anti-rodent farm petition

[LoveForLizards]

Originally Posted by MayhemRed

I'm after a local supplier for mine to avoid having to come across wretched little fuzzies that are skinny, mangy looking and more often than not have great big bruised/raised/bashed in heads when they're meant to have been gassed...

...Not to mention covered in piss and decomposing due to most rodents being frozen incorrectly!

Originally Posted by htf666

If this petition succeeded what would happen to the places that breed our frozen food?Harry

There is no reason that somebody couldn't be able to treat the feeder rodents (and guinea pigs/rabbits, for that matter) humanely without prices rocketing or the need for them to be shut down.

[Pimperella]

Originally Posted by MayhemRed

they'd have more stringent rules in place to be sure that animals were kept humanely, fed well and dispatched humanely?

I'm after a local supplier for mine to avoid having to come across wretched little fuzzies that are skinny, mangy looking and more often than not have great big bruised/raised/bashed in heads when they're meant to have been gassed... I'd rather pay more for a small time supplier that looks after em then get em from these poor quality chains. Better for my snakes AND the feeders if the feeders are kept in decent conditions.

One swift bash to the head is a far more humane method than gassing is. That is fact. Least they are actualy dead and not just shoved in a freezer while actually still alive because when handling so many they don't bother to see wether they are actually dead or not before freezing. Then not to mention how long it takes to die from gassing. Which, in actual fact, takes a lot longer than 1 swift knock to the skull or neck dislocation.

Decent conditions, Correct feeding. Correct cages. Clean conditions and a swift dispatch. Thats how it should be.

Like Zooman has started, Pets @ home actualy sent out a message to all stores (Started when they were pet smart before being bought over by pets @ home) that we weren't allowed to buy from Local top quality breeders and had to buy from S***** Rodents instead.
I remember one year he'd run out of rabbits at easter so he went to a Rabbit meat farm and bought a load of babies at 50p each, sold them same day as collected to Pet smart for £10 each!!! New Zealand Whites and Californians. When I had some top show breeders supplying Netherland Dwarfs and Dwarf Lops at that price and they were more likely to find homes. I told my boss that just because she ordered them all in for easter wouldn't mean they would sell. I was left with 25 large rabbits at 6 montsh old that I ended up taking home myself because the store was making a loss every day in the shop.
The quality is poor, the temps are poor and lifespan poor and short in farmed rodents for pets.
Not to mention the increase in carbon footprint from not buying local and getting better quaility and traceability when buying local.

[MayhemRed]

Originally Posted by Pimperella

One swift bash to the head is a far more humane method than gassing is. That is fact. Least they are actualy dead and not just shoved in a freezer while actually still alive because when handling so many they don't bother to see wether they are actually dead or not before freezing. Then not to mention how long it takes to die from gassing. Which, in actual fact, takes a lot longer than 1 swift knock to the skull or neck dislocation.

Neck dislocation I don't mind so much, it's fast, one bash to the head, when correctly done, is fast, but mass ones can't be as so many of my pinks or fuzzys have multiple marks, and bruises to more of their body which could be post mortem but could easily be from multiple attempts or a mass throw. Gassing, when done correctly, is also effective, but in larger quantities I see why it isn't as effective, which is why I'd rather go to someone smaller who has the time to dispatch in smaller amounts. I won't buy pets from pet shops which sell animals, I ain't buying food from the same places, specially when I see the same sad little unsatisfactory food products time in and out... I do see your point tho, I'm not dismissing it at all!

[LisaLQ]

Without going into methods of dispatch, I have to disagree with Chris and the others and say I'd rather pay more for well reared healthy food for my snakes than support rodent farms. If there were such a thing.

Thing is, 99.9% of farms who raise for food dont have a conscience. I'm yet to find one supplier who raises their rats/mice in cages - I mean, come on - they must make a fortune selling to pet shops and reptile owners, surely they can afford to house them properly!

Just because the pics were from another country doesn't mean the conditions aren't the same here. They are. I have heard from people who have been - but they weren't allowed to take pictures. You can turn a blind eye and pretend it doesn't happen here, or worse - that it doesn't matter - but it does. If your dogs, cats, etc were raised in such shit conditions, you'd be in an uproar, but because it's a rodent you're not fussed? I think that's very sad.

