Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok a new PETCO opened up in my area and put the store I have been going to for years out of business, My little reliable store closes its doors Dec 30th, I went there today and purchased the rest of there mouse stock "7 mice" and then had no choice but to go to petco for the rest of the mice I needed. As the nice lady was getting the mice for me I asked her where they kept the pinkies, She told me because of PETA it was now agents the law for them to sell anything other than adult mice, To make the rest of the story short I no longer have a source of food for my 3 young Corns and 2 Kings and any clutches I may hatch in the future, I keep 2 takes of breeder mice but the breeders have been replaced a few times and I have not had 1 mouse born in about a year so I am at a loss. The good thing is 2 of the ones I purchased today are from breeder stock and should have litters any day now but this will only last so long. Is it true PETCO can not sell pinkies or fuzzies?
Foot Hill Reptiles

If it were against the law then nobody could sell pinks..... It is probably more of a "so PETA will shut up" scenario. If your breeders havent produced in a year then I think you are giving up on them 11 months too late. If you have a Petsmart (I hate them soooooooooo much) they sell frozen pinks for a rediculous price. If I remember correctly they are called "arctic mice" and last I checked they were like 3 for $10....
-----
-David Harrison-
.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Striped Anery Corn "V" or "5".....Has two names
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
.1 Ball Python "Cleopatra"
0.0.2 Crested Geckos "Vinnie" & "Cadence"

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the T.V., sitting down with your kids... and hitting them?"

Yeah, I buy frozen pinkies from petco, or I have in the past, anyhow.

You might want to check around, I just happened on somebody at a reptile show that lives in my small town and breeds snakes and raises his own feeder mice. It was sheer luck finding him, but now I don't have to deal with petco any more. Maybe there's somebody in your area?

I think there are a couple. I know the pet stores Columbian Boa breeder is local so I will have to ask them for a phone number before they close down, Thanks for the idea
Foot Hill Reptiles

>>If it were against the law then nobody could sell pinks..... It is probably more of a "so PETA will shut up" scenario. If your breeders havent produced in a year then I think you are giving up on them 11 months too late. If you have a Petsmart (I hate them soooooooooo much) they sell frozen pinks for a rediculous price. If I remember correctly they are called "arctic mice" and last I checked they were like 3 for $10....
>>-----

They sell frozen pinkies, fuzzies, hoppers and adults
They get these from Gourmet Rodent
Can't you use frozen?
-----
Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

>>>>
-----
Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

Yes frozen are fine but they told me they cant sell them period. Frozen would be hard on my hatchlings but its better than nothing
Foot Hill Reptiles

>>Yes frozen are fine but they told me they cant sell them period. Frozen would be hard on my hatchlings but its better than nothing
>>Foot Hill Reptiles

They lied
PetCo sells frozen
Just go into the reptile department and look in the freezer.
They have "mice on ice" and mice from Gourmet Rodent
-----
Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

At my store they are in aquatics with the frozen fish food. Look there if its not by reptiles. There's just a fridge with mealworms by reptiles here. This store seems to have a non standard layout though.
-----
My Pictures

>>>>Yes frozen are fine but they told me they cant sell them period. Frozen would be hard on my hatchlings but its better than nothing
>>>>Foot Hill Reptiles
>>
>>They lied
>>PetCo sells frozen
>>Just go into the reptile department and look in the freezer.
>>They have "mice on ice" and mice from Gourmet Rodent
>>-----
>>Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
>>"Resistance is futile"
>>Jimmy Johnson
>>(Draybar)
>> Draybars Snakes
>>
>>_____

And if you can't find them in a freezer in the reptile section, head to the Aquatics department. The store in my area has them in a freezer here along with the frozen fish food

Like I said I have replaced all my breeders several times in the past year. I just checked on them tonight and a few of them are extreamly fat to the point oh looking like they are having a hard time getting around so hopefully they will pop soon.
Foot Hill Reptiles

PETA does not control pet stores - if they did, the stores wouldn't be selling any pets.

There has been a lot of negative things said about PETCO anf their treatment and lack of knowledge about reptiles on this forum. If these claims are true, I'd wouldn't support their business.

Most captive bred corn and king snakes will eat frozen-thawed mice. There are plenty of companies that sell them. That's the route I'd go if I were you. Also, reptile shows can be a good source of live feeder mice.

Tim

Third Eye

PETA does pressure pet store companies though. Petco and PETA came to an agreement where PETA would stop their propaganda against petco if they stopped selling large parrots.
-----
My Pictures

Indeed. Large parrots are high maintenance animals that very few people are equipped to care for during the bird's long lifespan. So are alligators, monkeys, etc.

Mice are food animals. There's no basis for not selling pinkies/fuzzys, while being able to sell adults.

Also "....because of PETA it was now agents (sic) the law..." PETA doesn't make laws. They're a special interest group. So they don't control what pet stores sell (though they do pressure stores). With the parrots, PETCO made an agreement which they weren't required by law to make.

Tim

Also "....because of PETA it was now agents (sic) the law..." PETA doesn't make laws. They're a special interest group. So they don't control what pet stores sell (though they do pressure stores). With the parrots, PETCO made an agreement which they weren't required by law to make.

Tim, PETA does pressure store, and in making them stop selling anything they in a hence control them. Correct no laws, PETA does not seem to need them, So much clout they seem to get what they want.

Also many people are coming to PoP because when they ask for feeder mice the store refuse. Then even if they return and ask for a pet mouse the store refuses.

