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Info Everegreen Pet Supply in Spokane Valley...sick rodents!

shelliebear

shelliebear

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Evergreen Pet Supply in Spokane Valley, WA sells live rodents as feeders. They are one of the few pet shops around here that usually have small feeder rats in stock.
I bought 4 small feeder rats the other day, and all but one of my snakes took the food. Since it was late at night and the shop had closed, I put the uneaten rat in my tank for such an occasion and gave it some food, water, etc.
I kept hearing this noise almost like a guinea pig. I looked it up and it seems these rat has a pretty bad respiratory infection. Her chest makes clicking noises, she gasps for air, sneezes and rubs her nose excessively. She isn't grooming herself.
I'm not a rat expert so I didn't know if this would spread to other rats or not. I bought more feeders last week and both of the rats I bought, a male and a female, had the same symptoms as the other one.
I'm worried to feed them to my snakes--if these rats have RI's then clearly they are not receiving good care let alone good nutrition. I don't think you get what you pay for if you pay 3.99$ for an albino rat, 4.99 for a hooded one, and they are sick. :/
I just wanted to let people know what my observations of the store are. I think for a while I'll have to go elsewhere for my rodents. :(
Their other animals seem to be ok, FYI.
Shellie
 
Just a FYI Evergreen Pet Supply is no relation to Evergreen Reptiles. We are in the same city but we only sell the animals that eat rodents :)
 
Evergreen Pet Supply didn't take the rodents back. They said they were worried the other rats would get sick...THEY ALREADY ARE.
Despite that, this proves that Evergreen does not take their animals to a vet. If they did, taking back the sick rats wouldn't be a problem because they could get them veterinary care, or even put them in a quarantine tank--but they don't have one, and they don't take them to the vet.
I'm definitely not buying from them again. :/
 
It sucks that you got sick rats, but I really don't think that taking a feeder rat in to a veterinarian is a feasible solution. I think the better option would have been to give you back your money, cull these rats, and then figure out what they are doing to make their rats sick.

Chris
 
I had them on Aspen, then I went back to Evergreen and told them the rats I had bought were sick. The lady suggested giving them some red peppers from parrot food because the might be vitamin A deficient, so I bought some.
I had them in 41 qt tubs, the two girls together, the one boy. They were on Aspen at first and were already sneezing, so I changed to newspaper which I changed twice a day, they still continued sneezing, so next I tried paper towels, and they kept sneezing.
The boy had mucus in his nose, and one of his eyes would never open more than a tiny slit, because I think he was in pain. They all sounded more like guinea pigs than rats from the time I got them.
I can post pictures of the set up I had them in, but they are gone now. My mom wouldn't let me keep them in the house (hence why I tried to return them) so my dad took them on his paper route and let them go. I had no other choice. They are not allowed in the house. My mom has a phobia of them.
As for getting my money back, I would have been perfectly acceptable with that option--but they denied to give me my money back.
The guy said they won't get my snake sick, so they will still work as feeders, therefore I get no money back.
What's B.S. is I paid 4.99$ for each of those rats expecting healthy, good quality rats. I understand they are feeders, but don't they deserve a good life too? Shouldn't they be healthy? If the rats are sick, they're obviously not a good source of nutrition for my snakes.
I'm really bummed about the whole situation. :( I'm out all the money I spent on the parrot food for the rats (which didn't work), plus the money I spent on each rat, plus I called Evergreen before I left and the woman who answered the phone said they WOULD take them back, and then I arrived and they refused. So I'm out gas money too. :shrug01:
I just think it was distasteful on their part. I understand feeders are not pets, but I don't pay almost 5$ per rat for sick ones.
 
Photos of the set up coming in a moment. Most of the pictures I have was of the temporary tub I had before I moved them to the larger 41 qt. tubs (it's really small, but they weren't kept in there for more than a few hours). I can take pictures of the now-empty setup the girls were in. One moment, please.
 
This was taken seconds before I put newspaper in the tub as substrate. This is the 41 qt.:
bW1jMS9EQ0lNLzEwMExHRENGL0ltYWdlMTIxNzIwMTAxOTEwMzYuanBn.jpg

This was Chips in the smaller container:
bW1jMS9EQ0lNLzEwMExHRENGL0ltYWdlMTIxNzIwMTAxOTE4MjYuanBn.jpg

Potato in the smaller container:
bW1jMS9EQ0lNLzEwMExHRENGL0ltYWdlMTIxOTIwMTAyMDE4MjguanBn.jpg

Potato again
bW1jMS9EQ0lNLzEwMExHRENGL0ltYWdlMTIxOTIwMTAyMDE4MzkuanBn.jpg

....Potato...
bW1jMS9EQ0lNLzEwMExHRENGL0ltYWdlMTIxOTIwMTAyMDE4NTguanBn.jpg

Can upload more photos of the 41 qt. if you'd like.
 
Given your brief history (that I know of) it probably would have been great if you had also taken pictures of the rats (close ups).

I am sure if I brought some sick rats and the people told me that they wouldn't take them back, I would have been busy setting up my case beyond a shadow of doubt since we both know how the BOI works.

So far, you have not proven the rats were sick, you have not proven that your snakes did not eat the rats (dad let them go)...I do not find in your favor...sorry.

Others may feel differently.
 
That's why I posted this as an info thread and not a "Bad guy" because I knew I did not have incriminating evidence, Deborah...
 
Both rats have very open eyes and appear to be eating, they couldn't have been too sick.
 
You beat me to it, I posted before seeing your pictures. I do not see mucus on the rats, they appear healthy to me. Good luck.

I am not sure about giving potato to rats, I think they aren't an approved food?
 
And as for proving my snakes didn't eat them....There's...REALLY no way to do that, unless you want me to go take a photo of all my snakes right now to prove their bellies are empty. How does that relate to the fact that they were sick ANYWAY? Whether I fed them to my snakes or not they were still in poor health. :shrug01:
 
It would be pertinent info because if you fed them to your snakes, you would have thought that they were good enough to use for their intended purpose. Personally, they look fine for feeders to me.
 
I don't know how to prove my snakes didn't eat them but they didn't.
As for the rats I have NO IDEA what the heck was going on. They were sneezing and rubbing their noses something awful, and I've never seen anything like that. :(
I really hope you guys are right and that the rats were not sick. Perhaps they had allergies to something?
They weren't eating potato, they had some wheat crackers and raisins as a snack, the next day I bought the parrot food and mixed it with the rat food. :p I'm not sure about potatoes being good for them either.
The guy at the store did say the male had pretty bad mucus in his nose. I know I didn't record that on video though. :p
I really do hope you guys were right. :( I love rats, I hate when they are sick.
 
"Let them go"....brilliant, I know. People with phobias don't understand, they just want them to GTHO. :/ (I cried when I found out they had done that because they didn't TELL me first.)
But anyway, I hope you guys are right.
The store guy did say they are pretty young, so they might be sick from leaving their mother too early? I don't know. I just know they were sneezing and it made me very sad to hear it. More than anything I wanted to get them healthy since I don't want to feed sick ones to my snake.
 
You love rats but yet you let your Dad dump them to fend for their lives while being sick? Give me a break!
 
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