Went to a pet store yesterday...

[Pareeeee]

I should stop going to pet stores. They make me sad and angry.

I'm a very non-confrontational person by nature, but I had to say something at a particular pet store on Monday afternoon (even though I was shaking from social anxiety afterwards, lol). Somebody had to stand up for this poor animal.

They had a BRB for sale, asking a couple hundred dollars (the audacity!). It must have had a stack of like 4 eye caps on each eye and its mouth was all...dry looking, crusty and a little swollen. The tank it was in was so dry it might as well have been a desert and I saw tiny bugs crawling around that looked suspiciously like mites. I told the guy who was in charge of "snake care" that the reason it looked like that was because the humidity was so ridiculously low. He tried to make excuses "I'm also the saltwater guy" "I have so much to do" "sometimes I'm so busy I don't have time to check on every animal and their humidity" etc etc etc.

Well, misting a snake enclosure takes what, 10 seconds of your time? I basically told him that the animal is suffering and needs to be taken care of. Whether he wanted to learn or not, I instructed him how to bath the snake and how to remove eyecaps (carefully!). I finally told him (because he seemed lazy) that if they just couldn't find the time to check humidity to at least provide it with a large water dish - large enough for it to voluntarily soak itself in. At least it was eating (or so he said).

I wish there was something I could do, but the authorities just don't see snake cruelty as animal cruelty. Snakes, fish, lizards and amphibians: these are the silent sufferers. They can't cry like a dog or mew like a sick kitten. They just sit there and quietly suffer through it. Just because an animal can't communicate pain does not mean it can't feel it. Sadly, these "disposable pets" suffer cruelty and neglect worldwide.

Ugh. I had to share because I still find myself thinking and worrying about this poor little snake two days later. I feel so bad for it but know I can't buy (rescue) it and support their cruelty.

Remember, buying a sickly animal from a pet store to "rescue" it only supports them. If they see that they can sell even the neglected animals, they won't even try to improve the quality of life of their other animals. The animal you buy will only be replaced by another animal that will also be neglected.