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well i went in today because i was pricing supplies and such. seeing as they have snakes i figured i might as well go check them out.

one of the first things a saw was a lovely little albino banded cal king. then i saw a sweet little albino aberrant stripe, the only problem? they were in the same cage!

i found an assosiate and politely pointed out the error in care and possible accidents that could occur because of it. the assosiates response? "well these ones are still young, kngsnakes arent born cannibals." so i mentioned that there are plenaty of cases of them eating tankmates regarless of age, sometimesright out of the egg. and his response? "well these ones arent siblings and are kept very well fed, so i don't think you need to worry about it." as if i'd never even heard of a kingsnake, muchless knew anything about them (i had told him priviously in the conversation about mine).
i felt insulted and was furious that someone would care so little about an animals well being.
its a good thing (for him atleast) my boyfriend was there or i would have chewed him out like there was no tomarrow. there is no excuse for ignorance like that.

anyway sorry about the rant.
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1.1 cal kings
1.0 rat snake

Yeah, let's see what that pet store employee says when he walks in from work and sees not two but one fat snake one morning.

I was at a pet store once and noticed that the cage had two labels on it: Cal king-99.98 and Desert king-79.98. I kept looking in the cage and when I was able to get a good look of one of the snakes, it was a cal king and it was very fat, cause it enjoyed a tasty splendida breakfast.

I then called over an employee, whom was shocked at what I had found, and basically had to give a quick kingsnake lesson about kings, cannibalism, and WHY they are called kings in the first place.
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Genesis 1:1

I once went into a chain pet store (don't remember which) and saw a tiny baby savanah monitor mismarked as a leopard gecko! I called over a sales woman and pointed it out, assuming it was just a mistake. She proceeded to freak out at me saying (almost yelling) that she wasn't stupid and she new what a leopard gecko looked like BLAH BLAH BLAH. I could hardly not laugh. I just asked if the manager was around. I showed him the mistake and also told him how rude the woman had been. He fired her right there on the spot.

I almost felt bad, but really, there was no reason for her to freak out on me like that. Some people are just really special...

And the fact that a 4 foot carnivorous lizard is for sale with a "complete setup" (IE a ten gallon tank and heat light) in a store like that is a whole other issue.

Posted by: zach_whitman at Sun Dec 10 02:03:47 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

I once went into a chain pet store (don't remember which) and saw a tiny baby savanah monitor mismarked as a leopard gecko! I called over a sales woman and pointed it out, assuming it was just a mistake. She proceeded to freak out at me saying (almost yelling) that she wasn't stupid and she new what a leopard gecko looked like BLAH BLAH BLAH. I could hardly not laugh. I just asked if the manager was around. I showed him the mistake and also told him how rude the woman had been. He fired her right there on the spot.

I almost felt bad, but really, there was no reason for her to freak out on me like that. Some people are just really special...

And the fact that a 4 foot carnivorous lizard is for sale with a "complete setup" (IE a ten gallon tank and heat light) in a store like that is a whole other issue.

Hey dont spoil it for the rest of us lol. My friend bought a real nice looking baby Pueblan milksnake that was sold as a ringneck snake for $14 and it was actually a sockhead pueblan.
3 yrs later snake looks great doing great and bred him . This was at Petland not Petco but the chain pet stores are more or less same.

I'm not defending Petco - but it is possible to keep multiple kings together with very low risk of issue, and the key is keeping them well fed. I have a pair of boys that have been housed together for over two years now. Turtle Bay has a 1.2 trio that are adults but different sizes and have been kept together for several years now.

There is slight risk even if well fed, and it is difficult to know which one pooped etc. - but it can be done and is done by many without incident.
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3.3.5 L. getula californiae
1.0 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
2.1.2 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

I don't know about Western Kingsnakes, but I would not try that with Eastern Kingsnakes. The breeder that I got my baby MD Eastern from last year had 2 siblings in 1 deli cup on the way to the reptile show. When he got there, he only had 1 snake. It regurged it later, but he ate his brother of the same size. I think maybe Pyros or GBKs might do ok, but some WILL eat others. I don't take the chance. Derek

Posted by: paz at Sat Dec 9 23:14:32 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

well i went in today because i was pricing supplies and such. seeing as they have snakes i figured i might as well go check them out.

one of the first things a saw was a lovely little albino banded cal king. then i saw a sweet little albino aberrant stripe, the only problem? they were in the same cage!

I am not sure how much input the employees have because Petland discounts which is another chain type pet store I go to sometimes does that to.
During mid summer they had baby CA king- Sinolan -Corn all in same tank .
The guy told me this is what the main office said was okay to do they just follow directions .

I've kept hatchling Cal kings together for up to around 3 months before separating them out. They were sibs and together from hatchlings. I've done this with different clutches from 2 different females. I didn't lose one. They were B&W Cal kings, which I have noticed are less opportunistic than some of the coastal types. But even then, I have had coastal male hatchlings together for the same period.

I think factors are hunger, time of year and individual personality.

Still the better advice is what you told them: to separate them, because nobody can know for sure if/when one will eat the other.

Where was this Petco? If it was in Southern California, let me know. At the very least, report the employee to their manager, and let them know why you are concerned. Most managers will get the problem taken care of.

I'm an animal specialist at my local Petco and I have never heard nor seen anything from corporate telling us to put more than one kingsnake in an enclosure.

Not all Petcos were created equal! A vast majority of the people coming into Petco make me wonder how on earth they managed to get their shoes on in the morning. I've had customers yell at me about the care of the "ana-holes" (anoles) and had someone tell me that I was wrong in saying that iguanas need a tall, roomy enclosure to truly do well. (That customer claimed to have successfully raised and bred iguanas in pens 8' long by 3' wide by 1' tall.)

Keep in mind that you knowledgeable folks make up a very small percent of the people we see. On a very regular basis I have to explain what a "heat gradient" is, and why it's important to a cold blooded animal.

Anyway. Enough of my own ranting

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire