Why you Should NOT Save the Sick Snake from the Pet Store

Most of us are guilty of it: We see a sick and/or neglected animal at a pet store, so we buy it to nurse it back to health. But that may not be the best thing to do in the long run. In this video I explain the BEST approach (in our opinion) to fixing neglectful pet stores.

SNAKE DISCOVERY MERCH

SNAKE DISCOVERY PATREON

Music by BenSound and YouTube studio library.

[ClintsReptiles]

Thanks for addressing this, Emily. I was just thinking about covering this subject myself, but I think you've got it covered. This was excellent advice.

This is such an emotionally complex issue. It is hard to watch an animal suffer when you could help, but you gave some great advice on how to make a real change for all of their animals, not just one. I have definitely seen that some large pet stores do a good job and others not. I love this call to action to motivate the stores to do a better job. It is possible. Make them accountable for the welfare of their animals.

[seanc]

"A hamster with diabetes" is not a phrase I would have expected to hear.

[DarkkestNite]

If it's really bad, don't forget about the legal route. If you feel you should report them for animal abuse or neglect, figure out who in your region you should report to.

[cchsmcbennett]

I went to my local Petsmart about 2 weeks ago and noticed that the little turtle (mind you the only turtle they had in the store) had a curved upward shell. I instantly noticed and my husband was with me, and since I've watched these videos on Snake Discovery so much, I explained to my husband why that was. He told me to go talk to one of the cashier girls about it and they gave me the manager. The manager however had no idea that this was happening and was quite upset with the situation. He informed me that he would deal with the situation and have the turtle enclosure taken care of right away. Thanks for making these videos because I used to not know a lot about reptiles and now that I found this channel I'm so much more interested in all sorts of reptiles. I'm still trying to convince my husband to let me get a ball python, but he's terrified of snakes. ;P

[Whispersteppe]

I currently work at a pet store and if we have a sick or injured animal we take it off the floor and house it in the back room while we nurse it back to health. If it needs it we will take it to the vet and the vet we use treats all animals.
Our primary concern is taking care of our animals. In the morning we go in an hour early to clean and sanitize all of the enclosures. Then we check all of the animals to make sure everyone is doing well and feed them.
I love the company I work for and yes it's a lot of work but I am happy to do it if it means the animals are healthy.

[infamousinferno]

Here's a problem that I've named "The Cycle of Bad Husbandry...

- A local pet store keeps their animals inhumanely.

- A family walks into this pet store and sees the way they're keeping the animal, and uses that as a "prime example" of how to keep that animal, not bothering to do the research because they believe that it's all right there in front of their face.

- The family in question purchases that animal and replicates what they saw at that pet store down to even the size of the enclosure (which the pet store cannot change in most cases due to it being a built-in enclosure within a wall).

- The reptile dies a painful death, and the cycle repeats until the family finally does research.

[TheCharleseye]

Thank you for this. I've seen so many "I rescued this animal" posts over the last few years that were actually "I bought this sickly animal at full retail price and proved that pet stores don't have to take care of their animals to make a sale."

Empathy is an important part of our humanity but the ability to see past what's right in front of us is just as important. Buy a sickly animal and the store will simply replace it and continue giving the same care. You've saved one animal and doomed another. Make the store accountable for the care of their animals and you'll save more than just the one you were going to buy.

[sycohearted]

I am so glad you addressed this. This is a huge issue in all animal communities. You're not "rescuing" the animal...You're giving money to a greedy and abusive industry to make another abused and sick animal. Document, Report, Share, and make a real difference by educating.

[edgidner]

You made great points! Well thought out and realistic. One of the reasons I love me some Snake Discovery. That Milk snake is such a beauty and seems so chill.

[tylerrugge]

I'm so glad you made this video! This is so important!! It kills me to see people buying sick animals and thinking they are rescuing them when they're really just supporting poor business. This was really well said! (:

[avvae]

At a pet store near me there were 6 chameleons (yes six) in one 4 gallon GLASS tank. Ugh.

[MyDarkerSide]

i’m a pet store employee and i really love this video because people act like we don’t care just because we work for a big company but i will literally fight customers when they are uneducated or actively mistreating an animal. we can also refuse sales!!!! we care.

