[renay]

Today I went to ALL of my local petstores, which to tell you the truth aren't all that local, there are 4 of them spread out in great distances. I went to each one and visited the rat section because I wanted to see what kind of conditions they were being kept in.

It was ridiculous. One petstore had them seperated by age rather than age and sex, but was EXTREMELY clean, and the rats were well taken care of. they also looked extremely healthy according to petstore standards, but you can't always judge a book by its cover...

The second place was appauling, the rats were in dismal condition, the place stunk, and it was dirty.

The third place had the males seperated from the females, had all adults, had lumpy rats, and was extremely dirty, and had about 7-10 rats in each 10 gallon aquarium.

The fourth place was probably the best. Its where I got my 2 first girls. The guy had two rats a hairless and a black hooded, both were males, in a good sized aquarium and the place was clean. But upon leaving I noticed a mouse that was missing an eye, and had a LARGE lump underneath its arm pit.

I also found out today that my earless hamster was bought from that petstore.. she turned out pregnant.

I think its important to really look into who you're buying your animals from, you may spend a low price on an animal from a pet store, but chances are you're getting a crappy quality (health wise) pet. Not only that but a lot of the times the pets are MORE expensive in a pet store than they are from a breeder. I vow NEVER again to buy an animal from ANY pet store. Hold me to my word guys!

 

[Forensic]

I hope you're considering reporting at least the absolutely abysmal one to the SPCA?

 

[renay]

the SPCA in my province doesn't have the power to do anything, they cannot shut down puppy mills, pounds, or pet stores no matter how dismal they are. A few years back a puppy mill was raided by our SPCA and all dogs were seized only to have the government give OVER HALF of the dogs back to the owner condemning them to god knows what fate. Its sad because our province goes out and hires Language police to make sure that people are respecting the French language, but yet they can't afford to hire a proper amount of animal police or even fix proper laws so our animals are protected. Last year I wrote an article on our provinces crappy laws and how they need to be changed, it was really good, it had a lot of good facts in it and it was turned down. Why? Because it was too generalized... This province really makes me sick when it comes to things like this.

 

[Leiren]

Yeah the petstore back at home is pathetic.Not only do they cram all their rats together in a 10 gallon tank but they have betta's in fish bags on the counter.extremly tiny fish bags,im not even sure if theyre feeding them or changing the water.ive reported them a thousand times and sent emails but i dont ever see them changing their attitude torwards anything.The only reason these people are still in business is because theyre the only petstore in the town.

 

[renay]

Yeah the petstore back at home is pathetic.Not only do they cram all their rats together in a 10 gallon tank but they have betta's in fish bags on the counter.extremly tiny fish bags,im not even sure if theyre feeding them or changing the water.ive reported them a thousand times and sent emails but i dont ever see them changing their attitude torwards anything.The only reason these people are still in business is because theyre the only petstore in the town.

...pet stores shouldn't even exist in my opinion... I have yet to find a single one that properly takes care of EVERY single animal in its vicinity. And I'm sorry, why pay $700 for a freakin dog when you can pay $180 from the SPCA and save a life? Its anything for a dollar these days, we people are definately a disease.

 

[ratastic]

Pet Stores have a place, but for pet supplies, not animals. Well maybe fish. Sadly the feeder rats at the Petco here go fast, and they aren't going to people who want them as pets.

 

[renay]

I don't even think a fish deserves to be mistreated enough to live in a petstore, technically each fish should have one gallon of water, in essence if you have a 20 gallon tank, you can put 20 (small) fish in their to live comfortably, the pet stores here have 5 gallon tanks and about 30 fish in each if not more.. thats no life for any animal...

 

[Poppyseed]

The best kept fish are at fish stores only type places. I think those kind of places are fine as they focus on fish, as long as they also care for them. I've been to a few fish only shops that were well kept and the fish seemed very happy and clean and healthy! I've also been to others though that I wanted to run out of. We also have a little shop near here called Bird Feeder which is a FABULOUS place that only focuses on birds and bird supplies. They keep their birds so wonderfully and breed them themselves! They also screen potential buyers so in all essence it is a bunch of professional bird breeders who decided to open a shop where they are wanted. I think places like that are wonderful as well. Basically private breeders who have the animals health and well being at a top priority above the dollar is the best.

There was a pet store in my home town which was a small locally run business and probably the WORSE pet store ever. They had LIONS and even a TIGER in a tiny enclosed area ): It made me sad to see such a wonderful wild large cat in such a small area where they couldn't run. Sure it could of been worse but I bet the area wasn't even the size of my one bedroom apartment ): Tigers especially are incredibly active and this one just paced. Made me really sad. They also had monkeys in small areas and in singles in cages ): Monkeys are such a social pet to leave them in a pet store alone with hardly any contact is horrible ):

 

[Taru]

There are four pet stores within driving distance of me as well, and like you I have some good ones, a HORRIBLE one, and a GREAT one.

The ok ones are the PetSmart and the small one in my town. They are ok, and I've seen MUCH worse PetSmarts, but they keep their rats in 20 gallon tanks, and that just bugs me. They only have a max of four per tank, but well it's still not ideal. The small one in my town only has like two rats at a time, but they are kept in a tank as well, and the bedding is not changed enough for me.

The HORRIBLE one is near the mall. It's dirty, the rats that they have are so agressive you can't even get close to the cage. They breed their own feeders there and they are kept about 50 rats to a ten gallon tank. They are all under 2 months old, but still it's disgusting and horrible. Then any of the "pretty" rats that come out of their feeder breeders are sold as pets. I have reported them, but they can't really do anything about it. Makes me sooo mad.

The great pet store is That Fish Place. They are actually more of a rescue then a pet store. They don't breed any rats or any small animals, they are a place where you can surrender your small animals. The rats that are kept there all get Martin's R-670s, and after they are babies they are kept 2 per cage...it's amazing. Also all the people who work in the small animal room have small animals as pets, and handle all the animals daily. I've read a couple places that That Fish Place is the largest pet store in the world, and I would have to believe it. Also something that really makes me happy with them is that they do not sell dogs or cats, rather on the weekends the local SPCA brings in all the dogs and cats that need homes and they can be adopted from the store. It's really great to see such a good pet store for once.

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

Even the petstore i'm at isn't perfect. and it really kills me. My boss won't separate boy/girl hamsters despite many requests from numerous workers... Rats are feeders =[ they are in tanks...probally not big enough. Hairless rats for pets are in tanks too...
oh pleaseee dont yell at me=[ i'm tryin to change all of that and besides those two area's, we have the best of the best.
pet stores alll have their flaws...i'm happy where i work, but even there bugs me a tad bit.

Poppyseed, How did that place have a tiger and lion and monkey! did it double as a mini zoo?!! were they for sale?

 

[Meghan]

there are like,no breeders that are within the distance that my parents will drive me to to get quality animals,I hate it when I walk into a petstore and see a whole bunch of animals in a small tank,but I also don't want to buy them,because they will just get replaced by another,then another,but I got Ollie from a Petsmart,he is doing fine.

 

[naeby]

I personally think Petsmart has improved somewhat drastically. They only carry males, and in the store I go to, it's only two boys to a tank.
They are kept very clean, and although they are a tad skittish, I'm sure they'll come around eventually once someone adopts them.
Tanks, nonetheless, but at least theres a sort of mesh on the other side.

 

[ambernd]

i have a local pet store that is pretty good... it's called whiteland pet supplies and more and it is very clean and it hardly ever stinks in there. The only time it stinks is when these two girls work there. I don't even think they like animals. I was in there one time and one of the rats had somehow got in with a gunie pig and the girls where so scared to touch it. So I ended up putting it back in there cage. But those girls make me so mad because all they do it sit at the registar and dont do any thing. They don't clean the cages or anything. But when they are not working it's amazing. But they do have feeder rats and they have about 7 in a 10gallon tank. But it's better than a lot of pet stores around here that have like 30 in a 10gallon. This one is a small pet store so i guess it takes care of the animals better.

 

[renay]

I don't think its necessarily a bad thing for pet stores to have feeder animals... as much as i hate to think of a poor fuzzball being suffocated to death... a snake has to eat to. I think its disgusting that a person can rest their head comfortably on a pillow at night knowing that they have animals in their shops that are mistreated. I'm not talking about the employees so much as the owner itself, I don't think its right to breed and sell... not with profit in mind anyway... all petstores do is exploit animals. And I mean it doesn't even really boil down to just pet stores either, i was searching a classified ads site the other day and i found pure bred timber wolf puppies for sale for $750. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMMING TO? i mean we've already destroyed pit bulls' names.. lets go ahead and let other morons get dogs like these that will be used for no good... $750 is far too affordable for someone to properly care for, and RESPONSIBLY care for an exotic animal such as a wolf... that and I found coati mundis for sale, giant gambian pouched rats, and there was much more.. its freakin ridiculous.

 

[Kimmiekins]

The problem is that most of the time, live feeders are not (obviously) dangerous for the rodent, but also for the snake. There's not many good reasons for feeding live when frozen will do.

Not that I think anyone is going to stop it.

 

[renay]

The problem is that most of the time, live feeders are not (obviously) dangerous for the rodent, but also for the snake. There's not many good reasons for feeding live when frozen will do.

Not that I think anyone is going to stop it.

I couldn't agree with you more.
Its so much more humane.

 

[Meghan]

well,I'm sure this is the case for some snakes,as it was for my Whites tree frog,he wouldn't touch it if it didn't move,renay has a point,snakes have to eat too,its natural,I'm a vegetarian,but people eat meat,those animals are kept in terrible conditions,I love rats and mice,but I like snakes and other animals too.
Wolves are wild animals,I love them,but eventually,some idiot will get their moron kid a wolf pup,and it'll play alittle too ruff for the idiot,and kill or injure the child,then people will say" wolves are mean and heartless!!!"get a grip people,it's not their fault the parents got their kid a wolf,I mean really,then everyone's new fave animal to get on the hunting list will be,you guessed it,WOLES!!!

 

[renay]

well,I'm sure this is the case for some snakes,as it was for my Whites tree frog,he wouldn't touch it if it didn't move,renay has a point,snakes have to eat too,its natural,I'm a vegetarian,but people eat meat,those animals are kept in terrible conditions,I love rats and mice,but I like snakes and other animals too.
Wolves are wild animals,I love them,but eventually,some idiot will get their moron kid a wolf pup,and it'll play alittle too ruff for the idiot,and kill or injure the child,then people will say" wolves are mean and heartless!!!"get a grip people,it's not their fault the parents got their kid a wolf,I mean really,then everyone's new fave animal to get on the hunting list will be,you guessed it,WOLES!!!

I don't think it would necessarily be the parents buying a wolf pup for their kid, I think it will be the morons who want "tough" looking dogs to make themselves look better that will cause problems for wolves in general. I'm sorry but its been done to pit bulls, and anyone who has ever owned a properly trained and socialized pit knows that they're the nicest dogs in the world. It just takes one ignorant... you get it... to give a good dog a bad name.

 

[Meghan]

My grandma had a pit bull named Daisy=p,she was really nice,but I was to young to remember her,they had a picture of me as a baby with her laying down

 

[mopydream44]

i've only ever met one mean dog in my entire life. It was my grandma's poodle. My grandma tried to train him but he was just ill tempered. He actually bit my grandma a few times......she needed stitches but she wouldn't let anyone take the dog away!!!