Pet Store Feeders and Pet policy...yet another spinoff

If you do use a live chick, NEVER tell the feed store what you are planning to do with it. It's ALWAYS going to be a pet. I made the mistake once of calling a feed store to inquire if they had any small chicks and when they asked if I was going to be keeping them indoors or outdoors, I responded with "Oh they are gonna be food for my boa." That ended with her response of "We don't sell chicks as food for other animals, please try somewhere else." in a very stern and angered tone. :mad:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

If you do use a live chick, NEVER tell the feed store what you are planning to do with it. It's ALWAYS going to be a pet. I made the mistake once of calling a feed store to inquire if they had any small chicks and when they asked if I was going to be keeping them indoors or outdoors, I responded with "Oh they are gonna be food for my boa." That ended with her response of "We don't sell chicks as food for other animals, please try somewhere else." in a very stern and angered tone. :mad:

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I had the same issue with petsmart and mice. I was kind of pissed. I called the manager and told them that I could use the mouse I bought for whatever (the hell) I wanted, and it was none of their (damn) business. He felt bad that I was treated so rudely and gave me three for free.

I don't know. I have a feeling if some people sold/gave/traded their baby BP's to someone and that person ended up just feeding them to their kingsnake, some people might get upset.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

If you do use a live chick, NEVER tell the feed store what you are planning to do with it. It's ALWAYS going to be a pet. I made the mistake once of calling a feed store to inquire if they had any small chicks and when they asked if I was going to be keeping them indoors or outdoors, I responded with "Oh they are gonna be food for my boa." That ended with her response of "We don't sell chicks as food for other animals, please try somewhere else." in a very stern and angered tone. :mad:

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Weird. Chickens are traditionally raised as food animals anyway, so I don't see why a feed store would care about when or by what they get eaten. Feeding it young to a boa or raising it for a family meal doesn't make much of a difference in the end, does it?

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Originally Posted by MontyAndMelissa

I had the same issue with petsmart and mice. I was kind of pissed. I called the manager and told them that I could use the mouse I bought for whatever (the hell) I wanted, and it was none of their (damn) business. He felt bad that I was treated so rudely and gave me three for free.

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Being treated rudely is one thing, and not having been there I'm not going to comment on the customer service of that situation. However, PetSmart does have a policy that any associate can refuse the sale of any animal to any person if they do not feel comfortable with the home the animal is going to. They also have a policy not to sell their pet animals as feeders. It's useless to get pissed over this because they're well within their rights to do so (and personally, I completely agree with it).

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Being treated rudely is one thing, and not having been there I'm not going to comment on the customer service of that situation. However, PetSmart does have a policy that any associate can refuse the sale of any animal to any person if they do not feel comfortable with the home the animal is going to. They also have a policy not to sell their pet animals as feeders. It's useless to get pissed over this because they're well within their rights to do so (and personally, I completely agree with it).

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I didn't tell them it was for my snake, I just asked how much they were, and the woman was incredibly rude and saying "you better not use it as food or something." the assumption was what pissed me off, not so much the food policy. And the fact that she hung up on me after giving me a price. That's not very good customer service if you ask me.

People can be really wierd. I had similar problems years ago. I'm way too honest sometimes, and I would call rabbit breeders looking for feed for my burms. Even drove 15 miles to a lady's farm to be told no when I inquired about something a bit smaller than what she had, since smaller wasn't weaned, and that led to questions. Had a meat breeder that would work with me for a while, but I eventually had to get rid of my burms because of issues with food supply.

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Originally Posted by MontyAndMelissa

I had the same issue with petsmart and mice. I was kind of pissed. I called the manager and told them that I could use the mouse I bought for whatever (the hell) I wanted, and it was none of their (damn) business. He felt bad that I was treated so rudely and gave me three for free.

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I had the same problem at Petco! The salesman told me that he couldn't sell me the colored mice for reptile food but if I wanted white mice that would be ok. I said you have to be kidding me! When I asked for the manager the salesman changed his tune and was willing to sell me the colored mice. He explained it as Petco has to give you a different part of the receipt if you are purchasing as a pet rather than food for a snake. Sounded plausible, but a little discriminatory to me. Especially since their mice both colored and white are way overpriced. I think they just cater more to the people that want to keep mice as pets. Lol. :)

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

I had the same problem at Petco! The salesman told me that he couldn't sell me the colored mice for reptile food but if I wanted white mice that would be ok. I said you have to be kidding me! When I asked for the manager the salesman changed his tune and was willing to sell me the colored mice. He explained it as Petco has to give you a different part of the receipt if you are purchasing as a pet rather than food for a snake. Sounded plausible, but a little discriminatory to me. Especially since their mice both colored and white are way overpriced. I think they just cater more to the people that want to keep mice as pets. Lol. :)

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I generally buy white when they're live anyways. Most people prefer colored mice for pets, so I'm just being nice. Lol. I switched over to f/t.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

I had the same problem at Petco! The salesman told me that he couldn't sell me the colored mice for reptile food but if I wanted white mice that would be ok. I said you have to be kidding me! When I asked for the manager the salesman changed his tune and was willing to sell me the colored mice. He explained it as Petco has to give you a different part of the receipt if you are purchasing as a pet rather than food for a snake. Sounded plausible, but a little discriminatory to me. Especially since their mice both colored and white are way overpriced. I think they just cater more to the people that want to keep mice as pets. Lol. :)

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I don't know how many people actually keep mice as pets. Besides being really small, flighty, and smelling AWFUL; there are many other small mammals that make better pet animals like hamsters or gerbils. Rats I can see being better pets, if for no other reason than they're sturdier and easier to find should they get out, but there are still a good many alternatives. Rats and mice are cheaper of course, but I think it can safely be said that the reasons behind that are the abundance of them in the trade (mostly due to the need for feeders) and the relatively low pet demand for them.

If not for the fact that our pets eat each other, I would think rat and mice keepers would get along well with each other if only because both groups are very familiar with the "cringe" when you tell people what kinds of pets you have.