get a load of this!!!!

i went to my local petco to grab a feeder rat and when i went up to the guy to ask him for one he said no

so i was kinda curious why not and he said that some had got bitten by a hamster and died so all of there animals from that supplier arent allowed to be sold!!!

When was this? I went to petco on Sunday (or maybe Mon, I forget), and all of the mice/rats were gone that they just had bunches of only a few days before. All they said was that they were "out". Being that you're in NY tho... this HAS to be a coincidence.... doesn't it???

Very odd....

not neccisarily cause i went to another petco today in lynbrook and they were just fine (but hey happened not to have any juvie rats:mad: )

wtf a couple of days i went to my pet store and they didnt have any rodents they always have rodents i meen feeders lol

We went to Petsmart this weekend, all thier rodents, were taken out of thier displays and notes put up on the cages b/c thier rodents were sick. Interestingly, other pet shops in my area also had the same issue..animals pulled and not for sale.

Strange. Here too, a lot of rodents were pulled or marked not for sale. Very strange.

Very weird..

Petsmart (or was it petco..) once refused to sell me a rodent. It was like last year, it was petsmart ya. They didn't have anything labeled "feeder" mice.. So I asked the employee he said they didn't carry feeder mice. I was like, hmm... ok. So I went and asked him if I could have the white rat and he refused to sell it to me. I asked him why he says, "We don't carry snakes and we sell mice as pets so it would be hypocritical to sell them as feeders"....... :/

I haven't been in petsmart lately as they don't really carry what I need and their sorta overpriced, But I was going to go sometime tomorrow so I'll seee... thats odd.

My mom heard about this disease that rats get.. I forgot wat it was called but something where they had this disease and if they bite, you can die. I dont know what it was called but my grandma read up on it a few months ago because she saw something about it and new we kept some feeder mice and told us.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm...................... I wonder if those could be related, the disease and the reason the rodents are gone..

i wondered why there were absolutely no rodents in my petsmart today. it seemed odd, even for a monday when they are usually short on everything. veeeeeery interesting...

Here in MD Petco AND Petsmart were not selling rodents as of last friday...seems to be an epidemic!

The disease you're talking about is called Wiels (sp pronounced Weals) disease and is transmitted through contact with the rat's urine and yes, it is usually fatal to humans if not diagnosed in time and even then the mortality rate is high:(

Here's probably what's up. I know we had an article in our local paper a few months back about a Michigan child (may have been more) that had gotten sick from a pet store rodent. I can't find that link but I do remember the rodent was obviously ill and the parents allowed the child to kiss and hug it (ICK).


http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm54d812a1.htm

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0805/253362.html



~~Jo~~

Some parents have no common-sense:doh:

We have 4 kids and one iron clad rule (other than commen sense hygiene rules)...."if it can lick it's own butt...you do NOT kiss it's face or let it lick yours"

:)

~~Jo~~

Now there's your signature quote!!! LOL!! :lmao: ;)

ROFLMAO! Good one Christie, almost spit coffee all over my computer screen!


~~Jo~~

Dang! I was going for a light misting at least! ;) I still think it would make an excellent signature quote! :lmao:

Too funny...well I'm set for future personal quotes now aren't I.

Actually my house rule comes from when I was a kid. My younger sister used to let our dachshund (sp?) lick her face and kiss it back...parents never said no. She got worms from the darn dog! Well that's what the doctor said anyways. It totally grossed me out at the time and sorta stuck in my brain when I had my own kids LOL.


~~Jo~~

P.S. Glad sister doesn't have snakes and come to this forum...this is a sister story she'd kill me for telling :P

Your sister might kill you, but I'm sure we'd get a few good stories, about you, outta her first. ;) That's why I have to be careful. My sister is here and she knows my more "interesting" stories. I think she has more stories though, but I don't want to test her. Sisters will get even when you least expect it. :D

Wow, scary stuff! I am glad I breed my own rodents; and I wash my hands roughly 10 times a day or more.
I forget what culture it was; but some ethnic background, had a rule about eating with only one of your hands, and wiping yourself (after goin' to the outhouse) with the other.. now that I think about it, that would be useful in preventing worm infestations, especially in the days where they did not have hand sanitizers.
Totally off topic, as usual :) On any other forum, I'd be banend by now...

I have a stupid question, Jo.. what are the signs of having a worm infestation?

my pet rat from that i got from petco about a month ago bit me hard and drew blood about 4 days ago... my finger got swollen and hurt but the swelling is going down... was i supposed to go to the doctor? am i going to die????!!!???

Gin, I don't specifically remember that she had any symptoms (this was years ago and I was I think about 12 years old myself). She passed something in her feces that alerted our mother that something was up, then if memory serves she had to take medicine and the dog had to see the vet.

BigBallin, if you are concerned about any animal bite the ONLY person who is qualified to assess the risk is a physician.

Personally, I feel that it is always a good practise to thoroughly wash up after handling any caged creature as no matter how diligent anyone is they are exposed to their own waste products to some degree.



~~Jo~~