Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My wife and I have recently gotten into Ball Python breeding. We picked up two Normals about 6 months ago, a Super Pastel 3 months ago, and a Bumble Bee 2 months. The Super is about 400 grams and the Bumble Bee is about 300 grams. We have a friend who works at a local pet store here in Springfield, Mo and we wanted to show the exotic ones to him.

Today we finally went to the store to show him! While we were waiting for our friend we decided to walk around for a little bit, the snakes were sitting clam in our hands. We walked down the dog aisle and there was a lady and her husband who were further down the same aisle on the other side of the center split. So the wife told her husband that they should walk down this aisle (which we were coming up) and he told her that they didn't need anything down the aisle. So they turned up the center aisle. My wife and I continued up the aisle and were now behind the couple about 5 ft. The wife saw us again and told her husband to look at us, he did and said, "What?", then she told him to look at our hands and he, a 6-7 ft tall, muscular guy, screamed saying, " Oh, my gosh!" as he jumps back, turns the other way, and takes off running, almost running over one of the store employees about 20ft way. He then continued to circle us coming no closer then 40 ft yelling "that wasn't funny" while his wife was laughing with us. And she talked with us for a little bit. Everyone who saw it was laughing.

After our visit my wife and I talked in the car about how funny it is to see some people will stop and steer clear of our snakes while others come over and take a closer look.

I thought you all would love this story, it was great to see in person.

matt

Lucky he entertained the flight not fight response in his moment of terror.
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Michael

exactly why we don't take our breeding projects or pets outside.....especially into stores and or crowded areas.......it's bad for buissness.......

........sorry........but it's true.........

.....could have used a bag....should have made the guy come to your home.....and what if you get stopped for shoplifting snakes from the store?....I know...but what a pain.....????....

.....$1.0298
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I guess you have some points, but on the other hand there are a lot of people out there that do not know about morphs and lets face it, you will not see any morph that is valued over $500 in most petstores, which is the good majority of them. Most of the people were actually suprised to see that balls come in another color then green and black (normals), and even though we had one person freak out, we had several people stop and ask what they are and coment on how neat they were (both adults and children). Also the pet store employees know us as well the type of snakes we had have never been carried on their shelfs, also we have taken our snakes to the same store to have them probed, so being accused of shoplifting them would not be an issue. I think I forgot to mention that the friend we were seeing was the reptile manager of the store and that is the only place I really know where to find him, we don't hang out.

So I appoligize if you were offend by my first post focusing on the guy freaking out, we just thought others on kingsnake would find humor in it; however, as I said there were many other people that found it to be an education opertunity. So you may call this bad press, but then again if people never see morphs what type of press do you have.

As far as someone getting biten we only let trained employees from the store handle them and both were feed a few days prior to the visit as well as these snakes are handled every day.

matt

"but then again if people never see morphs what type of press do you have. "
Why do you feel the need to "show off' your animals or "get press"? Can't you just appreciate your animals for what they are and be confident in that?
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www.strictlyballs.ca

What bothers me more is despite the humor of the concept of a large man being scared of a little snake, is the negative image it gives.

It is not funny to be laughed at for one's phobias or fears. Maybe if you didn't laugh and just told the guy don't worry you will make sure to keep your distance, then explain it is a harmless snake and won't hurt him...he may have been more inclined to try and over come his fears.

Though Pet stores often have a 'bring your pets to visit' policy, giving how many people are afraid of snakes, and often don't think to see them being carried around in a typical pet store, it is probably best not to cart your snakes to the pet store. Bring them to a reptile specialty type pet store known to have plenty of snakes.

Besides, being carried around can be rather stressful to the snake as well.
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PHLdyPayne

I actually asked...many times...many years...for the pet shops to just get big pictures of ball morphs and hang them all over the place and have a list of "can get" animals so people could just ask for a morph then the store could just contact me or anyone else and get it for them....we all make a sale that way and people get snakes they normally wouldn't see in the pet shop...

I'm still looking for the pics OR the list......

it'll never happen......

...we all have computers now anyways...........people just need to find the word kingsnake.com....that's what I tell them.....just go here and find anything and everything......
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I just know from experience that when people take snakes "out" into the world.....stuff happens......

there are over $500 morphs IN petshops here......twice that actually......I know where they got it...cough....

the store I go to has so many employess they don't even know each other i bet.........so.......(and people have walked out with all kinds of stuff)........Lergest Pet Shop in the world.....and it started advertising on here and yes they catch the people and have video that's pretty good......I just mentioned the shoplift thing......I know you know the guy there at the store you were at....LOL

.anyways.......it's all fun and games till little Mr StupidPants walks in with a 17 foot retic to show the people and get it probed.......probed?....pop them.......more "for sure" and more easy.......

anyways........I don't agree with people taking dogs into pet stores either......

do as Y'all wish
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the snakes should have been sitting calm in a container, not freehandled in public where the average ophidiophobe could be startled as you described.
you need to exercise responsibility, we are a maligned group as it already is. shock responses should have been anticipated, and therefore should have not been given an opportunity to occur.
there are definitely opportunities to educate and turn people on, but ultimately those chances pop up after the fear has been eradicated. this weekend we had someone at our house who literally freaked at photos of snakes when she got here, actually walk out four hours later having handled three of our snakes. that didn't happen because i walked out of the snake room waving pythons around when she got here.
think about the chance that someone may have gone into cardiac arrest at the sight of your little beloveds.
don't think it's never happened.
before my kids ever got to have their first pythons this was something that they were taught and understood.
be responsible herpers, nothing less is acceptable.
good luck, ck

despite your blatant disregard for the poor guys phobia, did you ever consider that most generic pet stores that carry retiles deal in bulk, cheaper to them, imports. Weren't you worried about mites or other cross contamination??
I would never bring my snakes openly into the public let alone into that environment.

