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Adventures in PetSmart-Land

Dragonling said:
As a recently-hired PetSmart pet care associate, I thought I'd make a thread to jot down some of my experiences working with reptiles in a big box store, particularly through the holidays.

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A lady approached me asking if we had any turtles. I showed her the two painted turtles we have on the floor and told her we also had an African side-necked turtle in new arrivals that would be out by the end of the week. "Well, this is for my son. He's been begging me for some kind of reptile, really want a turtle or a gecko or something." She told me he was 13, so I advised against an aquatic turtle since they require a decent amount of work. I was just about to bring up the ease of caring for corn snakes, when she suddenly paled. "Is...that a snake?" she asked, pointing at a ball python. She threw her hands in the air and backed up several paces, nearly running into the display behind her. "OH NO, I don't want to be NEAR that thing, what if it gets OUT?!" So much for that idea. I tried to redirect her attention to the leopard geckos. She seemed much more comfortable with that idea, but still wouldn't go anywhere near it, or the display case. I advised her to just buy her son some supplies for Christmas and let him pick out his own gecko later on. She was quite happy to pick out a few hides and a water bowl and be on her way.

Later, a guy I'd talked to yesterday about snakes came back in and wanted to check out our striped Cal king. Of course, I had been feeding and handling some rodents just a while earlier and had yet to wash my hands. As soon as I got him out, I knew he was in hunting mode. Since there were a few folks around watching, I didn't try to prevent him from biting. Predictably, he nabbed my finger and coiled it tight. It was a great opportunity to show that 1. baby bites really don't hurt at all, and 2. kings in particular are known for "food aggression" which is really just a case of mistaken identity. I also used the example to gently encourage him to consider getting a corn first before moving up to kings and milks. I had to run him under the tap to get him to let go...he's a strong little guy, and a good eater too! He was quite determined to keep trying to eat my hands, so I finally put him back in his cage. I'll have to remember to clean up before getting into the snake cages again!
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Why would you let the snake bite you? My first snake was my Kingsnake I have now. He has never ever tried to bite or strike at me. A cornsnake could have done the very same thing. Most snakes will when in their hungry mode.
Not saying you did a bad thing :) I just would have not done that in front of people. It kinda gives the poor lil kingsnake a bad rap rotfl.

And people that don't like snakes would dislike them even more if they saw an employee getting bit. Again I'm not saying anything to bash your and what not :) Just an observation ;)
 
Kings are notorious for biting anything when hungry. LOL
I've had some that have launched themselves out of their enclosure to get to the food.

I don't see a problem with how she handled it. The two points she made hold true, in general.
I think when people see that the bites don't hurt, it takes some of the fear of the bite out.

When I first got into snakes, I would flinch when a hatchling Corn struck at me. Now, it's no big deal. I take bites from baby Colubrids and Morelia all the time.
I've even taken a bite from my baby GTP, they have much bigger teeth.
It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't horrible. (Now, and adult GTP bite, that would be a different story.LOL)
 
MysticExotics said:
1 Kings are notorious for biting anything when hungry. LOL
2 I've had some that have launched themselves out of their enclosure to get to the food.

3 I don't see a problem with how she handled it. The two points she made hold true, in general.
4 I think when people see that the bites don't hurt, it takes some of the fear of the bite out. )
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1) absolutely agree LOL

2) My BIG FL King just recently (AGAIN) launched himself out of his tub when I opened it and chased me out of the room!!!! BOY do I LOVE him !!! LOL

3)agreed

4) Who knows if it is going to be positive or negative experience. I guess it all depends how open minded and how deep their fear of snakes is.

Get bitten by an adult Tegu and it will send you to the hospital for stitches. A fact that Pam and I can attest to personally. Both instances were our fault. Mine was another one of my "I'm an idiot" moments ! :D
 
I knew the folks standing around there were into the reptiles, so it wasn't a big deal. The other day I actually ran into one couple who was observing that day, and they laughed about it. :)

Even just standing near the Cal king's cage after messing with rodent bedding, he comes out sniffing. I love it. :D I really want a king or two someday.
 
