I was rat shopping recently, and I went to petco because they are the only place that I know of with PEWs and I wanted one... (did not get one, for reasons below)
The females that I saw were so flighty, afraid, or just too small... well the lady there goes "we have larger ones over here" I said where, as all the female rats I had thought I had already seen, well there was a cage that I thought was males... you can't mistake males, anyway... so she goes "no, males are on this side but this side (the cage was split into two areas to make more room for males and females), has larger females... but she looks down and noticed that there was no sign marking that part of the area... so we lift the doors and what do I see? Two pregnant rats! It was so obvious... which means that they were not just pregnant, but REALLY pregnant, as in... someone could have easily bought themselves 10 rats for the price of 1. One of the rats looked like she was due any hour.
So she said "oops, guess we got the signs mixed up recently...".
I left without buying a rat... how could I? Wish this arrangement of males and females side by side, there is reason for me to think any could be pregnant. I ended up driving all across town, which eventually lead me to a place that had one female left... a rex. Our first rex. My wife adores her, and she has been no issue integrating with the other girls. Petco, a mixed blessing, it would seem, but they REALLY need to get their act together. I am not some animal protection nazi, but neglect of some, implies possible neglect of anything, so I would not be able to trust them, at any rate.
The females that I saw were so flighty, afraid, or just too small... well the lady there goes "we have larger ones over here" I said where, as all the female rats I had thought I had already seen, well there was a cage that I thought was males... you can't mistake males, anyway... so she goes "no, males are on this side but this side (the cage was split into two areas to make more room for males and females), has larger females... but she looks down and noticed that there was no sign marking that part of the area... so we lift the doors and what do I see? Two pregnant rats! It was so obvious... which means that they were not just pregnant, but REALLY pregnant, as in... someone could have easily bought themselves 10 rats for the price of 1. One of the rats looked like she was due any hour.
So she said "oops, guess we got the signs mixed up recently...".
I left without buying a rat... how could I? Wish this arrangement of males and females side by side, there is reason for me to think any could be pregnant. I ended up driving all across town, which eventually lead me to a place that had one female left... a rex. Our first rex. My wife adores her, and she has been no issue integrating with the other girls. Petco, a mixed blessing, it would seem, but they REALLY need to get their act together. I am not some animal protection nazi, but neglect of some, implies possible neglect of anything, so I would not be able to trust them, at any rate.