I thought that this was something to bring up

[maddogg9019]

The other day I was in All pets club in Wallingford CT, which in my opinion is the best pet store in all of CT, but I was talking to my friend who didn't know anything about reptiles and was telling him that I'd be feeding my JCP a frozen mouse (I really feed small rats, but I just said mouse for some reason) then this guy who was looking at the reptiles next to me said that that wouldn't work and that I should only feed live :roll: even though I've been feeding FT since I got the JCP last April. Then he even said that I should try feeding some of the large CRICKETS :shock: :roll: :evil: , and of course I was like yea okay in a polite way for some reason but CRICKETS??? Man that just annoyed me because he was talking to me like I was a little kid and I've been keeping reptiles for almost 8 years since I was 10. Man how could you feed a JCP crickets??? would he even look at them??? If that was anyone on the site I apologize but if not then wow.

 

[AB^]

There's a lot of stupidity out there.
It's a shame.

 

[shiftylarry]

I work at a pet store. I deal with those sorts of people all the time. In that environment, something happens to people where they want to be right about everything. They really don't care about your opinion, they just want to be head.

I've almost gotten into some serious arguments with customers who don't know how to keep their traps shut, but I just look at them wide eyed, smile, and agree with everything they say in a semi-condescending manner. A lot of them know they're lying anyway, so when they can see that I know they're full of it, they usually get upset and leave.

This one guy who I call "Toothy" for his bad dental hygiene keeps coming in and mouthing off. He tells me that he's one of the first people in the U.S. to breed dumerils monitors, and that he feeds them pizza as a snack. Not only that, he F'd up their scientific name, told me that tegus and monitors are in the same family (they're not), and insists that his friend in South Florida has nile/water monitor hybrids called "big waters" that get 13 ft and 200 lbs. I've embarrassed him in public so many times, and yet he keeps talking. I don't get it.

Anyway you had your rant, there's mine.

-Chris

 

[DZLife]

Gosh dang, it really bugs me when people make up bs information just to look or sound smart......I won't lie; I used to do it when I was younger, but realized how utterly ridiculous it was!

Also, as someone 21 and under, (you all know how it feels), in situations as that, it is hard to disagree with people about facts like that, as they usually proceed to laugh in your face, even when they KNOW that they are wrong! It really bugs me sometimes.....
I personally try to be open to advice or info that others (especially people older than me) have to give, but sometimes, it gets quite ridiculous!
I don't mean to sound like a stereotypical rebellious teen, but I often get in to situations like that concerning knowledge about reptiles with my father, and he has never once admitted to being wrong or even been open to the fact that I MAY have a point.

One of these situations was when I tried to tell him that a diet comprised exclusively of canned cat food was unhealthy for my Blue-Tongued Skink, and that it was going to lead to some severe health issues!
I have encountered what seems to be like hundreds of situations just like this with my father (and others.)

PS: I got grounded for continually pushing my "side" of the "discussion" about the diet of my Blue-Tongued Skink.
PPS: He got tired of her tank stinking of old cat food and sold her, along with my other skink (I have now forgotten what type he was, but I had him for about 11 years!)
He proceeded to buy a series of different chameleons, all of which died due to improper care -.-

 

[hoosier]

told me that tegus and monitors are in the same family (they're not), and insists that his friend in South Florida has nile/water monitor hybrids called "big waters" that get 13 ft and 200 lbs. I've embarrassed him in public so many times, and yet he keeps talking. I don't get it.
-Chris

haha i worked at a petstore and ran into a simillar situation. i told the guy i had a tegu andhe said they are cool monitors. i politely told him that tegus are not monitors and then his will to be right kicked in. he ave me this whole lecture on how they ae monitors closely related to a savannah monitor. after he finished i was trying not to laugh so bad that i was shaking. i was 17 at the time so its hard to listen to a "youngster" like me. i thin got really irritated when he told me that due to my "lack" of knowladge i shouldnt even be keeping mine! so i gave him a good 30min lecture on tegus and he went and complained to my manager and stormed out. i was laughing. my manager was even laughing at this guy.

also how could a water nile cross get that big? neither species get that big in the first place. idiots!
sorry thats my little rant.

 

[shiftylarry]

Haha

I kept saying to him "REALLY? What locality are they. I though the biggest one on record was 10ft 5in" and he just kept on repeating, "They're not a locality, they're just called Big Waters"

...Idiots...

 

[ColdThirst]

If I worked in a pet store I would probably get in trouble for refusing sale all the time haha. I would discourage people from buying the animals they wanted as much as possible and tell them all the things that they have to have and have to do on a daily basis and if they still stuck around after that, I would sell them the animal with the proper equipment needed.

