What’s Petsmart’s Return Policy on Snakes?
Sometimes, you buy something from the store, only to change your mind and have to return it, and this phenomenon extends to animals.
When you are first getting a pet, you aren’t always sure that you will love having it, if it will be a good fit, or if it is health, and you might end up wanting to return it. So I did some research, and here’s what I found.
What is PetSmart’s Return Policy On Snakes?
So what is PetSmart’s return policy on snakes? PetSmart has a 14-day guarantee on all small animals. The catch, however, is that the animal can only be returned if sick or dead. PetSmart will not accept healthy animals for return. As long as the animal has some obvious ailments, though, the store will accept them and often find a way to reimburse you whether through store credit, a new pet, or money.
Whatever the reason may be that you would want to get rid of your pet, it is vital that you do so properly. Without getting rid of your pet properly, you run the risk of getting in serious trouble.
Alternative Options
If the pet store you used won’t let you return your snake, then you might have to consider alternative options of departure.
These options are:
- Keep it
- Return it
- Sell it
Keep It
Sometimes, handling a new pet for the first time and learning how much care it needs and everything is very overwhelming.
It’s okay to feel this way and it’s actually very normal! Learning how to care for a new pet is a lot to handle and a lot of change for both of you.
Before you jump to hasty conclusions on getting rid of your pet, just take a breather and relax for a bit. It can be totally normal to feel swamped.
After taking a minute to relax, try researching how to easily handle problems you may be having.
There are a lot of resources that can help you figure out how to solve some issues you may be having with your snake, leading you to desire to get rid of your snake.
Return It
If you sincerely don’t want your pet snake, then try to see how you can return it to the pet store you got it from.
PetSmart is a very popular place for people to buy their pet snakes and get their accessories and everything for their terrariums as well.
Like I mentioned earlier though, PetSmart has a 14-day return policy on small animals they have sold and it is only if your pet is sick or dead.
This can cause for difficulty in getting rid of an unwanted pet if the pet wasn’t sold to you ill or died right after you got it.
Sell It
If your snake is healthy and you still wish to get rid of it for whatever reason, that is perfectly okay, but you can’t just set it off loose in the wild. You will have to sell your snake.
This may seem like a large task, but I am here to help you through the process. It isn’t quite as hard as you think and there are a few options on how to do this.
One option for selling your snake is to put out flyers at your local market, animal shelters, and pet stores for your snake. These should include the type of snake, the price you are selling it for, a picture of it, and contact information for the potential buyers to contact you with.
Always make sure to ask permission before putting up posters or flyers for this so that you aren’t soliciting without consent!
Another option is to directly sell your snake to your local pet store so that they can sell it. This might be harder because some pet stores can get picky about how they acquire their pets.
But, this shouldn’t be too bad. Simply talk to the manager or owner and they will take you up on your offer or refer you to places or other methods that would work for you.
If you can’t get a pet store to buy it or don’t like that option, then another thing you could try is contacting local teachers or scientists to see if they would like to buy it from you as a class pet.
One of my elementary school teachers had a couple snakes as class pets and it was super fun. I can’t speak for all teachers, but some for sure LOVE having class pets for their students to interact with.
Animal Control
If you can’t keep your snake, return you snake, or sell snake, then you might have to contact an animal shelter or animal control.
The shelter might take in your snake, but it could be difficult. Shelters usually only house mammals, but if you contact your local shelters, there is a possibility that they might take in your snake for you. But don’t be too upset if they don’t because this is a rare occurrence.
Other than an animal shelter, you could contact animal control. Just like with the shelter, animal control usually only deals with mammals, but it is always a safe bet to call them even to just get more answers as to how you could find a new home for your pet snake.
As an ultimate, last resort option, if you sincerely need to get rid of your snake, there is always the option of a euthanasia shot.
This is putting your animal down. It is a very difficult decision to decide to put down a pet, but sometimes it is necessary if the pet is especially old and sickly.
This euthanasia drug is basically just a large dose of seizure medication that will shut down your animal’s heart and other organs in a couple minutes resulting in a rather peaceful passing for your pet.
The doctor will inject this in the vein of your animal and the process doesn’t take long. This should only be done by a certified vet, however, because it is unsafe to do without the proper tools and
Releasing Your Snake into the Wild
You can’t get rid of your snake by simply releasing it into the wild wherever you live. This is very bad for the environment and ecosystem you live in or the snake will be living in.
Releasing a snake randomly into the wild causes ecosystem disruptions with the balance of species and natural selection. Your snake will throw off the balance of the ecosystem and result in killing a lot of the livelihood that thrives in that area. It could even make other species go extinct.
Not only will it throw off the balance of natural selection, but your snake carries its own set of diseases which, when introduced to a new ecosystem, can also kill the entire environment, again, resulting in species going extinct and everything becoming ruined.
Overall, just make sure that you know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet snake. They are super cool and super fun pets, but they aren’t for everyone.
Always do research on the species you are looking into getting especially on the snake’s temperament and how old it gets and what is required for the maintenance. As long as you are well informed and still love the idea of having a pet snake, you should be fine.
To learn more about the dangers of releasing your snake into the wild, read this article we recently wrote on our website, discussing what could happen if you do this.
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