High time people breeding for food or pet shop were brought up into the 21st century, if they cant meet animal welfare standards, they should find a different living.

[htf666]

Animal welfare standards? What, like the ones that allow battery hens? I would think that rodents are kept better than battery hens. Should we not sort out our food first? Harry

[Pimperella]

And funny thing is if you know owt about me, I breed my own poultry and will only ever eat those and never any form of bought processed chicken at all!

So my welfare standards are not those set by the rspca even. I like my birds to see the sky, feel the sun on their backs and to enjoy finding grubs and beetles and worms to chomp on and true dust bathing and enjoying life.
So yes, far better welfare standards. Even if it just ment they had toys, larger cages and better health, that would be a huge start.


And those who don't mind what conditions that their feeder animals are kept in are only the same as those who buy battery cheap eggs in full knowledge of the life they have suffered.

[Zoo-Man]

Originally Posted by Ssthisto

I'm sorry, but I won't be signing the petition. I sure as heck am not going to legislate my snake food out of existence.

You can do more to prevent rodent farmers from selling live rodents to pet shops by *not buying pet rodents in pet shops* and even by boycotting pet shops that sell rodents. Tell them why you won't shop there any more - if enough people do it, then pet shops will HAVE to stop selling pet rodents.

And yes, Rockkeeper, the photograph shown on the petition is of a rodent farm in Europe.

Why should pet shops stop selling rodents? Because the shops that do not use good local breeders get their rodents from these farms? Thats like saying because the chip shop round the corner gets his cod from unsustainable stock, you should boycott all chip shops!

[LisaLQ]

That's a whole other petition. I dont think there's much difference between the two types of breeder though.

I dont know any good breeders who home via pet shops.

[Zoo-Man]

Originally Posted by LisaLQ

That's a whole other petition. I dont think there's much difference between the two types of breeder though.

I dont know any good breeders who home via pet shops.

Because a breeder sells their young to a pet shop, that instantly makes them a bad breeder? Why?

If a breeder is happy that their local pet shop is good, knows their stuff & sells responsibly, then whats wrong with them selling the offspring to that shop?

I have breeders who drive 30+ miles to bring me animals. They would not sell to their local shops as they weren't keen on their welfare standards & selling ethics.

[Ssthisto]

Originally Posted by Zoo-Man

Why should pet shops stop selling rodents? Because the shops that do not use good local breeders get their rodents from these farms? Thats like saying because the chip shop round the corner gets his cod from unsustainable stock, you should boycott all chip shops!

I personally don't believe pet shops should stop selling rodents either - I was just pointing out that, if you want to make a change to "rodent farms", then doing something REAL as an end user (rather than typing your name on an online form) is going to make a bigger difference.

Online petitions are worth only and exactly the paper you sign them on. What, you didn't sign a physical piece of paper with your real name and address?

I think that pet shops SHOULD stock rodents from local breeders who care about their stock.

Shame our local pet shop asked us to breed rats (sold us a pair, saying they'd trade us frozen rodents for live) and told us they wanted half a dozen tame, friendly babies soon as possible, I spent time producing half a dozen exactly like that... and they told me "oh, we don't have any space now. Got any mice?" No, I asked you two weeks ago if you wanted mice and you said no, so I restocked my freezer instead. And now I'll be restocking my freezer with tame, friendly baby rats, too.

I haven't offered stock to the shop since, and no, I don't bother taking the time to handle and play with youngsters, making tame, friendly baby rats any more either.

I breed my own feeder rodents so I know what they've eaten, how they grow, how they're raised and how they are killed as well. But it's not cheap to do it - cheaper than buying frozen at pet shop prices, but not really cheaper than buying vast quantities in bulk would be, and I know approximately what shops pay at trade price for rodents, so it's really not cheaper than that. So yes, if legislation suddenly changed and rodent farmers had to buy new caging and equipment, then start raising fewer rats in the same amount of space, the price of frozen WOULD skyrocket. And people like me - who breed their own feeders - would wind up being the only ones who could afford to feed more than a few snakes.