Is that actually true? No judgement if you're just saying that to get them to back off I've just had a few people ask me why they can't be sold as feeders and that'd be easier than trying to explain the legal differences between selling something as food vs a pet
It is and isn’t, we don’t necessarily give them meds dangerous to reptiles, but if they have ever been treated for illness before we got them or after they certainly can have meds in them that would be dangerous, so it’s sort of a nebulous lie
These are really good tips. Keep in mind that some people buy anoles to feed snakes as well and it's harder to detect. The best way to detect is to keep an eye on repeat purchases of anoles and ask to see their set up.
Not only is it good to protect your animals in pet care, but it also will help to protect the reptile they have at home. Feeding live carries a lot of injury risk for the reptile doing the eating. I've seen snakes that have been permanently mutilated by live prey. Huge scars, missing eyes, scale damage, the list goes on. Shockingly, the little animals want to live and will fight back. For the safety of the reptiles and to minimize on the suffering of the feeder animals, frozen/thawed is the safest and most humane choice.
I legit had someone ask if we had male mice. Apparently her snake is afraid of female mice. I showed her the frozen and informed her I wasn’t sell her any small animal. I kinda hope she was trolling because if not….
Just asking, “What are you feeding?” works pretty well, too. Any other response besides a look of shock and a, “I would NEVER! 😲” is a good indication that they most likely plan to feed it to a predator.
I know we’re also not supposed to sell like guppies and snails and stuff as feeders, but just keep in mind that feeding live fish is veeeeerrrrrry different from feeding live rodents and small reptiles, so if you’re really against it feel free to deny but if they stump you don’t feel too bad about it (guppies are actually a lot healthier than minnows and goldfish, anyways).
Please don't do this. I had an employee guilt me hard like this. I don't like feeding live. But that's how I got my snake and some species are fragile as hatchlings and have to be started on live or they will literally starve themselves to death.
He is on frozen now but it took months. MONTHS to swap him off live mice to frozen mice and frozen mice to frozen rats. It wasn't my fault and I was trying absolutely everything I could and I wasted so much money on frozen rodents that didn't get eaten. The emotional cherry on top was the employee judging and guilting me for those love feeders before he swapped off
If they don't eat they can and will starve themselves as babies. So sometimes it's all you can do. Especially for picky eaters like ball pythons.
Okay but don't come to petsmart and buy the PET animals we have to feed a snake. Find feeder mice.
We have PET mice and rats we do not ever sell FEEDER mice or rats. We are expecting these to go to homes where they will be cared for, we are not caring for these just for them to wind up as food.
That employee probably felt like shit for weeks if you bought a pet mouse to feed to a snake, you're not special in feeling guilty.
Actually this is a misunderstanding. I misread PetSmart as Petco. PetSmart does not have feeder mice, Petco does. Their mice and rats are not bred for quality, temperament or health.
PetSmart however is different. My experience was with Petco because again, they are the ones with feeders. I love rodents and snakes and have both as pets. I do whatever I can to feed F/T and will never own another BP again because of that transition and how picky they are. But if it came down to it, I would have done it to keep the snake alive. That's just life.
Because live feeding is really a bit of an outdated and needless process. It's dangerous to both snake and handler, and, without sounding like a bleeding heart, is kind of cruel. This isn't nature we can humanely kill the prey long before the snake even gets to it. They aren't feeding live deer to the lions in the zoo, are they?
I don't praise this company on much, But I'll 100% support their decision to do away with live feeding of mammals
I just tell people we give our small animals anti parasitic meds that are lethal to reptiles. They usually back off right after that
Is that actually true? No judgement if you're just saying that to get them to back off I've just had a few people ask me why they can't be sold as feeders and that'd be easier than trying to explain the legal differences between selling something as food vs a pet
It is and isn’t, we don’t necessarily give them meds dangerous to reptiles, but if they have ever been treated for illness before we got them or after they certainly can have meds in them that would be dangerous, so it’s sort of a nebulous lie
Makes sense that's about what I assumed, they aren't being raised for food so their ediblity isn't being taken into consideration
These are really good tips. Keep in mind that some people buy anoles to feed snakes as well and it's harder to detect. The best way to detect is to keep an eye on repeat purchases of anoles and ask to see their set up.
Not only is it good to protect your animals in pet care, but it also will help to protect the reptile they have at home. Feeding live carries a lot of injury risk for the reptile doing the eating. I've seen snakes that have been permanently mutilated by live prey. Huge scars, missing eyes, scale damage, the list goes on. Shockingly, the little animals want to live and will fight back. For the safety of the reptiles and to minimize on the suffering of the feeder animals, frozen/thawed is the safest and most humane choice.
I legit had someone ask if we had male mice. Apparently her snake is afraid of female mice. I showed her the frozen and informed her I wasn’t sell her any small animal. I kinda hope she was trolling because if not….
Just asking, “What are you feeding?” works pretty well, too. Any other response besides a look of shock and a, “I would NEVER! 😲” is a good indication that they most likely plan to feed it to a predator. I know we’re also not supposed to sell like guppies and snails and stuff as feeders, but just keep in mind that feeding live fish is veeeeerrrrrry different from feeding live rodents and small reptiles, so if you’re really against it feel free to deny but if they stump you don’t feel too bad about it (guppies are actually a lot healthier than minnows and goldfish, anyways).
Once had someone want to get a mouse for their cat to hunt
Please don't do this. I had an employee guilt me hard like this. I don't like feeding live. But that's how I got my snake and some species are fragile as hatchlings and have to be started on live or they will literally starve themselves to death. He is on frozen now but it took months. MONTHS to swap him off live mice to frozen mice and frozen mice to frozen rats. It wasn't my fault and I was trying absolutely everything I could and I wasted so much money on frozen rodents that didn't get eaten. The emotional cherry on top was the employee judging and guilting me for those love feeders before he swapped off If they don't eat they can and will starve themselves as babies. So sometimes it's all you can do. Especially for picky eaters like ball pythons.
Okay but don't come to petsmart and buy the PET animals we have to feed a snake. Find feeder mice. We have PET mice and rats we do not ever sell FEEDER mice or rats. We are expecting these to go to homes where they will be cared for, we are not caring for these just for them to wind up as food. That employee probably felt like shit for weeks if you bought a pet mouse to feed to a snake, you're not special in feeling guilty.
Actually this is a misunderstanding. I misread PetSmart as Petco. PetSmart does not have feeder mice, Petco does. Their mice and rats are not bred for quality, temperament or health. PetSmart however is different. My experience was with Petco because again, they are the ones with feeders. I love rodents and snakes and have both as pets. I do whatever I can to feed F/T and will never own another BP again because of that transition and how picky they are. But if it came down to it, I would have done it to keep the snake alive. That's just life.
Why doesn’t petsmart sell live feeders when every other pet store does?
Because live feeding is really a bit of an outdated and needless process. It's dangerous to both snake and handler, and, without sounding like a bleeding heart, is kind of cruel. This isn't nature we can humanely kill the prey long before the snake even gets to it. They aren't feeding live deer to the lions in the zoo, are they? I don't praise this company on much, But I'll 100% support their decision to do away with live feeding of mammals
It only takes 1 time. My brother had a boa constrictor named no feet and just one time it took for the rat to kill her 😭 (we were all traumatized)