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PetSmart rant!

Chip

Chip

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒ&
I have fixed more PetSmart problems than I can remember since opening this store. But in the last two weeks, I've been tempted to show up at the store and ask to speak to a manager. For now, I will share only the cornsnake related stores.

Case one: Customer calls about corn snake not eating. I ask general questions, temps are unclear, so I assume that's the issue. I ask the customer to bring the animal in. It's an unsexed normal, pippie sized, cost $59. If they can sell a normal for that, good for them, I suppose. I check it for mites, pop it, and offer to fuss with it for a few days. Put it in a cage away form my stock, and let it settle for a couple of hours. Then throw in f/t pink, and it eats right away. Call the customer. They were told to feed it crickets and put guppies in the water dish! Send them off with some frozen pinks. No correspondence since, hopefully no news is good news.

Case two: Customer calls about corn snake not eating. I sold them the animal, it was a yearling and had been doing great. Temps are "70ish." Customer had cut the heating pad to fit under the tank better. Customer went to Pet Smart and was sold a UVB bulb and fixture, and that I should have sold them one with the animal. Against my better judgment, I replace the heat pad. Snake ate the next day. I guess you can't think of everything a customer might do (such as cut a heat pad), but I do give Kathy or Don's book away with every corn purchase, as well as a short one page care sheet (which includes the URL to other care sheets and this message board).

I've seen fliers that cover the basics of species care at Pet Smart, though I haven't seen the one on corns. But I wouldn't think it would recommend UVB lighting as a necessity. I can only imagine the employee turnover at a big store like that, but surely the basics on husbandry are taught. More than one customer has come in telling me they got a new corn... and put it in the same viv as the one they got from me. I think "Don't cohabitate" is the second bullet point on my general snake care sheet. As much as I'm frustrated with that particular store, I'm frustrated that people don't educate themselves. Especially when the literature is given to them! Where is the curiosity we all had when we discovered these animals? So many customers seem to want a reptile, but no interest in learning about them. I can not even relate to that.
 
I think you do a good thing by giving them books on corns and even a summarized care sheet with every corn. I do agree though, if they can't educate themselves, then what do they really expect?
 
I feel your pain. You can't help some people. My brother and his wife bought my twelve year old nephew a Corn hatchling. I carefully wrote them a basic caresheet, helped them get the setup right and they dutifully bought Kathy's book.

They've now changed the UTH for a heat lamp, they have the stat probe half way up the wall of the tank at the cool end and they're powerfeeding (the poor Corn was adult-sized at less than a year old). All because "The Man In The Shop" told them I'd given them wrong information. They claim to have ready Kathy's book but apparently *she* knows less than "The Man In The Shop" as well.

When the snake stopped eating earlier in the year, "TMITS" told them that it was in a breeding fast. At seven months old. Yeah right. I told them to check the temps and was told without a pause that they were fine. When I went round, the UTH had been accidentally switched off at the plug and the temp was down to under 70 degrees (not that their plastic dial thermometer - that I had begged them to change - had even twitched of course. ARRRGGHHH!). I switched the UTH back on and stood over it while the stat brought it back to 85 degrees. Two days later the snake started eating again. However, they still firmly believe that it was because it had ended its breeding fast.

Ultimately, people choose who they believe and what research they do for themselves, and you can't do much about it.
 
Idiots buying from more idiots.

It's a bad relationship that only causes harm to the purchased animals.

Doubt it will ever change.
 
Again, a) why does noone call the people who actually know stuff at Petsmart, and b) Why can't I ever get an interesting customer? :'(
 
elrojo said:
They were told to feed it crickets and put guppies in the water dish! Send them off with some frozen pinks.
Click to expand...

I should probably be shocked, but I'm not really. However, it is probably one of the craziest things I've heard.



I've seen fliers that cover the basics of species care at Pet Smart, though I haven't seen the one on corns. But I wouldn't think it would recommend UVB lighting as a necessity. I can only imagine the employee turnover at a big store like that, but surely the basics on husbandry are taught.
Click to expand...

Well, they do recommend UVA lighting (http://promotions.petsmart.com/landing/snake/housing.shtml) and customers definitely get confused. We could give the benefit of the doubt and say maybe the employee was so new they hadn't learned yet, but then they should have said so and not made up something so ridiculous.


As much as I'm frustrated with that particular store, I'm frustrated that people don't educate themselves. Especially when the literature is given to them! Where is the curiosity we all had when we discovered these animals? So many customers seem to want a reptile, but no interest in learning about them. I can not even relate to that.
Click to expand...

Better get used to it if you have a store! ;)
 
Get this...went to the MARS show and was in the accessory area and was buying a hide for our gecko and the guy came over and asked what I was buying it for, well I should say kid...couldn't have been more than 15...said "Oh well cresteds don't hide so you won't need that." Then I said "Oh well, yes they do. They are noctournal and hide during the day to feel secure." He goes on to say "Well, this might be a difference of opinion because none of mine have hides." And walks away!!
 
