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Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015
I worked at a small time but successful pet store for a few years (I'm talkin' 5 employees total kinda small). You would not believe how little people who want pets actually know about the animals they thought they wanted. You'd think fish and hamsters were aliens if you heard these people.

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Darth Freddy
Feb 6, 2007

An Emperor's slightest dislike is transmitted to those who serve him, and there it is amplified into rage.
Did you work there during any time for movie pet fads? Harry potter-owls, finding dorrie-Dorries and so forth?

Smackdillion
Feb 18, 2001

Someone paid :10bux: to give you this shitty icon and give Lowtax his cyborg spine parts
Have you ever refused to sell someone a pet because their expectations were so different from the realities of pet ownership?

Atticus_1354
Dec 10, 2006

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How do you go about finding a supplier of animals and deciding what to keep in stock? What is the average amount of time that an animal will spend in your care and how different is it for something like a fish vs a puppy vs a bird?

Slayerjerman
Nov 27, 2005

by sebmojo
Is it true you feed dead pets to the living ones to maintain the circle of life within the store? On average, how often do you cover yourself in puppies and roll around on the floor when the boss is away?

Also, have you established dominance or are you just a Beta?

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

Darth Freddy posted:

Did you work there during any time for movie pet fads? Harry potter-owls, finding dorrie-Dorries and so forth?

To this day if you walk into a pet store that sells saltwater you will hear grown rear end adults screaming an pointing to tanks about THE NEMOS and THE DORYS!!!!! Even though the movie was set in the ocean people would as me all the time if these could be kept in a bowl (like2 gallons, no filter, no coral). One dude tried to start a fight with me because I wouldn't sell him a clown fish and another lady and her tank slappin lil brat wanted to buy a DORY but not for $55.00. She thought I was being racist because I wouldn't sell it to her for the price of a betta fish.


Smackdillion posted:

Have you ever refused to sell someone a pet because their expectations were so different from the realities of pet ownership?

That was a really big part of my job, actually. People would come in all the time thinking they wanted a ferret or chinchilla but when I started asking them basic questions about housing and food they wouldn't have any idea what they were talking about. I asked one woman what sort of bathing container she would use for her chinchilla and she said she would wash it in the sink. She thought it would look cute wet. If ya'll didn't know, chinchillas take dust baths. They have four hairs per follicle and very dense fur. These guys will straight up mold if they get wet because it's very hard for them to get dry.

Another guy wanted me to sell him our thayeri kingsnake. When I was showing him what kind of housing and lighting he would need he looked me dead in the eye and said "I'm just gonna let it go in my house. I have a mouse problem."

My biggest concern was for betta fish in general because of all the common myths and misconceptions. These people thought that the cup it came in would be sufficient. Gurl, they need a five gallon tank, 2.5 absolute minimum but even that is too small. I flat out refused to sell to people who didn't buy a filter for them or planned to keep them in a cup.

Lastly, there were people who were straight up abusers. They would whisper and chuckle in a way they thought us employees couldn't hear. I've heard people say they were going to run over rats, blow them up, stomp on them. This one guy wanted to buy our red tailed boa because he wanted to feed his previous girlfriend's cat to it.


Atticus_1354 posted:

How do you go about finding a supplier of animals and deciding what to keep in stock? What is the average amount of time that an animal will spend in your care and how different is it for something like a fish vs a puppy vs a bird?

I am avid about animal welfare and before I started working there the owner of the store was getting rats, ferrets, chinchillas and hamsters from massive corporate breeders. Think if Tyson bred rats instead of chickens.Once a ferret arrived with a horrific foot infection and they company just said to kill it and we'd get a free one later. Another time these baby rats were stuck in a small not well-ventilated container and arrived drenched in moisture, panting and having eaten some of each other. The inside of their container was literally 20 degrees hotter than in the store.

