A Day at Petco (Funny stories ahead!)

[Boomerang]

That is awful! We give ours a large salad, a bowl of meal worms, and crickets and they mainly like the worms and salad. We actually deny people purchase of certain fish unless they have a tank up and running or if they don't have proper housing for it, etc, etc. I had a lady tell me that she was just buying sharks to feed to her larger sharks in the tank to which we promptly told her we couldn't sell to her. Our store takes pride in ensuring the safety of both the customer and pet.

Rats are pets too, do you deny selling them to snake owners? I cannot understand why it matters if they are pets or food, extremely hypocritical.

[Daniel.michelle]

SCwood, I feel like if anyone gives your friend too much hate, then they should tell the hater the truth and explain the situation. That's just not right... I think saying it escaped and went missing is the worst possible thing you can do... (edit, I just read the last little bit of that, that's awful! )

To be honest, if I lived in Florida and had a large snake, I would have them microchipped in case if that happened. Have your friend look into that.

[Foxton]

Rats are pets too, do you deny selling them to snake owners? I cannot understand why it matters if they are pets or food, extremely hypocritical.

Because they are being marketed/sold directly as "pets" not feeders/throw away animals. Who knows what inhumane horrible things the average person might do with something they already plan to have die.

[Spoons]

Ooh, I've got a doozy from the last time I went to petco. I usually buy my rats from a local place, but they were closed, so I swung by petco (or was it petsmart? One of the two). I opened the freezer and popped open a box of rats to see how big they were. An employee took this as a sign of me being confused, and after asking what kind of snake I had and how big it was she said, "With snakes like that you need to feed them a mouse that isn't any bigger than its head."

LUCKILY, her coworker corrected her... by saying, "No, I'm pretty sure the mouse can't be any bigger than the space between their eyes."


...I just thanked them, told them I know what I need to be feeding and went on my way.

[IsmQui718]

I know this isn't about snakes specifically, but I cringe each time I hear people at Petland Discounts and Petco give awful advice on fish husbandry.


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[bcr229]

Because they are being marketed/sold directly as "pets" not feeders/throw away animals. Who knows what inhumane horrible things the average person might do with something they already plan to have die.

So... if I buy a live rodent as a pet from a pet store but I really intend to use it as a feeder, I'm more likely to abuse that critter than one that I purchase specifically as a feeder... does not compute. The only difference is that pet rodents cost 5-10 times as much as feeders, and not in how I treat them for the very short time between when I purchase them and when I feed them to my snakes.

[Foxton]

So... if I buy a live rodent as a pet from a pet store but I really intend to use it as a feeder, I'm more likely to abuse that critter than one that I purchase specifically as a feeder... does not compute. The only difference is that pet rodents cost 5-10 times as much as feeders, and not in how I treat them for the very short time between when I purchase them and when I feed them to my snakes.

From the stores POV you're still buying something from them in order to kill. Their business built around selling pets isn't going to be into that or the possibility of it being mistreated before the final end. (And that the death itself is inhuman treatment)

A lot of average people can't even take proper care of animals they keep as pets, it's perfectly reasonable to assume they won't care for an animal bought for food half as well. Not like it's a sure thing that a snake will take whatever is given to it and now they got some fuzzy rodent to take care of that's supposed to be dead.

[Daigga]

Rats are pets too, do you deny selling them to snake owners? I cannot understand why it matters if they are pets or food, extremely hypocritical.

Well there's a difference between animals being marked and sold as pets and those being marked and sold as feeders. Sellers have rights just as buyers and owners do, do not forget. Also in this particular example I don't understand why this person wanted to buy fish I'm sure aren't super cheap versus traditional feeder fish raised and sold for this purpose. Waste of money if you ask me.

My funny pet store story comes from the petco I tend to get my feeder mice from. The first time I came into this particular store I checked out their ball pythons, because that's kind of what I do. I peeked in one of the little half logs to see a nice, neatly coiled BP with a nice, neatly coiled baby cornsnake on top of it. I pointed it out to an associate as I was getting my mice and one of the workers got up on a little stool and dug around in the BP tank for about 5 minutes and pulled out maybe a dozen baby corns from around and under the balls and various decor. I guess the divider between the two setups isn't super snug because every time I go there are a few corns snuck in with the balls. Nothing super terrible, but still kind of amusing/concerning.

Edit:

From the stores POV you're still buying something from them in order to kill. Their business built around selling pets isn't going to be into that or the possibility of it being mistreated before the final end. (And that the death itself is inhuman treatment)

A lot of average people can't even take proper care of animals they keep as pets, it's perfectly reasonable to assume they won't care for an animal bought for food half as well. Not like it's a sure thing that a snake will take whatever is given to it and now they got some fuzzy rodent to take care of that's supposed to be dead.

I resent this. I buy live feeders and I take good care of them up until the point my snake swallows them down. I'm not about to feed my prized ball pythons mangy beaten animals that will freak out and attack my snake; I'm going to feed them fat happy mice that have no idea what's about to grab them. If my snakes don't eat I have all the equipment needed to take care of my feeders until they do.

[Foxton]

I resent this. I buy live feeders and I take good care of them up until the point my snake swallows them down. I'm not about to feed my prized ball pythons mangy beaten animals that will freak out and attack my snake; I'm going to feed them fat happy mice that have no idea what's about to grab them. If my snakes don't eat I have all the equipment needed to take care of my feeders until they do.

Not sure why you'd feel offense when I'm not talking about people on here.

[SCWood]

Rats are pets too, do you deny selling them to snake owners? I cannot understand why it matters if they are pets or food, extremely hypocritical.

We have paperwork to sell them as food. We are not supposed to sell any fish as feeders except those marked as such

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1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn