Poor little guys :(

[blindfireak40]

Well, half of the petshops here are pretty good. I detailed the very good experiences I've had with the store I bought Vermicelli from. However, last night I went into the other pet store because I had heard they had a larger reptile selection.

They certainly did, including Red-Tail Boas...but the poor guys were absolutely crawling with mites! I almost feel like buying one, if only to save it, because I have no doubt that at least 2 if not 3 of the 3 babies they had there will end up dead, either in the cages there or at a home where they didn't receive good care.

I will be checking with my vet as to the expense of a mite treatement; I don't think it's even at the point where a topical treatment will be effective. What are thoughts on being able to nurse one back to health? They seemed decently healthy aside from the mites; has anyone experienced ongoing issues with a snake due to mite issues in youth? Barring of course transmitted diseases such as IBD, URI's, etc.

[marvelfreak]

Call animal control and turn them in. They will be giving so long to take care of the problem and take them to a vet. Then if they don't animal control will take them. Either way they see a vet and get the treatment they need. I did it a couple years ago and now the pet store is one of the cleanest around.

[whoaxmary]

I wouldn't try to 'save' one... Unfortunitly even though it feels like the right thing to do- it's only giving money to directly support the store to continue on doing things like this. I agree with Chuck - call animal control or who ever it is in your area you would report something like this down. Maybe take it a step further and make sure you let people know about the poor quality of this store and urge them to boycot it until it is either shut down or improved.

[stephanbakir]

I agree with marvel, regardless of the animal, if you see animals in a pet store that are in poor condition, call the authorities. Worst case, they close down, best case, all of the animals get a checkup with the vet and get brought back to health.
Go back in a month or so and if those snakes are still alive you can think about buying them.
Buying an animal in poor condition does more harm then good, yeh it helps that animal, but it tells the petstore that they can treat their animals like ****, and still sell them.

[blindfireak40]

Good call guys, I think I'll call animal control and see what they can do. An injected mite treatment is way out of my league anyhow in terms of price. I just feel so bad for the little guys :(

[emilie]

good job on your part let us know what happens