Impulse Pet buyers ...who are they/we?

[JuliusSqueezer]

Over the many years that I've been in this hobby/business of reptiles, Impulse pet buyers have been the scourge that have caused by far the most greif to anyone even remotely responsible. But who are they and how do you tell if you are one or not? And here comes the controversy...when is it ok to buy on the fly? and how are some of the planned purchases every bit as bad as impulse buys?

I make impulsive buys now and then on animals...most people I know do. Or at least spot something I want or stumble into one in need and bring it home with no prior specific planning. But I am not dragging home things I know nothing about or don't have caging and feeders for and I'm pretty well set up with lots of room for nearly anything within reason anyway...In a way, I see it kind of like meeting the woman of my dreams. If we go out looking, we settle on the best of what's available at the time. It's when we aren't looking and stumble into something or someone that makes the old ticker go pitter patter ...those end up working out IF, you are both ready.

What I am saying here is, I don't think it's necessary to first decide I want a boa or cornsnake or whatever...and then go shopping for "A" cornsnake or boa or if you do, it's best to do your research if you haven't and have an understanding of it's every need to survive you...but to me, there is something impersonal about looking for "a" pet of any kind. Breeding stock is a variable not in consideration in this discussion btw. If I am in the market for a new pet, I don't want "a" dog or "a" cat or "a" snake. I want the word THE to replace the word "a"...If you ask me do I have a woman in my life..NO. I have THE woman in my life. I got thinking about this last night while laying in bed watching TV and petting our dog Buster. We had discussed getting a dog for some time. Megan really was and still is set on a Yorkie "someday". We had poked around here and there looking at some not really thinking we wanted to take the dog plunge any time soon but then came Buster. Not anything like what we thought we wanted though small and wirey and even the color of a yorkie...he's a wire haired weenie dog supposedly chihuahua mix but as he grew up, I'm not so sure what dad was. He looks like a wirehaired weeniedog maybe with some sort of terrier mix...maybe even yorkie for all we know lol. By many definitions, Buster was an impulse buy. We were at a reptile show and one of the other vendors had puppies for sale just trying to recoup the cost of the vet visits. Megan found Buster and I could both see the immediate bond and feel the pain she had knowing it just wasn't the right time...It was the right dog though for us, no doubt..it was love at first sight and I know how she felt because I admittedly felt the same way. Some other woman came and over and was checking him out and if you have never really watched a girl's heart sink to the lowest part of her bowels, it's not something you want to have to..unless of course it's your sister ...Then the lady put the pup back and walked off. I picked him up...Megan refused to hold him because she said if she did there was no way she was giving him back lol. From the second I picked him up I knew he was our dog...THE dog. It was a 2 pound dog that surely wouldn't get over 10 pounds. Whatever impact he could possibly put us through by entering our home..anything to be chewed or peed on or whatever was something I could deal with 1000 times more than denying this girl this dog...so I handed her the dog...she looked at me like she was going to kill me for handing her what she knew she couldn't have but deeply wanted and I paid the guy for the dog and went back to work at my snakehook table across the way. I figured if he didn't work out, I could always feed him to something lol...JUST KIDDING....but anyway, sorry for the long story...Was this an impulse pet buy? In a way yes...he was unplanned. But we know how to care for a dog and knew pretty much what we were getting into except for how the cats might take him...Which btw went quite well. I believe it was an Impulsive buy but I also believe it was a better choice than going to look for "a" dog and settling for what's available at the time.
I see no reason why reptiles should be any different and I'm not encouraging you pet hoarders that think to be cool you have to have a huge collection...and just fill tanks with whatever snake you run across that the price is right and ain't a bad looking little snake...What I do encourage is researching the various species that spark your interest and filing the info away in the back of your mind. Get off your duff and go visit the breeder or a reptile expo (Beware the trash at the expos though) It doesn't take long to figure out who's animals are cared for and properly transported and who's stay in the delicup till the next show if they don't sell. Hold out for THE snake, not A snake. Or just forget about it...in this community, there is rarely a shortage of unwanted pets being tossed around and sometimes those are the ones that are the most special of them all. Think about Louise's snake "Chance" or my "Max" ...Neither Louise nor myself were looking for a new snake at the time and if we were, likely wouldn't have gone seeking these particular animals...but worlds collide and whether by chance or fate, Animals enter our lives constantly even when we aren't looking for them to...Chance is an unremarkable boa but she has a story and has won the hearts of many. Max is a plain old normal burmese python...nothing at all special exept he does have a spot on his back where the markings spell out MOM or WOW depending on what side of him you are standing...but he too has a story and is special to many besides just Megan and I and I'm more proud of him that if he were a granite purple headed 40 foot burm with legs and wings het for laying golden eggs. The breeders are going to love me for this one...but mail order snakes are as likely to win your heart as a mail order bride...not saying it never happens but the odds are better when you stumble while not seeking but being prepared for it just in case. People that go to shows or petstores to buy A ball python...determined that if they have one and they can afford it, they are bringing it home...even if they read the caresheets and know what they are doing, they aren't going to bond with this animal, are 1000 times more likely to get bored with it and to me aren't much better than the TRUE impulse buyer who will walk into petco to get cat food, see a boa in a tank, have never considered even having a pet snake, think it's pretty though and kinda cool...so buy it having no idea how to take care of it, what it needs or what it should eat...Nothing. That's the type of impulse buyer that makes me want to climb towers with sniper rifles. And people that planned for, researched or just know their stuff but got tired of it after awhile and didn't ever really grow attached...pretty dang close to the same playing field with the true impulsers in my opinion.

Your thoughts on all this?

	Heterozygous Heterozygous - the animal carries the gene for a genetic trait but does not outwardly demonstrate the trait. Example: A boa that is het for albino looks normal but carries the albino gene. When it is bred to another het for albino boa or an albino boa, a percentage of the offspring will be albino.

[ChristopherD]

I have to agree, it is hard for me (as I am sure it will be for a lot of people) to read being able to insert my name in certain places. But when actually said I have to agree.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Oh..i can insert my name in every single slot looking back at various parts of my life.

[ChristopherD]

But also, were chance and max "impulse" or were they necessity (for medical care) turned into companionship. I am not saying this is the case, just wondering.

[Finghin]

Twiggy(my dog) was sort of an impulse. We were fostering her and couldnt' find anyone who wanted her(she has a slight medical problem that intimidated people) and after 6 months we were about to pass her to another foster parent and I couldn't let go of her, called my dad begging to keep her and now she's ruler of my room. She is one of THE pets in my life and was never planned to be.
Orion I wasn't planning on buying. I was giong to wait a few months to get my first snake but I found an ad on kingsnake and couldn't resist. He was impulse. Now I can't imagine not having him, he's the coolest little critter ever. He's my favorite out of all my reptiles. But, I had already been doing lots of research on snakes, Hogs in particular, I didnt' just go 'ooh pretty!' and buy him. Any time i see something interesting at a pet store I research it first to see if i actually want it.. usually it ends up being a no. Fostering dogs taught me a good bit about impulse buys, and I would never just buy an animal without knowing care requirements. At a reptile show last year my mom bot a uromastyx, not really knowing the requirements, He was resold recently because she realized she wouldn't really want to take care of him for the next 20 years, that was a bad impulse buy.
Mmm, so in the end... I agree that impulse buys can be good or bad, and I know in the future i'll probably make more impulse buys, but theyr'e more 'educated' impulses than anything.

	Hog Island Boa hogg

[Dbutton]

I guess I am weird then because I won't buy anything on impulse. It is a rule of mine to go home and sleep on it for at least one night. I have NEVER bought a snake at a reptile show or pet store. I will take a breeders card at a show and contact them later if I want a snake that they have though.
And even the free snakes I get always seem to pop up when I am looking for a new one anyway.
Even my Rodesian Ridgeback was a planned buy for over a year with lots and lots of research of breeders before I ever even went to look at one. But then again I used to raise them so I already knew what they looked like in person, LOL!

David

[louise]

or my "Max"

he is my max too! now that that is cleared up.
that is one of the best things i have read so far brett. my name could be inserted in all them spots too.
FB i did not want another snake when i ran into chance. she was in bad shape and i would go to the petshop everyday to care for her. i loved her after the first few seconds i met her. i went for a month caring for him. she wasn't even for sale because rob didn't know if she would live. he didn't give her to me because he knew her medical care would be a fortune and i was struggling at the time.
but a month from the day i met her was my birthday and i went there to care for her and rob told me 'happy birthday, she is yours take her home'

rob was right the medical bills were a fortune but i worked doubles and did whatever i had to including letting some bills go.
well we made it through the rough times and she is by far the best present i have ever gotten.

so chance wasnt an impulse buy cause i didn't pay for her??? but in the long run she cost me 1,500.00. the best 1,500.oo i have ever spent

[kim k]

Brett I have to completely agree with you. This is the way I have always felt and have been frowned upon because of it. My best pets have been impulse buys. Of course I do have the exception of going to a reptile show and impulsively buying a radiated rat snake with no knowledge. What a huge mistake that was. So I also have to agree that buying impulsively should only be done if you have the knowledge and and means to care for the animal properly.