Very Disappointed....Is this normal?

Today I went to visit Family Reptiles in Lakeland, FL. I have enjoyed talking to them at the past couple of Repticons and I was very impressed with how nice and clean the facility was and how healthy all the animals appeared.

I was impressed until I asked if they had any frozen rat pups. One of the guys working, I didn't catch his name, told me they didn't have any frozen but I could get live. He then said he had just put some in the freezer but they weren't ready yet. I was under the impression that they had gassed the rats and they just weren't frozen yet. That was soooo not the case. He opened the freezer and opened a little storage bin and there were probably about 50 rats (from pinks up to almost weaned rats) that were still alive and half frozen.

They just threw the rats in the freezer to freeze to death.

It made me sick. How can you have so little respect for the lives of these animals? How can they think it is okay to just let these poor things have a slow death...

Is this common for people who supply frozen rodents? Is it an accepted practice to put live rodents in the freezer?

This just makes me even more thankful that I am able to produce almost all of the rodents I need to feed my collection.

I don't know, maybe I am overly sensitive.....but I can't support a business that does that once I know what goes on....I was literally crying in the store. It made me feel sick :(

If you were caught doing that in the UK you'd be looking at a stretch in jail!!

i did that when i was 15 when i was trying to get my ball on f/t. never would do it again. that was 10 years ago when i didnt know better.

There is no reason and no excuse for such cruelty. Have you posted a thread on BOI to let people know about this seller?

Not the norm at all CO2 is the right and only way it should be done. That's animal cruelty

Freezing any animal is inhumane...this is absolutely animal cruelty and most likely a crime in FL.

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Originally Posted by GoFride

There is no reason and no excuse for such cruelty. Have you posted a thread on BOI to let people know about this seller?

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No I haven't posted on the BOI. The bad thing is, apparently this guy is a police officer....even if I were to report them to animal control, I don't know what would actually be done. I don't know what all I can actually do since I don't have any evidence other than what I saw and what my boyfriend saw.

To be honest, I'm less than crazy about rats so I don't really have much in the way of sympathy but it's obvious that that is absolutely wrong.
I actually think that legally, you're only supposed to be allowed to cull feeders with Co2 chambers or cervical dislocation? Any other methods are considered animal cruelty. Not certain though, would need to find a source that can verify it.

I found out the pet store close to me does this as well.

I told them what to do, but I don't think they'll change.

Definitely wrong and horrible.. I just went to their site and saw their feeders section.. Just wrong :( Did they ask you why you were crying?