[tehkayla]

well... I wanted to get a new rat so my lucy would have a lil buddy to hang out with...buuut...well..the last rat we got from there died...im not sure why it died becuase there were no signs of her being sick or anything...she was acting just as cheerful as she always had..and the next morning...we found her dead. And ive read that petco often sells defective rats, and my dad suggested getting one from petsmart, but is there really a diffrence? im not sure there are shelters near me that have rats, and I don't know if my parents will take me to a breeder to get one, but I really don't want another rat dying on me

 

[JennieLove]

Petsmart is just as bad an Petco. I got the boys I have now from Petsmart and they both had health problems. They are fine now, but took quit a few vet visits to straighten that up. Your best bet, if you dont want any problems like this, is to just talk to your parents about it and get them from a breeder. It really would save your parents alot of money, that is if the rats you purchase are sick (most of them are).

 

[tehkayla]

yea I got my first rat oreo from petco but he never had any real problems up until the end of his life from seizures (and I don't think thats petco's fault) but my rat lucy might have a respritory infection...though im not sure thats petcos fault either becuase ive had her for months now...but that last rat...i have no idea why she died...so I'm going to try and convince my parents to take me to a breeder to get one.

 

[DarkDesires814]

There is a difference between the stores. Petco employees usually know very little about the rats they sell. I bought 2 rats from them, both weren't very friends and 1 mysteriously died a few months later. Employees there don't treat the rats properly, they'll lie to you about just about everything connected to the rats and I've found them all to be generally rude.
On the other hand, petsmart is a little better. The one near me only keeps 3-4 same sex rats to a large cage, the people who work there play with them daily and know enough about them to be able to tell you how old they are, which ones are the friendliest, and how to care for them properly. Most of the time they'll ask you what kind of cages and stuff you have for them at home. Also, they will have a conversation with you instead of being rude and too busy to deal with your questions.
And they get their rats from different places. Petco rats, in my experience, are less healthy because they come from feeder mills. Petsmart rats are bred to be pets and are generally healthier. I had 2 rats from each store and the petsmart ones never had health problems other than a few sneezes and sniffles that were easily taken care of.

 

[Stephanie]

The problem with PetCo is that their rats are sold as feeders, never socialized, and kept in tanks with next to no ventilation. Petsmart handles their rats and they tell you right off the bat these are NOT feeders. I would go with a breeeder though!

 

[JennieLove]

Ill tell you this much, both petco and petsmart over here dont take care of there animals AT ALL. I have had so many problems with them and even yelled at them for it, lol. I know that the petco over here had to have a health inspection, becuase of how poorly it was being taken care of...they have "cleaned" up their act, but to me hasnt changed one bit!

 

[tehkayla]

guess it all depends on where you live too. I don't really know much about the petsmart around here becuase I usually go to petco. But I know what you mean by petco having rude employees. They're always busy, and when you ask them for somthing (in my case I wanted a rat) they go "be there in a few minutes" or somthing so you go waiting by the rodent section for who knows how many minutes and they finaly get there and when you ask to see the rats (like to pick which one you want) they don't seem to happy about it...and when you pick the one you want they pick it up by the tail and throw it into box...yea..im kinda fed up with petco...
I might go check petsmart but going to a breeder does sound like the best thing to do...

 

[Poppyseed]

I love the petsmarts around here, especially the one up in Noblesville. They have their females in a HUGE well cleaned aquarium and I love their policy of only being an all male or all female selling small animals store. Darn them for only selling females! I mean those black hooded girlies were so adorable and they usually have blues at the one in Castleton. Their aquariums are quite a bit smaller but they have igloos and wheels. I had to get onto them about keeping their water to high a few times but they cleaned up that act.

 

[penelope]

I do agree that Petsmart is much better; cleaner and nicer people. However, I wouldn't take any of their advice, seeing as how they only know what they are told and usually just making stuff up. For example, I was getting some guinea pig supplies from there and the the small animal care taker girl told me, "don't forget the salt licks". I just walked away. Guinea pigs don't need salt licks, but the books Petsmart carries says they do and I guess that's what they go based off of.

