Something That Should be Brought to Our Attention

by GGMouseCare Tue 11 Apr 2017, 6:31 pm

Hello everyone, I am here today to explain to you about adopting, and not purchasing from pet stores. Purchasing pets from stores such as PetCo, and PetSmart are helping rodent mills, which are helping Pet Overpopulation. Pet Overpopulation is when mills, and un-licensed breeders bring more animals into the world that don't have a choice to be given a loving home. They are sold off as mere items, of no value. What, a mouse for $4.00?! I'm quite sure you agree with me, being a mouse owner yourself. How would you feel, having your mouse you purchased from a pet store have unsecured genes, and is most likely cross-bred with a family member? This, is disgusting. As loving, trusting, and loyal pet owners, we need to take action in our community, and give these mice, (as well as other small animals) a better chance at life.
Now, this link, this article has some disturbing content, as being an investigation by the PETA. If you are a more sensitive reader/viewer,please don't click on this link. But, I encourage you to read this. Open your eyes to what is happening.
https://www.thedodo.com/petco-petsmart-pet-supplier-abuse-1563393540.html
I hope you read this, and learn about what is happening when you purchase an innocent from PetCo. My girls I adopted at a young age, where I was well aware of this before. I adopted these girls from my local shelter. They were found, abandoned. A volunteer brought them in, and I ended up with 4 angels. We need to stand up, take charge for the innocent lives of he animals that are dying each day because they are too old, or didn't sell. Most of PetCo animals spend 2/3 of their lives in the cages. Do you see the living conditions they have to put up with?! Mice deserve a chance too, so stand with me. We, the people, can register a petition to ADOPT, DONT PURCHASE. Thank you.

by GGMouseCare Tue 11 Apr 2017, 9:52 pm

Feel free to comment how you feel about this article. I feel this is an important issue that we need to adress. As mouse owners, we together can change the lives of many helpless animals dying in PetCo tanks from lack of proper diets, clean habitats, and excessive crowding in the cage. Please reply.

by AnonymousMouseOwner Tue 11 Apr 2017, 10:06 pm

I am aware of this, and have seen the videos before. (You should probably put that link in a spoiler, by the way, because some people might not read your warning and just click on the link). This is just one of the reasons I don't buy animals from Petco/PetSmart anymore. However, adopting is still not an option for me (usually). So almost all of my mice have come from a local pet store, that I believe breeds their mice better, because they have always been much more healthier and happier there than the mice I have seen at chain pet stores. I did rescue Clover from Craigslist though, and I got Holly at Petco before I was aware of how unhealthy their animals can be.

by River Tue 11 Apr 2017, 11:11 pm

Most of us are aware of this -- however, most of us have no other options. Mice aren't often found in shelters where most of us live, unfortunately.
Regardless, a well written and informative post.

by Peachy Wed 12 Apr 2017, 2:06 am

Yep... not a new discussion point.

There aren't any quality breeders near me, and the one or two who breed with a goal in mind (besides food for reptiles) have stock that originated from Petco. It's also likely that any mice found in a shelter originated from some place like Petco or an unplanned/irresponsibly bred litter. So if genes are your concern, you're out of luck anyway. (A note on inbreeding mice... while it can sometimes be controversial, it's common among breeders who want/need to get/know something specific. If you have a mouse with good genes, it's not necessarily a bad thing.)

I do adopt from shelters when I can... I recently fostered (and then adopted) a pregnant mouse and her litter. But it's not always possible, and at the end of the day the mice at the pet store deserve homes too.

There's nothing wrong with hoping to improve conditions that mice are brought up in, we actually have a sticky somewhere relating to this (at least, I thought we did, I seem to have lost some stuff when I moved threads around a few months ago Scratch

).
But most of us, while open to and preferring adoption, have sucked it up and accepted that sometimes pet stores have to be a reality if we don't want to give them up. You can choose to support stores who treat the mice that they get well, though: the only Petco I'll go to treats their mice great, the last time I was in there they were even enjoying some fresh veggies!

by stephlisa Wed 12 Apr 2017, 2:34 am

While I understand your point, I do think that those mice in the pet stores still need a loving home as much as any mouse from a breeder or a rescue.

I understand your concern but like the people who have posted before me, sometimes it isn't an option to rescue or get from a breeder. Although in the UK, not all pet store chains sell mice because I believe there are laws banning them from selling them as feeders and as such one major chain just doesn't sell mice (I might be wrong but I'm sure I remember researching and finding that out when I first looking for a mouse)

As for the genes issues, even breeders will breed brothers and sisters. As I am not a breeder, I don't actually mind that my little mouse may have bad genes, he might be more prone to certain diseases. I don't even mind that he may have been bred from siblings or relatives. He still deserves a loving home which is what I provide for him.

