Corn snake living off bugs

[jaleely]

I really don't think it can thrive. SO, I work at PetSmart....today there was some lady who came in to buy worms, and mentioned it was for a snake. I asked what kind of snake, since to my knowledge only the rough green snake, etc., can live off bugs. She said it was a corn snake. I politely told her an ear full, but she insisted that the snake was doing fine.

Bothered me all day long!

What do you guys think? Personally I think she's a moron, but hopefully i got her to think and at least look up a care sheet on how to take care of a corn snake. She just kept insisting that anything else was too big for the snake, but she also mimed that i was like a foot and a half long. blah!

[infernalis]

no.... their physiology is all wrong.

They eat lizards and rodents.

[kernel]

It really angers me how ignorant people can be. A monkey could take better care of that poor snake. You have to be dumber than spit to think that you can keep a healthy corn snake on worms, for crying out loud! I could go on and on, but I will put a end to my rant now.

[millertime89]

:no:
some people...

[aj099]

i just rescued a snake from a couple similar people
they would feed the thing 6 mice in one day then not feed it for month`s
and they were to scared to ever take it out so it hasnt been handled in over a year....i have had him 2 days and he is very calm and i can hold him easily they said he would bite anybody and this and that
just another poor misunderstood snake by the way this thing is 6 feet long and still eating tiny mice i gave him a big rat today he rather enjoyed it :no:damn bloody idiot`s!

[RegenerationRep]

Maybe they have something like a garter or ribbon snake and are just simply uneducated on what species they have... I don't see how it would be alive at all, or even eat the worms lol

[infernalis]

garters and ribbons don't eat bugs either.......

The only arthropod feeders in the US are smooth green snakes and rough green snakes. and they thrive on spiders and caterpillars.

the ones sold as pets usually perish in a year or less from cricket diets.

[redsided]

That snake is doomed.

I hate people like that "the snake is doing fine" whatever clueless.

[youngster]

Next time she comes in try getting her license plate # and call animal control. Or trick her into telling you :P

[daddy and son]

That poor corn is doomed. Before I got my corns, I read a couple of books on them. I went back and double checked one thing. It said even feeding chunks of beef, chicken, pork, etc. is insufficient as the snake needs the calcium from the bones of it's prey. No bones, no calcium...simple as that. Perhaps next time she comes in, show her a book on corn snake care and feeding. Maybe, just maybe if she sees it there she'll realize the error of her ways.

[kernel]

Wayne, aren't nightcrawlers good for garters?

[youngster]

Worms aren't really bugs :P

[millertime89]

Wayne, aren't nightcrawlers good for garters?

Worms aren't really bugs :P

this is what I'm thinking, they were told to feed it worms, because its actually a garter, but they just think its a corn.

Jaleely, see if you can get them to bring it in with them so you can identify it properly.

[infernalis]

Wayne, aren't nightcrawlers good for garters?

Worms aren't really bugs :P

This.....

Worms are invertebrates, but have no exoskeleton, therefore non arthropod.

[jaleely]

Ah, I'd make a terrible witness in a robbery. She just looked like any other old lady who comes in, though I do think i might recognize the son if he was with her. I actually wanted to run out after her in the parking lot *lol* had other customers in line since i'm just a cashier, but ugh.

I mean jeez, petsmart may not be the best petstore but they DO even have like, dumb little pamphlets on snakes and stuff that's just sitting there waiting for stupid people to pick them up and read them. Oh well.
Hey, someone gave me a corn snake the other day, and she's been nice and clean, happy habitat, and eating like crazy since they called in looking to offload it at the store! I'm in the right position to do SOME rescuing....but you just can't save stupid!!!

oh well. I've been keeping an eye out for plain looking old ladies buying bugs and worms, at least *lol* if i do identify her she is going to get an ear full, and frankly i have no qualms at all about calling animal control on her. The only problem is, most of animal control is just about as smart.
I was there today, and none of the women wanted to be near the snakes, so they didn't get fed unless a guy was on duty...and the one guy who paid attention just had them sitting on newspaper under a heat-lamp. No water. The snakes were dry as a bone. (see here for their story (http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/python-regius/88826-two-new-adoptees.html)

[candyraver69]

My guess is the dumb lady just doesn't want to feed mice so has convinced herself worms are healthy. People believe what they want to sometimes. There's no reasoning with people like that either. It's so sad.

I can't imagine a corn snake eating mealworms and crickets. Where do people even come up with this crap? If it is a garter, feeder fish has to be better than meal worms, no? That would be a better alternative to pinkies I think than bugs.

Oh well. If it weren't for some people being ignorant, I wouldn't get away with letting my mom think I buy crickets for my snakes. Trying to explain I have tarantulas and they won't kill me and my kids is a conversation I just don't want to get into, LMAO. "Yes mom, will you save your paper towel rolls for me? For my, uh... rats?" And now I have roaches, that's even more fun. Yeah, I'll just let her think I feed the corns crickets. :)

[jaleely]

lol my mom and dad are horrified that their daughter has snakes, tarantulas, a whip scorpion...they don't mind the mandids, but they both hate snakes *lol* I've managed to finally cut them off whenever they want to squawk about it or send me emails on how some anaconda ate a baby or a dog or something *lmao*

[daddy and son]

Just tell them "Hey, Anacondas have to eat too!"

[jarich]

That poor corn is doomed. Before I got my corns, I read a couple of books on them. I went back and double checked one thing. It said even feeding chunks of beef, chicken, pork, etc. is insufficient as the snake needs the calcium from the bones of it's prey. No bones, no calcium...simple as that. Perhaps next time she comes in, show her a book on corn snake care and feeding. Maybe, just maybe if she sees it there she'll realize the error of her ways.

I agree. There are so many uneducated people taking home reptiles and unfortunately it seems like that isnt something we can change. However we can find the right way to educate them in what we know is a relatively easy way of caring for their animals. Especially if you work in a pet store! What a great way to change that! You have the ability every day to reach out to people and get them to change those terrible behaviours. But it has to be done carefully. No one likes being told they are wrong or stupid. The challenge is to find the way to bring them around to caring for the animal correctly without making it a 'youre an idiot' kind of criticism. Of course there will always be morons out there who just dont want to listen, but I think most people will genuinely want to take the best care of their animals if its not too difficult. And lets face it, raising a corn snake is not too hard!

[lady_bug87]

hahaha eating a baby.... I have arachnophobia so no tarantulas for me, they freak me out. my husband wants one

[millertime89]

hahaha eating a baby.... I have arachnophobia so no tarantulas for me, they freak me out. my husband wants one

I'll never own one as a pet, but they don't really bother me. We've got wolf spiders all over the place and I think they're cool to watch.

[infernalis]

I share my home with spiders...

Too many herps for me to use ANY pesticides in my house, we have snakes in almost every room.

Spiders eat fleas, flies and bugs, so I welcome spiders to stay.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Ring-necked snakes also eat worms and slugs.

[infernalis]

Ring-necked snakes also eat worms and slugs.

Worms and slugs have no exoskeleton, therefore they are non arthropod.. AKA not bugs ;)

Thamnophis and Storeria commonly eat worms, slugs and snails in the wild.

[bigsnakegirl785]

lol Just continuing along with the worm-diet thing. And you're not the only one crawling with spiders. I have to suck like 20 cobwebs and even more spiders into my vacuum cleaner a day. :(

[RegenerationRep]

garters and ribbons don't eat bugs either.......

The only arthropod feeders in the US are smooth green snakes and rough green snakes. and they thrive on spiders and caterpillars.

the ones sold as pets usually perish in a year or less from cricket diets.


Lol sorry Wayne, I know that. I pretty much consider any creepy crawlies bugs except arachnids :P I just need to learn to use more scientific words.