The store was suffering a high loss of life, so I did some research and found local breeders. It was more cost-effective and the animals were taken care of in a more kindly manner. Once we got that taken care of it became easier to determine what animals were selling and going to good homes. Different seasons called for different kinds of animals. Spring and summer people really want finches, canaries, rabbits and hamsters. In the winter people go for more pricey animals like lovebirds, parrots, chinchillas and fish. We generally kept chinchillas, ferrets, and rabbits in pairs, 10 different kinds of small birds, 3-4 parrot types and maybe about 2-3 hamster types, as well as a variety of rats, some for feeding others, came from pet breeders. We really tried to make sure animals had a friend with them so they wouldn't get lonely and stressed out. Anytime an animal's companion would sell that animal would get lots of hands on people time to keep them occupied.

Insofar as time spent with us is concerned, it depended on the season as well as the price of the animal and difficulty of care. Birds like cockatiels, quakers, love birds and conures tended to stay with us for anywhere between 6 months to 3 years. They're very pricey and not beginner birds so we would ask lots of questions and had to see cages and set ups before we would let them go. Chinchillas tended to be with us for about 6-9 months due to their price.Freshwater fish sold like hotcakes. The owner was very much "sell sell sell sell" when it came to them. He kind of had a "they're replaceable and cheap" attitude towards them. The employees did our best to make sure people when home with proper knowledge and tanks. We encouraged people to call us or come back with questions. Saltwater fish stuck around for a lot longer because many people are intimidated by the work that goes into maintaining a thriving tank.

We didn't sell puppies or cats because there were a lot of great rescues around town, and once a puppy becomes a dog you're kind of stuck with it.


Slayerjerman posted:

Is it true you feed dead pets to the living ones to maintain the circle of life within the store? On average, how often do you cover yourself in puppies and roll around on the floor when the boss is away?

Also, have you established dominance or are you just a Beta?

The only creatures that got to eat dead ones were fish. Like, a triggerfish might get to eat a dead goldfish. We did however have feeder mice and rats for our snakes. Since we didn't sell puppies we made due with ferrets most of the time. I can 100% that anytime the boss was out (which was almost always that lazy bastard) we were carrying around our favourite animals. I had a conure on my shoulder, a rat in my pocket or a snake on my wrist on the daily.

Oooh, ya gurl didn't take poo poo from the boss man. It's easy to make demands when you're a walking animal encyclopedia.

Slayerjerman
Nov 27, 2005

by sebmojo
What is the dumbest pet question a customer has asked you? Things like "do ferrets have venom glands" and "how do you dispose of [insert dead pet]?" or have you ever had someone walk in trying to pawn/sell their pet to you (also what sort of return policy) Do you accept a return if I shave my pet prior to return?

Have you ever tasted the pet food(s)?

Slayerjerman fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Apr 8, 2018

Chamuska
Apr 8, 2018

AgreegrA
Has someone ever tried returning a dead animal and it was clearly their fault?

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

Slayerjerman posted:

What is the dumbest pet question a customer has asked you? Things like "do ferrets have venom glands" and "how do you dispose of [insert dead pet]?" or have you ever had someone walk in trying to pawn/sell their pet to you (also what sort of return policy) Do you accept a return if I shave my pet prior to return?

Have you ever tasted the pet food(s)?

"Whatchu mean I can't feed my bunny lawn clippings? That's free."
"Can I keep a hamster with a rat?"
"Why do I need to buy fish food? That's just a scam. They eat their poop, duh!"
"Do I need a cage for my bird?"
"I'm vegan. I'm going to teach my ferret to be vegan too." (we did not sell him a ferret)
"IS THIS POISON?" (pointing to a crested gecko)
"I don't have to feed rats, right? I can just let it go in my house and it will find food, right?"
"Do you have any wet cat food WITHOUT meat?"
"GROSS! CAn't my lizard eat something other than crickets? I hate bugs."
"EWWWwwww! You mean I have to feed my snake a mouse?"
"Will these piranhas eat my hand off?"(they were pointing to african cichlids btw)


I wound up with a betta fish and african dwarf frog that I got from some dumb broad once. Her little crotch goblins "got bored" of them and so she said if we didn't take them she would flush them down the toilet. Other than that people would try and come by and give/leave us with stray cats and dogs they found, but usually we refused. Once the store accepts that animal it becomes a liability.

As far as returns were concerned we would replace fish if they brought us water samples from their tank, the fish bodies and a receipt dated within two weeks of purchase. However, if someone consistently brought in dead fish we would stop replacing their fish and in some cases, we would stop selling to them. Small mammals and small birds had a two week "warranty" but if it was clear the animal had been hurt or obviously not taken care of they were out of luck. If for some reason you shaved a ferret or something we MIGHT accept a return but it WOULD NOT be for full price.

I personally never tried any pet food, but some customers have and apparently Tiki Cat is a delicious brand because it's like, human grade food. Like whole shrimps and lobster bits and poo poo.



The question about returns reminds me of this insane lady who would come in all the drat time. She had bought a beautiful indian ringneck from us - we called him Bobble but she named him Zachariah because god told her to. She would always come into the store telling us about how Zachariah was having full-fledged conversations with her and how he wanted to be her husband. She disappeared for a few months and when she came back she had this wild story about how her human boyfriend got jealous of her bird husband and so he let it go outside. This made god mad so he zapped a hole in the roof with lightning so that Zachariah could get back in. Unfortunately, the lightning somehow killed the bird too. She also claims her human boyfriend broke her fish tanks so she had to keep her betta fish alive by keeping it in her mouth for several days.
When we saw her again she demanded a refund for he bird that she had for over a year as well as a new fish.

There was also this crazy dude who would stumble in and ramble about jesus and how he was a psyops guy in training and how scientists need to study newts because they can regrow limbs and that people are actually amphibians but we forgot that we were.

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

Chamuska posted:

Has someone ever tried returning a dead animal and it was clearly their fault?

This mostly happened with fish, but I've seen people try to return rats and mice that were clearly abused as well as a snake that just MYSTERIOUSLY broke most of it's bones

Otto Von Jizzmark
Dec 27, 2004
Whats the best gerbil species that will fit into a mans rectum?

Atticus_1354
Dec 10, 2006

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Mom Party posted:

"Whatchu mean I can't feed my bunny lawn clippings? That's free."

What's the issue with feeding rabbits lawn clippings? I raise meat rabbits and feed them grass all the time, but it is native grasses from work and my place so it is pretty high quality forage.

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

Atticus_1354 posted:

What's the issue with feeding rabbits lawn clippings? I raise meat rabbits and feed them grass all the time, but it is native grasses from work and my place so it is pretty high quality forage.

These people weren't really asking about healthy alternatives or supplements to regular feed. These were the sort of people who would have let neighborhood/their own dogs poop and pee on their lawn and then want to feed it to their rabbits. Additionally, this was the same person who wanted to keep a flemish giant in a dog carrying crate meant for something like a chihuahua or a small pomeranian.

I think it's nice you feed your meat rabbits native forage. That's the kinda rabbit I would eat.

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

Otto Von Jizzmark posted:

Whats the best gerbil species that will fit into a mans rectum?

Any, if you try hard enough, but you're better off with a dick.

Mr Enderby
Mar 28, 2015

Mom Party posted:

Lastly, there were people who were straight up abusers. They would whisper and chuckle in a way they thought us employees couldn't hear. I've heard people say they were going to run over rats, blow them up, stomp on them. This one guy wanted to buy our red tailed boa because he wanted to feed his previous girlfriend's cat to it.


What's the profile for an animal abuser. Are we talking dirtbag teens and muttering devients. Or is there a subculture of high powered business men and women who like to relax after closing a big deal by stamping on a few rats.

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

Mr Enderby posted:

What's the profile for an animal abuser. Are we talking dirtbag teens and muttering devients. Or is there a subculture of high powered business men and women who like to relax after closing a big deal by stamping on a few rats.

