Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...and they don't know what it is or how big it will get.

This should provide a comical situation a few years down the road.

Comical till it winds up in a rescue cause they didn't know it was gonna git 18 feet long and have to be fed rabbits. And no offense, but I doubt the Burm will see the humor in it.

Quig

This might be funny.. But if you look at the serious side of it.. it's pretty serious. I used to work for my local Pet Supplies Plus which didn't sell any reptiles. The main reason we didn't carry reptiles is the staff had NO IDEA about caring for them or anything about them really. Where I live (Montgomery, AL) There is NO pet shop with knowledgeable employees on reptiles. and this may sound funny to some but selling some 14 yr old kid a Burmese Python as "oh, this guy wont get over 5 feet at max and only eats small-medium rats" is part of the reason large constrictors are getting banned in states. I as a "reptile guy" don't laugh.. Sure it's funny that a PET shop has such but not funny when pythons over 6 feet are banned where I live. (thak GOD that hasnt happened) I was in a pet shop in Prattville, AL (about 20 mins north of me) and I heard a sales associate there tell some customer. "You mean the african rock python, he's just a "teen" now, he will max out around 8 feet" I wanted to slap the salesman. I did actually enter the conversation which was probably rude but i dont care as it was for the better and told him more about african rock pythons and the customer said "Ok ill wait and go read a care sheet" (thankfully) I would have bought the python to save it but i didnt have the outlandish price they were asking atm. sorry this is so long.. again I am indulging myself on the finest beer AL sales. lol

I completely agree. Where I live (VT) you can't have anything over 14' which limits you to pretty much BCI's as your biggest, but I think it's a good law for around here because very few pet stores know very much about reptiles and it's not fair to the snake and it's not safe for the unassuming buyer. Proof that states need to look at their laws is that I was checking out a pet store in NY and found they were selling a baby anaconda. I asked the sales person to be sure and he tried to tell me it was a carpet python. After arguing with him and asking another person that worked there they agreed I was right. Granted it was only a baby, but if they didn't know what it was, they surely don't know enough to tell someone buying it that this snake will grow to be over 25' and have the capacity in a little over a year to be able to easily kill it's owner. Anyway, just my two cents.
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1.0 Anery Columbian Redtail Boa
1.0 Striped Coastal Carpet Python (trying to sell)
0.1 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.1 Ball Pythons
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Albino, Severe Reduced Patter, Carrot tail)
1.1 Pugs (Male-Fawn, Female-Black)
Various Fish

very true the burm won't see humor in it. The store near us is actually giving out the correct information on their reptiles now and amazingly enough was able to honestly sell their burm to someone that could take care of it. Something tells me the manager will not be ordering any more. Sometimes talking to the staff can help!
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids