timopar
John 3:16, Believe It!!!!
Hello,
I am not sure this is in the right place and if it is not please accept my apologies Webslave. This posting is my attempt to illustrate to some of you professionals my frustration with some of your peers. The thing that has gotten me so PO'd right now is a visit to a semi-local pet store. This store is located in Pheonix City, Alabama. I have been to this pet store before and have never been overly impressed with the amount of care they give their reptiles, but yesterday's visit made me want to strangle somebody.
On this particular occasion I walked into the repltile room and found the odor to be almost overpowering. Now I have two snakes and they are both housed in a room of their own, but odor has NEVER been an issue in their room, granted it is only two snakes and the store has about 15 along with other reptiles, but the odor should never be that bad in my opinion.
Anyway, I looked around to see what they had to offer. The first thing I noticed was a plywood cage approximately 6ft x 2-3ft x 2ft. housing 6, yes SIX, full grown adult Columbian Boa Constrictors. The cage had one half full water bowl, that was not clean, and feces laying on the floor. Several of the boas had shed remnants on them from previous bad sheds and one looked as if it had mouth rot. These boas have been housed this way for a VERY LONG time as a breeding group, this according to the man that was working in the reptile room. Apparently the store has given up on breeding them due to their inability to be successful at it and are selling the group off...asking price "$150 for the dark ones $300 for the light ones."
On the floor next to the boa cage was a spur thigh tortoise with some extremely large pyramids atop its shell. This poor tortoise had no food nor water in its cage and paced back and forth constantly from one side of the cage to the other. It was priced at $400. A smaller spur thigh tortoise was caged in a 20 gallon tank with no food and dirty water and it was a constant pacer also. The pyramiding was not quite as bad on the smaller one and he was priced at $300. Neither of these torts had a uvb bulb on their tank.
In an old showcase, similar to a jewelry showcase, no bigger than 4ft x 3ft x 3ft. was housed a burmese python that had to be every bit of 12 ft long. This poor burmese was laying in a coil next to the heat lamp and his coils were touching the front, back and side wall and he extened to just about half way across the cage. He had no water bowl of any kind in his enclosure, but he did look healthy...for now.
Then there were the Tegus. A pair of B/W tegus that were housed seperately and each had to have been CRAMMED into its cage. The smaller of the 2 was at least 2.5 ft. long and was stuffed into what I believe was about a 20 gallon aquarium. He could not straighten out his tail without it hitting the other end of the cage, and that was with his snout in the opposite corner. I watched him try to turn around and it was impossible for him. The other Tegu was larger and housed in what i believe would be about a 55 gallon aquarium, but he was also unable to turn around completely without some major contortions of his tail. His cage was ABSOLUTELY disgusting. In among the substrate were numerous pieces of old shed and feces. His water bowl was approx. 1/4 full and BLACK with decaying waste. The smaller tegu did have a clean water bowl, but it was EMPTY. The smaller one also had a fairly large tumor growing out of his shoulder. These B/W tegus were priced at $200 each or $300 for the pair. When I asked the guy if they were argentine or columbian, he could not tell me and looked as if he had no clue there were different kinds.
In talking with the guy that was working the reptile room that day I asked him specfically about the tegus. I asked about their disposition and how easily handled they were(thinking I would get him to let me hold one and i could make a run for the exit). He told me the large one was EXTREMELY aggressive and demonstrated to me his aggresive tendencies by tapping on his cage and waving his hand in front of him. I then asked him if that was the reason that his cage was full of #$@% and his water was black as swamp mud.. and he said, "yeah pretty much. Takes everyone in the building to get him out to clean his cage." I also asked him about the boas and why they were all housed together. He told me it was easier to breed them that way. They think keeping 2 males in the enclosure with 4 females will result in more breeding. How pathetic.
I cannot tell you how much I wanted to ring this guys neck. I asked to see the owner however he was not in at the moment and it would be late before he got back, so I will be giving him a call monday morning. NOW, to all of you professionals out there, WHAT on earth can I do to help those poor animals out? What can i say to him to get him to take better care of his animals? What recourse do I have if it seems my talk with him is not going to turn up any positive results? I would have bought them all if I could have afforded it, but that is not an option. The local animal control offices around here are not keen on anything to do with snakes. There opinion is the only good snake is a dead snake(this is the deep south remember). In the town just down the road from me the police are dispatched to take care of stray dogs, with their guns, so I am not sure how much help the animal control option will be. Please, just tell me something so I can have a little ammo to take to this jacka$$.
Also, please, please, please tell me that this is not a normal thing in the reptile industry. I realize that a pet store has GOT to be alot of work, but surely conditions like these are completely unacceptable to most of the herp community, I know they were for me and it really has saddened and frustrated me to no end. I apologize for the length of this but if it makes you guys feel any better, I feel alot better now that I have vented, and hopefully i can get some good ammo from you pros.
