Why did my new snake die?.

[Holly12]

Like some others mentioned it all comes down to the individual pet store. I personally love the pet supplies near me. I'm satisfied with all the animals everytime I am there. However, the Petco that is about 1 hr away impresses me more. They seperate by sex with their mice and others. Quite nice pet stores I find. I haven't found a horrible one yet and don't want to.

They know little because it is a job that pays with no requirment on knowledge of animals. My pet stores might be nice with their animals but some of the people I have even heard or talked to don't know much. It almost makes me feel so smart that I am stupid to them

Sorry for your loss but enjoy the new snake

Thank you Skully for your support.

 

[starsevol]

The truth is that we all vote with our wallets.
If you want to give your support to a place that does not take proper care of the animals, that is fine. But that is what you are doing if you give them money.
Pet shops that do take care of their animals are another story, and they are just fine.
But me personally, I will ALWAYS give my support and my money to a breeder who specializes in one or 2 specific species. People that shed blood, sweat and tears and give their whole lives to that one special type of animal they love. They really deserve support.

 

[Hexadeci]

Sorry to hear about your loss Holly. Worst start to a morning. But at least you can be confident you did the best you could.

It's so frustrating that pet stores are that way. I wish they took responsibility for their jobs and products. Animal sellers should hold themselves to the highest possible standards of care. Even the employees should take it upon themselves to be educated in the husbandry of the animals in their care, even if their managers don't give a rat's tail (and they should! What happened to professional pride?). All it takes is decent google-fu! But I know implementing change is hard. And they don't usually get necessarily the healthiest animals in the first place. I know I'll be resisting buying another snake from the local pet stores and holding out for the next reptile show or local breeder, even though so far all is well with my petsmart corn.

 

[jessicashallperish]

i'm not a big fan of pet supplies plus. i went in there today and theres a cali king who looks like he's about to starve to death. all the people that work in my local store are TERRIFIED of anything that isnt a little fluff ball. i bought a tarantula from them and they wouldnt touch it, i got him out myself. same with feeder rats for my python. no one will handle them. i feel like a pet store should hire someone with pet experience, not just a pretty face. JMHO

 

[Holly12]

Hexadeci and Jessicashallperish thanks for your support and Starsevol I so agree with you and I made a bad mistake and I learn a hard lesson. I do know from now on if I do get a 3 corn I will go to the reptile show or ask the breeders on here for one. I really hate myself for supporting this store and that I put even more strees on him and it killed him off.

 

[bitsy]

Hey now Holly, don't beat yourself up - that won't achieve anything. Although it's a horrible situation, as you say, you've learned from it and have become a better keeper as a result. Your babe would have died with whoever bought him, or in the shop if he'd been left there. He was at least with someone who cared about him when he passed.

 

[Kaynein]

Sorry to hear that your snake died...unfortunately Petsmart is really good at selling sick animals..they are quite notorius for that in fact. Its amazing to go in there and talk to the associates and see how little they know about the animals.

I work at Petsmart. I can't speak for the company as a whole, but in my store we take wonderful care of the animals. Our vendors are another thing for sure. Sick animals happen, but we do our best to treat them. We do our best. It's incredibly frustrating to be given sick animals. Its heart breaking. I own snakes, and other animals. I love them all the same.

It hurts us too when they die. I love the two little snakes (a snow and an amel) at my work, and would be so hurt if they died unexpectedly. So, from one pet snake owner to another, I am really sorry that OP's snake died.

 

[Holly12]

Hey now Holly, don't beat yourself up - that won't achieve anything. Although it's a horrible situation, as you say, you've learned from it and have become a better keeper as a result. Your babe would have died with whoever bought him, or in the shop if he'd been left there. He was at least with someone who cared about him when he passed.

Your right bitsy and yes at least he had someone like me who did cared about him when he died. Thanks for your support bitsy and ya know it still makes me wonder what he could of had that made him so sick ya know?.

 

[bitsy]

it still makes me wonder what he could of had that made him so sick ya know?.

There's a lot of "natural wastage" built into Corn Snake reproduction. Years ago, I read that only 1% of Corn Snake eggs hatch and then result in a snake that survives into adulthood. When you remember that Corns can lay clutches of 20+ eggs, sometimes twice a year, that makes sense - otherwise their natural habitats would be over-run with Corns!

In captivity, we can control incubation much better. Many embryos hatch and then survive for a while, which would never have made it out of the egg in the wild. These never truly thrive for us. Some just refuse all food and starve themselves to death. Some have internal development problems which don't show up until they grow on a little, but which then prove fatal.

In captivity, 90+% of eggs will result in hatchlings. We're fighting the odds to achieve that, so we will always hatch some babes that nature never intended to survive.

