It really depends upon the pet shop.
Yes, there are countless bad experiences with pet shops, but there are some very good pet shops that DO know what they are doing - especially in metro areas.

One thing to note - he says he lives in Texas. Unless he can go to a show, buying from a breeder quite likely means the animal gets shipped to him, and that he does not get to look at the animal before he purchases it.

Shipping this time of year is more likely to result in a dead snake - and despite how bad pet stores are, there are a lot of breeders who are just as bad - don't properly pack animals for shipping, don't have their animals inspected for parasites regularly, have lots of animals in close proximity (racks) which makes parasite transmission easier, etc.

The breeder may have parasites and not know it. Animal gets shipped, goes through the stress of shipping, which causes it to not fight the parasite as well. A few days after arriving, things get bad.

Anyway - if the pet shop specialized in reptiles, there is a decent chance they know what they are doing. If they don't specialize in reptiles, they may or may not know what they are doing. But there are good pet stores, and plenty of them - and there are bad breeders, and plenty of them.
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3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

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