Price and WC newts

[will_j]

then they fed a live mouse to a snapping turtle much to the delight of most of the customers and to the horror of two of my boys

Sorry to resurrect a thread, but here in the UK it's illegal to use live higher Chordates as food, is this not the case in the USA too?

 

[Otterwoman]

Not at all. They sell live mice in pet stores, specifically "feeder mice", and I see live pinkies at expos a lot. You can't feed your snakes live mice there? Sometimes when my snakes are in a picky mood, they'll only eat live food for a couple of months. I see that could be difficult for keepers over there. Don't some captive snakes only eat live mice/food?

 

[Azhael]

I was actually quite shocked when i first heard that you can´t offer live rodents as food for snakes, in england. My milksnake sometimes decides nothing is of her appeal unless it´s small and alive, just like yours Dawn. I´m not a big fan of live foods for snakes, mostly because it posses a danger for the snake, and also because although i admit snakes are facinating hunters, i get no pleasure from seeing an animal die.
As i said, though, sometimes there´s no other option...i can´t imagine not been able to give my snake live rodents...she might not eat for months on end if i didn´t.

 

[Melmo]

I'm glad my local pet stores carry no newts. The pet stores around here have bad set ups, and it seems as though the enclosures were made by assuming the requirements. For example, they put sand with Bearded Dragons and Leopard Geckos, which both live in deserts that are not sandy. Research is the most important thing a pet owner can do. I really wish there was some sort of specialty captive bred/hatched animal shop nearby.

 

[fishkeeper]

I brought in a little spanish ribbed newt to the petstore to see what they'd think. They agreed to try to sell it but one of the owners was skeptical of the success of a "rare newt".(mind you I would see the reason why they would be worried since live animal sales are hard and this brown gummy lizard was about 2 inches long). I got an excited call from the store owner a few days later asking if I had any more, including someone who was apparently a fellow hobbyist who wanted a group.