If you read this forum regularly, you'll find several new owners here each year who experience the same situation as you. Sadly, it's not uncommon for the non-thrivers to end up being sold, as they will look and act completely healthy for weeks or months before succumbing.

It doesn't mean we should stop double-checking our husbandry when it happens, but sometimes there simply is no explanation and it's nobody's fault.

 

[Holly12]

Yeah and your right bitsy I will know better the next time I guess we live and learn and it can be the hard way to learn.

 

[Skully23]

Yeah and your right bitsy I will know better the next time I guess we live and learn and it can be the hard way to learn.

"You have to fail to gain experience"

 

[Holly12]

"You have to fail to gain experience"

So very true Skully.

 

[braingarble]

i'm not a big fan of pet supplies plus.

I agree!!! Their prices are decent, BUT the one by my home (Hazlet NJ) is disgusting! The cages are disgusting and the people that work there are very unhelpful and ignorant when it comes the caring of most animals.

The Petco by me (Middletown NJ) is more expensive...but they price match. Excellent customer service and most employees seem to have some sort of knowledge about what they sell there. The place is super clean as well. They spend time with my 7 year old son and answer all his questions as he follows them around.

Dont want to hijack this thread and turn it into something else...

I am very sorry to hear of your loss

-braingarble

 

[Holly12]

I agree!!! Their prices are decent, BUT the one by my home (Hazlet NJ) is disgusting! The cages are disgusting and the people that work there are very unhelpful and ignorant when it comes the caring of most animals.

The Petco by me (Middletown NJ) is more expensive...but they price match. Excellent customer service and most employees seem to have some sort of knowledge about what they sell there. The place is super clean as well. They spend time with my 7 year old son and answer all his questions as he follows them around.

Dont want to hijack this thread and turn it into something else...

I am very sorry to hear of your loss

-braingarble

Thank you I have a new one now same morph a Amelanistic and he is doing very well and looks very healthy got him from a friends mother that could not have him anymore he is still a baby.

 

[Miqote]

Hey Holly,
I just want to let you know I went through a very similar experience. I had wanted a corn snake for years and years.. when I finally moved out into my own place I went and got all the supplies and got a baby snake right away... from petco. Pineapple was fine for 4-5 weeks, he ate okay and seemed active and alert. He had a good set-up and everything. But he just stopped eating.

I did everything I could to save that little snake, I even found a recipe online of baby food that I could feed him with a syringe. I slowly had to watch him wither away, until one day I woke up and he had passed away. From everything I've read here, I really don't think you had anything to do with your snake dying, and like others have said - some snakes just do not thrive. I still think about Pineapple, I had him a very short time, but he was my very first corn and very special to me. I wish you the best of luck with your new little corns!

 

[WingedSweetheart]

My pet supply plus used to be very very bad. That's where I got my second snake at. She was there for a month and every time I came in to see her she looked worse and worse. I knew she was going to die. She was very tiny, skinny and dehydrated. She had stuck shed on her tail (her tail tip eventually fell off). But they put her on sale and I nabbed her right away! I am glad I got her even though she is an ungrateful little girl lol. She hates being held. But at least she is healthy and lives a good life now.

They have a new manager now and when I give them suggestions about the reptile husbandry they seem to listen. At least the ones I've seen regurge in the cage or mites on the snake they put not for signs up for while.

 

[schnebbles]

From what I understand about PSP - they can be locally owned or something like that, or they can be corporate owned & run. Mine was local, I've talked to one of the cashiers and she was saying our store is now corporate owned and they have to have a grooming section, stuff like that. So, possibly that has something to do with the way each one is? Just a guess.

 

[DMong]

Yes Nanci this is the one who regurged the other one is doing great.

Could it have been because the tiny snake ate a big pinkie and it didn't have a place to thermoregulate in the low to mid 80's to properly digest the meal????????


~Doug

 

[Holly12]

Could it have been because the tiny snake ate a big pinkie and it didn't have a place to thermoregulate in the low to mid 80's to properly digest the meal????????


~Doug

No the tempature in the cage was right and the pinkie was a small one not a big one I'm sure that they sold me a sick snake.

 

[DMong]

No the tempature in the cage was right and the pinkie was a small one not a big one I'm sure that they sold me a sick snake.

Ah, okay. Yes, very likely indeed!. It probably regurgitated several times before if they fed it there at the store as well. It very likely didn't have proper temps there, and/or it had some intestinal pathogens from fouled water, etc... that started this process of events going in the first place. That is too bad too, because a dose or two of Flagyl at the rate of 50mg/kg would have very likely have saved the snake. I have treated a few snakes personally with this in past years, as well as recommending this to others that had snake's literally on death's door from regurgitating repeatedly, and they went onto hold down meals and thrive from that day forward with flying colors.

Again, very sorry to hear this happened.



~Doug

I hate when this happens, and it was very unfortunate the snake passed.