As some of you may remember, I recently bought a Brazilian Rainbow Boa that is severely underweight. Not only did the guy who sold her to me lie about the gender of the snake, he told me to feed her 1 mouse every 14 days (that's what he was feeding!) This is a 6ft adult snake (approx. 6 years old -- or so he said) She didn't even weigh in at 1kg!! (Ideal breeding age but not even half of the recommended breeding weight)
When the vet confirmed that she was severely malnourished, I decided to report this guy and his pet shop to the animal protection agency. The man there told me he could only get the official authorities involved if I can get my vet to write a report.
I called the vet: she won't do it!! She doesn't want to get involved. But she seriously recommended that I report it to the animal protection agency so that they can do something!
I called the man back and he said it's always that way here... the people who really can have the most influence won't do anything... his job is heartbreaking and frustrating!
He agreed to see both of my BRBs to get an idea of the situation for himself... but basically he doesn't think anyone will be able to do anything about it!!! (Snakes are not fuzzy, cute, cuddly animals and very few people will feel sorry for mistreated reptiles...) GGGGGRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
I'll keep you posted.

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Andrea

Wow,,,that is just horrible Andrea. Hold your head high knowing you did all you could and maybe think of taking your pets elsewhere for care.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

That's just the problem: she's the only reptile vet in the area! I just hope I can keep them healthy enough that I won't need her services!

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Andrea

Unreal, she may have a service contract with the petstore.

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Answers are great. But I prefer questions!

Visit me at www.jaysreptiles.com

Never thought of that Jay,,,but if she's the only herp vet in Andreas area she probably does have a deal with the guy.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

And so boys and girls once again the all mighty dollar is the final word.

Andrea at least you tried!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

That's what the guy at the animal protection agency said: that sometimes vets get a lot of their business through mistreated animals and therefore are less motivated to take action.
I think in this case, my vet is just too timid and insecure to put her reputation on the line.
He also said that most animal abuse cases are directly money-related. People not being able to afford food or proper care for their animals.
I calculated that the pet store guy probably paid about $2 a month on mice to feed Q -- I pay over $45 a month to feed her (now that I've switched her to rats and weekly feedings. Depending on how long he had her, there's no way he could make a profit if he fed her properly (although he'd get the rats at probably a third of what I pay!)

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Andrea

Does he have alot of herps in his store Andrea ??

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

YES!: the entire downstairs (not a big room) is full of terrariums: The whole area stinks horribly. It's difficult to see exactly what he has because the labeling is old and faded.
I've seen various lizard species, some in an open terrarium in the center of the room (although I can't identify them all): collards and Bearded Dragons for sure. He had garter snakes (I saw a clutch of tiny tiny hatchlings and he had a huge waterbowl in there and one had drowned in it. I had to point it out to the girl working in the store. She took it out of the waterbowl but DIDN'T change the water!!!!!
He has young boa constrictores, corns, and some tarantulas and possibly some turtles and amphibians.
I never spent too long in there because of the bad smell and bad vibes. But I did fall in love with Q which made me go back 3 times!

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Andrea

They cant get someone to go out and check out the petstore? i guess it must be different by you but i've called in and just complained at about a petstore with bad conditions and they've checked it out.

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0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
1.3.0 Nigerian Uromastyx
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.0.0 Green Iguana
1.0.1 American Toads
2.0.1 African Clawed frog
0.1.0 Dune Gecko Steno Petrii
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.1.1 Red Spotted Newts
0.1.0 Red Eared Slider
0.1.0 Box Turtle