Buying live from a pet store

So, recently, in order to break a 7 month feeding strike, I bought a gerbil from a pet store. After that went amazingly well, I've started looking into using gerbils in the future.

Now normally if I buy a mouse from a pet store, the associate asks what I'm feeding. But when I bought the gerbil, I got a lot of questions along the line of what make me like gerbils, do I have a tank set up for them(I told them yes, but left out the fact that there was also a snake in the tank), and other questions about how I'll be taking care of my new "pet."

I never directly lied and said I wasn't going to feed the gerbil, but out of curiousity, can pet stores refuse to sell to you if you're going to feed the animal to another animal? I'm talking Pet Smart/PetCo type stores. Looking around online, I know a lot of gerbil breeders are part of the American Gerbil Society and part of their terms of membership are that they'll make sure buyers aren't using the gerbils as feeders. I just wonder if big pet stores work the same way.

they tend to. In fact the petco/petsmart by me doesnt sell live feeders. and most places that sell gerbils will start asking what is happening to them when you come in once a week.

Yes, they can. My local PETCO won't sell you anything if you state you are going to use it as a feeder. They claim it's company policy. I have no way to varify that or not.

My local regional chain pet store, Pet World, not only are happy to sell feeders, they raise them in the back.

Are you really sure you wan't to go down the gerbil road? BPs can be impossible to swtich back once they've been on gerbils.

Yeah petco and petsmart wont sell them to you if they know they are for feeding. I had the same response when I had to find rabbits for my burmse pythons.

I fed her once so far just to break the hunger strike hoping that I can get her eating again. It's a week later and still no luck, so I picked up another and plan on using the bedding to sent the food. She didn't eat this week but I'm going to give it a while before I give her another gerbil. They're kind of a last resort move, I'm just looking togather as much information as possible ahead of time.

I'm also considering the possibility of breeding them myself if I still can't get her to eat. It seems like she refuses to go with rats, but I think she's dismissing mice as being too small. She had recently dropped down to 800g froom a peak of 950g. I've been trying with medium rats frozen and the largest mice available in the frozen section. I got her to eat a single live mouse a while back after she had been eating frozen rats all summer but stopped for two months since I suspected she wasn't going to eat this winter, but other than that and the recent gerbil she's been on f/t.

I recently switched to f/t but back when i fed live i always got them from my local pet shop. They raise their own feeders there. A room for rats and a room for mice. Anyways they were closed for renovations for about a month so i decided that was a bit too long to let my snake(this is when i only had my normal girl) go without eating. So i went to Petco and this girl tried to get me to fill out this whole companion animals form sheet thing as i was trying to explain the mice werent gunna be my comapnions lol. It randomnly asked for my name, address, phone, email etc just for two mice! Soooo i just had a little fun and made up all the info then left in a hurry while they started to look it over lol

I once bought a crab from petsmart and they made me sign something that said I would not harm it or feed it to anything. I asked why and they said it was store policy and they do it to keep people from buying certain animals to use as feeders.

lol maybe they thought you were going to eat it.

They sell snakes knowing full well you have to feed them..... Then they refuse to sell you FOOD !!!

Yet if they catch on your not doing what needs to be done to ensure the health of your snake you will get a visit from the OSPCA .... :O


Talk about a Double Standard !@!

I have bought from petco and told them straight up it was for my snake. No problem at all.
One time the guy went to get a rat out of the tank and one of them bit him. I said give me that bit you, I'll get rid of it for you and he did.
If a store PetCo or Pet Smart refused to sell me a rat. I would ask to speak to the manager, and if he refused, then I would ask for the number to the area director over the store.
I'm pretty sure it's not store policy to refuse selling a mouse or rat because your feeding it to a snake. Lets face it those stores are all about the... $$$

breed your own gerbels

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Originally Posted by Slim

Yes, they can. My local PETCO won't sell you anything if you state you are going to use it as a feeder. They claim it's company policy. I have no way to varify that or not.

My local regional chain pet store, Pet World, not only are happy to sell feeders, they raise them in the back.

Are you really sure you wan't to go down the gerbil road? BPs can be impossible to swtich back once they've been on gerbils.

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Slim (and everybody else) ask your PETCO to show you their P&PS where it states they cannot sell mice or rats as feeders. It is NOT PETCO policy to refuse mice/rats as food, but it is against policy to feed anything other than goldfish, minnows, crickets, fruitflies, mice, or rats as food. I know this bc I was a PETCO employee for 5 years, know the policy like the back of my hand, my boyfriend works there, and I have several friends in PETCO management in different states.

As for gerbils, try gerbil scented bedding (right where they have been pooping/peeing) on a rat. If you are set on gerbils, I would suggest breeding them instead. They are a pain to breed, but it will be FAR cheaper than the 8-15 dollar ones at the petstore.

Yeah, the scenting thing is my game plan at the moment. I'm keeping a gerbil so that I can get my own "freshly scented" bedding. Maybe even use it to scent the room.

