Why are pet shops so uneducated?

[Toreador]

A while back, I had a question on mites that I asked you guys about. You all gave me some good advise on what to use to kill them without hurting my snakes. I stopped at my local mom-and-pop pet shop to compare the ingredients on what I bought at Wal-Mart compared to what they had. First, they only had a powder of some sort for preventing mites. Second, they wanted my to bring my snake into the shop so they could spray it for me. They wanted to put her in a cardboard box and spray the box full of Black Knight and leave her in there for like half an hour. The guy that owns the shop swore that when he first got the Black Knight, he sprayed it on ALL his reptiles and "it doesn't bother them a bit." What you guys told me was the total opposite (NEVER spray it directly on the snake). How is it that this guy can be so uneducated and have not killed all his reptiles?? [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[eddie]

BK popped up on the scene a while back as the end all- cure all for mites & ticks on reptiles.
Well, it will kill some straight out, smaller lizards like leos, fattails etc and it has been reported by some, that it has killed larger animals as well.
Even then, if killing the animal outright does not occur, there has been no study that I am aware of on the long term exposure on any reptile.

Even some chemicals that are reletively safe on boids for treating mites, can and will kill other snakes, such as pit vipers (ivermectin)

No need to take the risks if ya ask me as there are many ways to get rid of mites and ticks.

I use Sawyers tick spray, but onoly in treating the cages and substrates. Never directly on the animals or allowing them to breathe the vapors.
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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[SteveJor]

Never spray it directly on the animal. I sprayed BK on a rough green snake. Convulsions and death within 24 hours.

I prefer Provent-A-Mite now since you can treat the quarentine enclosure of the new snake and the residue (harmless when dry) will kill mites for 2 weeks and not affect the snake.
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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[jjj]

In my humble opinion. based on nearly 39 years on this planet, people who actually know what they're doing in _any_ field are few and far between, and worth their weight in gold if you can find them.
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[llama]

I guess I am just lucky. The small pet shop here in town actually has 2 Herpetology major who work there part time. They are actually quite knowledgable about all types of herps.
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