• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Research people!!!

Jillian

New member
I love those who are too stupid to do the research and then ask questions…but don’t follow the advice. Or the people who give bad advice. I saw an ad for two corns in a small tank with no hides. They also had just the barest of bedding. I mentioned to the owner about the detriments and got an earful!
Then tonight a girl was asking if the mouse her snake was eating was too big. Thankfully it wasn’t but I told a story about a snake that I use to have that was fed the wrong size mouse and it choked and died (never leave a snake with someone who knows nothing about snakes while on vacation). Another person piped up and said it could never happen. I pointed out that a co-habituated snake can and will eat the other snake. Size doesn’t matter and was laughed at the ‘urban legend’. UGH people piss me off. I have no faith in humanity.
Responsible people do research…the rest can….well I won’t finish that though but you can figure it out.

That is my rant.
 

Attachments

  • $_20.JPG
    $_20.JPG
    21.7 KB · Views: 147
And then others just back them up with ‘not to worry they just won’t digest the whole thing and throw up what they don’t eat or need.’ CAUSE that’s healthy for the snake!!!!!!!!
 
cannibalism in a species you'd not imagine...

chondros.jpg


The offending snake died shortly after regurging its cage mate.

More...

M_viridisCannibal2.jpg


**NOT MY SNAKES**
 
Oh I know but apparently you can’t fix ignorant. :( (That aquarium with corns wasn't mine either.)
 
It's sad! I had a friend, thankfully she no longer talks to me, who I basically had to yell at her to stop doing things that will kill her pets. Like force feeding her lizard that was eating on it's own... She'd ask me the simplest questions on care things you should know before getting a snake. Now her poor ball python has stuck eye caps last I heard from her... With the internet it's not that hard to find caresheets!
 
I think it's important to give people the benefit of the doubt, although if it happens over and over again, I can imagine that would get old real quick.

A lot of the time I see people who get pets on a whim, and think "Oh, I can do this!" and they kind of half-ass it, like do some research OR talk to someone who claims to be an expert (such as a pet store employee) and take what they say at face value, rather than comparing sources of information.
I would like to think everyone has the best intentions... but at the same time, I see people getting bored with their pets and neglecting their needs. :(

It's not to say that we all don't mess up at times and have to figure things out the hard way, but there is a fine line.
 
To call people stupid annoys me. People make mistakes, sometimes people set out to do good things and sometimes later realize I don't have the resources or commitment they thought it would need. They/we cant all be experts, educated reptile enthusiasts for lack of better terms have all started in the beginning, have you not made mistakes along the way? The key is to learn, make ourselves knowledgeable and try not to make the same mistake twice and then pass what we learn from you down to others.
 
I think it's important to give people the benefit of the doubt, although if it happens over and over again, I can imagine that would get old real quick.

A lot of the time I see people who get pets on a whim, and think "Oh, I can do this!" and they kind of half-ass it, like do some research OR talk to someone who claims to be an expert (such as a pet store employee....such as myself, Herps of NM) and take what they say at face value, rather than comparing sources of information.
I would like to think everyone has the best intentions... but at the same time, I see people getting bored with their pets and neglecting their needs. :(

It's not to say that we all don't mess up at times and have to figure things out the hard way, but there is a fine line.

5 days a week I deal with people that are bored, but also mindfully neglectful and flat out just don't care about what the pet needs. I'll admit, I don't know what I'd like to about the 120+ species of fish sold at the large chain I work for. I have no problem admitting not knowing what I would think would be a comfortable level of knowledge when it comes to even birds or our small animals.

If I had to put numbers to it, 7 times out of 10 I get customers that even after giving them basic knowledge (like establishing a nitrogen cycle, proper heating for reptiles, not keeping ANY goldfish in bowls and without filtration, UV lighting for day-active reptiles, humid hides for reptiles, etc.) REFUSE to listen. Days, weeks, months later they're back in telling me their pet died or had to go to the vet and the vet told me the same info you did.

Chip knows what I'm talking about. However, what frustrates me are these assumptions....

A lot of the time I see people who get pets on a whim, and think "Oh, I can do this!" and they kind of half-ass it, like do some research OR talk to someone who claims to be an expert (such as a pet store employee).

