How Much Is That Ferret In The Window?

SEBRING - Instead of saying "I love you" with a Christmas kitten this year, how about a ball python, a scorpion, or even one of those warm, fuzzy tarantulas?

That's what Highlands County pet shops are offering as gifts, and yes, they may make the season bright for some new pet owner.

But, said Charles Bronson, Florida's agriculture commissioner, "Consumers should also consider suitability when purchasing an animal.

"For example, some breeds of dogs may be less appropriate if there are infants or young children in a home," Bronson said. Likewise, consumers may want to think twice before purchasing a large animal if they live in a small dwelling

Paul Antone disagrees in part. He's the owner of Arcade Pet Stop in Sebring. Instead of choosing against a breed of dog, he suggests asking about the background of the dog and the breeder. Any dog can bite, and any kitten can scratch.

"It's how they're raised," Antone contended.

He and his helpers at Arcade play with the puppies to socialize them. "We get them used to people," Antone said. Arcade also sells fish, spiders and lizards.

Jacki Graziani, who owns Graziani Reptiles with her husband Greg, says her children have grown up around reptiles.

"They've been handing them since - since they were old enough to touch them," Graziani said.

She's not afraid a snake will crush and eat her children.

"Fear of snakes is a taught fear," she assured. "They're not going to strangle a child."

Graziani said, and Antone agreed, that ball pythons are a docile breed of snakes. Her son has been bitten, but the boy said it felt like a pin prick. Ball pythons are not poisonous, they crush their prey.

Bronson also suggested that customers not buy on impulse, that they research the size and breed of animals for suitability with lifestyles and circumstances.

A good point, said Blair Fernandez, manager of Pet Supermarket in Sebring. She recommends reading books about ferrets, parakeets or bunnies before buying one. Even a rabbit can be rascally if they're males who fight, scratch and kick.

Ferrets and bunnies need to be litter trained, and a ferret will bite, Fernandez said. "They need to be worked with."

Be prepared to care for the animal, Fernandez said. A ferret, for instance, will need at least a 3-foot-by-3-foot cage, a litter box, toys, and a chew ball. She recommends a bed and a hammock

"They like to sleep up high," she said.

According to signs around the store, bunnies sell for $26, parakeets for $16, and cockatiels for $70 to $90. A fancy Indian Ringneck parrot goes for $399.

And those huggable ball pythons? "They sell for anywhere between $50 and $25,000," Graziani said. "Most of them are for other breeders, or for investments. But some people are buying them for their kids for Christmas."

People who live nearby will come to the snake room in Venus and pick out their own reptile. Otherwise, it will be shipped via FedEx's next day service, or across the county on Delta Airlines.

What do pythons eat? Rats. Live or fresh-frozen rats.

Now, think on this. The Grazianis have 500 snakes.

"So to thaw out 500 rats to feed everybody is a pain," Graziani said.

Where do they get so many rats?

"We have a guy out of Moorehaven who brings us rats, two or three times a week," Graziani said.

The Christmas blessing is that snakes don't eat a rat a day. Baby snakes get fed every three to five days, adults every three to four weeks.

"We had one that went one week shy of a year without eating anything," Graziani said. "It wouldn't eat the rats."