Pet Mice as food?

This was brought up on another thread I started. We were wondering if the mice at petco/petsmart are unheathy to feed to snakes due to meds and food that they eat. Apparently Petsmart employees seem to think so. Thanks for any help on answering this.

I've read here, someone(don't remember who) did claim that they are giving some meds to the pet mice for not to feed them to reptiles in petco. And again, i am not saying this for %100. I'm not even from Usa :)

Petco sells their mice as feeders as well, so I kind of doubt it. I also kind of doubt that either of those large chains would waste their money medicating their animals.

Petsmart doesn't want people using their mice as feeders so they probably feed (for lack of a better word) their employees that line. I don't know for sure but I doubt it's true because my boyfriend has an eight year old ball python that's eaten Petco/Petsmart feeders almost her entire life. She's huge and one of the healthiest snakes I've ever seen.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by meowmeowkazoo

petco sells their mice as feeders as well, so i kind of doubt it. I also kind of doubt that either of those large chains would waste their money medicating their animals.

---

x2

ive never even seen a petco/petsmart sell any rodents as feeders, at mine, you pretty much get interogated if you even look at the mice/rats, withought carrying an enclosure, bottle and wheel, but ive never heard of them giving meds to their rodents either, although it could be that one store. just like some have in house vets, but mine doesnt

With how little the large chains seem to care about the animals' well being I highly doubt that they receive any meds. They might if they are sick or about to die, but I doubt they would get any meds just to promote general health.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

With how little the large chains seem to care about the animals' well being I highly doubt that they receive any meds. They might if they are sick or about to die, but I doubt they would get any meds just to promote general health.

---

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

I used to work for Petsmart, granted this was a few years ago. I can honestly tell you that they do not give any kind of supliment or medication to their rodents. The only thing they do give and this is dependent on the individual working the department is vitamin c drops for the water, which wouldn't effect the snake in any way. We often sold snake owners mice when they were in a pinch.

I remember picking up a mouse from petsmart once. I had gone to the other stores, and they were out that week (their breeder had a death in the family I believe). Anyways, the first tie I asked if they had any feeder mice, to which they said no.

Later in the evening I returned, and was helped by the same guy, when I mentioned that I was interested in a pet mouse. I suppose he forgot me, because he started asking me if I had everything ready, so I went on a spiel about having a 10 gallon tank, and bedding, a wheel, and some big lie about it's future happiness. Finally, when we finished checkout and filling out the petsmart 'new pet' sheet, he stopped me to remind me of the pet health warranty. I could only laugh to myself on my way out to the thought of bringing back the snake poo a week later and asking about the warranty. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cmack91

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

---

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.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

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.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

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

---

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.

I buy my live at petco never petsmart. Petsmart is well known to be anti-live feeding and most of their stores dont even sell pet mice. Maybe have 1 or 2 but they have a like fury friends sign hanging over it with pics of children playing with them. Petco on the other hand at least where Im at have a male and female tanks with like 50 mice in there. Obviously you dont hold a stock like that to be sold as pets and one of my "snake guys" that is very smart when it comes to snakes works there and he would have pulled me aside outside his work like he does all the time to tell me things that he couldnt just tell the average customer. So Im pretty sure you good to go with petco just not petsmart.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Virus

I remember picking up a mouse from petsmart once. I had gone to the other stores, and they were out that week (their breeder had a death in the family I believe). Anyways, the first tie I asked if they had any feeder mice, to which they said no.

Later in the evening I returned, and was helped by the same guy, when I mentioned that I was interested in a pet mouse. I suppose he forgot me, because he started asking me if I had everything ready, so I went on a spiel about having a 10 gallon tank, and bedding, a wheel, and some big lie about it's future happiness. Finally, when we finished checkout and filling out the petsmart 'new pet' sheet, he stopped me to remind me of the pet health warranty. I could only laugh to myself on my way out to the thought of bringing back the snake poo a week later and asking about the warranty. :D

---

I literally LOL'd at this in the middle of a lecture at school