JMO

TomChambers

First of all, the whole thing with the phobia idea and not bringing snakes in the pet store, I disagree on. It is a pet store for crying out loud. People are afraid of all kinds of things. Some people are afraid of dogs and cats, does that mean that people shouldn't bring those animals in a PET STORE? Sure some people are more afraid of snakes than of dogs or cats but that means they should just stay clear of them, right? People have to get over phobias. And by the way the story sounds like the wife is the one who led her husband into the "scary" situation, it was not Matt's fault.

Also it sounds like Matt wasn't waiving his snake around the air or trying to make a scene. He was just simply waiting for the reptile manager.

Also on the imported comment, we all know that pet store snakes are normally imported but how is the cross contamination going to get to your snake when most stores have all personal sanitize their hands prior and after handling their animals.

Let's face it, we have all watched america's funniest videos, or stupid videos, you tube, or what ever and had a laugh at someones reaction to a fear. When I was in college we would set people up to play an online game where you move a dot through a maze and then on the 3rd level it gets so tight that you are bound to hit the sides and a picture from the extersist pops up with a loud scream. Maybe we should all keep our snakes locked up, so that only the people we know will be alright with them can see them, and we can all wonder why there are so many people who think that they are cold, slimmy critters that are only good for the back end of a shovel because lets face it even in children's movies snake are always the bad guys.

So lets all cool off for a minute and realize yes people are scared but that is because most of them have only seen a snake coming out of the brush and had reason.

I have had people ask me to come to consider taking my snakes to public schools to help teach kids about snakes and show them that not all of them are bad. The way most of you sound this is one of the dumbest ideas ever because a kid could freak out about it, where can we educate.

Terri

That is exactly how I feel. I actually helped someone overcome their fear of snakes. She had the idea they were "cold and slimey". I told her I would hold his head if she would pet him. Two or three minutes went by after she kept barely touching him, then she took a deep breath and asked "Can I hold him?" Now everytime she comes over she wants to hold my snakes. Now if I had kept my snakes hid because I knew she had a fear, she would still have the idea they were nasty slimey animals.

I just wanted to mention to everyone that I took my Super Pastel (bought from TSK) and my bumble bee both valued over $1000 each. I was not going to let anything bad happen to them. My wife and I did inspect the store the night prior for sick looking stock and mites, also a side not for all of you who hate pet stores, I understand your reasoning but just so you know most name brand national pet stores have a sick policy that if at anytime someone notices a ill animal in their stock, employee or customer and reports it to a store manager they are to remove it from availability and have it treated prior to being put on the shelf again. My step mom is a vet sees this all the time. So please if you see sick snakes or anything at the pet store tell the manager and demand its care. My wife and I do this all the time because lets face it most people buy snakes at pet stores, so if you have a trained eye why not help those who don’t. Also the pet store that we took them to is the cleanest, as far as care and heath that I have seen in the city of Springfield. The manager does a great job.

When we were at the store we did not mix our snakes with the stores nor did we let just anybody handle them, we were waiting for the manager to finish helping a customer and in the mean time we got to see a big man scared of little snakes and yes we did find some humor in it. Also I should note that when he circled and yelled that is not funny, he was circling because he was waiting on his wife and he was yelling at her, not us. My wife and I did not know that this guy had this fear at all prior to his reaction and it was is wife that completely set him up for it.

As for the stress of the snakes the entire time they simply remained calm sitting in our hands, which I think they would prefer rather then some small bag or caring cage because they have something more firm to hold onto in case of a bump, like my hand or fingers. They seemed to enjoy there visit.

As far as the whole why do you need to show off your animals or have press issue? The truth of the matter is I have a bumble bee, a super pastel, 2 normals, and I am thinking about picking up 1 clown and a pied early next year. All of which are high dollar snakes with the exception of the 2 normals, and yes I plan on breeding them which means I am going to have some lovely babies but I would rather sell them locally if possible then ship them all over the us. Kingsnake is a great set up but I personally would use it as a last resort for selling. I prefer to meet the people I sell to so that they can get a feel for me, and really see the true value of the snakes before they hand the money over, where on most online orders you get one camera angle and that is it, infact most online sellers sound irritated when you ask for more pics.

In the end the store manager, after looking over my male super and female bumble bee told me to give him a call when I have my first clutch with them because he wants to get one of the babies for his own personal collection.

As far as my snakes go, I see them as a God painted work of art that I do not run all over the world showing off, but I also do not by any means intend to keep them hidden from everyone I don't know all the time. I still think it was well worth the time to see the little girl and her mom look closely at the snakes and admire their lovely color.

Matt

Godo for you, seems you've made up your mind regardles fo all the common sense thrown at you. All I can say is I am VERY grateful that you and your "animals on display" for attention don't live in my city...
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www.strictlyballs.ca

see......we got good conversation from this post......

good points and bad....and not just me.....

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Thanxx.........

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(you can't always see mites .....fyi )

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I would agree.

matt

There were some angles to the issue that may have been a little irresponsible or some danger that have been overlooked, like free handling them outside, etc. Maybe there are some things Matt didn't realize was so bad, and now he does.

Otherwise, accusing him of "needing press," I think was a little harsh. Hasn't anyone gotten a new snake before and been excited to show a friend that is into snakes as well?
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

That's awsome. One time I took my 3.5 ft Male BP to Petsmart. He was wrapped around my arm and when I went in, a lady literally half way accross the store looked at me, her eyes got like dinner plates and she actually ran to the back of the store.