Shell Rot?

*shakes head*
I don't get my coworkers.
Actually I don't get how paranoid my coworkers are. 

As apparently, yesterday on my day off.
There was yet another freakout about the turtles in the fish wall.

As a few months ago, with permission from the district manager, we moved our aquatic turtles into a tank on the fish wall where they would have access to deeper water and water that would stay cleaner because there is fresh water constantly flowing through it. 

The downsides to moving them to the fish wall?
Was that they didn't have access to heat bulbs or uvb bulbs.

I mean there is a light above them that gives off light. But it's not a UVB light.
And the water is warm enough that it's fine.
-Especially since the temperatures are now getting much hotter outside.

But my coworkers are freaking out that the turtles are sick and injured and need to have their lights.

It comes and goes.
And yesterday was one of those 'comes' days where they apparently spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how to rig up a light system over those tanks. 
*exhales*

Their main reason for wasting so much time yesterday.
Was because they were like "The turtles all have shell rot! It's spreading to their heads and eyes!" 

…...
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*exhales*

You know what I found when I looked at those turtles today?

Healthy Turtles.

The shells were fine.
Their heads were fine.
Their eyes were fine.

I saw nothing wrong. 

And like we've had all of those turtles for like under a month.

If something were to go wrong.....
It takes a lot longer for something to go wrong.
Especially with shells.

Like they have to be in bad conditions.
And compared to how difficult it was to keep the tank clean on the endcap we had....
They're in waaaay better conditions.

My coworkers need to take their paranoia down a notch.
So long as they're eating and being active.
The turtles are fine.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Pop Pop

So there's this large cage we have on one of our reptile endcaps that we haven't used in ages.
As a while back the manager was looking to possibly take out one of our endcaps because the cages weren't being used in that section and instructed me to try and put all our reptiles into one section as proof we only needed one. (We ended up getting a ton of reptiles after that point so we do need the cages now) 

And until now, we didn't need to use this larger cage....but we got in a couple of Chinese water dragons that were larger than normal. So they needed a bigger cage.

But they couldn't be in this big lidless cage because they could potentially get out.
Which meant that I needed to move our tortoises into them (as it doesn't matter if there is no lid and this cage was used for them in the past) so that I could put the Chinese Water Dragons in their other cage. 

So I pull open this old cage that we haven't used since like....maybe Christmas time? Maybe before that point.

And something shatters at my feet.

Like it sounded like something broke. And was loud enough that the manager a few feet away heard it and was like "What broke!?"

But when I looked down there wasn't anything immediately visible.

What broke?

Well.
Apparently at some point, someone had placed one of those street poppers.
You know the little white raisin looking fireworks that you throw on the ground and they make a 'pop' sound?

Yah. At some point someone had placed one in the lip of the thing holding the cage in place. 
So when I pulled the cage out.
This little pop firework fell out.
And popped.

*shakes head*

At least nothing actually broke. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Vanished

So like a week ago, I helped a customer get some African dwarf frogs for their tank.
It was...a bit of a trial helping them from what I recall. 
But still I did what I could.

Today though, this customer called the store.
With a simple question.
They'd bought the frogs....but after putting them in the tank had only seen one frog surface once....and then never saw any of them again.
Which, the customer's reasoning, was that if they were still alive, they would need to come up for air. 
Right?

Honestly, I wonder how long the customer looked at the frogs, because you could stare at them for a good 15 minutes or so if not longer...and you won't see the frogs move up to the surface.
I have no idea how often they do need to come up for air, only that they do. 

So I asked if the customer had looked for them in the tank.
Nope.
They hadn't.

They just assumed since they never saw them come up for air that they had died.
So the customer wanted to know if they could get their money back or get new frogs.

Unfortunately....I had to tell them that there was nothing I could do.
Because we have to have physical proof that the frog was dead.
Which meant that I needed a body if the frog had died. 

-So if the customer would look through their tank and move things around and discover the frog(s), then of course I could return them.

Without a body?
No can do.

Customer was not happy about that at all.
They interrupted me saying "I'm never shopping at Starsmet again!" and hung up. 

*exhales*

Like....it's a risk you have to take when buying live creatures, especially fish. There's a chance you won't find a body. There's a chance you won't be able to get your money back.

But having such a reaction over like $8 (2 frogs at $4 each).

Seems a little extreme.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Moving About

It's always 'fun' to play ring around the rosie with animals.
Especially the small pets when I'm trying to get more animals onto the floor.
As it takes a bit of creative juggling and crossed fingers to see if combining two different groups together will work out or not.

Today I was attempting to put guinea pigs together.
Which overall usually works out, but occasionally we get in a rather dominate male that doesn't like having new friends introduced to the cage....or doesn't like being introduced into a cage with a bunch of others.

