another petco rant

[TeaNinja]

so i went to petco today to get a rat for nigma. i looked in the reptile section and the little RTB shed and looks beautiful, then i looked at a garter snake and he'd shed too. then i saw mites in the garters cage, so i'd guess they are in all the reptile viv's. then i talked to a girl who worked there and she told me she put a rat in her snakes cage all night and it was cowering in the corner in the morning and the snake still hadn't eatin it. then she told me she had a sick rat in the back, and wanted to know if they would transfer diseases to the snake...... i didn't even bother trying to educate her.

they obviously have no idea what they're doing.

[TeaNinja]

gah!! and now nigma doesn't seem hungry! >.< lol
i guess i'll try again later.

[Nafun]

I can't go into pet stores anymore. I come out with animals. The worst thing isn't the snakes, the worst thing is the lizards. Check out the bearded dragons next time. They stuff like 10 in a cage big enough for one. Beardies are omnivores, but as babies they're almost entirely carnivorous and when they're hungry (beardies are always hungry), they'll bite off each others' tails and toes. It's horrible.

Whenever I get an animal from a pet store, it goes straight to the vet. I think pet stores should offer simple little like... 2 hour education courses on animal care included in the price of an animal. Granted, that would require they hire someone who knows what they're doing.

Unfortunately, they don't want you to know how to take care of the animal properly, because then they can't sell you another one in 3 months.

[Jay]

you still bought the rat from there?

[Nafun]

This is why I breed my own rodents. Quality control.

[Jay]

yes i started after i thawed a rat and saw 2 plus mites crwling over the rat
but i had to stop again space so i buy them of my buddy

[infernalis]

Impossible that it's mites you saw.

The freeze would have killed them.

[nanna]

If she was asking questions and seemed interested in learning something I would have given her as much information as I had to give. And or directed her to this sight to expand her knowledge base. She may not have known anything about snakes lets face it the economy is shot and people are taking what ever job they can find. I personally always take the time to educate to the best of my ability if they are interested in learning. Now don't get me wrong most big box stores do need to work harder on teaching basic husbandry skills as they hire but it is not the employees fault. We are lucky that the petco in Yakimas reptile dept is ran by a guy who has more snakes then I can name and works hard to make sure they are properly cared for.

[NennaMeerkat]

Bought a ball python from Petsco about a year ago. Poor guy was uberly sick when I got him home. 48 hours later I found him upside down in his aquarium half dead. When I tried to roll him over to look at him it seemed as if he didn't know which was was up and seemed REALLY disorientated when I held him to check him over. Took him to the pet store immediately and they had the nerve to ask me what I had fed him...as if I fed him poison or something. Didn't even have a chance to feed him before it happened. Got all my money back but I still felt SO sorry for that baby snake, wish I could have done something for him. Bet they just left him in the back to die in misery or whatever might have been wrong with him.

[Jay]

Impossible that it's mites you saw.

The freeze would have killed them.


http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-enclosure-discussion/84441-how-treat-rocks-branches.html

......and yes they were mites, rodent/birdmite i took them to my mothers friend who is an entomologist. Her educated guess was they were freshly frozen rats due to some of them still had blood in them and were well into a cycle And nothings impossible

[TeaNinja]

i would have given her knowledge, but i got the feeling she'd rather sell me a sick rat then actually know if they pass diseases to snakes. and yea, i bought a rat. they all look fine, and the sick one came from a different rat tank. not to mention theres nowhere in my town to get rats except ordering them a week or so later from the crap pet store in town, so i had to drive a town over, and my snake hasn't eatin in 2 weeks. i saw him hunting around his cage the last few days but he was in his hide when i took it off and tried to feed him, maybe he was too cold or something. i'll wait till i see him hunting again.

[Jenn_06]

i cant go in pet stores anymore i make my husband go and make him not tell me how bad there snakes are, i already have 2 snakes from a bad petstore have i "saved".

[infernalis]

And nothings impossible


Improbable, unlikely, rare.......

[Jay]

lol i know thats why i took them into here because i assumed it were impossible

[Ch^4]

Improbable, unlikely, rare.......

lol i know thats why i took them into here because i assumed it were impossible

This is interesting; I did not think it was possible for a small arachnid to survive a rapid freeze. To the best of my knowledge, very few animals can actually survive a full freeze/thaw cycle, and they are only successful under special circumstances (i.e., you can't flash freeze fish that can survive being frozen...they have to gradually reach a state of [insert word] "hibernation".) I am fairly certain most of the larger F/T food providers flash freeze their products, which would imply that nothing would be left alive.

I'd love hear more thoughts and theories on the subject of mites surviving a freeze/thaw cycle. (Wayne, new thread maybe?)