We were generally suspicious of people who would come in almost weekly to get a new and different animal while trying to return some mangled corpse accompanied with poor excuses like "my dog got it" or " the neighbor kid killed it". Also we would refuse to see to anyone who we heard joking about causing any pets deliberate suffering. For example, a co worker overheard these two 20 somethings talk about "making art" by throwing hamsters or feeder mice against a canvas again and again. Some guy bragged about how since he couldn't afford to go hunting he would buy finches and canaries for his sons to shoot. Other people just wanted to cause suffering for entertainment value, like buying rats/mice/hamsters for their cats or dogs to kill or to feed to carnivorous fish. For a long time we had a guy come in requesting us to sell him surrogate mice (lactating females) under the guise of his snake not being large enough for a small rat but too big for a regular adult mouse. At a later date I was walking back from a supermarket that was across from the store and found him talking to a friend of his or something about burning the mice with cigarettes and sticking pins into their nipples and sick poo poo like that. He basically said it didn't matter the harm because they were pests anyways. Most people think they're slick , and sure some are, but I would say the majority don't realise how thin their veil is.

On the upshot, since we were a small business we got to make a lot of calls based on intuition and sense of people. The bossman was mostly in it for the money but he wouldn't give us poo poo for not selling animals to people we thought might be out to hurt them for fun.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

What's the most difficult-to-keep / high-end animal that you would keep as stock?

Did you have arrangements with local shelters and/or breeders that you could send people looking for dogs and cats to?

Blackchamber
Jan 25, 2005

Mom Party posted:

We were generally suspicious of people who would come in almost weekly to get a new and different animal while trying to return some mangled corpse accompanied with poor excuses...

I had no idea there were that many potential serial killers out there.

Atticus_1354
Dec 10, 2006

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Mom Party posted:

These people weren't really asking about healthy alternatives or supplements to regular feed.

I think it's nice you feed your meat rabbits native forage. That's the kinda rabbit I would eat.

I got it. I was just wondering if there was a health reason like not feeding to much alfalfa to rabbits. I am glad to hear about the level of care you put in to it all and how much you try to educate. It is amazing how much people don't consider that pets are living animals with the same needs as themselves.

And thanks. I like raising livestock and I am super passionate about native plant stuff so it makes a nice intersection in my life.

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

The Lone Badger posted:

What's the most difficult-to-keep / high-end animal that you would keep as stock?

Did you have arrangements with local shelters and/or breeders that you could send people looking for dogs and cats to?


Honestly, I would say the chinchillas were the most difficult to keep just because the owner of the store didnt let us provide them with enough stimuli in their habitats to make them really happy. And there was almost a whole year where they kept getting eye infections for no discernable reason. It was like pulling teeth getting the owner to let me take them to the vet. Insofar as selling them went, most people only wanted them because they were cute and fuzzy but did not often want to learn how to actually care for them. These were $200 animals and they simply did not want to shell out an additional $60-$80 to get a decent cage, food, bedding and toys.


Absolutely we did! We unofficially were partnered with several large shelters around town and even had a list of addresses and phone numbers. We tried to hold an adoption event a few times but the specific place that came apparently HAD NOT temperament tested some of the dogs turned out to be really snappy.


Atticus_1354 posted:

I got it. I was just wondering if there was a health reason like not feeding to much alfalfa to rabbits. I am glad to hear about the level of care you put in to it all and how much you try to educate. It is amazing how much people don't consider that pets are living animals with the same needs as themselves.

And thanks. I like raising livestock and I am super passionate about native plant stuff so it makes a nice intersection in my life.

Haha thanks dude, I have a huge boner for animal welfare.

PS do you have store or anything where you sell bones or pelts?

Cowslips Warren
Oct 29, 2005

What use had they for tricks and cunning, living in the enemy's warren and paying his price?

Grimey Drawer
I worked in a box pet store for years. It's pretty much the same poo poo but in a bigger box.

Atticus_1354
Dec 10, 2006

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Mom Party posted:

Haha thanks dude, I have a huge boner for animal welfare.

PS do you have store or anything where you sell bones or pelts?

