Outside Pets

I'm always a bit conflicted when people want to buy pets....to put them outside.
Like koi fish/ comet goldfish for a pond I can totally understand.
outdoor cats to keep the mice down in like barns and such I can totally understand.

But like...if you're just going to keep the animal outdoors because you don't want it indoors....then why get a pet in the first place?
Especially the cats and dogs that are 'family' pets but are kept outside or in the garage because the adults don't want them messing up the furniture....like there are so many more risks for the outdoor animals. Getting hit/run over, getting fleas/ticks, getting injured, stuck, sick, or you know just soaking wet or frozen in bad weather....

But I never know what to say when people come into the store wanting animals for outdoors....

Like today for example.

I had a customer come in who wanted two of our red eared sliders, the pacman frog we had, and two koi.

The combination itself made me think that the customer wanted to put all the creatures outside in a pond.
Like koi fish it's a given that it's usually for a pond.
Turtles too...unfortunately. Though I do try and discourage people from getting turtles to put outside...like they're captive bred creatures. They're not used to 'outdoor' living. Or if the customer is confident the turtle will be fine, warn them that they'll want to bring them inside once winter hits since it gets far too cold outside for them.

But the pacman frog...was new.
To my knowledge, I've never had anyone buy a pacman frog for ponds...
Though after getting home today I did look it up and pacman frogs could be around ponds as they like muddy areas and shallow water.

But I did try to discourage the customer from getting the frog since at that time I didn't know how they would do outside.
Which I could sense the customer mentally rolling their eyes at me for trying to ensure that the frog had proper care. *exhales*
They did change their mind on getting him and stated that they only wanted the turtles and the koi.
But then as i was gathering the paperwork to get the turtles situation after grabbing the koi fish for them...the customer changed their mind again and stated that they wanted to get the pacman frog as they 'had a cage at home'

*exhales* It's really too bad I can't call people out on their lies.
Their "I have a tank at home" statements after I tell them why they can't get certain animals.
It's too convenient really. Like...you suddenly remember having a bigger tank when you told me first you only had the smaller size? It's unrealistic.

But mostly I have to take people at their word.
You can't really call them a liar to their face.

But I'm pretty sure this customer just wanted to go through with their original plan to put the pacman frog outside by their pond.  
Like I said...I can't really say to the customer "I think you're lying so I'm still not gonna sell you the frog." 

*exhales* hopefully all the creatures are doing well in their new 'home' though....

-Sarnic Dirchi