We had one large cage of guinea pigs that had 8 in it.
And one medium cage of guinea pigs that had only 2.

And in that cage of two was a larger guinea pig and a smaller guinea pig.
For the past week or so I'd been monitoring the smaller guinea pig as he hasn't been acting quite right.
Like nothing obviously wrong.
But at the same time he didn't 'look' happy.
Constantly staying away from the other guinea pig and such.

So I pulled the larger guinea pig out and placed him in the big cage, and took out two smaller guinea pigs of similar size to the remaining guinea pig in the medium cage to see if that would help the guinea in the medium cage cope a bit better.

Only the larger guinea pig ended up butting heads with a white and brown guinea pig in the big cage.
So I figured, hey if the one guinea pig is being aggressive to the new guy...why not take out the white one and leave the new guy in there to make nice with the others.

So I pulled out the white one, stuck him with the smaller guinea pig, and placed the two smaller guinea pigs I'd taken out of the big cage back into that cage.

And for a while it worked out.
As smaller guinea pig and white guinea pig got along really well. Even resting next to each other! :D Which was great! It eased my mind----

Until bigger guinea pig in the big cage decided to be aggressive to everyone else. *exhales*

I knew that the original setup had worked out...but I was trying to decrease the stress of the smaller guinea pig.

So I ended up pulling the white and smaller guinea pigs out of the medium cage, placed them in the big cage and then pulled bigger guinea pig out and put him in the medium cage.
Not by himself though.
I grabbed the two smaller guinea pigs I'd grabbed earlier (as 2 on 1 is often better than 1 on 1) and placed the three of them together in the medium cage.

And walla!

It worked out. Whew.

But it took a lot of rearranging to manage that. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Discounted? I Think Not

A young customer called on the store today. Probably preteen or teenager aged.
They wanted to know how much it would cost to get a tortoise and the setup for it.
To which I told them that it would be around $300-$400 to get the setup and the tortoise. 
-As the tortoise is like $120 and then a cage can be another $150-$250 depending on the brand and what's included and such.

Young customer didn't really like that price range and tried to find out what exactly they didn't need to 'waste' their money on in order to get the tortoise for a lower cost.

Not much really. Not from our store.
The kid wasn't to be dissuaded though. They were like "Can't you lower the price for me? I only have like $150" 
Ha.
We're not a bargain store kid. It isn't online classifieds or the D.I. We don't lower prices unless the item is on sale or marked reduce to clear.
Sooooo no I can't give you tortoise and cage for practically half off. You either can afford to get the cage OR the tortoise, not both for that price. 

Kiddo didn't like that much. So I gave them suggestions on places to look for either cages or tortoises that cost less. 

In any case.
I figured that it was funny that a customer wanted us to lower the price so that they could buy something, but didn't think much more on it.

Until a different customer came into the store looking for a particular fish tank.
A 20 long gallon tank. 
But unfortunately we didn't have that one in stock.
We did have a similar tank that came with a lid in our reptile section.
But it cost twice as much. (Because reptile things like to cost more apparently)

The customer didn't want to buy a tank that expensive.
Didn't want me to call our sister store to see if they had the 20 long in stock.
And also didn't want to have to go to the competitor store up the street.

So customer asked "What discount will you give me to take that tank off your hands?" 

Uhh...None?

Again. This isn't the classifieds. This isn't a mom and pop store. This isn't the D.I. We don't sell things for less to just get it off the shelf. We sell it to sell it. So unless said product is damaged or broken in some way. There's no reason to give a discount to a perfectly good item.
Sorry dude. No discount for you here. 

*shakes head*
So weird to have practically the same situation happen twice in one day.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Bite?

There was an older customer in the store who was peering in at the reptiles. 
She stated at one point that 'she liked to look at reptiles'.

But didn't want anything to deal with them lol. 
As she asked me when I drew near. "Who would want to buy a snake?!" 

My brilliant response "People who want to buy them?" 
Because that's why people come into the store to get animals. To buy them. 

"But don't they bite?!" 

Yes, snakes can bite. But it's more rare. Usually they only bite if they're antagonized. Otherwise the snakes we sell are pretty docile. 


-Sarnic Dirchi

Back Again

The crazy lizard customer came back.
The one who's bought like 10 different anoles and long tailed lizards and such in the past month or two.

Yah. He came back.
Now because his son was interested in getting a green tree frog, especially after I confirmed that they can live in the same cage as the lizards. 

