I couldn't believe it. I still can't. I guess the bottom line is it doesn't matter if it's a big box store or a local speciality store, don't take what one person is saying on face value. I feel bad for anyone who is new to the hobby thinking they must be getting good info from a place like this.

End rant.

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I'm sorry that store exists! I agree that was a lot of misinformation he gave you, especially about sizing mice - I was always taught to go by girth size or weight, not length because that can vary a lot.

I hate knowing that places exist where they keep lots of reptiles and sell them to the misinformed public. I feel so bad for the animals

Hi! I couldn't help but notice that you lived in Lathrop. Was this specialty store the one in the Tracy mall? Just out of curiosity. I was going to go there to check it out because I heard they were gonna have an expo by that place in November.

But what I just heard, if it is that store, I can't believe that they would give such misinformed advise! I have gotten some bad advise from small specialty stores as well. It makes me very very sad. I guess the best thing to do is to take the advise with a grain of salt and just do your own research.

When I got Solis, the employee told me that he had his ball pythons on uths without thermostats and they were all fine. Prior to buying my baby I had researched that you HAD to have one or risk your snake or tub burning. Both of which I wasn't going to chance. Thermostat check. Well that was my little experience with a specialty store. Still go there to buy my pinkies in between large shipments and if I need other supplies like aspen bedding. That bit about the thermostat was the only thing I found wrong. The rest of the info was rather accurate based on my own research. As a new pet owner people must do their own research BEFORE buying their animal IMO.

Sorry for the long post on this thread. Lol just had to put my two-six cents in.

Stores like this, and the employees of these stores, are so irresponsible.

As much as I'd like people to be completely responsible, I've spent enough time to see people make horrible decisions because they follow what some random person told them and doing basic research. Whether it's buying a house, investing, not saving for retirement (get on that ASAP you youngins, I'm serious!), people will continue to make awful decisions. If people can't figure out these life-altering decisions, I doubt they would give more than 10 minutes to researching how to care for animals. It is really imperative that specialty stores give out good information because most people will never learn beyond that.

Sorry to derail your rant with my rant. Continue on... nothing to see here...

The place where I bought my Bella was ridiculous also!! For one they told me she was albino and she isn't then they told me she was about a year old and came from a different store in another state but she is only 16 inches and they then told me to feed her EVERY OTHER DAY!!


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They are not necessarily irresponsible but they are definitely misinformed. Stop whining about how bad they are and give the guy the proper information. Tell him you know these things for a fact and if he still says he's right and you're wrong THEN you have a legitimate gripe.

You think this is upsetting? Go into a Petco and ask about the care of betta fish. Now that's upsetting! Got to the point where I made up a care sheet for bettas and gave it to the really dopey ones.

nicolefowler2005 said:

For one they told me she was albino and she isn't

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Bella is an albino, which around here is more commonly referred to as amelanistic, amel for short. The term "albino" is generally more useful in describing amelanistic mammals than reptiles.

And Cane, I can totally relate. Yesterday I spotted the care sheets in a Pet Supplies Plus and on their corn snake sheet they had one of Don S.'s photos of a palmetto, then proceeded to say that corn snakes and rat snakes are "basically the same thing". Excuse me wut?

OK well I guess they got the albino part right but the rest of it was bad advice LOL


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Dragonling said:

Bella is an albino, which around here is more commonly referred to as amelanistic, amel for short. The term "albino" is generally more useful in describing amelanistic mammals than reptiles.

And Cane, I can totally relate. Yesterday I spotted the care sheets in a Pet Supplies Plus and on their corn snake sheet they had one of Don S.'s photos of a palmetto, then proceeded to say that corn snakes and rat snakes are "basically the same thing". Excuse me wut?

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Okay boys and girls: All corn snakes are rat snakes but not all rat snakes are corn snakes. Of course to confuse them even more, we mostly feed our corn snakes who are also rat snakes, mice.

Did they credit the palmetto pic? Get permission to use it? Well, at least it's a corn snake. Could have been worse.

DollysMom said:

Did they credit the palmetto pic? Get permission to use it? Well, at least it's a corn snake. Could have been worse.

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I took a pic in-store and sent it to Don, so he is looking into it. If their care sheet was correct he didn't seem to mind them using his photos, but it had a few issues like the one I mentioned. On top of that, I don't think it's a good idea to use a photo of a palmetto, which won't be seen in big box pet stores for at least another decade or more. How disappointing must it be for people to discover their new favorite morph is waaaay outside their price range?

Dragonling said:

I took a pic in-store and sent it to Don, so he is looking into it. If their care sheet was correct he didn't seem to mind them using his photos, but it had a few issues like the one I mentioned. On top of that, I don't think it's a good idea to use a photo of a palmetto, which won't be seen in big box pet stores for at least another decade or more. How disappointing must it be for people to discover their new favorite morph is waaaay outside their price range?

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I agree on the photo of the palmetto. They should show a normal or an amel, or another common morph. I was being a tad sarcastic when I said at least it was a corn snake. Glad you alerted Don. Too many have used his photos without credit or permission. Especially when you are a large corporation, get permission.