Thanks alot
Tim Larson
I am not sure this is in the right place and if it is not please accept my apologies Webslave. This posting is my attempt to illustrate to some of you professionals my frustration with some of your peers. The thing that has gotten me so PO'd right now is a visit to a semi-local pet store. This store is located in Pheonix City, Alabama. I have been to this pet store before and have never been overly impressed with the amount of care they give their reptiles, but yesterday's visit made me want to strangle somebody.
On this particular occasion I walked into the repltile room and found the odor to be almost overpowering. Now I have two snakes and they are both housed in a room of their own, but odor has NEVER been an issue in their room, granted it is only two snakes and the store has about 15 along with other reptiles, but the odor should never be that bad in my opinion.
Anyway, I looked around to see what they had to offer. The first thing I noticed was a plywood cage approximately 6ft x 2-3ft x 2ft. housing 6, yes SIX, full grown adult Columbian Boa Constrictors. The cage had one half full water bowl, that was not clean, and feces laying on the floor. Several of the boas had shed remnants on them from previous bad sheds and one looked as if it had mouth rot. These boas have been housed this way for a VERY LONG time as a breeding group, this according to the man that was working in the reptile room. Apparently the store has given up on breeding them due to their inability to be successful at it and are selling the group off...asking price "$150 for the dark ones $300 for the light ones."
On the floor next to the boa cage was a spur thigh tortoise with some extremely large pyramids atop its shell. This poor tortoise had no food nor water in its cage and paced back and forth constantly from one side of the cage to the other. It was priced at $400. A smaller spur thigh tortoise was caged in a 20 gallon tank with no food and dirty water and it was a constant pacer also. The pyramiding was not quite as bad on the smaller one and he was priced at $300. Neither of these torts had a uvb bulb on their tank.
In an old showcase, similar to a jewelry showcase, no bigger than 4ft x 3ft x 3ft. was housed a burmese python that had to be every bit of 12 ft long. This poor burmese was laying in a coil next to the heat lamp and his coils were touching the front, back and side wall and he extened to just about half way across the cage. He had no water bowl of any kind in his enclosure, but he did look healthy...for now.
Then there were the Tegus. A pair of B/W tegus that were housed seperately and each had to have been CRAMMED into its cage. The smaller of the 2 was at least 2.5 ft. long and was stuffed into what I believe was about a 20 gallon aquarium. He could not straighten out his tail without it hitting the other end of the cage, and that was with his snout in the opposite corner. I watched him try to turn around and it was impossible for him. The other Tegu was larger and housed in what i believe would be about a 55 gallon aquarium, but he was also unable to turn around completely without some major contortions of his tail. His cage was ABSOLUTELY disgusting. In among the substrate were numerous pieces of old shed and feces. His water bowl was approx. 1/4 full and BLACK with decaying waste. The smaller tegu did have a clean water bowl, but it was EMPTY. The smaller one also had a fairly large tumor growing out of his shoulder. These B/W tegus were priced at $200 each or $300 for the pair. When I asked the guy if they were argentine or columbian, he could not tell me and looked as if he had no clue there were different kinds.
In talking with the guy that was working the reptile room that day I asked him specfically about the tegus. I asked about their disposition and how easily handled they were(thinking I would get him to let me hold one and i could make a run for the exit). He told me the large one was EXTREMELY aggressive and demonstrated to me his aggresive tendencies by tapping on his cage and waving his hand in front of him. I then asked him if that was the reason that his cage was full of #$@% and his water was black as swamp mud.. and he said, "yeah pretty much. Takes everyone in the building to get him out to clean his cage." I also asked him about the boas and why they were all housed together. He told me it was easier to breed them that way. They think keeping 2 males in the enclosure with 4 females will result in more breeding. How pathetic.
I cannot tell you how much I wanted to ring this guys neck. I asked to see the owner however he was not in at the moment and it would be late before he got back, so I will be giving him a call monday morning. NOW, to all of you professionals out there, WHAT on earth can I do to help those poor animals out? What can i say to him to get him to take better care of his animals? What recourse do I have if it seems my talk with him is not going to turn up any positive results? I would have bought them all if I could have afforded it, but that is not an option. The local animal control offices around here are not keen on anything to do with snakes. There opinion is the only good snake is a dead snake(this is the deep south remember). In the town just down the road from me the police are dispatched to take care of stray dogs, with their guns, so I am not sure how much help the animal control option will be. Please, just tell me something so I can have a little ammo to take to this jacka$$.
Also, please, please, please tell me that this is not a normal thing in the reptile industry. I realize that a pet store has GOT to be alot of work, but surely conditions like these are completely unacceptable to most of the herp community, I know they were for me and it really has saddened and frustrated me to no end. I apologize for the length of this but if it makes you guys feel any better, I feel alot better now that I have vented, and hopefully i can get some good ammo from you pros.
Thanks alot
Tim Larson
