i went into a petstore

[michellemonster]

its where i got my male chinchilla draken and i was sad. all the chinnies there looked mangy and needed a dust bath. they had probably 7 in one cage. 3 little itty bitty babies and 2 probably only a couple weeks old with 2 bigger ones. the cage was horribly small too probably half the size one the one that i only have 2 in. i wanted to take them all home with me. they had another with a mom and 3 babies too. i wish i could get them all they need some tlc

 

[Sdo9396]

I would probably complain to management about the conditions that they were in. I wonder if that female is getting bred back to back with the older chin in there..I wish someone would educate pet stores on how to properly care for the animals that they sell! :banghead:

 

[michellemonster]

it use to be way better. back when i got draken it was only tops 2 per cage and they were kept in much better conditions. but i about stole them all. it was almost 80 degrees in their too. i dont know i think that is probably what they did. its horrible for the chins to be bred back. its so sad cause the babies were friendly but the older ones wanted absolutely nothing to do with people. they had a big glass jar that had 2 of the tiny ones the 2 kinda bigger kits and then one of the adults all jammed in it

 

[Stackie]

Did you raise your complaints to the owners or management and educate them? Because coming here and complaining isn't really helping the chins.

 

[6Dusters]

Rather important read for those in similar situations:

Several years ago I came across a similar situation. The cage was clean enough. However there were too many kits for a double decker cage. One hammock and one tunnel. ( the kits were hiding and terrified! ) An older chin was going around and beating the snot out of every single chin it came across. When I told the owner she needed to seperate the aggressor, she then told me it was sold and someone was going to pick it up that day. ( yeah sure I was thinking )

Long story short. The place had puppies, kittens, birds of all kinds, ducks, lizards, bunnies. I noticed the bunnies and chins were just not kept as clean as I would like and the place was always too warm.

I called my husband and he agreed that I could go back and pay retail for the two smaller ones being beat. ( I had watched them for about half an hour ) I only went back one more time to check the store and they went to gerbils. Male and females about 30 in one cage!!!!

Months later I was talking to my vet tech about my "petstore rescue" chins I purchased and my story as stated above. She told me that she and another tech finally managed to have them closed by calling animal control. Seem's they had a gripe about the puppies being cared for. We are very glad it has closed down.

However a year later I had to split my girls due to a fight. The kit that was beat the worst snapped and turned on her cage mate. I found the aggressor a home and kept the other. The other went into a deep depression and wouldn't eat. So I bought her a kit. They have been happy for several years.

Oh.....some stores are good and some just are bad. :banghead: I'd like to add some curse words to that sentence. Grrrrrr

 

[ItsyBitsy]

Ugh. I know when I go to Petland to buy things for my pets I always complain about the 2 baby chinchillas in back that have no wood at all to chew on!!! Pet stores should not allowed to sell animals in general IMO

 

[Vcchinchilla]

I recently pick up one , wasn't beat up by other chins but he had chewed his fur and given up to the pet shop, I think k was there when he arrived, at first he was put in a decent cage, after no one showing interest he was put in a tiny glass case that is for gekos?
All the chins there are skinny and terrified

I knew in my heart this little one will not go because he has large expressive eyes. You could tell when he was there this is a very angry and upset chin and he isn't as cute and tiny like the other babies

I can't save all the Other ones but those are babies, I'm sure they'll find a home, easily

This one is tucked in the bottom corner with other animal cages on top of him.

 

[ArmyWife]

I went into a petstore last week just to get my chins a new wooden house to live. There was 1 chin at the store who was in a one level cage with just a wooden house in it. There was a bowl for pellets but no hay anywheres!! The poor things fur look absolutely terrible. I asked the guy at the cash register frantically if the poor thing gets hay he was like "yup, absolutely!" LIAR! I wanted to kidnap the poor thing

 

[ChinnyMom]

this is why i enjoy going into my nearby petsmart - they understand that their animal enclosures are not large enough to be comfortable for a chinchilla, so they don't sell them at that location. i've recently not seen guinea pigs there either, only hamsters and gerbils. their bird enclosures are a very nice size, and i never see them overcrowded.

 

[ticklechin]

I have not seen a chinchilla at my local petsmart or petco for a couple of years now.

 

[LoveBug]

the petsmart i go to doesn't sell them either, but petco does. when we go to petco we usually buy a safe thing to chew on for them.

i did recently go to this petstore in my town that sells exotics (i guess). it's mainly snakes. but anyways there was a little chin in this cage with plastic shelves, a dust house, and a wheel that wasn't even hooked onto anything it was just laying there. my husband and i petted it and it loved scritches! my husband and i both said if we had everything for a chin already we would have gotten it. they didn't even have hay or pellets in there for it to eat.

the living conditions for it and other animals was just disgusting. the place smelt horrible, like it hadnt been cleaned in years. there was dust on everything. and it was just disgusting. i wish i could have saved that chin :/

 

[lolanu]

The PetSmart here sells chins, to my disgust. There were three when they first got them. Now there's one. I don't know if the other died or what, but grapes, apples and carrots... %*@#. The one left is so sick he's shaking, I wanted to steal him. Yeah, pet stores should not be able to sell animals.

 

[Angelyco]

Two of my girls are from PetSmart, they sell them pretty regularly here. In retrospect, I never would have gotten them from there, but not much to do about that now. Even though it's all glass, the cage size is decent, never more than 2-3 at at time, and never young kits. They are given hay, but also the pellets with other junk in it. Plastic wheel with a spoke in the middle of it, plastic hidey house. So it could be better, but it could be much worse. One of my girls has turned into a sweety, the other just wants nothing to do with us. Thankfully they are bonded very strongly (even though bought at different times) so I don't feel bad not giving the second one all the attention I would like to.

The Petco here doesn't sell them at all. There is also a Pet Goods but they only sell them a few times a year when their seller has them, and they are kept in fairly good conditions, besides being fed a lot of raisins.