I've had doctors and lawyers come in that refuse to listen to any advice. I had a former supervisor that has been breeding various African cichlids and keeping various birds from finches to large parrots since the 70s have customers ignore his recommendations. I've watched as internet keyboard warriors type up mis-information within forums and even had them come into store spouting off about how they watched a youtube video that claims XYZ is a correct setup/food/temp/ etc. I had a lady tell me that my crested gecko habitat at work, with a high of 83°F was too hot and the gecko would die. I politely informed her I'd been breeding crested since 1999 and even 85°F was acceptable. She proceeded to badmouth me to her husband, then came back to look at the gecko. In the meantime I brought up numerous crested care guides via many respectable breeders' pages via my iphone. She didn't like that, said thank you and walked out.

Not every pet store employee is a blathering idiot that doesn't know an anole's cloaca from their own rectum. This assumption, particularly within various internet forums honestly pisses me off. I have customers that now will drive to Albuquerque, New Mexico from Las Cruces (226 miles away), Alamogordo (212 miles away), Grants (80 miles), Gallup (140 miles) , and Farmington (181 miles) New Mexico, shoot even Durango, CO to visit my particular store due to the customer reputation I've built. We, here in town, even have a local mom & pop store with even the same reputation, our own beautifullywild's husband works at one of them.

I could go on and on, but I'm not. Everyone's mind pretty much here or on leopard gecko forums, insert herp forum here, etc pretty much have their minds made up about pet store employees. Unfortunately for me, this current field is what helps pay my bills after obtaining a BS in Biology, having 26 years of personal reptile & amphibian keeping experience, and 6 years professional experience as a museum Naturalist. :realhot: :uzi: :sobstory:
 
@HerpsOfNM-I agree with a lot you say, I defiantly agree that not all Chain store employees are stupid, I have a chain pet store by me that has some ofthe most intelligent, knowledgeable and helpful folks. When I think of the large chains/corporations, I think of the front office people, they care about one thing in my opinion, $$$$$$$
 
^exactly. I use to work in the fish/reptile department of social pet store. It is extremely frustrating dealing with people who have no interest in the proper care of animals. It's also very frustrating getting grouped into the "useless pet store employee group"
 
@HerpsOfNM-I agree with a lot you say, I defiantly agree that not all Chain store employees are stupid, I have a chain pet store by me that has some othe most intelligent, knowledgeable and helpful folks. When I think of the large chains/corporations, I think of the front office people, they care about one thing in my opinion, $$$$$$$

That they do and there is no denying it; time is money and I get ridiculed for the amount of time I spend educating my patron base. HOWEVER, since transferring to my current location, the current group of employees have taken the store to #1 in the company via our store statistics (set through customer surveys). We have our district manager coming to us as a mediator for guidance with other store's needs.

The take home message, we help and educate our customers. My store manager will hunt me down at times so that we can hopefully get proper information out or point the customer in the direction of such info. This hasn't gone sight unseen. The result is now I've bred a culture with many of my immediate co-workers (Pet Care Dept) where we've educated them. Consistent information is getting out and the reputation has come with it, both at my current and former store.

The customers I mentioned coming up from Las Cruces, NM and Alamogordo, NM....Las Cruces has their OWN store for the particular chain I work for. El Paso, TX is 85 miles from Alamogordo and 42 miles from Las Cruces, yet these customers come to Albuquerque (226 miles away) for their pet needs.
 
I have to agree, there are a lot of store employees that are very educated in the animals that they sell. They also give out the best information and will refuse a sell if they feel the customer is incompetent of caring for the animal.

I can also say there are some store employees that do not give a rats ass about he animals.

It is totally unfair to lump the all together. It is the consumers responsible to educate themselves in the proper care of the animal they are looking into owning. I wouldn't call them all stupid either.

I would say some people are stubborn and bullhead. It is a fine line to walk with these people but Id rather walk the high road and give them the best info I have and pray for the best!
 
I have to agree, there are a lot of store employees that are very educated in the animals that they sell. They also give out the best information and will refuse a sell if they feel the customer is incompetent of caring for the animal.

I also agree on this....BTW, Go Air Force:spinner:
 
HerpsofNM (and other pet store employees) I'm not knocking every pet store employee. That wasn't meant to be an insult.
I simply said (and meant) without comparing other sources; as in, one employee at a pet store is not sufficiant enough for their research. I personally don't care who you are or what you do, I wouldn't get just ONE source of information and call it a day.
That's not to say you aren't reliable, but someone just getting into snakes would have no way of knowing that.
 
