# Boop - Banded Black Tan Manx rescue!



## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

Meet Boop - a banded black tan manx with an amazing story!
I went to a pet store in my home town yesterday, only to discover repulsive conditions. All of the animals - be they ferrets, hedgehogs, lizards, mice, dogs, or fish, were being fed low-grade cat food... exclusively. None of the animals had water. And in the back room, in a twenty gallon tank, there were over sixty mice of mixed sex, all tiny, yet some already had pinkies, which were strewn across the floor. 
I had already called animal control and the authorities over this pet shop once, when I found a python being kept in yellowed water and being sold as an anaconda - and they had only gotten worse. So, I filled my water bottle in the bathroom and then began filling all of the animals' water, as their tanks were lidless. I asked the woman why a particular lizard had cobwebs in his cage, and she informed me that she was scared of him. She also told me that the mixed-sex tank was from two week to one month olds. Then, upon seeing dead and living pinkies strewn across the floor in several cages, and when the store-hand had left to smoke a cigarette, I grabbed a box and fished out the first couple of mice I could from a couple of different tanks. I grabbed the only splashed doe that wasn't obviously pregnant - Bijou (http://www.fancymicebreeders.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5416)- and an interested little banded black tan who ended up being a manx! I then called the authorities once more, and left.

So here is Boop, a banded black tan manx doe which I decided to save without supporting her "caregivers" who did anything but:

She is supposedly between two weeks and one month old. 




































Let me know what you think of her... hopefully you aren't too bothered by my rash actions


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## salemouse (Oct 9, 2010)

hahaha xD good for you.  atleast you did something. Shes real perdy.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Poor thing. Probably not manx though, she probably got his tail bitten off or something in those conditions. :|


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## Megzilla (Oct 12, 2009)

Rhasputin said:


> Poor thing. Probably not manx though, she probably got his tail bitten off or something in those conditions. :|


I agree!

Oh my goodness the petshop where my boyfriend used to live sounded exactly like that-mice kept in mix sex boxes, chameleons kept in a tiny glass vivarium, one twig, and just a heatmat for heat. They also had a 2 ft viv that was full to the brim with baby beardies, most of them were missing tails and toes.
So glad you called authorities, I would do exactly the same as what you did!!


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## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

Well, I actually think that she may be manx. They had an adult manx doe that was heavily pregnant, and a few others missing tails. Whatever though I don't really care either way. I just love her  She's so cute. haha. Maybe we'll try for manx in the future if she turns out big and healthy by some miracle!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I once 'rescued' a sick box turtle. I called him Jim Dandy after a song called 'Jim Dandy to the Rescue', which was the anthem for a garage rock band called 'Jim Dandy' in the late '60's in the Upper Midwest of the US. The song made the Local Top Ten. The poor thing died anyway, but at least it was warm and dry. They had it in a tank with about 1/2 water and no place for it to crawl out much less a warming light or rock.

Your little girl is a cutie. Was it just dust on her fur or does she have mites?


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## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

Oh I think it's dust. I put her and the other girl from the place on white paper for a little while to see if I found any bugs but I didn't. We did, however, just change their paper based bedding. I'll keep a close eye on them though.


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

having several and an adult that had no tails doesn't necessarily imply manx......in a situation like that it wouldn't be uncommon for mom's to get overzealous and take off tails of newborns...thus leading to multiple tailless mice....the only way to know for sure would be to breed her and watch very very closely since the overzealousness when cleaning newborns can be genetic too.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

JustMouse said:


> So here is Boop, a banded black tan manx doe which I decided to save without supporting her "caregivers"
> Let me know what you think of her... hopefully you aren't too bothered by my rash actions


Regardless of weather she's manx or not, she's reasonably healthy looking and very cute indeed!

Sorry to hear of the bad conditions for all the other mice and I hope the authorities take your complaint seriously!
You did a good thing


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## Twotails (Nov 4, 2010)

Good job! If I had gone to a pet store and the animals were in the conditions you described I would have done the same thing you did! They probably didn't notice that a couple mice were missing after you left. If a pet store doesn't make sure the animals have water and the best food and not notice one of their animals is missing then they just don't care. I always wonder why someone would work at a pet shop if they are afraid of certain animals, as in lizards, snakes, spiders etc. Why would someone own a pet store and have the animals live in those conditions and not care? I just don't get some people! One thing my Grandmother would say is "If people are cruel to animals or neglect them, then they should be put through exactly what the animals went through so they understand and hopefully learn a lesson." I agree with her.


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## minibears (Jul 30, 2010)

she's so cute, just like my little rockly. pet shops need to be better regulated, good luck


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## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

Stina said:


> having several and an adult that had no tails doesn't necessarily imply manx......in a situation like that it wouldn't be uncommon for mom's to get overzealous and take off tails of newborns...thus leading to multiple tailless mice....the only way to know for sure would be to breed her and watch very very closely since the overzealousness when cleaning newborns can be genetic too.


Yes, I agree. We do want to breed her to test to see what happened, and if she is truly a manx or if her mother (or one of the many other mice there) just ate off her tail. Hopefully, if the tail is gone because of her mother, she won't repeat her actions when in much healthier conditions. However, she seems to have been weaned very young and small, so we may never be able to breed her at all.



Twotails said:


> Why would someone own a pet store and have the animals live in those conditions and not care? .... I just don't get some people! One thing my Grandmother would say is "If people are cruel to animals or neglect them, then they should be put through exactly what the animals went through so they understand and hopefully learn a lesson." I agree with her.


I completely agree with that! Some people disgust me with their lack of respect for other living things... not to mention a lack of empathy. It's not like it's difficult to understand that ferrets, fish, mice, and lizards don't all eat poor quality cat food....


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