Tim this is not, in anyway connected to that old crap. I thought we were past that?

But I must state any group of people with so much power without laws is not good. my Opinion only.

I cannot comprehend opening a store of any type and having some groups controlling what I want to sell. I do agree with some of PETAS opinions, but they are just a consumer/retailer terrorist group.

Off topic, pics I see you post look great, I hope your all settled in and brumation is on the way and you have a spankin' year next year.

Tom
-----
Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.HerpZillA.com
www.HerpHelp.com

Well I will tell you what. Before I could almost agree with PETA, ALMOST. Now I hate them because I am having food availability issues. What next we will have to stop having reptile shows because it exploits the animals?
Foot Hill Reptiles

I'd be more mad at the store. Point is, if the big stores suvived on selling the animals PETA has issues with they would fight it. Since they make most of their money on dog and cat food and then supplies, they just find more shelve space for stuff that requires no care but dusting.

As for no herp shows, I'm not sure who is the force behind all the push on herp laws. I just don't follow it. But unless the herp people can stand up as a unit, I can see it only getting worse.

JUST MY OPINION.

Soon, good s**t sold on the street corner will be a feeding emerald tree boa in a guys coat. Ok, thats a joke, just to be clear.
-----
Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.HerpZillA.com
www.HerpHelp.com

I hear you but I am still not feeling good about this. I hate to see this store close down, I have been shopping there for the better part of 13 years and it just sucks, Never had a problem there, every now and then they would not have what I needed but for sure would have it in a day or 2. according to them ever since PETCO opened a few miles down the road they have lost 90% of there customers and the store can not longer sustain itself. It also makes me mad because this little pet store was always cheaper than PETCO and further more I searched for someone to help me with my mice for about 45 minutes, I ma not even kidding they had 2 people in working the whole store, Never had to wait more than a few seconds to be greeted at the old pet store. I keep trying to think of ways t remedy this such as maybe specializing, Now they are a pet store and pretty much cater to most popular pets but I think maybe they could specialize in reptiles or maybe even fish or something this way they can stay in business but I just don't think it is going to happen
Foot Hill Reptiles

Well yeah. The Humane Society of the United States is actively trying to outlaw the keeping of ALL reptiles and amphibians. There have been several articles on this in "Reptiles" magazine.

You can find out more by doing a google search of "HSUS reptiles." PETA's eventual goal is that no animals are kept pets, including cats and dogs.

Tim

"Total animal liberation"

They are still stuck on Earth though. Maybe they can get space travel kick started by pouring some money into to liberate some animals into space. They might be kinda cool then
-----
My Pictures

Is there anything that can be done in this particular situation? Any suggestions I can make to the local pet store in hopes to try and keep them opened. I do know one thing. When they finally do go out of business I am going to raise my mouse breeder population 100 fold, then maybe I can make a killing being the only local resores for live pinkies
Foot Hill Reptiles

Please remember in my post I said "Unfortunately I had to go to petco" I don't like them eather, This one just opened and they house Ball Pythons and Hatchling Corns in the same enclosure. I purchase my mice in person ever week when my breeders don't work so its force of habit.
Foot Hill Reptiles

Why buy from PETCO?

I ahve had my Kings, Eastern Milk and Yellow Anaconda on F?T prey for almost 2 years now. I buy, online, from RodentPro. They ship to your door. Prices are pretty decent, buy in bulk to make the shipping worth it. 3 frozen pinks for $10? Thats a rip. RodentPro has bags of 100 small pinks for $16 (plus shipping)

Good luck.

100 pinkies for $16 plus shipping? maybe I will shop there.
Foot Hill Reptiles

I get my larger mice from LLL Reptile. But I only need a few pinks so I get them from Petco right here in Los Angeles. And if PETA had made it a law here,,,I am sure I would have been beaten up leaving the store...lol
Sure there are alot of bad things about PETCO, but there are good things. They are always handy for that last minute item you forgot to order online. And they have started many on the road to herping by selling stuff. Of course those hopefully end up buying from reptile specialist in the future.
-----
Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

I get my pinkies and fuzzies frozen from Petco. I prefer not to buy from Petco, but for now that's what we're doing. At least until we get a deep freeze. I can just buy 1 pack of 3 each time I go and that will actually fit in my freezer! I feel up my freezer with meat so I don't have to worry about shopping for meat but once a month....unless there is a good sale on!

Anyhow, you can buy pinkies, fuzzies, and adult mice there. And then I know they have small, medium, and large rats.

Jeni

Well,......knowing what I know about animal activists, the problem most likely lies with the Petco store putting the "helpless" pinkies in a container WITHOUT a mother mouse to feed them, so they just sit in a pile until they die of starvation, or are sold. If the pinks were housed with a lactating female mouse, then PETA probably wouldn't have much fuel for an issue.

I remember decades ago when pet store clerks wouldn't even want to sell me mice, unless I said they were going to be pets!
nowadays since the herp trade is MUCH larger than it was years ago,......it is the exact opposite, and they expect mice that are bought from their stores to end up in a snake's stomach, rather than be sold as a pet.......my,....how times change!

best regards, ~Doug
-----
"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

from Rodent Pro....this price includes shipping. If you don't want the fuzzies then it's even cheaper. Even with the shipping costs its still WAY cheaper to order from them. I do not buy any frozen stuff from pet stores anymore. I'm sure you know how fast a couple of new clutchs can go thru 100 pinks LOL.