Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys, I walked into a Petland Discount on Long Island, when I asked a store worker if they had any frozen rats for my little boy Buzz, my ball python. The look of horror that came over her face when I asked that question. She thought I was a horrible creature for not feeding him live rats. And I explained to her that my little boy Buzz, loves F/T rats. She did not want to deal with me and belittled me in front of the other store customers. There was a moment there that I felt like a bad guy, for not feeding my little guy live rats,(not to mention, I am 6'2" and 200 pounds and could snap her neck like a pencil, but my wife told me not to). I just wonder if anyone else has ever experience the embarrassment and rudeness from a petshop employee? Anyway, I stuck to my guns and got my little buddy his F/T rodents that he loves so much. And he ate like a champ.

I live in cincinnati ohio and about aweek ago I went into a pet land and had the same problem "but worse" I asked to see a red tail and they wouldnt and couldnt get him out is what they said I asked if he was for sale they said not no more hes meen and when the owner comes in he is going to kill him not only that but I looked closer at him and he had open slash marks that were fresh they also had two mcaws in a small cages fighting it out both were bleading badly they also had 4 dogs in there vomiting blood. from the time I walked in they were nasty to me the place smelled like dead animals and fish.
There is not many petlands around here matter of fact this one is far from my house i gust had time to kill while I was in the areaa but I will never go to another petland again
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0.1 iguana
1.1 ball pythons
1.0 sparkle caiman
1.0 musk
1.0 macaw
2.0 dogs
1.0 cat
0.1 wife {LOL}

Man that sucks! If I were you I'd let the manager or owner know about how she treated you. I'm sure they'd love to know how an employee is refusing to sale you something. I mean, why would a petstore sale those things if they're going to tell a customer they shouldn't buy them! That's just ridiculous! She has no right to say anything to you anyway except, "I'll get that for you right away sir". And to make it worse, she's actually being backward in her thinking on that! It's obviously BETTER to feed f/t and less dangerous for the animal you're feeding it to. Man, petstores piss me off because of stuff like that! I go to a Pet Supplies Plus and at least they just go back and get me my f/t rats, no questions asked. That's the way it should be!

Wow, I cant believe that! I think your doing the right thing by your snake and I never met someone who cared for snakes that has that attitude about f/t. I would consider calling the corporate number, for all we know she is the manager! What part of the Island are you from? I live their as well and might be able to recommend a couple of good shops.

They must vary greatly from store to store, I live near one semi-decent one and they always recommend f/t, even though I only go in there to buy live for my picky feeders. There's another local one that's kind of a pit though, and I avoid it.

Hi: it really is petSuck, not petco. I hear so many funny weird stories about PetSuck.

My personal experience is pretty funny: I went to a local petco to buy some replacement breeder female mice. When I told the girl, "I'd like to buy some female mice" She said that they didn't sell female mice.

Being a timid person, I said, "oh. ok."

I stayed in the store a bit longer, because I was really befuddled. I then went to the cages and found a cage with nothing but females mice!!! I gathered up myself and went back to her and said, "well, can I just buy 5 pet mice?" I then pointed to the specific cage I wanted. She complied, but not before murmuring "all cages are the same" [. . . .NOT!].

So, story had a happy ending, but I had to really work for it. I was in the store for like half an hour. Should have been a 5 min. visit.

The point, in case you missed it, is that the girl was CLUELESS!

Do you think that was a funny story?
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

I went into a "male" store (you know they only sell male animals) and there was a mouse that had babies, she was separated into her own cage and all.
I asked about getting her, the employee said that she wouldn't be for sale until her babies were "all grown up".
I said, well then just sell me the babies too.
The girl went on to tell me that "Oh no, they can't leave their Mommy yet!"
I said, "Yeah, but they are the perfect size right now."
"What do you mean???" she asked with big ol' dumb doe eyes.
"To feed to my baby snakes"
The girl's face went white and she burst into tears!

Not long after that I was asked to leave...... huh, go figure....
heeheehee

Later,
Jen
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HerpCrazy Reptiles

Out here, it's PETSMART that has "gender", not Petco. Every Petco I've been to all over southern California has no problem selling me feeder mice. I got hassled at a Petsdumb a similar way - "Why would you want to feed your snake MICE?" This was by the manager, no less. I won't go back to Petsdumb because of the condescending letter I got from company management declaiming their PETA-driven policy of not selling animals for food (but they sell SNAKES!).

OTOH, I LOVE Petco. I have an arrangement with the one near me whereby I give them my leftovers to be sold for food. I don't get paid for it, but I do get "special" treatment - the clerks are always extra helpful to me.

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2.0 Ball Pythons
2.0 Bettas
1.1 Pekingeses
1.4 Rats (for breeding)
1.0 Mouse (for scenting rat pinkies)