ARGH! Boarding NIGHTMARE!

[lilyskip]

I just had the worst experience today when I went to go pick up Huxley from the reptile store that was boarding him for the 3 weeks I was gone. This was the location at which I bought him, and he checked out healthy, so I figured that was a good sign. Plus, they were the only place I knew that would board the animals.

So I called the store about three times the week before I was going to pick him up, as late as two days ago, to make sure they knew that I was coming in on Thursday and to please NOT feed him after Tuesday afternoon. After an hour-long bus ride (i have no car up here) to the store, the first thing that I find out is that he ate TODAY. What about the THREE CALLS I made to make sure this did NOT happen?!?! "Well, he didn't eat yesterday." ARRRRGHHH!!!

THEN, I actually go to look at him, and his tank is FILTHY. Clearly, it had not been cleaned since I brought him there--the newspaper was the same as *I* had put down. There were at least four bowel movements in the tank, a huge urine stain in the middle of the tank, and clumps of urate everywhere. Even more, he was shedding, and his skin was coming off in pieces, because his humidity was at 40%, and he had about half an inch of water in his bowl. The heat on the hot side was at 80...coincidentally the same as the cold side!! WOohoOO!

I FREAKED OUT. I think I burst into tears upon seeing the tank...I wasn't prepared to learn that my snake was left in total neglect for three weeks, aside from being fed. I could scream. And then when I confronted the lady (one of the owners, I think) about the dirty tank, she actually said, "This tank isn't dirty." I think my response was along the lines of, "Excuse me? Shall we count the bowel movements in here?!" They didn't charge me for boarding, but that's little comfort.

I brought Hux home after they cleaned the tank, even though he just ate--despite my better judgement. I just couldn't stand to know that he was there any longer than he had to be. He hasn't regurgitated yet, and i'm hoping that he doesn't at all. ugh, this was awful... :medangry: