Is this normal for reptile stores?

[insomniac]

I took a ride to an "Exotic pet store" about an hour from me yesterday. It was a family owned store. I noticed that with the corn snakes In one tank there was a baby okeetee corn snake and then also in the tank was a deli cup with what looked like a completely dead butter corn inside of it. I also noticed a python that looked like it was having a VERY hard time shedding. It reminded me of getting very bad sunburn and what it looks like when the sunburn peels off. I saw no humidity gauges and in many snake enclosures there was multiple droppings. Is this normal for stores like this? I didn't say anything to anyone. I would never buy an animal there after seeing some of that. I totally understand having a lot of reptiles and not time to check everything multiple times a day... but If there is a dead snake in an enclosure, how hard is it to just remove it so your potential customers don't see it? I came home and looked up reviews for the place and found 3 out of 3 reviews that were a negative experience. How do places like that stay open?

 

[WingedSweetheart]

Actually it seems most of the smaller pet stores I've been too have been like the one you went to. Usually the smell of the place will knock you down when you first open the door. At least chain stores, though not the best at least take a little bit more care with being clean because they have more customers and if they smelled like that and had several dead animals no one would shop there.

I would love to own a pet shop so that people could get animals that were well cared for but as everyone who knows me tells me. I would never sell anything because I would want to keep all the animals for myself lol.

 

[dionythicus]

How do places like that stay open?

Because no one reports them to animal control and even if someone does, more than likely there aren't good animal rights laws where you live. Tell the manager what you've noticed and if they aren't willing to listen, I would report it to animal control. Try to take pics if you go back. That will help with the authorities taking your concerns seriously.

 

[bitsy]

Another reason stores like this stay open, is because people keep buying things there. Either they don't know/don't care about the condition of the animals, or they mistakenly think that "rescuing" the animals is helping. Spread the word about how bad they actually are and try to talk people out of using them. No customers = no income = closed.

Please keep looking - there are good small reptile specialists out there so don't judge them all from your unfortunate batting average. I'm lucky to have a good one near me.

 

[ShenziSixaxis]

What you described is why I don't go to the one mom and pop store here. It's the worse store EVER. The chain stores are so much better. And I would much rather pay more for a snake there than through shipping, as shipping price is ridiculous and you can't know 100% what you're getting when you do, no matter how much you inquire before the buy.

 

[95zclx]

What you described is why I don't go to the one mom and pop store here. It's the worse store EVER. The chain stores are so much better. And I would much rather pay more for a snake there than through shipping, as shipping price is ridiculous and you can't know 100% what you're getting when you do, no matter how much you inquire before the buy.

I disagree with this (my opinion), I am getting 3 anery's that I have been searching for, it's cheaper per snake to have shipped to me than it would be buying 3 from my local petshops. and I know they are being well takin care of, even though I have never met the person in person. and I know they are what I have been looking for. :dancer:
now if you are just buying one snake, then maybe, but still, if you are buying direct from the breeder, they will be well takin care of as it is their reputation they will want to look out for as well as the animal itself.

all the corns I see in any petshop I have been to, all have bugs on them.
I have 4 corns, soon to be 7, I bought none from a petshop.

 

[Outcast]

I got my two corns from two different pet stores. One of the store's I will never buy anything from again, because they do not take care of their animals and gouge prices hardcore, and the other has since closed and she is working on getting on the rodent supplier list for the distributor for our area, luckily she still does deals in person and sells her rodents for good prices.

 

[Shiari]

And I would much rather pay more for a snake there than through shipping, as shipping price is ridiculous and you can't know 100% what you're getting when you do, no matter how much you inquire before the buy.

Uhmmm... pictures?

With chain stores, you don't know the genetics of the snakes you're getting, when it comes to hets. You don't know how old the babies are. Most chains don't keep records of who ate and how often.

I knew exactly what I was getting with Mallien, Abrina, Nautley, Torandre and Lacy.

 

[oneirogenesis]

I have mixed feelings about the big reptile specialty store in my area. I haven't seen any sick snakes, but lots of droppings and difficult sheds. At the same time, the staff are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. If I needed a snake sexed, or someone to look in my snake's mouth or try to feed a fussy eater for me, I could go to them in a heartbeat and not be charged anything for my visit.

I think that might be part of the problem though. Imagine trying to keep up with the chores when your store carries close to a hundred reptiles (plus the thousands of feeders you're breeding) and trying to keep enough staff in a very busy store to clean up after the animals and deal with a constant influx of customers. Not to mention that this store acts as the local rescue for peoples' unwanted herps and invertebrates. I suppose the owners could work overtime to clean more cages, but as a result be unable to attend to their own family responsibilities. So while their facilities are not perfect, I don't know if I'm in a position to judge them either.