Hopefully I'll get her back on rats soon, or at least on mice.

Thanks all. And yeah, I figured Gerbils were on the exception list to the feeder category since they made me fill out a companion pet form instead of the mice/rat form.

Some people might refuse it just because they don't own snakes, and they only see gerbils as pets. I work at a Pet Supplies plus and sell my fellow BP owners gerbils quite frequently. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the snake loves gerbils because aren't gerbils their native food source? As in gerbils are native to Africa, and so are BPs :). I think it's in their DNA to loveeee them some gerbils. Too bad gerbils are like, 15$ a piece. Lol

If rats are more nutricious than mice

...Than where do Gerbals fall into that? Are rats still more nuitricious? What else can BPs eat besides mice, rats and, Gerbals? Just curious...

I know for a fact that it is not against Petco's policy to sell live feeders but it is actually against Petsmart's policy.

Asfs, they LOVE Asfs, African Soft Furs, they bred much quicker than gerbils, and can be very nippy. I have had cautious fun with mine :) They pee in one corner and it is easier to clean up and they smell alot less than rats or mice. Also supposed to be a more native food.
*Fila*

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Originally Posted by ExotixTowing

They sell snakes knowing full well you have to feed them..... Then they refuse to sell you FOOD !!!

Yet if they catch on your not doing what needs to be done to ensure the health of your snake you will get a visit from the OSPCA .... :O


Talk about a Double Standard !@!

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My PetCo sells sells rodents as feeders.
In fact, that's how I ended up with 3 more pet rats.

[they were way too cute and sweet to be eaten]

:D

Please, please, please, oh for the love of heaven please DO NOT get your snake eating gerbils!!

I made the mistake of going down that road with a stubborn super pastel. Was the WORST mistake I ever made.

Finding reliable sources of gerbils for feeding was all but impossible, so I decided to try breeding them. Not only do they breed slowly, they have very small litters and take forever to get big enough to feed. Save yourself the months of frustration and aggravation and hair tearing out and just make the spoiled little brat take rats. Unless this is a baby ball, it can go for a VERY long time without eating, and sooner or later I can almost guarantee you she'll take a rat. My super pastel did after a 7 month battle over who hard a harder head, myself or her.

ASF's are supposed to be like a drug to balls, they supposedly attack them with a vengeance and then refuse anything else. However, all but two of mine have no idea what to do with an ASF. Well, since my ASF colony is doing very well and I've had it with rats that don't get eaten and then get too big to feed, eventually my stubborn little monsters are going to figure out what an ASF is for.

I wish you all the best, but I cannot recommend against gerbils strongly enough.

Gale

I'm fortunate enough to have an incredible pet store near me. The owner breeds everything...fish, rodents, birds, reptiles... I get the majority of my rats, mice, and ASF's from him when I want new breeding stock. As long as he doesn't think you're a complete tool, he's cool about selling live feeders, regardless of what it is.

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Originally Posted by Trackstrong83

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the snake loves gerbils because aren't gerbils their native food source? As in gerbils are native to Africa, and so are BPs :)

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There are 100+ species of gerbils that have a HUGE geographic range. The gerbils that are native to western Africa are not the same gerbils primarily seen in the pet trade.

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Originally Posted by Vinny 4

If rats are more nutricious than mice

...Than where do Gerbals fall into that? Are rats still more nuitricious? What else can BPs eat besides mice, rats and, Gerbals? Just curious...

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No feeder is more nutritious than the next as far as we can tell, since we don't know what a snake's nutritional requirements are. The only feeder I've heard of actually not being good as a primary food source are guinea pigs due to their extremely high fat content.

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Originally Posted by Fila

Also supposed to be a more native food.
*Fila*

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What a ball python feeds on in the wild is pretty much rendered irrelevant when speaking of captive bred animals, IMO. Maybe the first captive bred generation or two it could a preferred food source, but after several generations, the native food has become whatever you choose to raise them on.

Yeah gerbils are NOT a good thing to get your snake on.

It took me almost 2 years to switch a Dumeril boa I acquired who had been on pet store gerbils...it was not fun at all.

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Originally Posted by Salamander

My PetCo sells sells rodents as feeders.
In fact, that's how I ended up with 3 more pet rats.

[they were way too cute and sweet to be eaten]

:D

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oh shut up!!! i have the same problem. My supplier gave me these dumbo eared rats. and one was little bigger than the lot of them. and shunned by the lot of them. stuck in a corner no one to love it.. guess im ganna have 2 pets soon.

Gerbil breeding you best have a HUGE operation. They dont produce well and stop as fast as they started. Few litters a year and thats it if they even breed.

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Originally Posted by robinbanks

oh shut up!!! i have the same problem. My supplier gave me these dumbo eared rats. and one was little bigger than the lot of them. and shunned by the lot of them. stuck in a corner no one to love it.. guess im ganna have 2 pets soon.

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LOLOL!

So you have a big heart....that's not a bad thing....:)