Chincilla at a petstore

[meiying]

I know it has been happening a lot all over the world, and many members have heard or seen that, but it is still hard for me to see a lone chinchilla being treated like that....

My bf got my first chinchilla at that petstore back then when we didnt know any better about chinchillas and petstore animals, I mean I love my chinchilla to death but we both know that the petstore is not a good one. We go to that petstore once in a while to check on the chinchillas (it is in a large shopping mall, so when we need to get stuff there, we stop by to check on the chins), not that we want another chinchilla but we just want to check on them.....

Last few times we went there, we saw one chinchilla in a fish tank, then months later we went there , there were 2 chinchillas being housed together , we knew it wasnt an ideal housing environment but at least they got a chew house, pellets and water. Today we went there, the poor chin is housed with 6 mini-lop rabbits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:hair: I was so mad and i felt so sad for the chin, i could tell the chin has been chewing on its fur and it was hidding in his little wooden tunnel while the rabbits were running around him.

I asked my bf whether we should say something about it to the front desk people, my bf said it would be useless because they just wouldnt care, i agreed with him, and i think they dont care...because, when we first got our chinchilla there, the chin got ringworm right after, and we called the petstore and told them about the ringworm, they insisted that the chin was fine and it wasnt their fault.... Many months later, we talked to a staff at another animal supplies store, she told us that she had bad experience with the petstore, she had a puppy that suffered from ringworm after it had grooming sessions there.... so we always know that that petstore is no good.... after seeing the animals there today, i just decided that i wont buy anything there..

Nothing much I can do, just want to let it out of my chest.:banghead:

 

[AZChins]

I'd tell the petstore people that rabbits can make chinchillas very sick. Rabbits can carry bacteria and viruses that can kill chinchillas. Pasturella can be deadly. They need to not be putting rabbits anywhere near the chins. Ringworm is one thing, it can be fairly easily treated and cured. But, some of the other issues can't be treated easily at all and can lead to death.

If I had been there, I probably would have made them fix the problem. I'm not very nice when it comes to things like that!

 

[Kriko24]

Wow that poor chin. I would have definitely said something because sometimes there is one employee that might care enough to make a change.

 

[Prophet of Frida]

We saw two baby chins in a pet store a few weeks ago, being held in a glass enclosure that had a little thermometer on the side. They looked lethargic and their ears were bright pink, and when I looked at the thermometer, it read 84 degrees!

I went and talked to the owner and pointed it out to him, but I tried to do so in a way that didn't sound critical. I put it in terms of "I might be interested in buying one of your chinchillas, but I need to get their cage ready first. Please address this problem so if I come back in a few days, they'll be happy and healthy and ready to come home."

I don't know if it helped, but they were cracking open a chilling stone as I was leaving, so here's hoping.

 

[AZChins]

A tile or granite slab is no substitute for it being cool enough and having enough air flow! We have a lot of chins here and I spend about three to four months of the year obsessing over the air conditioner and the temperature. I'd probably have just lost my mind! 84 degrees is much too warm. Those chins could die if it gets much warmer, or in the best case they are going to be very uncomfortable!

You need to go back and check on those chins to make sure that they have them at a decent temperature - they NEED to be at 75 or under. Probably more like 70 or under if they are in a glass enclosure.

I end up having to deal with people calling and complaining about petstores all the time. Most of the time it is either because the temperature is too high or it's dirty or humid, etc. There's not much I can do if I call animal control in certain cities or counties, they won't do anything. I have to tell people all the time that they need to go there and discuss things with the petstore staff or owners themselves. Or, I have to do it.

There's a reason why I am not welcome in several petstores across my state! Most of the time they listen, they don't want to lose their livestock that they can sell to make money. Sometimes they tell me that they are following the guidelines given for the care of chinchillas and ask me to leave or try to placate me in some way. What ends up happening is that I or someone else has to keep going back and asking questions until they change things.

 

[Prophet of Frida]

The catch was that it wasn't a local pet store. I was passing through town, it's about an hour and a half away. I called them a few days later and asked about the chins, and they claimed that they were still there and in a cooler enclosure, but sadly I kind of have to take their word on that. I'm hoping they at least googled "chinchilla" and learned the basics. Frustrating. I've been tempted to get in the car and make the drive anyway.

 

[AZChins]

That is frustrating! I hope that they listened to you or that the chins were adopted by someone. You could always call and inquire about them again. Figure out how to work it into the conversation and get them to tell you what the temperature happens to be!

These people think we are crazy for caring so much, by the way. Now you sound like one of us crazy chinnie people. I can't tell you how many times I ran out to the car and drove to check on a chin or help with something with chins that aren't mine or that even came from here. I think we all end up this way eventually...

 

[May]

Awe, these stories make me sad.

A pet store franchise near me had a smallish store, with aquarium style enclosures for their pets. They had a really large glass wall for a pair of ferrets but a gerbil sized cage for chinchillas. Originally when I visited they had fresh iceburg lettuce and two whole carrots as the only food in the chinchilla aquarium, with absolutely nothing to gnaw, bathe, or play with and just a plastic igloo house that the gnawing had been redirected to. I felt that maybe they were just misinformed, and probably assumed since it looked like a rabbit that it must eat like one. We politely called over a manager and just explained that he was risking losing his investment in the chinchilla by causing illness or death and advised him what would be better.
To my surprise the next week when I visited, they actually took up all my suggestions! Unfortunately the poor thing was still trapped in the aquarium but at least they put a marble slab for it to sit on, had proper food and toys, and switched to a wooden house.

The same pet store then rebuilt their location to a much larger store, and so I went to their grand reopening. Much to my horror they reduced the spaces for their animals to shoe box sized glass boxes. They had a chinchilla in a small triangle-shaped plexiglass box with nothing at all else in it's cage. It had shoved itself into one of the corners just looking absolutely miserable. It broke my heart so much. All their other animals fared no better.. it reminded me of those beta fish kept in tupperware.

I think many people who are new to chinchillas don't realize that they are like keeping a very small mountain goat in your house. I find people want to treat them like something ground-dwelling like a rabbit. But also, I am surprised how much people underestimate the amount of living space any small animal actually requires versus what they buy/provide/commonly see in stores. Putting your animals in an overly cramped cage in the store is sending a bad message to your customers that this is how they should treat them at home.

 

[Magyk]

Originally when I visited they had fresh iceburg lettuce and two whole carrots as the only food in the chinchilla aquarium, with absolutely nothing to gnaw, bathe, or play with and just a plastic igloo house that the gnawing had been redirected to. I felt that maybe they were just misinformed, and probably assumed since it looked like a rabbit that it must eat like one.

I think many people who are new to chinchillas don't realize that they are like keeping a very small mountain goat in your house. I find people want to treat them like something ground-dwelling like a rabbit. But also, I am surprised how much people underestimate the amount of living space any small animal actually requires versus what they buy/provide/commonly see in stores.

I would just like to point out that a rabbit doesn't eat like this either. Sorry, it just bothers me that people say it's how a rabbit eats and yet, it's not healthy for them. Rabbits should get a small amount of pellets, unlimited hay and some veggies daily (Neither of them being iceburg lettuce or carrot as neither are good for them).

While the do not use shelves to the extent of a chinchilla, rabbits do like having things to climb on and honestly I feel rabbits require more space then a chin. Magyk has a cage over 6 feet tall and a little over three feet wide, but I would not put a rabbit in anything that small.