But here's the kicker. There is no real difference between the two because they are owned by the same people. I say again PETSMART AND PETCO ARE OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY. So saying that one gets sick rats from a different carrier is wrong. I was complaining to a Petsmart employee about Petco and he said that they were sister companies and carried the same things from the same places, they're just set up a little differently.

Just like Linens-N- Things and Bed, Bath, and Beyond are owned by the same people, but Linens-N-Things tries to be snootier than BBB.

Best rule is to not get pets from petstores. It just encourages them to breed more animals in small, cramped conditions in which many of them die before they are even shipped to the stores. If you have to get them from a petstore do a small local petstore that usually gets them from a breeder. Independent petstores are the only way to go if you must go to a petstore.

 

[OnlyOno]

wow i didn't know that they were owned by the same people. gross. i do have to agree that i generally like petsmart better because of their same-sex store policy, greatly reduces the risk you'll buy a pregnant rat, and the cages with more mental stimulus for their animals, but i'm sure that the knowledge or expertise that the salespeople have depends greatly on the people themselves, since they don't receive any more formal training than "read the pamphlet we hand out to customers". yeah, like my rat will live 6 years, i wish. i know that the petco by my house gets their rats from a breeder who breeds them 60 at a time in rubbermaid tubs, but other than that they usually look to be in decent health. my two cents there, but i agree that if you can, don't encourage petstore breeding! admittedly, i've failed there, but who hasn't?

 

[Fuzzie]

I would say that our petsmart is much better in animal care, layout, merchandise, employees, and feeder crickets. a batch from petco are 12 cents each with 75% dead or dying, while petsmart is 8 cents each wit 5-10 percent dead or dying.

 

[Strike2]

The problem with PetCo is that their rats are sold as feeders, never socialized, and kept in tanks with next to no ventilation. Petsmart handles their rats and they tell you right off the bat these are NOT feeders. I would go with a breeeder though!

This is correct.

 

[tehkayla]

wow I never knew they were both owned by the same company .
haha onlyono they wouldn't happen to have posters saying rats live 5-6 years at your petco too would they? I was shocked when I found out that alot of rats live 2-3 years.
I only found this out recently becuase oddly enough my first rat nearly lived to 5 yrs old (so I continued to believe them). theres like nothing out here (in the middle of no where) the closest thing we have is petco and petsmart. but there used to be this small petstore that was kinda far but we went to it alot, maybe they would have healthy rats.

 

[Strike2]

But here's the kicker. There is no real difference between the two because they are owned by the same people. I say again PETSMART AND PETCO ARE OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY. So saying that one gets sick rats from a different carrier is wrong. I was complaining to a Petsmart employee about Petco and he said that they were sister companies and carried the same things from the same places, they're just set up a little differently.

This is 1 million percent wrong, I have worked for petsmart (management)and they are owned by different companies...they probably thought that becuase one is geared more towards reptiles while the other does more small and furry, but in actuality they are two completely different companies, with two completely different approaches to selling. Petsmart will always have better practices than Petco.

 

[LizLovesRats5]

Yeah, Petsmart is generally better, but the ignorance of the sales people still amazes me. Every time I got into one of their stores I end up correcting the employees and trying to tell them when their rats are sick. But, even when they seem to be able to process the knowledge I'm relaying, they don't care.

There was this one time I was in there to pick something up and I stopped by the small animal cages. There was this full grown rat in one of the cages (which was a VERY small cage), and it had a ton of poryphin oozing out of its eyes. When I was checking out I told the girl at the register that the rat was sick and needed antibiotics or it would die, and she was like, "Oh no, she's fine, she just scratches her eyes a lot and makes the skin around them bleed." Of course, I corrected her, and told her that it wasn't blood, etc. And she was like, "Oh, well I guess I'll see if the manager will put her in back."

