switching-reins:

Petsmart is selling wild caught reptiles.

I work at a Banfield inside a California Petsmart location. Last night one of their pet care employees was discussing which snakes need to see our vets. Multiple snakes from a three species were refusing it eat. One of the long term techs there (I’m a new transfer from an out of state stand alone) said they should try buying live and feeding it. After the petsmart employee left I asked a few questions regarding the seemingly large number of unhealthy Petsmart pets we had to treat at our clinic.

That’s when my coworker said many snakes were wild caught. Sceptical at first, I asked how she knew. I know some snakes just won’t touch frozen meals. Turns out, the ladies had a blood sample sent in for analysis and it came back that the snake had a disease not seen in captive bred reptiles. One top of that, most snakes were very aggressive.

Lunging out at people, yet not touching frozen food. Turning around and eating live. Diseases only found in wild caught reptiles. Signs of stress long after being in an established tank. Constantly sick. To me this is extremely strong evidence that the animal supplier my location uses is selling us wild caught snakes.

Why is this bad? Well beyond snakes being sick, you also have to worry about people and the wild population. I don’t want to contribute depleting natural populations due to the pet trade. Then you have people who adopt these pets only to have them die. A lot of people get their first snake from Petsmart and won’t know the signs of an unhealthy one. Many would not seek vet care, or if they did, it would be too late. Obviously aggressive snakes are more likely to bite. This can cause the snake to no only scare a person and draw a little blood, it can hurt or even kill the snake.

Petsmart was alerted about our findings and they don’t care. Banfield isn’t owned my Petsmart so there isn’t much we can do. I just found this to be something the general public should know. The company doesn’t care, but you might. If your looking to buy any animal, look at breeders or rescue first. Snake breeders are easy to find online. They ship. Their prices for common morphs are often lower than petsmart. You will get a better quality snake bred in captivity to be docile and healthy.