 

[shiftylarry]

I won't sell water monitors. EVER. I tell people right away that they'll need a room of your house. I make sure to throw in other fun facts too. Such as the fact that a well placed water monitor bite could sever your arteries or break the bones in your hand and the food bill for the year will easily be $2,000 for an adult.

 

[ColdThirst]

$2,000 a year is just a little less than I spend going out to eat at nice places every day for a year! That much for a monitor is like having a teenager that never really grows out of eating everything in sight hahaha, and I though my tegu was expensive to feed, (which he kind of is compared to my other pets) but again the tegu is no where near what I spend on food for myself every month, so, when you look at it that way, it's not so bad. I figured it up the other day, and my fish cost somthing like $360 a year to feed, and thats just a 55 community tank! It will scare the crap out of you if you start figuring up all the things you spend money on during the year and how much they cost you to operate.

 

[shiftylarry]

I mean it is a 40-80lb monitor. That is the size of a small child. And they need to eat at least 5 times per week. That's a lot of big rats.

 

[CaseyUndead]

I get in arguments with pet shop people a lot, but sometimes i just say "yeah, uh huh..".

A few annoying things from local pet shops:

-Lady told me that tegus get 7 feet long
-Pet shop giving columbian tegus and leopard geckos salad
-Guy said that reticulated pythons regularly reach 27 feet long
-crickets in with small snakes(hoggies and stuff)
-guy saying that monitors "only get as big as their cage"
-guy saying that burmese pythons AVERAGE up around 19 feet
-place whose burmese python and boas regularly have reallllly bad sheds

 

[shiftylarry]

Yeah, to add to the list of annoyances, a lady once argued with me, that green iguanas get 8 ft, people just don't take care of them correctly.

 

[AB^]

If I worked in a pet store I would probably get in trouble for refusing sale all the time haha. I would discourage people from buying the animals they wanted as much as possible and tell them all the things that they have to have and have to do on a daily basis and if they still stuck around after that, I would sell them the animal with the proper equipment needed.

When I worked at a pet store I did get in trouble all the time for refusing sales. The one that most stands out in my mind is when a bunch of chinese people came in to buy about 20 or so red ear sliders to be released into a local lake for some tradition or holiday. My boss was pissed that I refused to help them, and took over the sale. Some people have no morals and common sense.

 

[DZLife]

Argh...I respect traditions, but I would do the same thing that you did. Am I correct in assuming that the red-eared sliders would have died? I used to keep one, so I know what kind of habitat they need, but I don't know what kind of area you live in..

 

[ApriliaRufo]

Umm you are all stupid. I feed my ball pythons crickets every other day. Anyone who doesn't is a n00b.

 

[DaveDragon]

maddogg9019!!!! - I live in Wallingford. All Pets Club is a cool place but WAY over priced. We're in there probably once a week.

Have you been to Slither and Swim in West Haven?? They've got a better selection of reptiles. Still over priced but not as bad.

 

[DaveDragon]

Umm you are all stupid. I feed my ball pythons crickets every other day. Anyone who doesn't is a n00b.

No YOU'RE a nOOb!!! I feed my BP Superworms every day!!! He didn't like having to chase those stupid crickets!! I'll try roaches next!! Maybe I'll put him in with one of the Tegu's, he's looked lonely lately. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[maddogg9019]

I replied to your pm. Dave have you ever been to the White Plains Reptile Show? I went in april the last couple of years and enjoyed it alot. I'm sure It's not nearly as big as Daytona, but they have a good selection of reptiles, though not always in the best conditions. I have to go again this year, and I can't break the tradition of a new herp each visit :-D

 

[ApriliaRufo]

I believe that apollo would eat a ball python. Actually, I'm almost sure of it, especially after seeing that photo of one taking down a rattlesnake.

 

[DaveDragon]

I replied to your pm. Dave have you ever been to the White Plains Reptile Show? I went in april the last couple of years and enjoyed it alot. I'm sure It's not nearly as big as Daytona, but they have a good selection of reptiles, though not always in the best conditions. I have to go again this year, and I can't break the tradition of a new herp each visit :-D

We went to every White Plains show for about a year until the novelty wore off and we realized it was costing us nearly $100 for gas, admission and food to go there. And we bought something new every show. We'll probably be going in April also. There should be some new stuff, not the same recycled stuff you see all winter.

We went to the Long Island show a couple of weeks ago. A freaking mad house!!! It was more crowded than any show we've even been to!! At 1pm people were saying it took them 45 minutes to get in!! An the selection wasn't all that great. But the highlight was after the show we went to a friends house, about another 1/2 hour out on the island, who we bought our male Blue Tegu from. She does rescue and has a huge zoo in her house. It was amazing! We left with (2) Degu's for the 3 hour ride home.

We went to the Hamburg PA show last August. Crowded and HOT!!!! It was a great show with all of the stuff you'll never see in NY. We'll never go in the summer again!!!