Pet Store Feeders and Pet policy...yet another spinoff

[bcr229]

I don't know. I have a feeling if some people sold/gave/traded their baby BP's to someone and that person ended up just feeding them to their kingsnake, some people might get upset.

Even a baby male normal ball python would make an expensive meal for a king snake, considering most do just fine on adult mice for life.

That said... cobras and eastern indigos got to eat too. I know a few people who keep them, if I ever have to cull a baby I'll euth it humanely and it'll get fed off.

[bcr229]

People can be really wierd. I had similar problems years ago. I'm way too honest sometimes, and I would call rabbit breeders looking for feed for my burms. Even drove 15 miles to a lady's farm to be told no when I inquired about something a bit smaller than what she had, since smaller wasn't weaned, and that led to questions. Had a meat breeder that would work with me for a while, but I eventually had to get rid of my burms because of issues with food supply.

I get my pork from a local farmer, usually half a hog at a time, processed (sidebar, farm-cured ham and bacon is incredible compared to the mass-produced store-bought stuff!). He's agreed to freeze the stillborn piglets for my retics and is happy I'll pay for them, they had just been throwing them onto the manure pile.

[Running Elk]

Interesting, I would think it would be similar types of communities due to the specific animals being widely frowned at and the keepers wanting to be around like minded people. I've heard some in the reptile community are like this, but I haven't actually had much dealings in it besides buying (yet!) so I wouldn't know for sure.

Then you'll find this interesting.

Rabbit people are split and at war. HRS and ARBA.

House Rabbit Society is rabbit PETA. Don't breed, don't eat rabbits and boycott places associated with meat rabbits, always spay and nueter, no rabbits for kids, no purebreds, no reptiles, etc. it sucks because they have some incredible information on rabbit care and do advocate some good things as far as rabbit welfare. They are known to call the SPCA on and even steal rabbits from ARBA people. It's so bad that many rabbit breeders are wary to deal with selling rabbits to those outside of the community. This is very very rarely because the conditions are poor, but because of volume of rabbits breeders need to produce show stock. An up-tight, preachy, rude community that scolds people who seek help but are rabbit-ignorant.

ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association), A relaxed community who breeds and shows rabbits. A generally nice community, though increasingly wary of outsiders. I've had lots of fun at rabbit conventions and shows. Many of these people have farms, and culls often are eaten, donated to zoos, or sold/given to reptile people. A friend of mine used to donate her culls to the reptile section of her local zoo.

Both make up the rabbit community. It's a civil war. The rabbit forum is litterally split into two parts, with strict rules on not taking your opinions to the other half. Mostly because HRS people are vicious and will hijack and preach anywhere they can. ARBA people will sometimes defend themselves (if not just ignore it) than then a major fight happens.

[Albert Clark]

I generally buy white when they're live anyways. Most people prefer colored mice for pets, so I'm just being nice. Lol. I switched over to f/t.

Some bp's don't imprint on white mice because the color is unnatural. Colored mice and rats are more of a familiar visual attraction for bp's. It's documented in the literature very clearly. Personally, I just wanted the colored mice because they were larger and fatter at the same high price as the white mice. Peace.

[MontyAndMelissa]

Some bp's don't imprint on white mice because the color is unnatural. Colored mice and rats are more of a familiar visual attraction for bp's. It's documented in the literature very clearly. Personally, I just wanted the colored mice because they were larger and fatter at the same high price as the white mice. Peace.

I suppose that's true. I've never had issues with Monty eating any mouse or rat. She's always been a good eater.

[Daigga]

Then you'll find this interesting.

Rabbit people are split and at war. HRS and ARBA.

House Rabbit Society is rabbit PETA. Don't breed, don't eat rabbits and boycott places associated with meat rabbits, always spay and nueter, no rabbits for kids, no purebreds, no reptiles, etc. it sucks because they have some incredible information on rabbit care and do advocate some good things as far as rabbit welfare. They are known to call the SPCA on and even steal rabbits from ARBA people. It's so bad that many rabbit breeders are wary to deal with selling rabbits to those outside of the community. This is very very rarely because the conditions are poor, but because of volume of rabbits breeders need to produce show stock. An up-tight, preachy, rude community that scolds people who seek help but are rabbit-ignorant.

ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association), A relaxed community who breeds and shows rabbits. A generally nice community, though increasingly wary of outsiders. I've had lots of fun at rabbit conventions and shows. Many of these people have farms, and culls often are eaten, donated to zoos, or sold/given to reptile people. A friend of mine used to donate her culls to the reptile section of her local zoo.

Both make up the rabbit community. It's a civil war. The rabbit forum is litterally split into two parts, with strict rules on not taking your opinions to the other half. Mostly because HRS people are vicious and will hijack and preach anywhere they can. ARBA people will sometimes defend themselves (if not just ignore it) than then a major fight happens.

