Buying from a pet store...

bubbatd

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#21
I will not support any store that sells mill animals . PetSmart , to me , is different . No dogs and cats are from the HS. I'm sure most of their small animals come from a local breeder .....
 
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#22
My Petco gets from local breeders( reptiles) but I can tell you not all those breeders are great either. The birds I think are shipped in I dont think we have many BIRD breeders in Buffalo.. Ferrets are local as well as many of the hamsters mice rats etc.

We sometimes get wrong delivery marked for petsmart and sent to Petco.

I know our snake guy flipped out when he got a delivery from one of those local commercial breeders -yes local not always better.
 

adojrts

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#23
It doesn't bother me about mice and rats in petstores as long as they are carried for properly and care is given to whom they are sold to etc.
I agree that local shelters should be check first for adoptee's for any animal, rodent etc.

I know someone who is very deep into birds, Parrots mainly. And according to her, purchasing them from petstores isn't good on any level. The birds that they have come from byb's and bird mills. She is also heavily involved in Parrot Rescue etc and she says that the conditions etc are no different than with puppies etc. And if someone wants a Parrot, they should first do their research, try to rescue first or find a rep. Parrot Breeder.
 

skittledoo

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#24
It definitely depends on the individual store and staff in my opinion. I bought a female ratty at petco once when I was younger. They had only females in the store and they were in great shape. She lived a long healthy life and I had no problems with her. I'm not sure where that particular store got their ratties from as I didn't do my research being that I was young and just wanting a pet of my own and didn't have the knowledge about mills that I do today.

Now... I also had a cockatiel that I got from a different pet store. She looked healthy when we got her yet two days later she was dead. To be honest, I have no intentions of purchasing small animals from stores anymore. I will definitely not get a ferret from a pet store. I want a ferret but I will only only go through a breeder or rescue. Most ferrets you see at petstores are Marshall bred and a lot of them get sick in my experience. You can recognize a Marshall ferret by the tattoo they have in their ear... it's a two blue dots usually.
 

Zoom

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#26
I worked for Petsmart when I was in high school and we had the best rats...I don't about how "bred"-wise, but we were always handling them and carrying them around on our shoulders...I usually had one nestled in my collar on the back of my neck, snoozing and all you could see was it's tail peeking out from under my hair. The hamsters though...I refused to handle them. They bit. Hard. I would make people get their own out if they insisted on buying them and then ask if they really wanted their child to have something like that. The gerbils, mice and rats never bit.

I didn't/don't like the fact they sell exotic birds. They require too much specialized care to be available for the first idiot who has money.
 

skittledoo

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#27
i will look for the Tattoo thanks for the heads up.
You're welcome. They're pretty much a mill for ferrets and one of the biggest ferret producing companies that I know of. I've heard a lot of stories about them getting sick... but just has puppy mill pups, you'll run into a miraculous few that are great and healthy their whole life. Though most of them are already sick when they go into shops and are poorly socialized. I personally don't want to support a mill. That's why my ferret will come from a respectable breeder or a rescue and even in rescue you'll find a lot of ferrets that bear the marshall mark.
 

noludoru

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#28
I highly disapprove of selling birds of any sort.. they are much too fragile, and you should have the support of a good breeder to aid you in their care rather than a 2-page pamphlet on bird care you get from stores. I HIGHLY disapprove of selling large birds, especially. There's a Petsmart I go to sometimes that used to sell Macaws and Cockatoos.. it was disgusting to see the tiny cages they were in and how miserable and neurotic they were.

Same goes for Guinea pigs and rabbits.... my first guinea pig was from a Petco I wish would close down.. the place is disgusting... my guinea pig died after a few days of me having him, despite vet care. When my mom lodged a complaint with the store she took me with her, and I saw so many sick or dead guinea pigs in the cages....
 

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