Thankfully it was rather easypeasy to get the green tree frog.
Less easy was extracting myself from the conversation with the customer as he wanted to know if he should separate his female long tailed lizard because it was only laying one egg at a time and he was confident that there was more than one egg within.
Having only ever seen one or two eggs from females in a cage at a time....I didn't think that there would be more.
Nor did I understand why the guy keeps coming to us to ask those sort of questions.
We sell babies. So like breeding and age and such...no idea.

*exhales*
Hopefully the green tree frog doesn't cause them trouble. 
I don't want to have to deal with more questions I can't answer. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Scritch Scritch

Had a customer come into the store today looking for an anti-itch cream to put on her dog.
Only....we didn't sell creams. We sold sprays and like...shampoos. But no creams.
Which wasn't what the customer wanted because the dog won't hold still to have the spray applied. 
They were hoping instead, that because the dog doesn't mind baths, that they would be able to apply a cream to the dog's skin and make them think that they were taking a bath at the same time. 

But at that point since I only carried sprays and like shampoos...I recommended the shampoo/conditioner thing. 

Only it came out that the dog had more than itchy skin problems.
No, apparently since it was a puppy the dog wouldn't tolerate anyone touching it. To the point now, years later that they can't even get a leash on their dog.

-The customer wasn't sure it even was a dog at this point. 

In any case.
They haven't combed the dog at all because it won't tolerate the brush and will bite people who try to brush him. Not even the vet, apparently, is willing to take on the task of grooming this puppy because the dog gets aggressive and the owners apparently can't sedate him before taking the dog to the vet? 

No idea.

But the dog is extremely matted, to the point where it's scratching at the matted fur.

And here I am....just wondering why the owner would let their dog get that bad.
Just because the dog has 'always' been like this is no reason to let it continue to be like that.

They were thinking a bath might help --but people later told me that that would make the matts worse... *exhales* 

But yah....I wish there was a good solution because that dog sounds like it's in a horrible situation. :( Poor thing. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Free Offerings

It was around lunchtime and my coworker had just gotten off of their shift and were waiting for their ride home, when they came in and were like "Hey....there's bags of free dog food outside." 

O.o 
Huh?

Upon investigation, someone had left two bags of opened dog food -half used- and then an unopened container of hot cocoa powder in front of our store with "FREE" written on them. O.o 

Like....why?

-One note explained further that the 'don't have grand-puppies' anymore, hence they don't need the food.

And while it was thoughtful for them to want to have someone else use the food that they could no longer use....

Leaving it randomly in front of our store is rather odd.
I don't know if they came in and tried to talk to a worker or not.
But regardless.
We couldn't let it stay there.

As who knows where the food has been or how long it was sitting there or how old it was.....

So we gathered it up and took it in the back to be thrown out.
Because we can't guarantee the safety of those who might possibly consume said food items.
Therefore we can't keep them on the property even if they're not ours and free.
We don't want to be liable.

I am still curious though....if the hot cocoa was used with the dog food....or of it was just like an offering to us people like "here you have some hot chocolate!"

The world may never know.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Let There Be Light

One of the many struggles of our store is getting in replacement heating bulbs for our reptile tanks when they go out.

Like. In all honesty shipping things shouldn't take longer than like a week.
But when it comes to lightbulbs? 
It's like two or three MONTHS before we see anything.
Which if no one is paying attention and we don't realize that we're getting low on replacement bulbs....
Can cause quite a problem when we have like...all of them go out.

Especially when the lightbulbs are expensive to purchase in the first place.
And like take forever to get here.

I don't know how many times we've ordered the things actually.
But our poor reptile habitats had reached the point where more of the night time heat bulbs weren't working than were. 
Not.
Good.

We've had to leave the day time lights on throughout the night just to make sure that everyone stays warm enough. *shakes head*

In any case.
Today.
TODAY.
After like 2-3 months of waiting.
We FINALLY got in lightbulbs.

Which was like 10 day time heat and 10 night time heat.

So we were finally able to replace a lot of the bulbs that had died and such.

Only....
It wasn't enough.
Out of all the cages....11 of them needed new night time heat bulbs. 
And I only had ten.

*exhales*

At least we're down to just one now that needs a night time heat.
Hopefully the next order of lightbulbs gets here before more of them go out....
But we'll see.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Taking the Lot

It was the last ten minutes of my shift.
Which usually means that that's when I get the 'difficult' customers.
This was no exception.
As a customer came into the store wanting some feeder goldfish.
For what purpose I didn't ask, but my guess was it was for a pond as that had been the common theme of the day.
Only we were rather low on Goldfish.
As we hadn't yet received in a shipment.
So I showed the customer what we had.
And the response was "I'll take all of the smalls." 