I -had- a friend who also had corn snakes... until I found out she was keeping two adults in a 20gal. She said they were "good friends" and that "they cuddled"... when I told her I was getting a corn, she helped me with some advice (most of it being awful, but some good)...when she told me about her two snakes in one cage, I showed her all the information regarding cannibalism and how it's not good to cohab.. and she said, "you dont even have a snake yet. How do you know more than me?" and I said... well.. look at all these experts, can you really doubt them? Don't argue me, look at the pictures, information.

And she just shut me down, ignored me, so I stopped talking to her. :/ Poor snakes.
 
Yeah, that picture makes me sad.

I don't even have anything to add about pet store employee stereotypes. Just as on a message board, some people are well-informed and some people aren't. Both are often eager to answer questions.
 
Personally, I totally ENJOY coming here daily to ask or answer questions, I couldn't imagine my babies being as happy and healthy today if Damon (shout out to http://www.cornsnakeforsale.com/ who sold me my first corn) hadn't told me about this site. I downloaded 5 books on corns on my Kindle which gave me so much information I had no clue about, but this site is the best for specific questions.

I did the same thing when I purchased our Ragdoll kitties from breeders, my research led me to this breed which people are less allergic to than most other cats. My life came down to choosing to marry the man of my dreams who was dreadfully allergic to cats or having cats which I had never not had in all my life, so I did research to find a happy medium. We purchased Frankie from a breeder and I did so much research on this breed and joined Ragdoll forums. Not that cats are difficult to care for, but neither are corns once you know what you are doing! We ended up with 4 Ragdolls in the last 15 years, what a joyful breed they are. And they helped rid Jim of his allergies, he is fine around any cats now. I am a big proponent of adopting from shelters, but the cats weren't an option in the beginning, none were available in any shelter. Now I have 4 cats, one is a Ragdoll but they are all rescue kitties.

I just can't imagine getting a pet and not finding out everything I can about them. And those two guys in the tank together with no hide or room, just so sad.
 
That they do and there is no denying it; time is money and I get ridiculed for the amount of time I spend educating my patron base. HOWEVER, since transferring to my current location, the current group of employees have taken the store to #1 in the company via our store statistics (set through customer surveys). We have our district manager coming to us as a mediator for guidance with other store's needs.

The take home message, we help and educate our customers. My store manager will hunt me down at times so that we can hopefully get proper information out or point the customer in the direction of such info. This hasn't gone sight unseen. The result is now I've bred a culture with many of my immediate co-workers (Pet Care Dept) where we've educated them. Consistent information is getting out and the reputation has come with it, both at my current and former store.

The customers I mentioned coming up from Las Cruces, NM and Alamogordo, NM....Las Cruces has their OWN store for the particular chain I work for. El Paso, TX is 85 miles from Alamogordo and 42 miles from Las Cruces, yet these customers come to Albuquerque (226 miles away) for their pet needs.


So, you either work for Petco, or Petsmart... Both of which here in Las Cruces are not very good in the department of hiring educated people to be in their live animal sections...

I used to work for the Petco, and was much like you at the time. Constantly trying to educate my fellow employee's and the customers that came in. I was always correcting something that the old animal manager had said, luckily she moved and they have someone that at least knows a little bit running the fish/live pet department...

Needless to say, I was always receiving verbal warnings about spending too much time with the customers. And, the store was happy to see me go when I left for my USFWS internship. I decided not to return to work for Petco, due to the stress of dealing with irate customers, that didn't want to take care of their pets correctly, the people who insisted that their goldfish as a child lived in a bowl for 15 years and never grew, and dealing with managers who did not know a lick about the animals they had us selling... (Like I said, there is only one manager there that I trust about animals, and that is mostly on the fish. He has been keeping fish since he was a child, and had his own store for 20+ years back in California, where he grew up. He is also the regions "fish guy", constantly on the phone giving advice to other stores about what problems they may be experiencing with their fish.

I am glad to see that you are working for some people that respect and participate in what you are doing... I did not have that with the store I worked for, and it soured my experience with the entire company... Not to mention that the Veterinarian that Petco has who writes all of the "care sheets", has no idea of proper care when it comes to the "exotics"... And their employee computer system will not allow anyone to call him out on his crappy care sheets...
 
Back
Top