I was so freakin disgusted. I mean, you've got a sick animal there, and instead of getting it proper vetrinary care, you're just going to stick it in the stock room?

Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting.

 

[tehkayla]

oh my gosh that sounds so awful
how could you not notice somthings wrong with an animal when its got red stuff oozing out of its eyes? what did she mean by "Oh, well I guess I'll see if the manager will put her in back." (im not really sure what goes on at petshops) Did that mean they would get that poor thing to a vet? probably not ¬_¬

 

[Forensic]

'The back' is likely slang for the freezer...

 

[Stephanie]

The back at petco is just that forensic but at petsmart they do take the rats to the vets in the store. I would rather deal with petsmart any day. I have had SOOOOO many problems with petco it isn't funny. I was going to take back sniffs at first because he was HORRIBLE!! but the chick told me that I could take him back and the next time some one asked for snake food he would be given to them I got the B**CH fired LoL I was in so much shock it wasn't funny I have also walked in there called animal control from my cell phone and waited till they came and pointed out everything wrong. Also I know someone who just walked out of there with a rat LoL. I also took all of thier information sheets on rats and tore them up in front of the manager after pointing out what was wrong with the info sheets. I went back the next day and did the same thing LoL that manager hates me now. I am actually going back there at the end of the month to call animal control if they haven't changed. I am so evil LoL

 

[chefner]

The back at petco is just that forensic but at petsmart they do take the rats to the vets in the store. I would rather deal with petsmart any day. I have had SOOOOO many problems with petco it isn't funny. I was going to take back sniffs at first because he was HORRIBLE!! but the chick told me that I could take him back and the next time some one asked for snake food he would be given to them I got the B**CH fired LoL I was in so much shock it wasn't funny I have also walked in there called animal control from my cell phone and waited till they came and pointed out everything wrong. Also I know someone who just walked out of there with a rat LoL. I also took all of thier information sheets on rats and tore them up in front of the manager after pointing out what was wrong with the info sheets. I went back the next day and did the same thing LoL that manager hates me now. I am actually going back there at the end of the month to call animal control if they haven't changed. I am so evil LoL

Steph, you go! I love the idea of calling animal control from the store. Way to be the squeaky wheel!

I have had some of the same experiences as others have posted here. Petco has always been worse than Petsmart. In fact, I haven't returned to a Petco in years due to their poor treatment of animals, sick animals, rude and ignorant employees, etc.

Petsmart, well, there are still some ignorant employees, but you can usually find at least one that knows what he/she is talking about. They DO socialize their animals - the 2 rats I currently have came from there and have NEVER so much as nibbled my finger or my daughters' fingers even through the cage bars! They use Carefresh bedding, have large, ventilated cages, keep the cages clean, have rat-safe exercise wheels and other toys, feed them proper food, etc. They get their pets from breeders, too. Only problem I have found is that they may come from the breeder sick - mine have had the sneezing and lice. (Getting better now and lice almost gone.) They also DO treat sick animals (at least the local stores here in DFW area, TExas do).

Lesser of 2 evils - Petsmart. And I do think they have every intention of providing the best care for their animals - just aren't always successful. Petco could care less.

Christina

 

[penelope]

But here's the kicker. There is no real difference between the two because they are owned by the same people. I say again PETSMART AND PETCO ARE OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY. So saying that one gets sick rats from a different carrier is wrong. I was complaining to a Petsmart employee about Petco and he said that they were sister companies and carried the same things from the same places, they're just set up a little differently.

This is 1 million percent wrong, I have worked for petsmart (management)and they are owned by different companies...they probably thought that becuase one is geared more towards reptiles while the other does more small and furry, but in actuality they are two completely different companies, with two completely different approaches to selling. Petsmart will always have better practices than Petco.

Well I find this very odd since I've been told by more than one Petsmart employee that they're owned by the same people. Why would Petsmart employees tell me that they're owned by the same people if they werent? That doesn't make sense.