[jaleely]

All our tarantulas are actually kind of mean, except one starburst...who is supposed to bite (but actually sits there nicely) and a rose hair that someone gave up and I adopted from the pet store my second week there! She is adorable and so fun to hold because she's big, fuzzy, kind of just this silly weight on your hand. She's incredibly gentle for any kind of animal. I pick her up, move her legs, pet her, and she just tolerates it *lol* Some guy came in the store and said his roommate left it behind when he moved out. I actually have a feeling they just "broke up" *lol*

Okay, so I have had customer service experience since I was 16 and got my first job..In 2005 i started working records at a police department, worked there 4 years, and i have really seen them all, from crazies, drunks, druggies, to FBI, judges, lawyers, etc. I am pretty immodest about my ability to deal with people in a retail environment after dealing with all those people.
Every single day, I am telling people about allergies in dog food, talking about my snakes and what I do to keep them healthy, and the same for the tarantulas, etc. I totally don't know everything, but what I do know i tell them and welcome them to continue their own research to have a healthy animal. Out of all the jobs I've had for the past 15 years, this has been the most fun and rewarding.
SURE sure i'm the know it all crazy pet lady at work, but I really do feel good about passing on healthy tips! I'm having a blast (even if standing all day and lifting bags of dog food is a little painful as I age LOL)
OKay, so I guess I mean I agree that it's the perfect place to try to pass on knowledge to people who are open to it.

It can totally also be frustrating in instances like this stupid corn snake owner. I think I actually didn't push as hard as I should have with that lady just because I was kind of in shock as to how stupid she was *lol*

So the other day there was this preppy fussy lady, returning a hamster and all the fixings, because it was too hard to take care of. Instead, she decided to get her daughter...who was THREE...barely three...two finches to "teach her responsiblity".
She said they were gone a lot, and didn't have time to have a difficult animal.

Okay, I HANDED her the care sheet that says This exactly "High Metabolic Rate
• Because a Finch’s metabolism is very active, starvation can occur in as little as 24 hours. Food should be available at all times."
I pointed it out. I said that hamsters are a lot easier than birds, especially these finches, and if they thought the hamster was too much work, then the birds would definitely be, especially if they were away from home all the time and out of town overnight, which she said she was.

She just kept asking the same stupid questions, and not believing me.

Now, I've never owned a finch, for all I know they are quite easy, but I do own a cockatiel (i adopted this one too lol), and it's a pain in the butt and always pooping, eating, fluffing feathers and bird dust (keratin flakes) everywhere, has to have clean water every day, etc. I can't imagine it being easier to take care of a tiny, delicate bird. ANyway, of course she wouldn't listen. I was the third person in the store to tell her this was a bad idea *lol* I totally said it politely, and asked her to read the care sheet, and be aware.

blah, anyway, the life of a lowly petstore worker is fraught with stupid people!!! LOL

[ZARADOZIA]

blah, anyway, the life of a lowly petstore worker is fraught with stupid people!!! LOL


The whole world is fraught with stupid people. Most only want to hear what they want to hear and ignore facts and truths because it "puts a kink" in their plans. I am just glad you educate people about the things they need to know. You can only do so much and after that, it's out of your hands.

If the Lady really wanted a low maintenance animal, she should have gotten 2 cats.

[infernalis]

If the Lady really wanted a low maintenance animal, she should have gotten 2 cats.



let's break that down.

Cats - feed every day, litter box smells, they make noise, they knock stuff over, walk on your tables with the same feet they just buried their poop with, require annual immunizations, claw up furniture, trigger allergies.. etc.

Corn Snakes - Feed once a week, no litter box, no noise, if it's on your table in the middle of the night, you have real problems, no immunizations, do not hurt furniture, silent, allergen free... you can forget you even have them for a week and it will not get into your groceries.

I think the snakes win for lower maintenance.

