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I bought a Sunglow Motley Cornsnake three weeks ago from my local pet store. It was about 3 months old. Everything appeared fine with it, but it just wouldn't eat. I tried to feed it live and dead pinkies. I split the head of the pinkies and i even scented some with chicken broth, but the snake would not eat. I isolated the snake with the pinkies in a deli cup. I tried just about everything. The tank was set up correctly. But after three weeks the snake died. My question to everyone is am i entitled to a refund from the pet store considering i paid $90.

Your input would be greatly appreciated.

Most pet stores have very specific policies regarding whether or not and when you are entitled to a refund. Under the circumstances which you describe, I would say that a refund (or at least SOME store credit) would be the right thing to do. But that does not mean it will happen. Go ask. If you get the brush-off, ask to speak to a manager. And so on.

Next time, buy from a reputable dealer who can assure you that your new snake is eating. I love reptile shows because of their selection and value.

I bought my first snake from a pet store which deals exclusively in reptiles. I paid way too much for her (typical). I still have her. My second snake (a corn) came from the same store. Never kept any food down and eventually died. I now have 13 snakes, mostly from the Ohio show and a friend who breeds. Most of MY "reptile money" is spent on frozen rodents! Duffy

I would never recommend buying a snake from a pet store, especially if it is a chain-store (like PETCO, etc...). Some of the small "mom&pop" pet stores are good as they know their animals.

I agree with the other comment about buying from well-known established breeders. Two reasons come to mind. You will get a better price for a snake that is accurately labeled,sexed, etc.. AND it will/should have a feeding record.

Pet stores don't have a clue as to what kind of snake they have, or what it is supposed to eat and have terrible guarantees (if any at all). THEY ARE BAD FOR OUR INDUSTRY.

I sell a lot snakes to a wholesaler every year. EVERYONE of these snakes are properly sexed and feeding. I refuse to sell non-feeders to anyone. Unfortunately there are people/breeders that even advertise with K-snake that sell their non-feeders to wholesalers, which end up in pet stores. These breeders may not sell non-feeders to customers (internet) or at reptiles shows but they sure do dump them to wholesalers! The wholesalers usually don't even have them long enough to feed them, and then move them on to pet stores. So some wholesalers aren't to blame, AND some wholesalers are just as bad as the breeders that knowingly sell non-feeders.

My non-feeders end up in the freezer for snake food for other people or they get flushed down the toilet. The flushing usually happens in the spring time after a brumation and more attempts to get them to feed.

Good luck at your pet store! Hopefully they have a guarantee policy and that they will take care of you, but in the future I recommend buying from a local breeder.

Kerby...

OK a couple of things here:

A Corn snake will NOT starve to death in 3 weeks unless it was already in terrible shape when you bought it. In my 12+ years of keeping corns, I've had snakes go off their feed for as many as three months, and it has almost no noticeable impact. They have to underfeed a long time for it to show.

What you didn't put in your post are the environmental conditions you put the snake into except that, as you said, "the tank was set up correctly." Unfortunately, the perfect set up for temperature and humidity might be ruined if you used orchid bark or cedar chips as a substrate. Both of those can kill young corns. A heatrock can kill a corn snake. If you put in a piece of wood sealed with certain kinds of lacquers it can kill a young corn.

Assuming that the tank was set up perfectly and everything was non-hazardous, there are a few other things to consider. About 5 years ago I had a very bad year where nearly half my hatchling population died out of the blue. The only thing that was different from the previous year was that I had moved a couple miles down the street, but ended up in a different water district. I had necropsies performed on the dead hatchlings, and it was determined that the cause of death was kidney failure due to excessive mineral buildup. Basically the water in the new neighborhood was hard enough to kill snall snakes, and I had to switch to giving them bottled water until I moved again.

It is also possible that the snake was infected with a parasite, like worms or mites. Since it never ate for you, you probably didn't have a chance to take the snake and a stool sample to the vet for a health check. When buying a new snake (or a new dog or cat for that matter) from a person you don't explicitly trust, _always_ take it to a vet for a checkup.

Most pet stores would not give you a refund for this type of thing. If they are reputable, they may offer to replace the snake with another one.

Repti-bark...is that safe?
i don't want to endanger my little buddies.
i will take it out asap if it's not!

they seem to be fine.

I've never used repti-bark personally. I understand that its made from fir-tree bark. I would be caution about it for the same reason that I'm cautious about using pine shavings (fir trees are members of the pine family), and that is that pine oils could be linked to repiratory problems in the long run.

For my own snakes I use aspen wood shavings (aspen is kind of poplar, which is in the willow family).

oy!

Remind me to check my spelling next time I post. I'm not illiterate, I promise.