Petco process to purchase feeder rats is insane.

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I've never had to buy rats at an actual pet store before as I've always had a dedicated breeder. Unfortunately he has just recently moved, I've just returned from vacation and my snakes needed to eat. When I arrived at Petco, I asked if feeder rats were available and the manager said they had medium and small rats. The medium rats were definitely not 'medium' by any standard I'd ever seen and they were a whopping $16.99 each. I needed 4 of them at that size @$64+. That's the first bit of insanity.

Then the manager pulled out an iPad and asked me for my name, my phone number, my email address and my actual physical address. I wasn't purchasing a firearm, I was purchasing feeder rats. She explained that they needed the info for corporate compliance, but couldn't really provide any sensible reason as to why this would be a corporate requirement. I gave her fake information to get through the process as I value my personal information. That was the second bit of insanity.

She proceeds to grab 4 huge boxes. I explained that I only live a short distance from the store, I only require one box. I couldn't understand why she seemed so hesitant to agree to a single box at that point, but boy was I in store for a show. She opened the cage, but the box into the cage and began trying to pick the rats up "gently" around their torsos rather than pick them up by their tails. After 8 minutes of watching one rat go into the box and another jumped back out, I asked her to let me get them. She said she could not because it was against store policy and if I got bit she would get in trouble. I could definitely understand that, so I asked her why she didn't just pick them up by the tail. She said that it causes them physical discomfort. My mind was pretty much blown as I reminded her that they were about to be fed to snakes.

Her response was that there is no reason to subject them to additional discomfort before I feed to my snakes. I continued to watch for another 5m (I was checking my phone regularly) before I explained to her that I have been handling rats for over 20 years, even having bred them for a short stretch and that I could assure her that picking them up by the tail did not cause them any discomfort. She insisted that it did. I insisted that it did not because when rats are uncomfortable they bite you.

Five more minutes of this madness and I was quite frustrated. I probably shouldn't have, but I told her how I knock the rats unconscious before putting them in the snake cages so they won't bite my snakes. Now she was REALLY offended, claimed that it was cruelty to animals and she would not sell them to me. She had raised her voice at this point and so I raised mine to match. I asked her what is more cruel, knocking them out so they don't have to experience their eyes popping out of their heads as they slowly suffocate, or knocking them unconscious first so that they don't experience any of this and they don't get a chance to injury my snakes?

She then got another employee, laid out 4 separate large boxes and told the that employee to get me one rat in each box and stormed off.

Nearly 40 minutes after entering an empty store, I had to walk out with 4 boxes stacked so tall I that could barely see over them. Total insanity all around.

I really which my BPs would eat frozen.