Does Petco sell deer mice or disease-ridden mice? ?

Question

Recently, my son came home with a mouse his friend had purchased from Petco to feed to his snake. My son cried and begged me to let him keep the rodent so it wouldn't be fed to the snake. I agreed and took him to Petco to buy a second mouse, so that "Oreo" could have a companion. Now, several months later, I discover that deer mice are potential carriers of Hantavirus, a deadly airborne disease! I have no idea what type of mice these are, but I suspect they are feeder mice which are not bred to be healthy! I'm scared. Am I putting my family in danger by keeping these mice in the house? I live in in the Southeast and know that deer mice aren't native to this area but Im still fearful. I do insist upon my son washing his hands thorougly with warm water and soap each time he handles the mice or cage at all... still. Does anyone know what PetCo's policies on this matter are?

Answer 1

The mice they sell at pet stores are domesticated house mice. I don't think they would breed feeder mice to be diseased, because that would hurt the animals eating them. I wouldn't worry about the mice having Hantavirus. Although washing hands after handling is a good practice. My cousin had mice years ago, and he's still alive. ;)

Answer 2

I would imagine they just get regular mice from a wholesaler.  If I were you, or anyone, I would play it safe and buy dead, frozen mice.  I feed both of my snakes them.  You just thaw one overnight in a little plastic bag, then I warm it to or almost to, room temperature.  Besides being safe, it's humane for the little mouse.......It's very common to do.

Answer 3

I believe they test all their animals (even feeders) but most chain stores have a nasty habit of letting small things fall through the cracks. I'd take a walk over to ripoffreport.com and do a search for petco.

Answer 4

Deer mice are NOT the common fancy mice bred to be both feeders and pets

Deer Mice

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=...

Common Mice

http://mouseworksonline.com/images/mice....

Zootonic Diseases (diseases that are spred from humans to animals and back) are VERY rare, and even rarer to find in pets. Wild animals come across diseases a lot easier then domestic animals. If a mouse is in a cage his entire life, how is he going to come across and pick up a zootonic disease?

Not only that, but HPS is a very rare disease, and wasn't even discovered until 1993. I really would not worry if I was you.

Feeder mice and most fancy mice have unhealthy breeding, but its unhealthy for THEM, not us. Most of these mice have higher risks for cancer and other mice diseases that kill them off early, but nothing that spreads to human.

As I said before, Zootonic diseases are rare in the wild, and even rarer in pets

You are smart, though, to have him wash his hands. Mice can be dirty.