[jaleely]

agreed with snakes for lower maintanace!
But, not as cuddly, and if you're starting at 3years old...depending on the kid, i would think a cat would teach way better responsibility on an animal that requires more normal basic needs and every day care...rather than sporatic care, noncuddles, and dealing with heating and humidity issues, and some think, gross feeding. My 3 year old some day would not have a problem with this, as i also have an interest in it as a parent. This lady with her birds and hampsters should have gotten a cat...her AND the original corn snake lady should have just gotten a cat. all these other things they're trying to do should have had ten minutes of "here let me learn how to take care of this animal" imposed on them.

I wonder where that corn snake came from where they would honestly leave that lady with the impression she could have it live off worms. that is the exact kind of petstore environment i try to avoid.

So far i HAVE saved two male bettas from being put together *rolls eyes* just a polite "oh how pretty! have you had a betta before?" and when they say no, i tell them they can't live with other males, only females, make sure it's female, and they can't live with fish that look like them.
Then there was the chameleon. I actually got a SMART lady, and her grandson, that when i gave them the care sheet (not that those are all that amazing, but these people need a start somewhere so they're NOT feeding their CORN SNAKE worms!) they read it, asked more questions, then went and got a BOOK on it and said they still wanted one, but they were going to wait until they had all the proper set up and knew more about them before buying one. They did, and i like to think that's a happy chameleon now.

A lot of people come in and buy bearded dragons and geckos. Most of those people seem to know what's involved.

oh then we get the big pet idiots. A lady came in with a 4 month old puppy, and wanted a muzzle. She said her mom told her the dog had to go if within 4 days it wouldn't stop biting. I checked it's mouth, and it's TEETHING. THey start at about 4-5 months or so. I told her this. I showed her her puppies mouth.

I told her about the training classes there, the chew toys, the persistance and commitment to teaching the dog not to bite. She said it was all too much trouble. She has a son with ADD so she can't spend time on the dog. She said she thought of getting rid of it..after all it was a pure bred puppy, so someone should want to take it. she was going to take it to the pound. I asked if she thought the breeder might take it back. she said yeah, maybe. I flat out told her that is exactly what she should do, to be fair to the dog so that wile it was still young it could go to a different home who would want a puppy. There was a lot more details to this and stupid comments from her, but the bottom line is...once again, people are stupid, and they just seem to like to stay that way.

Some other lady came in and bought puppy pee pads...for the puppy to go on when she wasn't home ALL day long. She said "she peed on my carpet! twice!" i went over the usual tactics, asking how she was doing training....didn't get far in that since the dog is 9 weeks old. NINE WEEKS. it' takes into the months...like five months, before dogs understand potty training, and even then you have to be super consistant. Took my dopey dog until 7.5 and one day he just woke up and realized he needed to ask to go out. when we first adopted my beagle, she was close to 2 years old, and took about a year to understand. at 9 weeks their bladders are still so small they physically can't even hold it in for more than a few hours!! it's a BABY animal!

just so ...so STUPID. she was going to "save" her carpet, and how did she get so unlucky to have a dog that didn't pick up training right away!!!
it's like, hello, did you commit to having a baby animal in your house? yes. How could you not understand what that entails? Stupidity!!!
okay, early morning rant. lol

[bigsnakegirl785]

I don't see why people get animals if they're not willing to do anything for it. I had a hamster for a short time (unfortunately my cat killed it) and they are as easy if not easier to take care of than a snake.

[daddy and son]

Definitely time to add some chlorine to the gene pool.
When my son and I decided to get snakes for a pet, we spent a month reading the books on care, feeding, potential problems, etc. Then we got the tanks, set it up, monitored it for about 4 days making sure we had the temp and humidity levels right. THEN we added the snakes. Even with all the reading and such, I'm no expert on herpetology. We've made a couple of mistakes and will likely make more (i.e. 3 corns-1 tank. That problem is resolved).