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wots the worst piece of reptile advice you've ever been given??

"There's no way your cat will be able to get into that tank..."
Luckily my cat didn't stick around to catch Shelby, my baby Anery, when she escaped and hid in my briefcase.
 
You are lucky!Thankfully, when I get my corn,my cat doesn't really hunt much so I don't have to worry much. The only way my cat would ever hurt my snake would be if my snake slithered right in front of her.
 
My guess is that my cat jumped onto the top of the tank to look down at Shelby and was so surprised by falling through that she ran away. I was at work at the time and when my wife told me what she found I was distraught. My drive home was filled with thoughts of poor Shelby being hunted down by the cat. I was set on taking the cat back to the SPCA. I can't even describe how happy I was when my wife called to tell me she found the snake. I have since bought a stronger cover to sit on top of the cage. It is secured with velcro tape and I've already tested it by putting the cat on top before putting Shelby back in her home.
 
@Shelby'sDad: i had a similar incident happen with my first cornsnake...i had him in a 20 long with a screen lid (and 2 homemade tank straps to keep the lid on) and came home one day to find the screen *finally* broken through from fat kitties sitting ontop of it to watch "kitty tv"...i was furious, and turned around to storm down the stairs and start a hissy fit when i noticed my snake curled up under a hat ontop of the bird cage (it was a homemade cage, probably 4 ft tall?) how he got up there still amazes me...either way, snake was a-ok other than being a little cold, screen lid got fixed and my dad made a custom fit piece of wood with big holes for ventilation (probably 2-3 inches in diameter x 5) to put under the tank straps...i will have to get a picture of it, it works pretty slick actually.
 
When I was a kid I had a couple Anoles in a tank like the one I have now and my Mom's cat would sit on the lid and watch the lizards all the time. I guess my cat needs to loose some weight.
 
I was told by a shop keeper to get a heat lamp with a heat rock because corns absolutely love basking in the sun, and don't prefer under the tank heaters. I find this to be very common and it angers me to hear it
 
I've gotten into the habbit now of, upon hearing such terrible advice, even if I'm not the one directly recieving it, taking a note of the employees name and sending it to management.

It's not such a big problem in the area I normally complain about (computers) but when it comes to a pet, that's a life at stake, and not just one, but think of the amount of other snakes that guy has given bad advice about.
 
I've been fairly lucky, I guess. I also can't recall asking pet stores for snake advice... I researched everything I could in advance on the web. Anyhow, I know it's OT, but I wanted to share a positive story.

I got my young MBK from a PetsMart nearby, and he and the other snakes seemed to be in pretty good condition. My boy in particular is surprisingly good natured, but I say that as a first time snake owner. When I asked, they told me his feeding schedule and such, and I was relieved to hear he was being fed frozen pinkies. (I've got no desire to keep live rodents.)

My only complaint concerns the wooden reptile hide I bought. When I pulled out the staples the thing started sapping out, and from the scent I could tell it was pine. Very disappointing! I bought some overpriced african wood piece also, so it wasn't a total loss. They were also selling "specialized" aspen in the reptile aisle for some obscene price, but I found a much better deal in the small animal aisle. ;3 Hee hee!
 
wow, tons of bad advice given!

I have one experience to share; just a bit before I got my corn, I went to my local petsmart to check out UTH for the corn (I bought him from a reptile specialty store and I get his food from them) but I was looking for UTH. anyways they sold two, one that was designed for a rainforest inviroment and the other for a desert one. neadless to say being new to reptiles but NOT tottaly in the dark I asked a clerk witch would be better for use for a corn snake?

his answer: neither of them and that I should get a heat lamp instead because the UTH alone would burn him.. now this I knew, as I did do my reaseach, so I asked about also using a thermostat with it?

his answer: no. no. that wont work, I have never heard of those...

.... I asked him how his snake was now as he said he new all of this from experience : it was dead of course... and he looked no more then 20, sad :(
 
My bad advice:

First was from the previous owner of my very first reptile, a leopard gecko. This friend I previously thought was an expert with all pets, but apparently not with reptiles;
-a diet of only waxworms and mealworms is suffient
-the bad set up was suffient (arboreal tank, no thermostat, no warm hide, no way to accurately check temps)

Then from a specialized reptile store;
-you can keep a breeding pair of geckos together permanently without concern. This female developed severe MDB in my care even though I had separated them shortly after taking them home.

Then from chain pet stores:
-I have been given false leopard gecko morph info even upon me explaining that the R in RAPTOR stands for Ruby eyes and therefore it cannot be one if it's eyes are silvery & the
genetics are unknown.
-that it is okay to keep a juvi leo with adult crested geckos, even when I pointed out that their care is significantly different.
-I was told to get an adult male leo just to breed to my adult female "just cause I could" even when I pointed out that breeding should not be taken lightly.
-that Calci-sand will pass through geckos easily and that it is benefical and has no risk at all
-that all geckos will drop their tails everytime they are dropped from any height. This was right after the clerk shakingly grabbed the AFT from my hands and dropped it 6 inches after it moved and freaked her out. She also told me I had to buy it because it was dropped when I asked to see it.
-one store was telling people that really young CWDs were actually "green water dragons", where full grown and would live their whole lives in 10-20 gallons
I have never set foot into any of the above chain stores again.
 
Dakota314 said:
Pitbulls are the sweetest dogs ever if raised right, just saying..

I've never really gotten bad advice. My local Petco is actually a pretty good store, besides the fact that they keep many baby corns in the same tank. The only bad advise I've gotten from them is tht astroturf is the best substrate, which isn't all that bad, since astroturf is ok even though aspen is better.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not entirely on how you raise it... there is a certain amount of genetics involved.

If you breed to physically unstable / mentally unstable dogs there is a chance that the offspring might be just as bad - or worse.

I own a pit-type dog. I got her from some one who had no business breeding animals. She is a sweetheart, but she is also a complete basket case when separated from her people.

She has really terrible separation anxiety.

I am fairly certain that I did not raise her to eat her own tail when left alone during the course of the average work day (I'm a stay at home-r now).

Just saying.

Every dog has a different personality, just like people.

The worst advice I ever had concerning reptiles...

Well, I had some one try to tell me that my (late) red legged running frog wasn't nocturnal AND was native to California - not Africa. And that it didn't need a long tank.

Fortunately I haven't heard any wild tales about my corn... but I did have a pet store employee tell me that platy fish wouldn't breed in filtered water 0.o
 
I was at petco recently, looking at the reptiles as usual. There was a young couple looking at a beardie and asking a guy questions. I assumed the guy worked there. As he answered more and more questions, I became impressed because he was giving good advice and dispeling many myths the couple brought up like, keeping it in a small enclosure to keep it small. Ugh! Anyhow, turned out he didn't work there. I couldn't help myself. I blurted out, I thought it was strange for a petco worker to be so knowledgable!
 
Once I was told by members of the community of craigslist to feed my reptiles gangnam style. When I went to put that into practice, on about the 4th animal, I realized it was bad advice.
 
Well... I don't know... if those mice were alive when you started that horse dance of his, they might be sufficiently disoriented by the 4th feeding? :shrugs:
 
Was I supposed to hold the mice or the snakes while dancing? I might have attempted this holding the wrong creature?
 
Have not read the whole thread but I think the worst advice is
"The only way to raise a corn snake is by the book" There are too many
variables, so the BOOK is just a guideline.
 
I haven't had any bad advice because I don't really listen to just one person. I do lots and lots of research on the animals I own. I still do research even though I've had them a long time.

I have heard a pet shop employee tell a couple purchasing a baby corn snake to feed it crickets and give it salt baths every day!
 
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