# Pet shop experiences



## HannahBanana (Dec 23, 2012)

I was just wondering what experiences people had with purchasing mice from pet shops?
I got tilly from dofos, I think it's only in Edinburgh, correct me if I'm wrong. The staff were ok, till was the last one there, I asked how old she was and the guy said she is 12 weeks, so still REALLY young. (obviously thought I wanted a little baby mousie). She cost £6.50 and is still pretty skittish.
Dofos don't take animals back at all once they have been sold an I was given No information on how to look after her ( not really a problem for me but you have to wonder how the other mice they sell get cared for). My name wasn't taken or any questions asked anout how I was going to care for her.
I got lexi from dobbies (lass wade). The experience there was mich more proffessional feeling. They had 15 broken marked selling for £13 pounds for a pair or golden satin selling for £20 a pair ( which seems a tad expensive). Me and Jo decided to pick one from the broken tank, because they all looked different. These were smaller than Tilly, and look about 6 weeks old. Pamela (who was very friendly) cleared out some bedding so we could get a good look and when we saw a nice dove coloured one she picked her up and we had a little hold. She was inquisitive but calm, and we decided to take her. We only wanted one so Pamela ha to go get a different code for a single mouse. (I like that they prefer to sell in pairs). We went with Pamela and her supervisor told her that females from different litters don't get on and you can't mix them. I don't usually argue with staff but I explained she was wrong. So we have our details got given a caresheet and purchased her. Her and tilly get on like a house on fire.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Really it varies from shop to shop, the mice them selves depends on who is supplying them, if they go to someone just breeding for money chances are the breeder could be skipping cornors to makes a bigger proffit, and prob not picky on who they breed. Which means higher chance of unhealthy skittish mice.

As fore the sales that depends on shop policy, and how good there staff are. chain one's must follow rules from head office, e.g. pets at hone when buying fish must ask set questions and explain certain things but some staff don't bother and tick the boxes with out asking. Where as privacy owned one can make there own policies.

I'd rather go straight to the breeder.


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## Kitei (Feb 4, 2013)

Our local small petshop is excellent - it's completely independent, and run by a lady who has a lot of experience with most of the species they sell. She inspects each animal individually before buying it for the shop, and prefers to buy locally from breeders she knows, rather than mass-producers. We've sold her a few animals in the past, and we go there for supplies quite often. It's generally a pretty safe bet, buying animals there, as they get handled everyday and generally are pretty sweet animals, but we've not had anything in a while. They do give our care sheets and food with all the animals, though.

Mice, I'm less keen on. Much as I love Lucy, her sister obviously has suffered from a lack of handling from her breeder. They're very small, too; a lot smaller than mice we've bought there have previously been. I'd much rather buy from a breeder in future (and, uh, I am xD).

The bigger shops, like pets at home, I think I'd avoid for pets. Only had a couple of animals from there (rabbits, mostly), but they've mostly been really skittish. They don't sell mice, though.


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