Alternative ways to adopt mice?

by libbylovesmice Tue 28 Jun 2016, 10:29 pm

I've done a ton of research, and I simply cannot find any shelters in my area that sell mice. That being said, is there any other way to adopt mice? And if there is not, what is a good pet shop to use? I really want to use pet shops as a last resort as to getting my mice. Thanks!

by CinnamonPearl Tue 28 Jun 2016, 10:38 pm

Check craigslist. Oftentimes people will post who are trying to rehome their mice or who have had accidental litters. Do searches for mice, mouse, and fancy mice, and make sure to deselect all the options except for general sale, free stuff, and pets. You may have to sort through offers for snakes, but perhaps you can find something. Note though that craigslist people are notorious for not responding. I have no idea why, but it's extremely frustrating. I've heard that emailing them through gmail will cause your email to be blocked, so use a different provider. If they provided a phone number, always text instead of email.

It's also good to ask around. Word of mouth is powerful. I found my first three girls because my mom's friend who owns a horse farm had a horse on her farm who's owner kept mice. If you know any pet people, try asking.

If your last resort is a pet store, then just go for it. It's not good to support them, but at least you can save a few mousies. Now, which pet store you go to is a matter of your own personal ethics. For me, I will only ever buy mice at Petsmart. I choose to support their no live food policy (they don't sell mice as feeders), and I don't want to support any establishment that sells feeder mice. But many members on here are willing to buy out of feeder bins to save mice from terrible fates as snake food. Petco and most small pet stores wil sell mice mainly as feeders. What you choose to do is your choice, but don't be too shy about buying from pet stores. In the end, mice are mice, and their lack of availability just means you have to lower yourself sometimes.

A word about Petsmart if you decide to buy from them. Petsmart has specific stores for male and female animals; you won't find both in one. It's great because it reduces the chances of buying a pregnant animal. I forget whether you wanted a doe colony or a buck, but whichever you choose, call your Petsmart ahead of time to make sure they have the right sex.

Best of luck!

by Brynne Tue 28 Jun 2016, 10:43 pm

You can also put a want ad for pet mice in the pet section on Craigslist (or whatever sites are used for such things in your area.)

by MouseLover Wed 29 Jun 2016, 8:25 am

There aren't any pet shop mice in my area so I get most of my mice from craig's list type websites. Mostly from accidental litters or hobby breeders.

by CinnamonPearl Wed 29 Jun 2016, 8:28 am

Hey, Mouselover, how do you go about getting craigslist people to respond to you? Out of the dozens of messages I've sent, I've gotten maybe one or two responses from BYBs and shady people.

by MouseLover Wed 29 Jun 2016, 9:38 am

I don't actually use craig's list, but UK equivalents such as gumtree and preloved. I also have issues with people not responding to me though. I think sometimes people put the advert up, and then don't bother taking it down or responding once the mice are sold? The ones who are still looking for homes will usually respond I think.

I've contacted four people in the past week, and only heard back from one - who had already reserved the mice. I just keep checking, nearly every day. Eventually I'll get lucky... I hope!

by libbylovesmice Wed 29 Jun 2016, 9:50 am

I searched craigslist in my area, and the only things that came up were mickey mouse plushies. I searched every mouse key-word i could think of. That was yesterday though, so I think I'll try again later today.

by CinnamonPearl Wed 29 Jun 2016, 10:29 am

Make sure you uncheck everything that would also come up for the word mouse but is unrelated, like pest control companies and computer parts. If you go to the side, you'll see a list of categories. Uncheck everything except general sale and free stuff. Also, make sure you check in community under pets. I recently found that many more people post rehoming ads there rather than in sale.

by libbylovesmice Wed 29 Jun 2016, 3:46 pm

Looking in community did it for me! I found a litter of four females that I'm looking more into.

by CinnamonPearl Wed 29 Jun 2016, 3:48 pm

Excellent! Good luck! Let's hope you get a response. I just got lucky with a craigslist ad, so hopefully the good luck will spread.

by Bthny Wed 29 Jun 2016, 8:55 pm

I hope the litter you found works out! But, if not, here's some advice Smile

I used craigslist to find my first two mice, who were being rehomed. It was really great for me since I ended up getting my girls, their cage, and all of their remaining supplies for free since the person just wanted them to go to a good home and thought I seemed good for it. However, you may need to be patient, so it's not the best source if you want mice right away. You can also try Petfinder or a similar site to find mice who are available for adoption.