*exhales*
I do hate it when people want ALL of something.
Especially fish, because the last dozen or three of fish are always a lot harder to catch than when we have like 4 or 5 hundred in a tank. 

But I set to work, trying to get the goldfish into the net as quickly as possible.
And managed to get all our smalls (60) and x-smalls (18) caught before the customer returned.

They asked how many I'd caught and I'd told them.

It wasn't enough.

So onto the large goldfish I went.

They wanted all of them.....

But when I had like a dozen or so left to catch the customer decided that that was enough.
-I'd ended up with 40. 

So yah.

Basically wiped out my fish for the weekend. :S 
I hope we get some more in this upcoming week as I forsee a lot of sad customers when there aren't any goldfish for them.
*fingers crossed* that they show up on Monday or Tuesday and not Friday. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

An Odd Duo

Got contacted by a manager again today.
They called within the hour of leaving work.
Why?

Because my coworkers noticed that there was a guinea pig in the chinchilla cage.

And my manager wanted to know why.

*exhales* 

Because apparently I got distracted at the wrong moment that's why. 

At least I think it was me.

As while I was in the middle of the bird bedding change when a customer and family asked to see the Chinchilla. 
Which I showed to them.
But then they asked to see a Guinea Pig.
So I put the chinchilla back to grab the guinea pig. 

And I guess when I needed to put the Guinea Pig back....
I put it back in the bottom cage instead of the top....

I was focused on going back to cleaning the bird cages and didn't even notice.

I don't recall anyone else asking to see guinea pigs.
So I'm guessing it was my fault.

Thankfully the two were just chilling together in the chinchilla cage.
So no harm. Woot. :D
And Mr. Guinea was put back with the others. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tick?

I got a text from my manager a little bit ago.
Stating that one of our coworkers had found a tick on one of our snakes.
O.o

A tick?

I hadn't noticed anything when I picked up that snake earlier today.
Of course I wasn't looking that hard. I'd noticed he was shedding, but nothing more.

But like a tick? Random.

Even more random because like...I'd cleaned those cages this morning. All of them.

But the managers were like "We might need to do bedding changes on everyone." 

But.
I.
Just.
Did.
That. 

So realistically all the cages should be fine.
And any creatures that were in the cage besides the reptiles would have vanished with the cleaning done earlier.

So unless the bedding that was used has an infestation---

All the animals should be fine.

Still I'm skeptical that it's a tick--
Like. 
I've never seen a tick in the store.
Let alone one on a snake.... :S 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Trial Pet

I had a customer come into the store to get a pet goldfish.
Why?
Because he wanted to get a dog.
But figured before he took on such a huge responsibility he thought that he would try keeping a goldfish alive first.

Which. First off. Bad idea. Like. Keeping a goldfish alive isn't easy.
Especially if you're looking to keep it in a little bowl.
It's a lot of work.
Which if he's looking for a lot of work. Congrats. You've found it.
I told that he would need to change the water in the bowl like every other day to keep the goldfish alive and that a betta fish would be better and that even a larger tank with a filter---

But nope.
Dude's mind was set.

He wanted to try keeping a goldfish alive in a bowl.
*exhales*

Like.
If you want to try something.
Why not try doing something right?
And not as cheap as possible? 

Still I did what I could to set the dude up.
Got him a goldfish -tried to talk him into smaller, but no he wanted larger. *rolls eyes*
And the proper food and water conditioner for the bowl. 

Though I don't really expect the fish to live long in those conditions. 
I tried my best.

In the end.
The dude was like "I need a name for it, what would you name it?"

*shrugs* I had nothing come to mind besides "Goldie" because like...it's a goldfish...I wasn't thinking names.

But he then was like I'll name it Sarnic!

So now there's a goldfish out there named after me. :S 

Like I'm halfway flattered.
But at the same time.
I kinda really want the fish to live now.
Because like....it's named after me. I want it to live a nice long life. 

*fingers crossed*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Which One Is Darker?

Had a customer come into the store today looking for a goldfish to replace the one that had died.
It was apparently a 'black' goldfish.
And she wanted to replace it before the kids within the house realized it.
Only she couldn't decide what size and if the 'black' goldfish we had were dark enough.

She ended up having me fish out four so she could look at them separately.
And still couldn't decide.
So she was like "Maybe I should grab my son and have him choose." Which I said would be a good idea.
As she didn't live too far away.

But I can't just leave the fish in our fish catching containers for an unknown amount of time.
So I told the customer that I would place her goldfish in an empty tank nearby that had no fish in it.
So she would be able to see them easier and her son would be able to see them too.

A little bit later she did come back with her son.
And he picked out which goldfish he wanted.

And on their merry way they went. :) 

-Sarnic Dirchi