Sadly I think that the only way to give the mice currently in the pet shops a good chance in life is to buy them and love them. But sadly we all have a limit to amount of mice we can realistically look after...

I think that the selling of mice is very different in both countries, but I also don't think a petition as suggested at the end of your post is the way to go about it. I think educating pet stores and potential pet owners would be a better way to go about it so that they are free to make their own choices about where to get mice from

Edit to add: I was wondering what your experience with keeping mice is? (Sorry if you've already posted in the intros part of the forum, I was just wondering as it helps me to judge where you are coming from with regards to your post.)

by GGMouseCare Wed 12 Apr 2017, 7:09 am

I was doing this for a school paper, and I have mice. 4 little girls, to be exact. My good friend referred me to this website, because she has a male mouse. That being said, I feel like what I said came out a little harsh. Knowing what I said, I think that stores are different in each country/place, etc. I like the point Stephlisa made about giving the mice who do live in there a better home. She brought that to my attention, whereas I have never thought of it this way. And yes, quality breeders are hard to come by. I agree with each and every one of you. I will be posting an Intro later today. Thank for your insights, hey are quite eye-opening. Wink

by CallaLily Wed 12 Apr 2017, 8:49 am

There is already a thread somewhere on this topic.

Like others, there aren't any reputable breeders that I can find in my state and adoptions are hard to come by too. I did manage to find two girls up for adoption from an oopsie litter 3 hours away that I did adopt. And my boy Daryl was a pet store adoption (I believe he was a return at 8 months old because he had very clearly been loved and handled). I do usually look first for mice up for adoption.

But the rest of my mice have been purchases from pet stores. Petco specifically (only one being from petsmart). Unfortunately the majority of Petco's mouse sales are feeders, though the one nearest to me does at least take very decent care of them. So I don't feel bad at all for purchasing them to come live out their lives in a loving home, instead of being a snake snack.

But you're right, we absolutely can and should stand up for their treatment in these places. Though I do not agree with a lot of PETA's methods.

by Rodents rock! Mon 17 Apr 2017, 9:49 pm

I adopt when the type of animal is available at the shelter or on Craigslist, but they don't always have certain pets available very often.

Past rodents-
Buddy, male gerbil, PETsMART
Sweet Pea, male Chinese hamster, PETsMART
Cheerio, male hairless rat, Craigslist
Gus Gus, male rat, rat rescue
Brandy, female rat, rat rescue
Cleo, female rat, Humane Society
Pip, male gerbil, Humane Society

Current rodents-
Pup, male gerbil, breeder
Mickey, male mouse, PETsMART

I believe in adoption, big time, but I also feel when buying from pet shops you are giving an innocent animal a loving home. So it's kinda like you are rescuing them from there.

When I saw Mickey at PETsMART, he was in with other males, as they were young, and all the other mice were in their igloo sleeping and Mickey came right up to the glass to me and I felt he was saying, please get me out of here! And I felt he chose me and I couldn't resist. Smile

by AnonONIagent Tue 18 Apr 2017, 10:53 pm

I've been well aware of this for a while. However, something that absolutely has to be noted is that PETA have a political agenda that they are trying to push, and are definitely not above stretching the truth in order to further that (this is the same organization that allegedly funds a number of ecoterrorism groups, after all). While this may be the reality in the case of some animal suppliers, I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty that the majority are not like this, and that this article is straight up lying to you when they say that these kinds of conditions are the rule when it comes to animal suppliers. I have seen video content from a number of commercial rodent suppliers, and while the conditions in these videos aren't particularly ideal, especially in regards to the size of the containers the animals are kept in, but they are what I would consider adequate. They are clean, properly ventilated, and animals have sufficient access to food and clean water at all times. Furthermore, culling of unwanted animals is performed responsibly, either by means of gas chambers specifically designed to deliver a quick and painless death, or by cervical dislocation carried out by employees who are trained in how to do it properly (it isn't hard to train someone how to do this; cervical dislocation is easy to perform on rodents and you can find numerous good tutorials on YouTube showing how to do it).

It's also important to note that Petco and Petsmart do their best to try to buy from more responsible suppliers. They want people to buy animals from them, and animals from responsible suppliers are generally healthier, and the bad press that comes along with being associated with irresponsible animal suppliers like the one in the article has a negative impact on their sales.

This is also of course ignoring the fact that many pet stores (mostly non-chain stores) breed their small animals in-store. This was the case for the pet store where I got my first three mice, Molly, Sally, and Sarah.

I'm not saying that getting animals from a pet store is a better or even as good of an option as adoption or buying from a reputable breeder. Of course, if you have the option to adopt or buy from a good breeder you should always do that instead of buying from a store. But at the same time, I'm not going to try to make people feel guilty for buying their animals from a pet store when no other options are available to them.

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