If you need to go to a pet store, Petco and Petsmart both recently dropped a supplier because of the poor living conditions and treatment of animals, so as far as puppy mill style breeding and abuse, they should be safe. I'd recommend calling locations and asking if they sell fancy mice, since not all stores stock them in both or either sex (the Petco near me will stock both feeder mice and pet fancy mice, so if you don't want feeders, I'd recommend specifying). I noticed that my girls who I got straight from the pet store were very hand shy initially, but they warmed up to me really quickly. Both Petco and Petsmart offer pretty good return policies too, so if an animal from them gets sick, you have fighting, or anything else unfortunate, they'll try to fix it.

by CinnamonPearl Wed 29 Jun 2016, 9:21 pm

I've been very lucky with both of the girls I got from Petsmart. Both of them were very brave and tame pretty immediately. Egg was quite mellow but brave, and Lilith wanted nothing more than to make friends with a human! I think Petsmart is better than Petco in terms of handling. I was playing with the bucks at Petco the other day, and though they would venture close to me and play with my sleeves and stuff, if I tried to lift one, he would immediately jump. But of course, it's all just about sticking your hand in that tank and picking the first mouse to put all four feet on your hand.

by CAPSLOCK Wed 29 Jun 2016, 10:51 pm

Do you mean that no shelters will take in & rehome mice, or that none have any mice right now? I've found it to be very hit and miss with mice in shelters - they may not have mice very often, but when mice do arrive they tend to be there for a while before being adopted. Unfortunately, not a lot of people go into shelters looking to adopt a mouse. Same for gerbils & rats.

Petfinder is an excellent resource for finding pets at smaller rescues that you might not know about. There aren't a lot of mice on there, so it's easy to search for them Wink

by CallaLily Thu 30 Jun 2016, 10:59 am

I happened across Celyn and Rina on a Facebook Mouse group I used to be a member of. Mind you, it was still a bit of a drive to get them. Seems to always be the case here no matter where I look (aside from pet stores).

Bthny wrote: I'd recommend calling locations and asking if they sell fancy mice, since not all stores stock them in both or either sex (the Petco near me will stock both feeder mice and pet fancy mice, so if you don't want feeders, I'd recommend specifying).

The only difference between mice labeled "fancy" and "feeder" in pet stores is that those labeled "fancy" tend to come in "prettier" varieties. Other than that the label is just assigning their fate. Doesn't matter how they're labeled, they are only bred with quantity in mind, not quality. Their main interest is making the sale. So you will still be facing the same possible health and behavior issues in either case.

Bthny wrote:If you need to go to a pet store, Petco and Petsmart both recently dropped a supplier because of the poor living conditions and treatment of animals, so as far as puppy mill style breeding and abuse, they should be safe.

If only it were that simple. Chances are they simply switched to another supplier who mass produces them in the same way with the same goals. Quantity over quality. Sales.

This article talks about feeder and pet shop breeders some. https://petmousefanciers.forumotion.com/t14-the-importance-of-pedigrees

I'm not judging those with pet shop mice. In fact, most of mine have been. I'm just passing on the info as I understand it to be true. I would love to be proven wrong on the new supplier. One can dream.

by MouseLover Thu 30 Jun 2016, 1:20 pm

Boycotting petco/petsmart for those reasons would be great if there were mice available elsewhere, but if that's the only place people can get mice in their area, I'm not judging. And as many of you have proven, "poorly bred" mice make as good pets as fancy schmancy mice.

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