I don't currently sell anything since I quit raising for a while due to moving to the city for a year. I am currently rebuilding my setup now that I am settled back in to the hillbilly country life.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



OP, as you can probably guess by my username, I'm a bit of an aquarium nut. People so often mistreat fish because, hey, as Kurt Cobain once famously sang, fish don't have any feelings. :mad: I've owned Dempseys for almost three decades, and they all loved me, dammit.

Just wanted to thank you for being a responsible pet shop employee, and doing the lord Neptune's work by not selling to irresponsible chucklefucks who think that betta is gonna live, let alone thrive, in a juice glass.

That said, any hilarious fish incompatibility stories? Someone who thought they could put cichlids in a community tank, or had no clue about mixing fresh and salt?

I got started in the hobby when I was about 10, and selected a fish from a LFS's tank of "assorted gouramis" for my community tank. Gouramis are pretty peaceful, right? I'd done some homework, and seemed to recall reading that in TFH magazine. The owner did nothing to ask questions, and boy was I one sad little girl the next morning when I discovered half my tetras as corpses missing eyes and one fat, happy (and by happy I mean angry, because that is their default mode) paradise fish.

JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Apr 18, 2018

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

JacquelineDempsey posted:

OP, as you can probably guess by my username, I'm a bit of an aquarium nut. People so often mistreat fish because, hey, as Kurt Cobain once famously sang, fish don't have any feelings. :mad: I've owned Dempseys for almost three decades, and they all loved me, dammit.

Just wanted to thank you for being a responsible pet shop employee, and doing the lord Neptune's work by not selling to irresponsible chucklefucks who think that betta is gonna live, let alone thrive, in a juice glass.

That said, any hilarious fish incompatibility stories? Someone who thought they could put cichlids in a community tank, or had no clue about mixing fresh and salt?

I got started in the hobby when I was about 10, and selected a fish from a LFS's tank of "assorted gouramis" for my community tank. Gouramis are pretty peaceful, right? I'd done some homework, and seemed to recall reading that in TFH magazine. The owner did nothing to ask questions, and boy was I one sad little girl the next morning when I discovered half my tetras as corpses missing eyes and one fat, happy (and by happy I mean angry, because that is their default mode) paradise fish.

Thanks buddy, appreciate ya. Seriously though, I canNOT stand how people think you can just get a fish, plop it in some water and think that's it.

There was this one fellow who would come to the store pretty regularly and seemed really interested in the fish. We worked with him to help get his water up to specs and even helped him build this really lovely 250 gal tank that could have housed anything he wanted to get from us. When the big day came he decided on Figure 8 Puffers . We special ordered them for him, he took them home and dude was happy. The following day he comes back and told us that the puffers ate all of his snails. Apparently after he visited us he went to petsmart and bought about 6 mystery snails. If only he would have told us .

There was this lady who really REALLY REALLY wanted this picasso triggerfish. She came in on the daily for about a month and finally when her water was in the clear we let her buy him. As it turned out she did not tell us she had a bunch of inverts in her tank and of course, he ate them all. She came in a day later and showed us a pic of the trigger with a shrimp claw dangling out of his mouth. She was chill though. After the massacre, she did some research and let us help her get more appropriate tank mates. She loved that fish, man. Called him Dr.Murdermouth.

Not hilarious so much as heartwarming- one of my fave patrons was this scrawny dude who had been coming in and out of the store for a year. He would always ask questions about the fish and set ups. We gave him print outs with info on fish he really liked so that he could read over it when he had time. Once he got some refund money he purchased 120gal tank and got started cycling. During this time he would bring us weekly water samples and look at the different kinds of aquatic friends we had. While he was there, one of the new girls at the store forgot to put this screen back over the oscar tank and this put this dumpy little albino oscar hopped into a tank of convicts. There was a breeding pair in there that got ahold of the oscar and straight up ate his eye and part of his fins. Luckily the dude waiting on this water test was there. He just dunked his hand in and plucked the lil guy out. For a few weeks we put him in the hospital tank we kept in the back of the store and the guy kept coming in to see the oscar.
FINALLY when his water was all set to go he asked if we would sell him the oscar. Normally we don't sell any injured or"special needs" fish but man, I just couldn't say no. I bagged the boy up and sent him on his way. For the following 2 years I worked there the old guy would come in on the reg and show us pictures of Mr.Fish his oscar. That guy loved Mr. Fish. Last I saw of him he was HUUUGE and looked well taken care of.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



:kimchi: OMG that Mr. Fish story was exactly what I needed today, thank you. My heart is so warmed I think I need to buy a chiller system. Good on you selling him that Oscar, clearly that dude cared. If y'all didn't sell "special needs" fish, did you just keep them around indefinitely, or foster them out, or what?

I'm old as dirt, so when I was fiercely into aquaria in the pre-internet days, the only info I had to go by was books from the library, magazines like TFH, and I luckily lived in a city that had an aquarium society with monthly meetings. The common wisdom about cycling (which wasn't even a term back then) was "set up your tank, let it run for about a week to make sure your heater and filter function right and that the chlorine gasses off, then slowly add fish". So I find it amazing that you actually tested water before selling to people. Back in ye olden days, I could be a 12 year old girl pimpin' on up to the counter and asking for that nice looking bichir, and no one batted an eye, let alone asked if I had a tight-fitting hood (I did not :( )

Any good stories about people getting pissed off that you wouldn't sell them a pet (fish or otherwise)?

(Also, my next Jack Dempsey is so gonna be named Dr. Murdermouth)

Mom Party
Dec 12, 2015

JacquelineDempsey posted:

:kimchi: OMG that Mr. Fish story was exactly what I needed today, thank you. My heart is so warmed I think I need to buy a chiller system. Good on you selling him that Oscar, clearly that dude cared. If y'all didn't sell "special needs" fish, did you just keep them around indefinitely, or foster them out, or what?

I'm old as dirt, so when I was fiercely into aquaria in the pre-internet days, the only info I had to go by was books from the library, magazines like TFH, and I luckily lived in a city that had an aquarium society with monthly meetings. The common wisdom about cycling (which wasn't even a term back then) was "set up your tank, let it run for about a week to make sure your heater and filter function right and that the chlorine gasses off, then slowly add fish". So I find it amazing that you actually tested water before selling to people. Back in ye olden days, I could be a 12 year old girl pimpin' on up to the counter and asking for that nice looking bichir, and no one batted an eye, let alone asked if I had a tight-fitting hood (I did not :( )

Any good stories about people getting pissed off that you wouldn't sell them a pet (fish or otherwise)?

(Also, my next Jack Dempsey is so gonna be named Dr. Murdermouth)

We had a huge tank we kept "special needs" fish in and they were kind of for display and education purposes (i.e. this is what could happen to your fish friends if you put them in the wrong environment or here's a fish that was born weird but is still technically healthy-we had a frontosa with a bad eye who could still catch her own food but needed a little more time than the other fish) If someone we knew had an established tank and the know how, they were one of the few people we would consider letting re home the fish.

Oh my gosh, we had so many people get angry for either not selling them an animal THAT DAY. There was a guy who actually REALLY REALLY wanted this bicher that we had and when we asked what sort of set up he had he straight up showed us a picture of an empty 2.5 gal tank. Like...the fish wouldn't have even fit in there.

Another lady said we were racist because we wouldn't order a wolf fish for her. Same with this guy who wanted a blue tongued skink.

Since the store was pretty much in this trendy part of town, there were lots of bars around. Sometimes people like to get day drunk and then decide that they really really REALLY need a ferret, bearded dragon, parrot etc. Not only would they get lovely but they would cause a huge ruckus too! Once, these neglectful parents came into the store- the lady was pure white trash, and so was her dude, but he looked all gross and methed out. They were like, making out in the isles and feeling each other up while the kids ran around like they were on coke, slappin' glass on reptile and fish tanks, throwing dog toys at the back room that housed our mammals and small birds. They got so pissed off when I told their crotch goblins to stop or we would kick them out. They lost their poo poo yelling about how we were discriminating against poor people and how since this is a pet store their kids should be able to touch anything they wanted. They caused such a fuss that we actually called the security cop to take them away. They tried to come back in a few days later screaming and yelling, threateningus (I guess they had both been super trashed and gotten tickets and an investigation into the care of their children)only for the owner of the store to actually be there (he usually stopped in before going off hunting) and when they saw his rifle they dipped out real quick.

Wild T
Dec 15, 2008

The point I'm trying to make is that the only way to come out on top is to kick the Air Force in the nuts, beart it savagely with a weight and take a dump on it's face.
How common is it to trance rabbits, and have you seen it go awry?

I got my first rabbit a year ago, and the employee grabbed him firmly by his ears and held him upside down like this to show us how ‘docile’ he was and how he enjoyed being held. This guy absolutely does not like being held*, and will only tolerate my wife and I picking him up (and only for so long until it’s a one-way ticket to Scratch City). I had read up that trancing works by stressing them until they’re basically paralyzed with fear so I never tried to do it myself, lest I either give my buddy a heart attack or worse, break his neck.

Here’s baby Theon (because he’s a gray joy and I cut his nuts off) the day he moved in.

https://imgur.com/gallery/we69c9s

*Don’t get the idea that he’s not a sweetheart who loves everyone, he just loves them from the floor. I’m his bestie since I spend the most time with him, meaning I’m also the only one who gets the honor of face licks.

Edit: on the topic of rabbit food, mine is a picky eater who won’t eat any of the expensive berries or veggies I try to give him as treats. His one loving addiction? Kale leaves, aka the blandest leaf of all. I grew a massive kale plant outside and would give him a 16” kale leaf just to watch him chew it down like a woodchipper.

Wild T fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Apr 25, 2018

Judas Horse
Mar 24, 2018

ey im walkin simulator here
This thread is giving me total flashbacks to when I fostered a few animals (ferrets, cats, 2 rabbits, a couple of reptiles). It was so frustrating to see a rabbit back up on craigslist a week after she was adopted because it bit a 2 year old.
The excuse was "well they shouldn't adopt out dangerous animals!" The kid, in question, was roughly grabbing the rabbit when they got bitten. :sigh:


That being said, what was your favorite animal that you worked with? I was really into rats for the longest time because all of mine were super cuddly (and all my snakes ate frozen/thawed so it was less of an emotional thing to feed them). I liked ferrets a lot too but they were a huge pain to clean up after.

Atticus_1354
Dec 10, 2006

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Judas Horse posted:

It was so frustrating to see a rabbit back up on craigslist a week after she was adopted because it bit a 2 year old.
The excuse was "well they shouldn't adopt out dangerous animals!" The kid, in question, was roughly grabbing the rabbit when they got bitten. :sigh:

One of my rabbits bit my 3 year old nephew on easter. He stuck his finger in its mouth and it bit down. It never even moved or reacted beyond that. It was moderately traumatizing for him but thankfully the rest of the family thought it was hilarious.

Wild T
Dec 15, 2008

The point I'm trying to make is that the only way to come out on top is to kick the Air Force in the nuts, beart it savagely with a weight and take a dump on it's face.
My bunny has bitten my son one time, and my son totally deserved it. He was about five and had grabbed the rabbit around the body and squeezed him when Theon tried to hop away. My wife yelled for my son to let Theon go, he did, then the rabbit turned a smart 180, gave him a quick nip and hopped away.

The funny part was it wasn’t a desperate “let me go” bite, which could have really done some damage. It was just Theon’s way of making sure he never did it again, I guess :)

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Judas Horse
Mar 24, 2018

ey im walkin simulator here
Honestly part of why I loved fostering rabbits is because of how they always let me know when I was pushing their limits.

Also she would thump angrily if I was paying attention to a pet that wasn't her. What a diva.

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