My Petsmart Rescue Swallowed A Live Mouse

I went to petsmart & got 1/2 of the ball pythons there (hopefully I get the other today) anyways I tried feeding it a thawed out pinky because I assumed that’s what it was eating at petsmart (but it looks like it hasn’t eaten in a while that’s why I got it) it grabbed the pinky & spit it out. So I gave it a live pinky it struck constricted it took him/her a long time to kill it & it ate. Then I give him/her another pinky it struck constricted took him a long time. I thought it was dead because it had finally stopped making noise & wiggling so he/she starts eating the pinkys head and a little bit of its body is down & the mouse starts moving again. The snake ate the pinky while it was still alive. Is He/She ok? Can this harm the snake?

It will be fine an a mouse pinky is too small by the way.

It more than likely would have suffocated pretty quickly anyway so should be fine.

Thank you & I realized it was small after feeding it to the snake but I will definitely get something a little bigger next time.

It's not a rescue when you buy it from PetSmart. It's a sale, and a resupply order.

I know people have the best intentions when they buy sickly looking animals from pet stores, but all they are doing is supporting them and allowing them to bring in more.

This doesn't apply to just chain stores either. There are a few mom and pop pet stores I've personally blacklisted because of the conditions. I refuse to spend a dime there because I refuse to support neglect and abuse.

Glad you got it to eat, hopefully it will take down a bigger meal for you next time.

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Honestly, all the person asked for was if their snake is going to be okay, they don't need all the pet store backlash. Posting 'oh it's not a rescue' everytime you see the word PetSmart isn't doing anything. To me if the person is giving the animal better living conditions, I label it as a rescue, no matter if money was involved. You see people 'rescue' dogs from shelters everyday and chances are they paid an adoption fee. Does that mean it isn't a rescue? No.

Bashing people from getting their snake from PetSmart isn't doing a thing, the animal is already purchased.


Good luck with your BP though, would love to see pics^^

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

Honestly, all the person asked for was if their snake is going to be okay, they don't need all the pet store backlash. Posting 'oh it's not a rescue' everytime you see the word PetSmart isn't doing anything. To me if the person is giving the animal better living conditions, I label it as a rescue, no matter if money was involved. You see people 'rescue' dogs from shelters everyday and chances are they paid an adoption fee. Does that mean it isn't a rescue? No.

Bashing people from getting their snake from PetSmart isn't doing a thing, the animal is already purchased.


Good luck with your BP though, would love to see pics^^

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thank you & I will definitely post some pictures when I get the chance to

As I recall, food items should be about as big as the thickest part of the snake, or alternatively 10-15% of the snake's weight - that should give you a fair idea of what size food your snake should be eating! Mouse pinkies are much too small, and rat pinkies probably are as well. Even my smallest BP was able to take a small adult mouse with no problem - and they grow fast, once they're eating regularly!

I know a lot of people say it's not a rescue or that it's still supporting the store. But I got the snake because my only intentions were to help it & I decided after I get the other one I'm not going back ever again. I literally left the petsmart crying (although I'm the type of person who cries when someone steps on bugs) anyway, because I was so frustrated & upset the dude wouldn't even answer any of my questions about the snakes and when he did answer them he would say idk. But he claims the only reason he works there is for the animals. I got one snake & my sister told me she is going to get me the other one by Monday for my birthday which is Thursday. I put 2 other snakes I wanted on hold, just to get these 2 from petsmart and try to help them. I'm so happy the one I have ate for me. They may not technically be "rescues" but I believe I'm saving them.

Oh - another thing to consider. Sometimes, even after they are dead, some animals will still twitch now and then for a little while, so it's possible that's what you saw rather than the mouse still being alive.

I saw a baby normal at Petsmart, was all skin and bones, probably needed a small live mouse, they refuse to sell their mice as feeders so if it refuses frozen thawed I'm sure it won't get anything else. I also noticed their fancy mice, the only get a mouse block food, they look terrible compared to my mice that get a varied diet and a full sanitized cage cleaning weekly, and the best part is that I bought my breeding stock from there LOL!

Great that you feel good about rescuing them, but all you did was make space for them to get in more snakes. If they were not taking care of the ones you bought, I'm sure the ones that replace them in the store with suffer the same fate. Vicious cycle continues. That's all I was saying.

And rescuing a dog from a shelter is not the same as rescuing a puppy mill dog from a pet store. Breeder, pet store whatever, If there is demand and people keep buying them, they will keep mistreating and selling them.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

Posting 'oh it's not a rescue' everytime you see the word PetSmart isn't doing anything.

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You have no way of knowing that. You have no idea who may be reading this thread via a Google search. You have no clue what spark may start a fire. Now or long after we're gone.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

Bashing people from getting their snake from PetSmart isn't doing a thing, the animal is already purchased.

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If you read my post and thought I was bashing, that's you thing. I did no such.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

You see people 'rescue' dogs from shelters everyday and chances are they paid an adoption fee. Does that mean it isn't a rescue?

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Paying an adoption fee at a rescue shelter is the same thing as paying a purchase price at a retail outlet??? Really??? :confuzd:

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Originally Posted by Caspian

Oh - another thing to consider. Sometimes, even after they are dead, some animals will still twitch now and then for a little while, so it's possible that's what you saw rather than the mouse still being alive.