 

[Vicic17]

awwe this breaks my heart i'm so fortunate that my local reptile shop is a family owned shop that actually cares about their animals, and keeps good track of feeding schedules etc, he even breeds his corns so i know exactly what i got for only 60$ (Canadian) AND when he sold me 2 of my snakes, he included a schedule of feeding times

 

[VickyChaiTea]

I agree, places like that stay open because customers don't say anything. I would talk to the owner, if he doesn't shape up report him.

 

[ShenziSixaxis]

Uhmmm... pictures?

With chain stores, you don't know the genetics of the snakes you're getting, when it comes to hets. You don't know how old the babies are. Most chains don't keep records of who ate and how often.

I knew exactly what I was getting with Mallien, Abrina, Nautley, Torandre and Lacy.

Pictures don't tell you a snake's personality. Calm to you and me may be sit-on-your-lap-and-enjoy-petting-on-the-head, while calm to a seller may mean the snake isn't musking or biting.

You are right about the genetics, but most pet stores here know the ages to the month of the snakes, and if you're talking to the reptile keeper or specialist or whatever, they do at least keep track of if they do or don't eat. The best job a store does of that here is Pet Supermarket. :shrugs: I might just have good stores here. I've never even seen a mite on any reptiles, though I did see a water dragon with a mild case of mouth rot who was getting treated when I saw it.

 

[Shiari]

The personality of a snake isn't always apparent at a pet store either. For example, Ferenea, my snow, was actually quite calm at the pet store. But what hadn't developed yet was the almost neurotic personality that he's had for the past two years that causes him to go off feed for two or three weeks after just a few moments of handling.
And Dier, my almost-sunglow, tried to eat me at the store, and is now the calmest of my snakes.
Liam was a flighty flighty beast, and is now really mellow as well.

 

[4riscorn]

I know how you feel...last month we went into a petco and the snakes had mites so bad that they had crawled down into the various lizard vivs and there was a poor bearded dragon who was dead and the employee was poking at it like it was going to suddenly jump up alive! And I said to him about all the mites and he just shrugged it off! Then tonight we went into a local petstore that we go into just to see what they are trying to pass off because we actually "rescued" a couple corns from there because they were in such nastiness...wish I could rescue them all but that is impossible. That place was so nasty tonight I said, very loudly I may add, that it was disgusting how they keep the animals in there. They were getting ready to close and all and I mean all of the snake vivs were full of poop, and I am not talking about a little bit..that is expected at times, I am talking about molded poop! plus old sheds and some of the snakes had old sheds on them that were peeling in pieces and they weren't even acting like they cared! They were all goofing off. And to make things worse..I saw one of the employees at a recent reptile show I went to and some of the animals from there were at the store..some at ridiculous prices and being passed off as morphs that they weren't...I hate when they call all normal/classics Okeetees!!! And they label everything else "Albino"...and when you ask them if they are Anery or Amel they look at you like you don't know what you are talking about! They had one corn there with a label on the cage...about three weeks ago...not for sale..in quarantine...and it was right there with the others!! And tonight it was there for sale looking so thin and neglected. I hate going in there, but Mike wants to every once in a while to see how bad things are. I know one time the health dept was called in because they had crickets and roaches crawling all over the store...Mike had a cricket jump on him where the dog food was....no where near where they are kept. UUGGGHH...annoys me to no end! I wonder if the health dept would do anything if we called? The last time someone, not us, called, they cleaned up the place for about a month. Now it is worse than ever! The sad thing is that 20 years ago, it was the nicest place in town..then the owner died and his son took over and since then it is all about money and not the animals in their care!

Okay..I have vented now....thanks for this thread for me to be able to!!

 

[WingedSweetheart]

There is a really nasty little pet store in my area that I never go to but I have been in there once because my boyfriend wanted to go in. He is friends with the owners nephew. Anyway the place smelled horrible even though all they have is reptiles and fish (rabbits outside). The reptiles don't even have substrate or hides. Not even water bowls. I asked a girl there why the snakes didn't have water bowls and she said that snakes don't drink water! I also noticed they didn't have anything to monitor temps and humidity because there was no heat sources provided. The snakes they had at the time were corn snakes, ball pythons and a silver boa. They only had one bearded dragon which wasn't in any better condition.

The fish weren't any better off either. Their tanks had so much algae that you couldn't even see inside.

I drive past the place at lest twice a week and I never see any customers there so I have no idea how they are still open.

 

[4riscorn]

Yea, the one I just mentioned has dead fish floating in their many tanks!