I was right!

by AnonONIagent Sun 23 Oct 2016, 9:29 pm

So I like to hang around both of the pet stores near my work to look at the mice and other small animals. Well, the other day the Petco got in a new shipment of girls, and there was a beautiful little solid blue mouse napping happily in the corner. Well, I just had to have a look at it. So I called one of the employees over and asked if I could handle it. He opened up the cage, immediately stirring up activity, and the little blue mouse woke up, turned around, and I could see what looked like scrotum get sucked up into the mouse's body. I pointed this out to the employee in an attempt to be helpful, and they pulled out the mouse, put it in their hand, and gently lifted the tail so we could get a look at its bum. The genitals and anus looked pretty far apart, so he took the mouse to a manager while I had a look at a beautiful little recessive yellow girl that had caught my eye in the meantime. A few minutes later, the manager came back to the cage and plopped the blue mouse back into the cage, telling me as I was leaving that they had looked at it and decided it was a girl.

Flash forward to today, and with my paycheck finally deposited I went back to the Petco to buy some bedding and food. As I walked in, I quickly noticed that the entire mouse cage was empty, and I inquired to one of the workers as to why that was. They informed me that they had discovered a male in the mouse cage, and that because of this they had moved the mice temporarily into the back room.

So it looks like I was most likely right, and that little blue girl was really a little blue guy! My only worry is that the poor guy might end up as food, since it is against that location's policy to sell male rodents (for some reason), and I at one point think I overheard the employees talking about having to feed "unsellable" mice to the snakes. That would really suck if it were the case, especially since he seemed to have a wonderful temperament. I would happily give the little guy a home if it were entirely up to me, but my mother is vehemently against allowing any more rodents into the home for the time being.

by EverythingAnimal Sun 23 Oct 2016, 9:40 pm

Wow! I guess just one more example why not to trust pet store employees! I'm kinda glad they don't sell males. Unlikely, but maybe they realized that they would have to house males alone, and that would not be profitable for them.
I wonder what they are going to do with all those babies... can't imagine they will care for them properly or let them live long at all... but we can be hopeful! I've wanted a solid blue mouse forever, if only I was near or I'd take him!

by AnonymousMouseOwner Sun 23 Oct 2016, 9:54 pm

The PetCo closest to me is weird too. They have TONS of PEWs in 20g long tanks, one full of 100's of females, and one full of 100's of males, then they have a separate tank with 2-3 fancy females of various colors. I'm not sure where the colorful males go. I have yet to see a blue mouse at any pet store. I would've taken him if he were close to me, and I if I had room, but I think one boy and a few girls is the limit for me right now. Smile

Hopefully he gets a good home!

by AnonONIagent Sun 23 Oct 2016, 9:58 pm

AnonymousMouseOwner wrote:The PetCo closest to me is weird too. They have TONS of PEWs in 20g long tanks, one full of 100's of females, and one full of 100's of males, then they have a separate tank with 2-3 fancy females of various colors. I'm not sure where the colorful males go. I have yet to see a blue mouse at any pet store. I would've taken him if he were close to me, and I if I had room, but I think one boy and a few girls is the limit for me right now. Hopefully he gets a good home!

Those poor overcrowded PEWs!

by AnonymousMouseOwner Sun 23 Oct 2016, 10:02 pm

AnonONIagent wrote:
AnonymousMouseOwner wrote:The PetCo closest to me is weird too. They have TONS of PEWs in 20g long tanks, one full of 100's of females, and one full of 100's of males, then they have a separate tank with 2-3 fancy females of various colors. I'm not sure where the colorful males go. I have yet to see a blue mouse at any pet store. I would've taken him if he were close to me, and I if I had room, but I think one boy and a few girls is the limit for me right now. Hopefully he gets a good home!
Those poor overcrowded PEWs!

I know! They are super young too, I put my finger on the glass once and a male came up to me and looked at my finger, then made a cute face right at me, I wanted to rescue him so bad, but I wasn't prepared for a male. I want to rescue them all!

by Peachy Sun 23 Oct 2016, 10:32 pm

That's so unfortunate. I'm curious what they'll do with the babies too. Maybe send the males to a different Petco? Hopefully they'll learn to sex properly now!

None of my Petco stores ever seemed that bad. Definitely not ideal, but not nearly as awful as some people describe. The manager at the one I visit most often even seems pretty knowledgeable about general care. My favorite part is that they switched to the same vet I use! That made things easy when I had to take Cora in for a URI and pinworms. Eek!

by scaredymouse Mon 24 Oct 2016, 12:07 am

I saw a male in with the females one time at Petco. It was pretty obvious if you bothered to look at them. Anyway, I notified them and they removed him. But they sell makes and females, so they just got more free stock to sell.

Side note: My beautiful delilah is a blue, a little long hair, and she came from the feeder bin at Petco. She was so curious and friendly and gorgeous. I had to bring her home.

by CinnamonPearl Mon 24 Oct 2016, 5:56 am

Nice catch, Anon! Shame you couldn't bring the lucky boy home. Yes, Petco seems to be selling colored mice advertised as silky mice now. I've seen a couple of "silky" boys in their own tanks (each living alone) who all look like Henry. I've never seen any other color of mouse besides the light mock chocolates and PEWs at my local Petco. But I am curious to look around and see what I can find. I immensely prefer Petsmart, but they're all so far away, and all my Petsmart mice have been short lived.

by CallaLily Mon 24 Oct 2016, 7:20 am

A shame they didn't listen to you.

The Petcos around me all house pretty much the same. Females to one tank, males to one tank. Mostly PEW. The tanks appear to be a bit bigger than a 20 gallon long and they do seem to keep the number of mice in each one to a reasonable number. The biggest mistake they've made care-wise (that I've seen) is using way too small wheels. They occasionally have a mouse separated and up for adoption too.

by AnonONIagent Mon 24 Oct 2016, 8:10 am

CallaLily wrote:A shame they didn't listen to you.

The Petcos around me all house pretty much the same. Females to one tank, males to one tank. Mostly PEW. The tanks appear to be a bit bigger than a 20 gallon long and they do seem to keep the number of mice in each one to a reasonable number. The biggest mistake they've made care-wise (that I've seen) is using way too small wheels. They occasionally have a mouse separated and up for adoption too.

My Petco is much the same, just no males. They also give the mice a pair of flying saucers as well, which is good. They used to pretty much only have PEWs, but nowadays they have all kinds of different colors. They also get the mice at a much younger age now. My guess is they changed suppliers at some point.

by CinnamonPearl Mon 24 Oct 2016, 8:49 am

I've heard things about suppliers changing and new standards coming in. That could be it!

by AnonymousMouseOwner Mon 24 Oct 2016, 3:57 pm

The conditions they are in at PetCo are bad, but honestly after seeing videos of PetCo's supplier, PetCo takes care of them much better. Their supplier is awful, just awful. I feel so bad for all those poor animals.

by AnonONIagent Wed 26 Oct 2016, 5:21 pm

So I found out what happened to the lucky little guy: he got sold as a feeder. Not so lucky anymore Sad

by CinnamonPearl Wed 26 Oct 2016, 5:24 pm

God damn pet stores.

by Sponsored content

I was right!

I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!

Re: I was right!