I am not a big fan of these big box pet stores. Whichever one runs the adoption days for dogs & cats is doing a good thing -- they sell a ton of dry goods and help shelters & rescues place animals. I try not to look at their reptiles, it makes me sad. But I do buy dry goods there because I have 3 cats to buy food & litter for & how many snakes? to buy aspen for.
 
I got you all beat because my friends do listen to me. A friend of mine bought a small hatchling milksnake at a local reptile show and put it in a old 55 gal fish tank that did not hold water anymore. They had it for about 2 or 3 weeks and it was not eating so they called me. Told them to get a UTH, a dimmer and a cheap T-meter and to remove the overhead heat light that was 18" from the bottom of the tank. I brought some frozen pinkies with me and a feeding tub(deli tub) my friend said they had been trying live pinks. However, as big as the tank was the snake just was not finding the food. Put a F/T pinky in the feeding tub and the snake and 30 seconds later on more pinky. I loaned them a milksnake book and cornsnake manual so they could read about keeping snakes themselves and so they would know that I was not telling any lies. Also, told them to come here and read stuff because the husbandry of milksnake and corns are about the same.

Love the Fatman

P.S. Does Petco spread that rumor about crickets and corns? Not the first time I have read that a Petco employee said that.
 
bitsy said:
I feel your pain. You can't help some people. My brother and his wife bought my twelve year old nephew a Corn hatchling. I carefully wrote them a basic caresheet, helped them get the setup right and they dutifully bought Kathy's book.

They've now changed the UTH for a heat lamp, they have the stat probe half way up the wall of the tank at the cool end and they're powerfeeding (the poor Corn was adult-sized at less than a year old). All because "The Man In The Shop" told them I'd given them wrong information. They claim to have ready Kathy's book but apparently *she* knows less than "The Man In The Shop" as well.

When the snake stopped eating earlier in the year, "TMITS" told them that it was in a breeding fast. At seven months old. Yeah right. I told them to check the temps and was told without a pause that they were fine. When I went round, the UTH had been accidentally switched off at the plug and the temp was down to under 70 degrees (not that their plastic dial thermometer - that I had begged them to change - had even twitched of course. ARRRGGHHH!). I switched the UTH back on and stood over it while the stat brought it back to 85 degrees. Two days later the snake started eating again. However, they still firmly believe that it was because it had ended its breeding fast.

Ultimately, people choose who they believe and what research they do for themselves, and you can't do much about it.
Click to expand...

O_O

Now that is just unbelievable...

YOU have corn snakes. What the hell compels them to listen to a random stranger over you!?
 
YOU have corn snakes. What the hell compels them to listen to a random stranger over you!?
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I guess I'm just his sister whereas The Man In The Shop is an 'expert'. The fact that I remember him being brought into the shop in his baby carrier and I've been keeping/breeding Corns longer than he's been alive, carries no weight at all.

Familiarity (and family!) breed contempt I guess.
 
If it's any consolation, the idiots of the world buy more than just reptiles. I find the same ignorance of proper care by the new owners and false information provided by the all-knowing infallible breeders of puppies and kittens. Between all the "but the breeder said" and the "I looked it up on the internet and it said", I'm surprised at how many poor little furry souls actually survive in this world. But I also see how many of them suffer horribly as a result.
 
Look at how full the humane societies are people are idiots. They buy on impulsive and then when the dog gets to big they dump it on the side of the road.
 
My local Petco is wonderful, and they have people that really know what they are talking about. I have however been in big box petstores where staff are clueless. Sometimes I don't put all the blame on them, some are kids who were hired for minimum wage and just thrown in there to work, it would take anyone a while to get knowledgeable under those circumstances.
 
That wouldn't bother me if they either A) said "I don't know" or B) looked the answer up. But just winging it is a disservice to the public.


On a customer related note, I had a guy in today bragging about his experience with reptiles. I don't know why you would lie to someone who probably is fairly knowledgeable about a subject. But this guy used to keep exotic hots and sell their venom to pharmaceutical companies. Plausible, but I doubted it. Then he had a "Ringneck python" he paid thousands for. I thought perhaps a blackhead, but nope, it was a ringneck python. And he knew all about chameleons, too (something I am avid about). He even hatched Jackson's eggs! That would be impressive if they weren't a live bearing species.
 
I used to go to Pet Smart to buy F/T (Before I got smart and ordered them on-line) and still buy Zoo Med aspen bedding from them when it's on sale. I recently got a great deal on a Zilla 40 gal tank so I could give my almost four year old corn more room to roam, but don't think I'd ever consider buying a reptile from Pet Smart. The tanks they have them in are so tiny that they've got to be stressed. They look pitiful. Most of the employees that I've run into seem to be more dog or cat oriented.
 
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