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This one was not twitching��I only know that because I grabbed the tail and tried to pull it back out because it scared me when it started moving. ( I know that was probably stupid but I had been drinking a little bit) but it started squealing that's when it really kind of freaked me out. And I usually don't feed when I have been drinking but I had already missed my feeding day by two days for my other ball I've had for about 3 months now. so I didn't want to wait another.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

Honestly, all the person asked for was if their snake is going to be okay, they don't need all the pet store backlash. Posting 'oh it's not a rescue' everytime you see the word PetSmart isn't doing anything. To me if the person is giving the animal better living conditions, I label it as a rescue, no matter if money was involved. You see people 'rescue' dogs from shelters everyday and chances are they paid an adoption fee. Does that mean it isn't a rescue? No.

Bashing people from getting their snake from PetSmart isn't doing a thing, the animal is already purchased.


Good luck with your BP though, would love to see pics^^

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Because posting I got it from petsmart so it's a rescue is ok? It's just bashing a big box pet store where she made a PURCHASE, it really was not necessary nor relevant to her situation, just a free shot, and how many post of that style do we get every week?

Before too long it's gonna be I just rescue this snake from this breeder who keep their snakes in tubs and than what's next.

You go to a petstore you buy a snake.

You go to a shelter you rescue a snake.

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Originally Posted by Vonnie

I grabbed the tail and tried to pull it back out because it scared me when it started moving. ( I know that was probably stupid but I had been drinking a little bit) but it started squealing that's when it really kind of freaked me out.

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I literally have no words. Good luck with your animals.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Before too long it's gonna be I just rescue this snake from this breeder who keep their snakes in tubs and than what's next.

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I think you're onto something here. I feel like I need to rescue some snakes at the next reptile Expo. I wasn't impulse buying I was RESCUING them. [emoji6]

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It takes a long time to suffocate a pink rodent of any kind. Many of my hatchlings are started on rat pinks and many of them end up swallowing one that is still slightly alive from time to time. In the wild, I have seen snakes eat live frogs and live other snakes. The prey will die fast in the digestive tract and a pink rodent with no teeth and soft claws can not cause any harm inside or out of the snake. It will be fine. However, I have heard bad things about a snake trying to swallow a "stunned" adult rodent when the rodent "comes to". Not a good idea to feed stunned rodents and not a good idea for the snake to try and swallow an adult that is not dead.

Just my 2 cents on the whole rescue debate.

The definition of rescue is: save (someone) from a dangerous or distressing situation; an act of saving or being saved from danger or distress.

The definition of purchase is: acquire (something) by paying for it; buy.

So technically since the reptile was in bad shape, in distress, you rescued it from the pet store by purchasing it. You did both, purchase and rescue. I do not buy sickly animals from anyone, box store or breeder, or person on craigslist. I agree, the pet store will just put another snake in its place to become distressed. On the flip side of that coin, MANY big breeders sell their over stock to pet stores that they KNOW will not take care of the animal. How is the breeder better? Bottom line is, some breeders are better than some pet stores and some pet stores are better than some breeders. We can not group one or the other all together like they are the same because they are NOT.

Good Day.

You're right technicly it isn't a rescue, but who cares, when you are looking for a pet, you go where you know they are. Giving that snake a home was a good thing, since they were probubly not in optimal conditions. A rescue is what happened last week here on long island. The long island humane raided a home, based on multiple tips, and found hundreds of snakes, many thin, no water, and multiple snakes in tanks and bins. Not only snakes but lizards, of all kinds. I've been trying to find where they were all taken, so i can put my name on the list to rescue one. The news didn't give much info, they just said the animals were all in quarenteen.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I saw a baby normal at Petsmart, was all skin and bones, probably needed a small live mouse, they refuse to sell their mice as feeders so if it refuses frozen thawed I'm sure it won't get anything else. I also noticed their fancy mice, the only get a mouse block food, they look terrible compared to my mice that get a varied diet and a full sanitized cage cleaning weekly, and the best part is that I bought my breeding stock from there LOL!

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By policy the small animals get a varied diet. Lab block and seed mix daily. Can't remember the exact ratio, but I want to say 90/10. They also get veggies 3x per week. Used to have to buy them at the grocery store, but a few years ago I think they switched to the zilla dried veggie mix. Full clean out of display tanks once a week. Clean out of quarantine tanks 3 times a week. And clean out of sick tanks 3 times to daily as directed by the vet.

As for the snakes diet, when I worked there they had to be offered food every 5 days. We had to chart every snake feeding. If a snake went more then 3 feedings in a row without eating it went to the vet. At that point we were allowed to break the store policy on only feeding frozen thawed as it was under vet supervision. I had to go to another pet store to purchase live fuzzies from them to feed the snake. If the animal was not able to switch from live to frozen thawed it was then adopted out as a live feeder for free.

Believe it or not the actual written policies are not that bad when it comes to the care of their animals. Heck, even small animals that had little scratches and fight wounds went to the vet. Every time.

Now the issue is if the store is FOLLOWING the written policy. When looking at the snakes and thinking about purchasing - ask to see the feeding chart. If it looks like animals there are not being cared for - call the corporate number. They take complaints about the animal care in their stores seriously. Tell them that the animal looks thin and underweight. That will get the appropriate people checking those charts and getting critters to the vets.

You are saving them: you're saving them from being yanked in and out of their cage and handled by a never ending chain of retail maulers. They're treated like display items in there hold out of their cages to get into peoples hands as fast as possible in the hopes that the people will buy them in return the animals get maulled. There is the risk of spreading disease does the risk of being dropped it goes on and on. When I was a little girl I wanted to run a pet shop because I loved animals and I wanted everybody else to love them as much as I can. Growing up however I realize that I could never run a pet shop because I could never trust anybody To take the most excellent care that i would expect.

if I was the last place I would want to be peddled would be at Petsmart.