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Maybe my kingsnake is different? I don't know but he is the nicest snake I've ever held. But granted he is my only kingsnake :p

Good to know that most of the people were into the snakes :) That does make a difference I wasn't aware of that, but again I wasn't talking bad to you or how you handled it, I was just curious. Makes sense, maybe I need to handle more kingsnakes to see the difference between the individuals lol.

I have people ask me all the time how I like getting bitten by my snake, when I say "Don't know, he has never bitten or struck at me." They call me a liar rotfl!!! Now I was holding a corn snake and that lil sapsucker did get me. It was pretty much grown up and no it still didn't hurt lol.
 
Oh, I actually had thought about it after posting that and realized the milksnake I handled previously had musked a bit. I'm betting he smelled that on me. Either way, it was definitely a food response. He is otherwise very calm and non-aggressive.
 
well i would like to share something with you guys out here that are having experienced great pet from pet Smart here is mine zillauploadfromtaptalk1453054734978.jpg

Sent from my LG-D415 using Tapatalk
 
What a beauty! Is that a blizzard/whiteout?

So today as I was feeding the reptiles, a man approached and asked to see one of the Chinese water dragons. He was very enthusiastic, and hey, anyone who gets excited about the reptiles just makes my day. As he was inspecting it head to tail, he muttered under his breath, "Now if only I could find someone with blue-tongue skinks."

Me: "Oh BHB Reptiles is the place to start. Brian Barczek is convinced they're the next big thing."
Customer: "Well they shouldn't have them. They're endangered. They're illegal."
Me: "Er, no I don't think they are, and there are tons of breeders in the US."
Customer: "No last time I tried to get one I was told they're not allowed anymore. Darn shame, I wanted to get a female for my male. He died of loneliness, should have lived to 60."
Me: "..."

At this point another associate took over so I could continue feeding the animals on the floor. Apparently this "blue-tongue" of his was also 6 feet long when it passed. I'm still wondering what kind of lizard he actually had and how it really died...
 
Our Petco has reptile nights in warm months where people are encouraged to bring their animals (usually in a snake bag or bin), and talk to each other. It's a lot of fun, and since it's posted in the store, people who come regularly know that that's when the snakes will be out. We have one gentleman who brings his burmese python
(who is basically the world's biggest ball python in personality. He's one calm snake) and quite a range of animals who show up regularly. It's also a great chance for people to interact with the animals.

About 2 years ago, my daughter started taking toy snakes to give to the kids who come to see the animals, tagged with information about our local herp group and her blog about snakes for kids. We don't usually bring our corn because she gets really active in the store (I think she smells the rodents), but do occasionally bring our BP as long as it's warm enough and he's not shedding or hasn't just eaten.
 
A customer came in wearing yellow rubber gloves clutching a laundry bag inside a cardboard box. When I saw what was inside, I told her she was wise to use gloves. Look at this beauty!

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Though tokay geckos aren't really beginner reptiles, they insisted on keeping it, so we did our best to teach them about caging and dietary requirements. Poor guy had a lot of broken teeth so I recommended smaller dubia roaches and a trip to my vet for a fecal and overall checkup. Hopefully they'll come back and give us an update!
 
How do you handle it when the customer wants something they are obviously not going to care for properly?
 
Technically we're not allowed to deny a sale, but fortunately the pet care manager is a true animal lover and will happily tell someone to leave the store if they won't listen to solid advice. We can't control what people do once they get their new pet home, and sadly we've had some very unfortunate returns in plastic baggies. One of the hardest for me was a sweet young pearled cockatiel who refused to eat whatever his new owner was offering (I never heard the details, only the aftermath) and starved to death. It was infuriating that whoever she spoke to apparently was dismissive and said to just keep trying. My guess was she was trying to convert it to a pellet diet, which is usually better nutritionally, but never offered seed when the bird wouldn't eat the pellets. Bird deaths are especially hard for me for some reason. I've had young snakes die on me while working at RbM, and it's sad but I can usually go about my day alright. Finding a dead bird leaves me a sobbing mess in the back room.

We recently sold a chameleon to a couple of college girls. I'm still convinced they will probably end up killing it, fragile as they are, but they did listen to advice and even took down some notes on their phones and made mostly good purchases for housing, etc. Hopefully they'll do more homework now that they have it home.
 
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