Pet Mice as food?

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Originally Posted by cmack91

ive never even seen a petco/petsmart sell any rodents as feeders,...

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They do sell frozen rodents of various sizes. It wouldn't be very ethical of them to sell pet snakes, and then not sell SOME kind of food for it to eat. :P

That being said...I know that as a general rule, they are extremely resistant to selling live animals as feeders. And I imagine those employees will say just about anything to deter folks from buying the critters as feeders.....sometimes it may be company policy they state...it might be local management that tells them what to say...or it could be their own ignorance or their own willingness to make up whatever sounds good to scare off the evil snake owners. Who knows?

Primary thing to realize is that you can't trust 95% of what comes out of a pet store employees mouth when it comes to reptile care...and since you never know which 5% is true, you'd best just not believe any of it. ;)

Buying live rodents from the big box stores is THE most expensive way to feed your snake, btw...there are less expensive alternatives.

sorry, i should have put "live rodents", i know they have f/t, thats actually where i bought mine lol, but yeah, super expensive, 6 frozen small mice for $11, and one frozen medium (which was small) for $11 also, its rediculous

I didn't think they would but like I said it was brought up and I wanted to make sure. The fact a former employee of one of the two answered definetly helps. I also understand buying from them isn't the cheap route but I haven't quite nailed down a local mouse/rat breeder yet and it was thime to try live I have found a rat breeder but am still waiting on contact info.

formeremployeeof petsmart speaking.

If they have any reason to suspect you are buying rodents for feeders they have the right (and WILLlikely) deny you a sale. They also usually only keepone genderof animals per store to prevent breeders.

I was told during training that if i ever had anyone come in to buy a rodent without buying ANYTHING else rodent related that I could refuse them service. and even if they DID get suipplys but came back three weeksin a row toalso refuse service.

They DO however medicate mice REGULARLY. In fact mice are the most common criotter in treatment ,second is hampsters. I was always giving mice medications for bites and infections they got from fighting with each other. (my store carried males) So DO becareful because they DO get stuff on there skin for bites and they do get oral antibiotics (WHICH BY THE WAY! SUCk to giuve to a mouse without getting bit :P)

I was in need of a live rat one Sunday and I took my male boa to petco and bought the rat that he kept eyeballing in the tank. I think they knew what I was gonna do with it since I walked in with a 6 foot boa and bought only a rat.

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petsmart wouldnt even sell me a mouce once i had told him it was for a feeder, good thing petco stocks rats :sweeet:

My local PetCo knows my husband and I as snake owners. One of our BP's won't eat anything unless it's live. We usually go to a small pet store to get our food - we're friends with the owner and love to support small businesses. One day he was out of rats in the size we needed so we went to PetCo. They sold us a live rat without hassle. This has happened a few times and we always get a live rat without any problems.

I think it varies by store.

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Originally Posted by JLC

That being said...I know that as a general rule, they are extremely resistant to selling live animals as feeders.

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Generally, yes.
But the one near me sells live rodents as feeders, but not frozen. It doesn't matter much to me as I usually get all of my feeders at shows (I get enough to last until the next show or two), but as a last resort I know they aren't an option for me.

I ran a petco for a year while working on my degree... When we had hurt / sick mice and rats, we did quarantine and treat them. Treatments did include medication, depending on the condition. So yes, the rodents there could be dosed with anything from ivermectin in cases of fungus or worms, to various antibiotics for other conditions, and chlorhexidine for skin lesions or bites. It is very possible to get a feeder that's been medicated from those stores.

I think Petco is slightly more layed back about it. I mentioned buying two mice (one male, one female) and my fiance playing off like buying pets said what would we do with the babies and the girl at petco seriously said snake food. I dont think most of them care if your going to use it as food but I was just worried that they might have meds that might make snakes get sick. I did buy a female thinking the males may be slightly more aggressive due to being able to smell the females above them.