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Originally Posted by Should I?  I have purchased many, many pet store animals over the past several years... I have never once received an animal that had mice or lice. Only one rat with a respiratory infection, and only one syrian hamster with wetail. Oh, and only one pregnant mouse. |
Petstores shouldn't be selling any animals with Respiratory infections, wettail or animals that are pregnant. Those are reasons enough to stay away from purchasing petstore animals.
Most often petstores animals do have mites, sometimes they have lice and fleas can't be counted out either. Just because you've never "bought" an animal with any of these doesn't mean the conditions don't exist. Mites can't be seen with the naked eye so you don't know if your buying a pig with mites or not unless there is clearly visible signs such as major hairloss or scabbing. In more minor cases of mites, there may be no symptoms at all.