Gerbils offered up as snake food at my pet store today.:(

[catnut]

I was at my local pet store today getting Sierras' food today and someone was looking for mice, which they don't have right now so the worker asked if a gerbil or hamster would be good for their snake, ugh, i about died but remained calm and said they aren't food and was thinking i was going to have to buy the two they have- a mother and daughter who are soo sweet and i've become attached to them as the mom has been there for 6 months as she had two sets of babies. Luckily he said they were too big for his snake and left. I think i will write the store as i really don't want these gerbils to become food and i'm worried about this, soo wrong!! I am mad that this dumb worker would even suggest it, esp. in front of me as she knows me as i've come to visit the gerbils for months and knows i'd like to adopt but have held back.

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Hi there.
Yes, this is something that I see in all the pet stores in my area. I buy gerbils from them when I can (they're kept in tiny 3 gal tanks, and aren't really ever handled. I just can't imagine living like that). Every single time I've gone up to the register with my new gerbil, I'm always asked the same question. "Is this a pet, or just a feeder?"
I asked how often they actually sell gerbils just for feeders (thinking not often) and I was told they don't sell them for pets that much, actually.
Of course, I have never really gotten to know a gerbil in a pet store, either, like you did. They come and go quite often, and when I see one that strikes me like that, I never give them a chance to stay in the pet store and become familiar to me, lol.

While I definitely agree that it is very sad to see that happen, and it can be heartbreaking to see it happen when you're there, there are several things I've actually learned about this that shed some light on it. Apparently, there are some species of snakes that will only eat gerbils and will die without them. They will not eat any kind of other food, not even other rodents. So for some animals, it's actually very necessary to have live gerbils. I think that people who own mice probably feel the same way sometimes about this on their own rodent end, and probably think it just as wrong, and have probably just accepted it. Gerbils just aren't as well known for feeders, so not as widely accepted. But, all that is beside the point. I do think that both feeding mice and gerbils are pretty wrong, although it is what would happen in the wild anyway. Honestly, I think that animals that need live feeders should be left in the wild

Anyway, that's just my point of view, which I'm sure isn't the right or wrong answer. But yes, overall I agree with you

[betty]

Always sad to think of a gerbil being used for live food - I would have had to have bought them too if I was right there when they said it!!! You aren't alone in that for sure.

Luckily in the UK it happens very infrequently - usually only when a snake/other reptile or bird is very unwell and needs feeding to stay alive (apparently they are more likely to encourage eating than rats/mice for various reasons).

Extremely luckily, gerbils produce less young per litter when bred for feeders than rats and mice do and so they aren't a popular choice long term - and indirectly of course - this puts their price up making them a less common choice overall.

Phew...

[catnut]

I had an email back about that situation that they were going to talk to the employees about it and that they don't do that at their store. Do they charge less if they are for feeders? i hope not as that will encourage them to continue. If they want to do that, they they should breed their own or find a supplier who does this, not buy their snakes' food from a pet store. I don't get why someone who want a pet who needs to eat live food, either, ugh, but i have read some snakes don't need them live as they do sell frozen at my store. Soo sad for gerbils' who end up as they must be terrified, they deserve to be loved and be pets. I guess i shouldn't have gone to visit them but with only having one gerbil right now and never seeing young gerbils soo young at the pet store, it was nice to see them grow up, but then i got attached to them but know i couldn't take any home right now.

[betty]

Hopefully they can at least make it more discreet in the future there. It can't be a pleasant thing for other furry pet owners to hear regardless - but in front of a known gerbil admirer is rather insensitive.

I would imagine pet shops would buy in feeders and pets of any species from different suppliers for various reasons and therefore at different prices, but perhaps they don't always do this - it could be just wishful thinking on my part.

Most of our exotic shows and stores have the odd frozen gerbil for those fussy eaters, and some of the bigger suppliers have other common furry pets in their ranks too, sadly. Sometimes I accidently glance in a freezer as you make your way up the tables at a show - and there they are, bless them...

I think maybe in the UK you can't commercially sell live animals for feeders - and all the exotic shows I have been to strictly prohibit the sale or exchange of mammals even outside the building.

Many breeders won't live feed adult rodents as they can harm your own pet accidently (and there are some gruesome pictures online of snakes being injured or part-eaten as a result) and if they aren't reheating frozen stock - many exotic keepers cull their live stock humanely just before feeding so they are still warm, because snakes feed from their thermal sensors rather than from moving prey as naturally they would creep into dens and nests and catch rodents and birds while they were sleeping.

I feed my gerbils and jirds live food - and people keep free-roaming cats - so I suppose we are all able to justify something that is accepted within 'our' community if it suits the pet we want to keep?


Now I feel a bit guilty about the whole thing...

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Yeah, I definitely understand it's difficult. I also hope that this doesn't continue. And yes! Thankfully a lot of snakes don't need live food and can take frozen. Which is really great because some of the frozen ones weren't killed specifically just to be 'frozen food', and end up that way after they naturally die. I don't know how often this is true, but I know for some of them it is, and I hope it's for most of them. It brings the question to my mind. Why would someone choose to have a snake that needs live food, when many of them take frozen? I'm probably far oversimplifying this, though.
Anyway, I'm so glad to hear that your pet store won't be doing that, and that those two won't be snake food!