Stuffed In Place

Today seemed to be a popular day for people wanting to stuff a ton of goldfish into small spaces.

The first was a high school student, who wanted to get 15 goldfish to put in a jar as an answer to MORP.

And I was like "That's kinda small for that many fish." Since the fish would hardly be able to move or breathe, I wouldn't be surprise if they died pretty quickly.

And the Dad was like "we know."

AKA, he knew they were purposely going to kill fish.

>.< Ugh.

UGH!!

People are dumb.

Why not just buy a bunch of goldfish and put them in a jar and not make a living creature suffer?

And then, towards the end of my shift.

A woman came into the store,

Wanting goldfish.

To put in a bowl overnight, and then to put in individual cups in the morning for whatever activity she had planned.

*shakes head*

She wanted 12 goldfish, in like a half gallon bowl.

But I managed to talk her into at least placing the goldfish into a larger space overnight,

unless she wanted dead fish in the morning.

But she was set on her goldfish, not listening to reason.

After all, feeder goldfish are cheap. You're spending a lot of money like you would be on bettas.

*exhales*

Hopefully I managed to give the fish a fighting chance.

Though if they're dead in the morning...I did warn her that it was possible.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Spitfire

Occasionally the cats our adoption groups bring into the store....have some issues.
Mostly in that they start out super sweet, but the longer they're stuck in their cages...or if they happen to see another cat.
They freak out.
Growling, hissing, trying to start fights. Scratching and biting. etc.

It's rare for them to be so difficult in that we can't work with them at all, but it does happen.

My coworker came up to me this morning while I was working on a different task.
Asking for help getting a cat back into it's cage.
As it was being growly/hissy making it difficult to catch.
Usually I can deal with these upset kitties pretty well.

But this particular cat....
I have no idea what happened, but this kitty cat had stressed itself out pretty thoroughly.
To the point where you couldn't put your hand near it without the kitty trying to scratch you, defending itself.

Methinks that it was because she was in with another cat, that she wasn't fond off. And to get out of the cage and see more cats in other cages...I think just was the last straw.

So I grabbed our bite glove. (we only have one, the match disappeared a while ago) and attempted to grab the nap of the neck to get control of the cat.
Only I couldn't. The cat kept rolling on it's side, meaning I could only get a handle on it between it's forelegs. Giving the cat access to use its claws and teeth to defend itself.
Luckily I had the bite glove on, so I remained uninjured.
However I couldn't pull the cat out from where she had placed herself under the cages.
So I had my coworker grab a broom, so we could shoo the cat out of it's small space, and get her out into the open for me to try and grab her then.
Still didn't work.
And when we tried to open the cage, the cat's buddy came out, and decided that since the one kitty was meowing and hissing up a storm, that it would be a good idea to join in the fray and try to attack the kitty as well. *shakes head*
We ended up moving the companion cat into a cage by itself, so that it wouldn't interfere with they yowling maniac I was dealing with.
As the cat had now stressed itself out so much that it was peeing and pooping all over the place too as I tried to wrestle it into a position where I could grab the nape.
But with only one bite glove...I couldn't use my other hand to help out because I would be at risk of being clawed and bitten.

Our adoption area has another doorway in it. That connects to the vet within the store. Its always locked, but that doesn't stop sound from coming through.
And they could hear the cat yowling up a storm, so one of the vet techs came over to investigate.
She thought she could help...
But I warned her away from getting too close to the cat without bite gloves. To which she quickly agreed.
She left to get her own set of bite gloves and a blanket to wrap around the cat.
So with her assistance, we were finally able to get the cat back into it's cage without any of us getting hurt.
Though I had to change my pants afterwards because the cat had peed on me. *shakes head* luckily I had an extra set at work, just in case.

In any case.
With the cat back in her cage by herself...
I later checked back in and she seemed less demonic. Pretty sweet and affectionate through the bars.
Dunno if it will be the same story if we let her out again.
This may be one of those cats that should stay in its cage until it's adopted....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Just Outside

There are days when I have really excellent timing.
Though not always in the best way. lol.

For example.
I was opening the department with my coworker this morning.
And we have this room behind the fish tanks that we keep all our supplies in for feeding and taking care of the animals.

It just so happened to go, that whenever my coworker would disappear into this back room.
I would end up, by chance, standing right outside of the door when they would come back out of the room.
-as I would be intending to go into that room as well when the door opens.-
And every time, I would startle my coworker, because who expects someone to be standing right there when you open a door?

lol.
It got rather amusing by the end.
Because it happened time and time again.
And every time it was just by chance. lol.
I hadn't meant to be there.
Nor did I always realize my coworker was back there when I went to head into this room as well.

lol. I think by the end of the day my coworker was getting rather tired of this.
So hopefully when we work together next....it won't happen.

Though I will be amused if it does.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Bulgarian Cages

There are days when talking on the phone with customers is difficult.
Especially when they say words that just aren't creating an understandable meaning in your head.

