A certain petstore...

[chase]

Sorry ELC as you had a bad experience but I will be maybe too honest but I think this chain store if its like the one I have been in yesterday and watched Russians attacking each other and breeding etc going on I beleive it needs more (Trading STandards) to investigate. This is not meant to be horrible to the staff in stores as I know from before that members on this forum work in some of these stores and are dedicated to the animals. i managed to rescue a russian with a badly bitten backside from another. So know how you feel & hope you manage to get the Russian. It is all outrageous

I just rang them to ask if I could reserve the little Russian as I don't want anyone else to buy it before I get there but they won't take reservations. They said they'll call me when it goes back on the shopfloor and when I asked when that might be, they said it could be 1-2 weeks. How annoying is that?! You have someone who desperately wants a particular hamster (I was in the middle of buying it when they noticed the blood - the blood was WHY I was buying it...to rescue it from them - and whoever else might try and take it home after their bad advice!)

So now I have to wait for a phone call and hope I'm not at work or busy and someone else gets to the shop before me. Grrr.

[Bunsey]

i do keep hearing that they are improving and this and that, but as of yet i've seen no improvement in my stores and they've apparently been improving for about a year now. For anyone who didn't read the story, not long ago i separated mating syrians. i complained and they said they were taking it seriously, but all that seems to have changed is that the tanks are now locked to stop interferring bods like me sticking their hands in and separting them or moving the water bottles so they can actually reach them!

[chase]

I thought perhaps they were improving until this week. More litters being born in store due to mis sexing Lots of hamsters in adoption due to mis sexing. Signs put up on adoption that are untrue as shop staff say the public prefer adopting animals so they put alot in there. Ill rats on shop floor with no water. Injured hamsters for sale on shop floor( I know as I have one here) Hamsters with no water and when told staff they said "hamsters sleep all day".
I presume this means they think hamsters dont need a drink all day Overcrowded hamsters. The list is too endless to tell all. It really is such a disgrace

[Matty Day]

Well I am now coming to the opinion that stores need to be inspected more often. Weekly me thinks.
If they had a random weekly inspections of all stores then the problems would be truly be sorted out.

And if they docked the staff wages for bad care than that would also work as if there is a risk there going to loose money there going to try dam hard. Or maybe which im thinking more and more it would be good if this certain chain were banned from selling and keeping animals forever.

One of my local stores is good and the other is awful I now only shop in the good one when I do( wich is rarely as I still hold a grudge against them from the petsmart days and I certainly would buy an animal of them unless is spotted a potential best in show in there)

And from an ethical point of view if my favourite system of ethics utilitarianism was used against them they would be branded unethical

[Bunsey]

the trouble is though, however bad my p@h is, all the small shops i know of are much worse! one in a town in Stoke-on-Trent has hams in fish tanks (next to the fish) with condensation all over the walls. One in another town in Stoke sells syrans in pairs because one will get lonely.

these places make p@h brilliant. where would people round here get a hamster if it wasn't for p@h... the only place would be one of these little dumps that tells them to buy 2 syrians

[BatKat]

We got our little dwarf "Russian" from this large chain too. She had been bullied and was covered in large wounds on both back legs and around her tail. We asked the salesperson what sex it was to be told "they are too nippy to sex" She has the same issues as Bubbagump and is a very small mushroon hybrid with head tilt and total balance problems. She will stay with us for the rest of her life and at least she is away from the bullying. We have contacted the local store about random breeding of "Russian" Hamsters and as we all know any small dwarf from there is a hybrid. She doesn't nip and we sexed her before she even left the store.

I will try and get some photos of her and she can have a proper introduction soon. Welcome to Ariel Verbena Atom

Jen

That's a very valid point Bunsey. I have exactly the same problem in London. I've yet to find a decent pet store...even finding ANY pet store selling hamsters/hamster "equipment" here is hard! So far, I've come across only Harrods pet dept and one grubby little shop in East London. I've heard about one in North West London but I haven't made the trek over there yet as it's a good 2+ hour round trip with traffic. Instead, I have no choice but to go to P@H for supplies (I use 4 different branches - some good, most bad) with the occasional 4+ hour round trip to Surrey Pet Supplies to stock up on Silent Spinners and chinchilla sand.

[sarahh]

Hi ya I do agree that some of the stores maybe bad, A girl and her other half came to get the crittertrail that I was selling and she told us she used to work at one of the stores and she said the manager was a nasty peice of work he used to be horrible to the animals and reduce pets for himself and he used to say to the other staff that there was something wrong with it that why he reduced the price of it and took it home. I have heard he has left now thank goodness. A man from our store traferred over to that store and he is really nice and caring.

I would inform head office about what you have experienced because they do check things out.

Hi Chase that is naughty that hamsters are being mis sexed therefore ending up with more litters. Seems they do not know how to sex them. Ours are good and seem to know the difference.
Chase I would contact head office about that aswell.

Hi Batkat aww bless your little one welcome to little Ariel.

[Matty Day]

Originally Posted by Bunsey

the trouble is though, however bad my p@h is, all the small shops i know of are much worse! one in a town in Stoke-on-Trent has hams in fish tanks (next to the fish) with condensation all over the walls. One in another town in Stoke sells syrans in pairs because one will get lonely.

these places make p@h brilliant. where would people round here get a hamster if it wasn't for p@h... the only place would be one of these little dumps that tells them to buy 2 syrians

I accept your point bunsey and its from the situation I am speaking from as most of the pet shops in my area are to a good standard. And it only seem to be the odd small one and the certain big chain which are awful

And I do think its unfair that big chains dominate the market. As in my experience small stores care more