I do find this interesting. Are there that many rabbit rescues that the HRA can reasonable condemn breeding rabbits, even just for pet purposes? I know around this time of year you hear so many people saying you shouldn't buy rabbits or chicks for Easter since many of them get given up for adoption anyway, but I didn't know there was such an abundance of homeless bunnies. I would also have assumed these groups wouldn't interact in the same forums, as it would be much like PETA and the AKC trying to have civil discussions in the same room.

I suppose I know much less about these things than I thought I did, it's all very fascinating.

[Boomerang]

Weird. Chickens are traditionally raised as food animals anyway, so I don't see why a feed store would care about when or by what they get eaten. Feeding it young to a boa or raising it for a family meal doesn't make much of a difference in the end, does it?

Exactly what I was thinking. People eat these chickens............................

[artgecko]

I am not a part of the "show" rat community, but I can tell you from what I've read on forums and FB groups, there are some serious nutters there. I think most are young (teenagers or early college age) and extremely zealous in their beliefs about breeding being bad.

I see so many threads bemoaning the horrible conditions of rats from petstores, how horrible feeder breeders are, and how even pet backyard breeders are bad... And then in the same breath, they will complain about how hard it is to find good pet rats where they live. Whenever anyone asks about purchasing a rat from a store the immediate answer is "adopt from a rescue! or go to a "good" show breeder!. I've even read comments shaming people for buying from anyone but a rescue and they treat anyone who considers breeding like a pariah. One forum I'm on forbids discussing intentional breeding.

Sorry for the off-topic rant... These people are nuts though.

Back to the original topic: Yes, it's bad that she would treat a customer that way, however, I can see it being part of their policy to ask when people buy mice, if they are to be pets or not. That said, how could you afford to pay those prices for mice?! At my store, it's like $8 for a "fancy" pet mouse.

About petco: I once talked to the animal care manager there and adopted some rat pups from them that had been abandoned at the store. She said that she'd get SO mad when the employees sold the dumbo rats as feeders because those were the only rats that people would actually buy as pets. She actually likes rats and basically said that her manager did everything he could to make sure they would all sell as feeders instead of anyone taking them as pets. I can understand them wanting to sell only the albino or solids as feeders since the pieds are more likely to go as pets.

[MarkS]

I don't know. I have a feeling if some people sold/gave/traded their baby BP's to someone and that person ended up just feeding them to their kingsnake, some people might get upset.

Actually this has been happening for a long time. Not all of those '100 lot' sales of captive hatched ball pythons out of Africa are going to breeders or pet stores. People who keep cobras buy them too.

[Daigga]

I am not a part of the "show" rat community, but I can tell you from what I've read on forums and FB groups, there are some serious nutters there. I think most are young (teenagers or early college age) and extremely zealous in their beliefs about breeding being bad.

I see so many threads bemoaning the horrible conditions of rats from petstores, how horrible feeder breeders are, and how even pet backyard breeders are bad... And then in the same breath, they will complain about how hard it is to find good pet rats where they live. Whenever anyone asks about purchasing a rat from a store the immediate answer is "adopt from a rescue! or go to a "good" show breeder!. I've even read comments shaming people for buying from anyone but a rescue and they treat anyone who considers breeding like a pariah. One forum I'm on forbids discussing intentional breeding.

Sorry for the off-topic rant... These people are nuts though.

Back to the original topic: Yes, it's bad that she would treat a customer that way, however, I can see it being part of their policy to ask when people buy mice, if they are to be pets or not. That said, how could you afford to pay those prices for mice?! At my store, it's like $8 for a "fancy" pet mouse.

About petco: I once talked to the animal care manager there and adopted some rat pups from them that had been abandoned at the store. She said that she'd get SO mad when the employees sold the dumbo rats as feeders because those were the only rats that people would actually buy as pets. She actually likes rats and basically said that her manager did everything he could to make sure they would all sell as feeders instead of anyone taking them as pets. I can understand them wanting to sell only the albino or solids as feeders since the pieds are more likely to go as pets.

The whole "no breeding ever" thing is weird to me. Like, with dogs very few people (and all of those considered nuts) frown at breeding purebred dogs. It's obviously different when people intentionally breed mutts (this designer dog craze is so stupid, I will never understand why you pay purebred and papered prices for a mix) or when they don't spay/neuter and accidently produce puppies.

For pets tores selling mice, I've found that a lot of the time you can pick out the ones that aren't going to like you buying mice to feed. One of the petcos near me doesn't even have a live reptile section and every last small animal tank had a little blue sticker on the bottom corner proclaiming that feeding live to snakes was a health risk and to ask a store associate about frozen alternatives. Needless to say, I drove the extra few miles to the next store instead of asking for one of the mice anyway.

Mostly I haven't gotten attitudes at the other petcos, and they mostly just ask "what are you feeding?" Instead of "is this a feeder?". Seeing the attitudes towards the mice and rats from the people I've seen there looking, it seems like feeders just sell better than pets. The stores I usually go to also have an excellent reptile section, so that also kind of explains it some. there's also the occasional store that will sell you other "problem" rodents at a discount if they know you just need a feeder. "Oh you're feeding a python? This gerbil here is mean and has been returned 3 times, we'll take 75% off if you take him?"