Today I had a guy call and ask if we had any Bulgarian Cages in stock.
O.o
Bulgarian cages? I'd never heard of such a thing.
Was it a certain style of reptile cage? Like where the doors open in the front? Or the lid comes off? I'd never heard of it being referred to that way.

I mean, our animals will have names related to places like the Asian forest scorpion, the Russian Tortoise, the Greek Tortoise, the African Sideneck, the Short-Haired Syrian, the Russian Hamster....

but Bulgarian?
Never heard of it.

But thankfully after a bit more questions on my side and repetition on the guy's side. I finally figured out what he was actually saying.

BUGarium
An Aquarium for Bugs.

Oh.
*shakes head*
lol.

Admittedly we'd only started carrying those a few months ago, so I hadn't yet received a phone call asking if we had them in stock. Which is why I had difficulties processing what he was saying, because I hadn't been asked it before.

But now I know. and hopefully if I'm asked again, I'll be able to understand what the customer wants much more quickly lol.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Under $70

I was called over to reptiles today, to find a woman and her two daughters sitting in front of our anole cages waiting to be helped. You see they wanted a reptile.

A glance in their cart told me that they had no idea what they were doing.

A small 5.5 gallon tank, a bag of sand, a little hut.

Great....if you were looking for a hermit crab.

But anoles are tropical creatures that get pretty big. So they'd need at least a 10 gallon tank, and dirt and lots of branches.

Thankfully, the customers freely admitted that they had no idea what they were doing.

So I began to tell them what they would need like a larger tank, dirt, some heat lamps...

When the mother was like. "Okay, but we just want to get everything for under $70."

Ah. Well now it makes sense why they wanted the $5 anoles. They were looking for a cheap pet.

*shakes head*

It's always slightly irritating when people try to go the cheap route with animals.

I mean, I get it if you don't have a lot of money but want a pet, you'd want to get the bare basics first and upgrade or add in things as you get more money.

But if you're just looking to get a cheap pet....

You shouldn't get a pet.

Especially not a reptile.

As honestly, they aren't like dogs or cats or birds where you can just put a bowl of food in their cage and call it good.

They require live food, and basically weekly trips to the store.

*shakes head*

No, if they wanted a pet that wouldn't cost a lot...a reptile isn't the place to start as most of the time you're dropping $200-$300 depending on the setup and what sales we have going to get everything set up.

Not to mention your weekly trips to the store to buy crickets and mealworms.

So after I began bringing up all this information, showing them good kits and such, they quickly changed their mind.
"you want a bird? Can we get a bird for under $70?"

Ummm....barely? It would depend on the cage and the bird and the food....

To which the customers were like. "This local pet store has a deal where you can get a cage set up and the bird as well for $50 do you have anything like that?"

No....no I don't.

I have starter kits yes with stuff you need for animals, but I never bundle an animal into the sale. (though customers would be more than estatic if we did.)

I have to admit I was grateful that they left the store to go back to the local store for their bird.

Because I honestly don't like dealing with people who do the 'spur of the moment' pets with the 'lets get this cheap.' mindset.

That's not a good way to think of an animal.

*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Nemo for the Bowl

It never ceases to amaze me that customers aren't always willing to be forthcoming with information when they come into the store. It's like they expect me to be able to read their minds and such and automatically know what they mean when they say "I need some fish, or I need some crickets."

Today was such a case.
Where a woman came into the store first thing when we opened and found me and was like "I need help."

....Okay..... with what?
"With fish."
.....Okay what fish?
She thought about it for a moment. "Do you have the nemo fish?"
...No. We only carry freshwater fish here.

To which she then directed me to a goldfish she wanted to buy instead and put in a bowl.

But honestly...
how difficult would it have been to say. "I'm looking to get a nemo fish can you help me?"
Or something along those lines. "I need help getting fish, do you have nemo fish?"

*shakes head*
Maybe I'm the only one who thinks that way lol.

Though I do have to wonder with this particular customer....
Was she originally planning to buy a ClownFish to put in a bowl?

O.o
Because it would not have lived long in such a tiny place. Nor would you have been able to easily monitor saltwater levels and other biological levels and temperatures and other random things involved with Saltwater fish tanks.

*shakes head*
I'm glad I didn't have to go through that sort of conversation with her.
Because she seemed to be the type of person of single mindedness where she'd get the fish in a bowl no matter what.
Thankfully...I don't carry salt water fish lol.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tag You're It

There was a guy who came into the store today,

With questions about how he was caring for his fish and if he could add any other fish into the tank with his betta.

It was normal standard stuff really, questions I get consistently enough to not be surprised by them.

However, what was a bit more unique about this conversation was the guy's absolute adoration for his pet fish. lol.

He absolutely loves that fish and they have a close bond, where he can actually pet the fish and such.

But my favorite thing that he and his fish do together is play tag.

Where he'll tap the side of the tank where the betta is at, to 'tag him' and then move his finger to a different side of the tank where the betta will then dart over to and 'tag him back'

lol it was the cutest thing to hear about! ^^ I love hearing unique relationships and rituals people have with their pets. ^^

-Sarnic Dirchi