thoughts on pet store mice/rats?

Hey everybody

Well as some of you know I will be getting a ball python soon and the breeder is feeding them live. So basically I'm going to have to feed him live and the only way to get live is my local reptile store. So I'm wondering what your guys/girls thoughts are on reptile store rodents? I'm not sure if rodents are the same as crickets but with my experiance it's better to buy your crickets online then petstores.

Thanks
Alex :)

Well first congrats on the upcoming snake.

Now if the breeder is feeding live then you'll either have to switch it over to F/T (frozen thawed) in order to buy online or simply feed live. :D

If its the quility of feeder your worried about then I suggest asking to see how and where the rats are housed and check their over all health.

Im refusing to do business with the pet store I was buying feeders from for a while. One day I was asking the employees about thier frozen prey and they started telling me that in the past they were feezing them themselves, she told me the guy who breeds them for the store whacks thier heads on a hard surface puts them in a bag and freezes them....

I asked them why he didnt use c02 and they looked at me funny like they had never heard of it....

I bought a bunch of frozens online and I am now starting to breed my own ASF's so they wont be seeing me any more....

You referred to it as a reptile store so I'm assuming it's a specialty type of place. If they are breeding rodents specifically to provide live feeders for their clientele then they should have no problem allowing you to view their breeding operation (if it's onsite). If they won't then I'd be less than happy about buying live from them and I'd make sure they know why.

As far as live rodents, just make sure they are well fleshed, not covered in bugs, not overcrowded in the feeder bins, that they have access to food and water without a massive fight to get it. There is no point feeding any prey, live or dead, if the prey itself is in crappy condition.

I'm pretty sure there breeding there own rats because they have a large collection of snakes including some beautiful jungle carpet pythons and ball pythons. So I'm not to worried about the quality of the rodents because all of there snakes look awesome and seem in perfect condition. Thanks everyone for your opinions and thoughts it's always good to get some feedback.

Alex :)