ridiculously high prices

[Danny_mcr]

just thought i would ask if pet shops should put the right description on animals? local pet shop selling standard corns such as amel's n normals but saying they are candycanes n bloodreds but obviously charging ridiculously high prices. 08 unsexed candycane ( amel ) for £150 this shouldn't be allowed should it? thought this would come under some sort of trade description act. i bought my butter motley from here a long time ago which i was told it was a banana corn just wondering how they can keep doing this and what puzzles me is they have been open years. just one of many problems regards this shop, also tried telling the assistan but was told they had much more experience than me and they know what morphs they are selling. sorry about the rant as i don't like giving negative feedback but can anyone confirm trading laws regards this

[Ssthisto]

Well, it depends on whether the animal was "fit for purpose".

If you bought a Bloodred Cornsnake from that shop for the purpose of producing baby Bloodreds when you bred it to another Bloodred Cornsnake ... and you got all normals... then obviously the snake wasn't fit for purpose.

However, to some extent it is also "sold as seen". If you buy a torn pair of jeans at a shop, you see the tear because it's obvious or pointed out on the label, you buy it anyway, you cannot take the jeans back because they're torn. If you're buying morph corn snakes you should *know* how to identify the morph you're buying.

Candycane is a subjective morph, since genetically they're amels and even a pair of Candycanes can throw typical orange-backgrounded amel offspring - but the genetic ones where there's a distinct and definable difference (it either is homozygous for bloodred or it isn't), that's where I'd get picky.

That said, £150 is excessive for a "poor quality" candycane - but I would pay it for an EXCEPTIONAL one.

[Danny_mcr]

cheers m8 i would class it as an amel, understand the bought as seen point of view but if people where to tell you a certain corn was lets say het caramel, but came hatchling time and there was clearly no het how can people then justify bought as seen point? regards the shop though in my eyes its plain robbery, in most retail company's trading standards would surely come down on them like a tonne of bricks for selling in item at higher price with misleading description.

[Ssthisto]

I agree with you completely, which is why I'm quite happy to say to a shop "It's not possible for that normal-looking animal to be het for THOSE two traits, because if it was it wouldn't look like a normal."

But yes, if they are *provable* genetic traits like "het for caramel" then breeding it to a caramel should produce caramel offspring (and after a certain number of normal offspring when breeding to a homozygous animal, it becomes statistically very improbable that the animal is a het - but I've no clue how you calculate it - PaulH probably does!) and then it IS a case for trading standards.

Hence why I will only buy hets from the breeders where I know one parent was homozygous OR I'm willing to gamble... and usually where I have homozygous animals to test against.

[Danny_mcr]

certainly m8 i don't buy from these places no more, like you said it can seriously have an effect on your breeding plans. just annoys that they can't just be honest with their customers instead of thinking about quick money. im sure some people out there will buy that so called bloodred ( normal ) and imagine they breed it with a normal then sell the hatchlings as normal het diffused or bloodred as people already know newbies to the hobby are very trusting of their local rep shops and will take what they say as gospel. thank god we have people like you m8

[Reptacular Ltd]

Hi

From shop point of view this is down to two reasons, they were trying to rip the customer off, or they do not know nothing about the reptiles they are selling.

Either way this is completely wrong. We all make mistakes but trying to sell an amel for £150 is ridiculous. We sell them at £39.99 and they are well grown on and yearlings. We sold the last lot of candy canes for £79.99.

I certainly think that something could be done about this as it is misrepresentation. Trying to sell a snake as one morph, when it is something else.

I would put it down more to the shop not knowing their stock, which they should at least learn about if they are expecting it in, how can they sell something and not know about it.

Few shops round here are doing a similar thing on royals, and beardies. Obvious if you know, but not so clear if you are a novice.

We will be opening a shop in Rochdale in a couple of months, and this type of practice will not be happening in our store.

Thanks.

Reptacular Ltd

[Danny_mcr]

wouldn't say they are lacking knowledge as their hatchlings are clearly merchandised properly but every time i go in there ( approx once every 2months for any equipment i may need ) there are many snakes being sold much dearer and labelled as certain morphs which they clearly are not. another one, a very small asian water monitor priced at £250. now this doesn't really annoy me as they can charge what they want but to say a normal corn is a bloodred then how can you believe them when they say for example they're selling a normal royal as a normal het pied? scary stuff, i wouldn't believe them but someone might do

[Joshuashaw]

It's just as bad as the pet shops selling Sandfire bearded dragons when these dragons only ever come from the SF Ranch and if not, I would want certificates that they are offspring of mamas and papas of the SFR.

[Reptacular Ltd]

100% agree. We had some sandfires in a few weeks ago, all had certificates.


Shops should not charge over the odds for bog standard reps. Alot of shops do not and the few that do this can only rely on the novices, once they realise and see through thats when they begin to struggle.

But they should still not use this practice. Its wrong. Plus they are putting a bad image on all of the genuine shops out there.

[Simplylucy]

I've just paid £69 for my late 08 Candycane. I had no idea it was a Candycane until I posted pictures of her on here, I just fell in love with her colouring!