I have a concern

[kmj]

Hello all! I'm new to the forums and to all of this, actually. I've had my corn snake for almost two years but as much time as I spend reading about all kinds of snakes, I'm hardly an expert. So I came here for opinions on something. I went into petco today and what I saw bothered me so much that I joined this forum just to complain about it. I'm not fond of petco in general but they had a sale on something I needed. I was looking at the snakes, of course, and came across a Colombian red tail boa that looked straight up emaciated.

There was zero muscle on this poor guy, skin was sagging and he could hardly move. I called an employee over and asked her what the deal was and she said "oh he's just molting." I can say right now that I have never seen my snake or any other snake molt like that. Since when do snakes lose all muscle when molting? The pics don't even properly show how starved he looked. Can you guys confirm this, am I freaking out over nothing? And what should I do (if anything) if this snake actually is starved? Just came here to vent! Hi to everyone! Hope I'm not breaking any rules already~

I have pics but apparently I can't post them?

[infernalis]

No snake should lose any weight during shedding.

Sorry about the picture thing, it's the forum software, it prevents pictures until you have posted a few times, to keep advertisements off the forum (spam)

[Sharlynn93]

I ran into the same thing at my petco...red tail, emaciated, and lying on its side with its mouth agape...I informed the manager and she said she would get it to the vet, but I never saw it again...betting they didn't even attempt treatment...so sad...

[Tsubaki]

Damn, poor animals.. I only saw something that severe here once, an albino burm severely emaciated. It was only fed a mouse now and then, it was a 9 foot animal (In a 3 foot enclosure with only a normal bulb)...I never have, and never will buy anything from that store, i basically went there to complain! After the first 2 complaints he offered him to me cheap, but i wasn't gonna pay for an animal that is gonna cost me money just so he can replace it. After complaining for the third time the owner of the store got a cardboard box, stuffed the animal in and shoved it in my hands.. 'Take it and leave, or ill put it in the freezer myself"... The burm turned out pretty good, he needed worm and mite treatment and decent food, also had to treat his belly for scale rot. He still lives with a friend of mine, we have no idea how old he is though :)

I sometimes still hear horror stories from that store, but i don't go there anymore.. that guy just doesn't learn from his mistakes. I hope that the boa from OP's story either gets help or dies soon.. this is just sad.

[Teal]

Ugh, the Petco closest to us had the same thing going on with a BRB. They said he was eatin every week, but not gaining weight and that they'd take him to a vet... Never saw the snake again :-/

But they do have a Savannah monitor. And Tokay geckos. I really, really think chain pet stores shouldn't be selling critters.. and especially not critters that beginners probably aren't prepared for.

[pdomensis]

Interestingly, our petco is way better than the mom & pop petstores in the area. They don't do wonderful job with keeping (screen tops), but at least you don't see dead/dying animals. Maybe they're just cleaning out the cages more quickly or have a higher turnover rate, but the animals seem to be ok when I see them.

[kmj]

wow, I can't believe this is so common. How do they get away with this? I would've bought him and tried to save him but like someone else said, they would probably just replace it with another to starve. Also, I know nothing about keeping boas!

These stories are so depressing, how are they still in business abusing animals like this?


Sorry about the picture thing, it's the forum software, it prevents pictures until you have posted a few times, to keep advertisements off the forum (spam)

No worries, I understand!

[kwhitlock]

Same here, we have a petsmart 10x better than the local shop. Local shop told me when I originally looking at getting a corn, I don't need any added heat..they keep BRB's with almost 0 humidity and keep them on aspen����

[Lickeypie]

Just about every time I go into Petco there is either a dead bearded dragon or leopard gecko. Its so sad that they are passing so frequently that the staff can't keep up with cleaning up the corpses :/

[CameronVarnish]

At my petsmart, the veiled chameleon enclosure is 1ftx1ftx1ft, he's an adult, no branches or anything to climb on, and humidity is at 25%.

[Zoo Nanny]

I worked at a Petco for a very short time a few years ago. There are two other Petco stores in the area. One of the others is horrible and the other wonderful. The one I worked at was midline. What it comes down to is the store manager in my opinion. If the manager is an animal lover the animals are properly cared for or if there are people working the store full time that have a specific interest in the animals they will be better cared for. The one I worked at changed managers two months after I started. The first manager was awesome the second was a piece of crap. There were three full time staff that were good in their departments and did a great job caring for the animals. The newer manager began forcing the sale of animals to inappropriate individuals. Corporate rules for Petco say that stores should not sell to individuals that they have concerns over. When he tried to force me to sell a bird to a woman that we knew was a hoarder and did not give proper care to the birds and later threw a newt in the freezer that was sick was the day I quit.