this actually happened to me at a petco...
yes i admit it i went to a petco. (cheap feeder fish and crickets) my wife and i always go into petco and head straight or the reptile section to see how things are and if there is anythig interesting. (ball pythons having a bad shed, dead anoles, firebelly toads escaping into the snake cages) this week we came upon a woman buying a giant black millipede. (~7-8 inches) the young girl who was working didn't want to take it out and box it up. ("they are yicky"-direct quote from worker) i offered to box it for her. i pulled out the correct one and it was COVERED with mites. i put it in the box nd handed it to her. the customer walked away to find a cage and i told the girl that the millipede had a bad infestation of mites and she should probably inform people. (customers... the boss) there were some tarantulas, scorpions, hermit crabs, various snakes and lizards also in this display. she says to me...(not an exact quote but real close) "oh i know. those are millipede mites. they are supposed to be there. they eat the harmful bacteria off the millipedes." i was shocked!!!! i must have stood there for about 10 seconds before i finally said, "oh really. i never heard of those before." ... "yep" and she headed off to work smiling like some wind-up wal-mart worker. (no offense if someone here works at wal-mart) i washed my hands and arms real well and made sure to warn the woman with the millipede about the mites in case she kept more inverts at home. i think they lost a sale that day.
millipede mites???? at least they aren't selling millipedes with harmful bacteria....
---jim
yes i admit it i went to a petco. (cheap feeder fish and crickets) my wife and i always go into petco and head straight or the reptile section to see how things are and if there is anythig interesting. (ball pythons having a bad shed, dead anoles, firebelly toads escaping into the snake cages) this week we came upon a woman buying a giant black millipede. (~7-8 inches) the young girl who was working didn't want to take it out and box it up. ("they are yicky"-direct quote from worker) i offered to box it for her. i pulled out the correct one and it was COVERED with mites. i put it in the box nd handed it to her. the customer walked away to find a cage and i told the girl that the millipede had a bad infestation of mites and she should probably inform people. (customers... the boss) there were some tarantulas, scorpions, hermit crabs, various snakes and lizards also in this display. she says to me...(not an exact quote but real close) "oh i know. those are millipede mites. they are supposed to be there. they eat the harmful bacteria off the millipedes." i was shocked!!!! i must have stood there for about 10 seconds before i finally said, "oh really. i never heard of those before." ... "yep" and she headed off to work smiling like some wind-up wal-mart worker. (no offense if someone here works at wal-mart) i washed my hands and arms real well and made sure to warn the woman with the millipede about the mites in case she kept more inverts at home. i think they lost a sale that day.
millipede mites???? at least they aren't selling millipedes with harmful bacteria....
---jim