[tarabonee]

I think it would be worth adding that though a few animals with deficits will be adopted out for free by pet stores, that is not a green light to go harrassing employees about slight imperfections in the enclosure or in the animal hoping for a freebie. It's distasteful and usually wont work. Ive seen this happen while I was shopping, and I wanted to throttle the lady. When she couldn't get anywhere arguing that a particular beardie was on deaths door, she spotted a corn snake she tried to bully the employee into giving her. The animal was fine, curious and exploring. If its truly ill, truly in distress then I def agree go get the manager. Just be sure why you are doing so first

[tanglelover]

I took in a lethal white (blind, deaf and stunted, like a double merle dog) guinea pig from the local pet store chain along with her traumatised sister. They were being kept in a small cage away from the other guinea pigs. I enquired and stated my experience with guinea pigs and I took them both home for free. The lethal white didn't really know how to eat anything but hay and celery, she just didn't know what anything else was. I had to syringe feed her a pellet mash and by the second day, she'd eat them on her own. She also learned what foods to eat from my guinea pigs and used them to navigate her space. My guinea pigs didn't like it at first but they got used to her bumping into them and just ignored it. She passed away in December but she got to live her best life with 5 other pals. We still have her sister and she's doing fine. I said after my 4th guinea pig that I wasn't buying any more guinea pigs but I've had 3 land in my lap for free because where I live there just isn't a market for guinea pigs older than 12 weeks. My newest guy is getting neutered today, I got him 2 weeks ago because his owners kept him with a rabbit and they were emigrating. I work closely with an animal charity that deals mostly with cats and the man I work with messaged my parents about it and they offered to neuter him for free, so I took him in. Its kinda sad because I see adult guinea pigs for rehoming a lot and people rarely bite because there's little demand and the people who would have demand are full up from taking animals nobody wants yet the pet stores are selling more.

[isitoveryet]

The Petco by me had 4 ball pythons in one enclosure, with one hide, the humidity would drop as low as 20% sometimes, no belly heat....it was just awful. I complained, and I also saw a lot of other people doing the same on SM & in their reviews. About one month later they sold the "fancy" ball python & two of the normals that were in the enclosure & then they upgraded the enclosure greatly! The substrate was good & seems to hold humidity much better, they put another hide in, bigger water dish & only kept one snake in the enclosure. I asked the reptile specialist about it and he said they won't be adding anymore snakes to the little guy's enclosure. It took some time & some sales, but I was just happy they listened to their customers!

[ravenwinter]

I love how informative and well-thought you are, and you have minimal bias and optimal facts and reasoning, in my humble opinion. :D I was never big into reptiles, but after discovering your channel, I just can't get enough of your videos and your reptile family :)

[GirtheAlienGoldfish]

Bearded dragons shouldn't be on sand.
BUT YES. I work at PetSmart and a lot of the customers come to me with issues regarding the animals we sell. We were keeping a small tree frog with anoles and a customer told us that anoles will eat frogs. We corrected it.
If you come to us and tell us that there's a problem, we're more than happy to fix it. We're animal lovers, too.
And ffs, don't pester me about the bettas. They're not in the cups permanently and I will recommend the proper enclosure to anyone who wants to get one. We keep them in cups because we can't keep them together in a tank and corporate isn't willing to shell out the money to update the fish wall. We have to abide by corporate rules while simultaneously making sure that our animals are being cared for.

[thethornydragon]

I've been to a Petsmart with an extremely small reptile section (just the end of an isle incap) yet their care was better than what I've seen in the past from other, larger stores. Yes, the bearded dragons were in 5-10 gallons but there were only three or less in each enclosure, separated by size. They were also housed on repti-carpet so that's great. The staff I was talking to were knowledgeable too.

[rbe]

Yep this is really important. One of the pet stores near me is pretty notorious for badly treating rodents and small mammals (rabbits, ferrets, etc) and they still get business because people feel bad for the animals. (It’s a common post in one of our local small animal groups.) But it’s too short sighted. It’s awful that the animals are treated that way but by buying them you’re only helping the problem.
Thankfully they get pretty bad reviews so hopefully that might help but some people are way more concerned with money than proper care b

[allenjones]

I'm obsessed with this milk snake shes so beautiful 😍 looks like a Honduran?