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Saving Your Snake
It is very sad that many pet stores that sell pets, especially snakes, do not
know how to care for them. You would expect anyone who owns or sells an animal
would know how to properly care for it, right? Of course!! That is why you don't
second-guess the information they give you. When a novice pet owner buys one of
their animals and the pet store passes on the incorrect care information, the
novice can't know that it’s wrong. I implore all new pet owners, please research
your pet's needs BEFORE you trust what a random person says. Get second
opinions, get third opinions!!! Go to forums, ask reliable breeders, and most
definitely try to purchase from a reliable pet store!
The following is a real situation that came to me on my forum in the winter
of 2001, and as you will read, some stupid pet store employees can ruin what is
supposed to be a happy time in a new snake owner's life. It has been unedited,
so you are reading the exact discussion, copy-paste.
Hi! At the beginning of Nov. I went and bought a beautiful little
corn. He's about 12" long, and I am getting a little worried about him.
When I brought him home, the pet store included 3 crickets for food, he, (Dagger
is his name, due to a perfectly shaped dagger design on his head), has been a
non-aggressive little thing from the start. I didn't handle him too much the
first couple of days, just a few minutes to maintain contact. Then I handled him
daily, just getting to know and trust each other.
He was very active in his tank, drank daily, and the 1st cricket died, I don't
know what happened to the second one and there is one that's still there.
For the past 4 days, he's been very listless, is losing weight, stays in one
position for hours, even overnight. When I pick him up, he gets more alert and
moves around on me, but as soon as I put him back in his tank, he just curls up
and seems to sleep. He's lost a bit of weight.
I was told that this is normal, him not moving around at all, sleeping
constantly, losing weight, etc. They said hibernation. His tank is stays at 78
to 80 degrees at all times, he has a tree in a 'cooler' section, a large bowl of
fresh water, a hide rock, nothing has changed in his habitat.
I really care for the little fellow, so if someone could let me know if this is
normal, or should I be worried, it would really help.
Any info at all on how to best take care of him would be appreciated!
Thank you, Wanda and Daggar
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Wanda,
Ok. This is kind of bad. But it is easily fixable. Never feed a snake crickets.
The only thing that a snake should eat are mice. That is why your snake is
listless... he is starving!!! make sure you get a pinky and feed him as soon as
possible!! He will be ok for a while, but you have to feed him. I suggest never
going back to the person you bought him from, because they obviously have no
idea how to take care of snakes.
~SQ
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Snake Queen,
Thank you so much for responding so quickly to my question! You probably have
saved Daggar's life, because I bought him at Mr. Petman instead of a shop that
specializes, and they told me to feed him crickets for the next 2 months! I am
on my way to the pet store now to get a pinkie. Thank you again! Wanda
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Dear Snake Queen and others,
Last night I posted the story of my 1st corn snake, which I had grown to adore,
because I was worried about his health. Snake Queen responded rapidly. I was
informed this morning that the pet store where I purchased Dagger had
misinformed me that all he needed to eat right now were crickets, and that he
needed a pinky.
I went immediately to go get one and on my way out of the door, I said bye to my
baby snake, Dagger. He was dead.
Many tears later, I feel terribly guilt ridden because as a 1st time owner of a
snake, I should have bought a book, educated myself properly instead of trusting
the 'advice' of a major pet store, Mr. Petman. My very, very sweet and trusting
snake died a terrible death of starvation because I failed to educate myself.
The clerk at the store was responsible in that she represented how to take care
of Dagger, even telling me that he wouldn't need to graduate up to pinkys for
2-3 more months. She also said she owned 2 boas. They are responsible in part
for Dagger's death by sending my healthy snake home with care advice that was
completely wrong.
I really don't want anyone, or any other snake, to suffer a very preventable,
painful death due to both mine and the store's ignorance. If you are getting a
new snake, please do better than I did and do not trust your salesperson only,
but invest the time to learn before you get your snake as to what they really
need.
Thank you for listening, Wanda
It makes me SO mad that that had to happen to Wanda and Dagger...she was
obviously an intelligent person. But intelligent or not, it happens all of the
time. However horrible her situation, Wanda wanted others to learn from it. She
agreed to let me post this, and I hope it will change the way new pet owners
purchase their animals. I especially hope that there are pet storeowners out
there who read this, and realize that they MUST double-check their care
information. As if the above passage did not say it enough... CORN SNAKES CANNOT
SURVIVE ON CRICKETS!!!
Also, addressing the weight loss... your snake losing weight is NEVER a good
thing. You should feed your snake on its designated schedule, which should be no
less than once a week (unless it is a large adult, then once every two weeks is
acceptable depending on food size).
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