# Please Don't Buy from Pets At Home!!



## Kinlar (Nov 28, 2010)

Was in the other day collecting rabbit food for my girls and happened to glance at the rats (as I got one of my babies from there).
Was devastated to find tiny rats clearly not as old as everyone was being told! And I'm talking smaller than Indi was when I got him and they tried to tell me he was 15 weeks! Yeah right!
We worked out he was about 7 or 8 weeks, and Minne was about 18weeks.
These babies must only have been about 6weeks MAXIMUM! They were cowering at the back of the cage together, and they looked absolutely terrified! When I asked how old they were, I was told 12 weeks.
Now I might be a newbie to rats, and I have only ever owned two. 


But even I can tell the difference between a 12 week old rat and a 6 week old!!
Am furious! 
When I voiced my concerns that they were clearly younger than that, i was completely dismissed.
I was told that pets at home had been selling rats for blah blah blah years and that they knew more than me, basically.
When I mentioned they'd sold me a baby ratlet at the wrong age, i was asked why i 'didn't bring it back' and that if 'it was healthy' there souldn't be a problem.
In the end i put the rabbit food down and left in disgust.

I HATE pets at home! They're overpriced ignorant twats and they don't deserve the animals they sell.
God help the wee rat babies like, I can't help thinking about them  God knows who they'll be sold too


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## Tink_JCF (Mar 31, 2011)

I would report them to the Better Business Bureau. That is horrible that they would do something like that.


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

6 weeks old is about the sort of age most breeders will rehome their babies.

A better reason to not buy any animal from [email protected] is where they get them from. Most pet shops will buy their animals from rodent farms. The females are bred back to back until they die of exhaustion, and the rats they breed are often sickly.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Yep, 6 weeks is a fine age to adopt out rats. But pet stores selling animals is still bad, I would still not support them because like any other pet store they get from mills.


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## junior_j (Jan 24, 2008)

I have very mixed opinions of PAH , I recently brought my latest 2 Hugo and Harry from there. I was told they were dumbos (they are clearly not) i was told they were twelve weeks , ( the are at least 15 weeks) But at the same time I have "adopted" rats from there adoption center before. Healthy happy little ratties in the same cage i have them in not them little horrible tanks , they had paper work and warranty type thing ect. I hate buying animals from pet store for same reasons discussed above and usually I only buy the rats because I know i can offer them a better form of life and feel guilty when i dont buy them and think " what those poor ratties upto now" ect.

xxx I would deffo complain though and stay away. Shame some stores ruin the name for others ect. x


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## big_d2008 (Apr 11, 2011)

Hi this is my first post i just bought 2 rats from pets at home on friday. My firsts 2 rats ever . They are so cute and seem 100 times happier since i got them home and in there new cage with all the toys, hide ect. But I definately see the point people are making but if we dnt give these rats a good loving home someone could just buy them because they just fancy it one day.


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

But buying animals from a pet shop is saying 'I don't agree with where you get your animals from, but I will still support you'. If you can't resist the pull of a sweet face, then I suggest avoiding pet shops that sell animals, and buy as much as you can online.


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## Janet04 (Mar 17, 2011)

Of course it is a personal choice were you get your pet from. When I was in my 20's I worked in a Pet store and saw beautiful rats being sold as food. That is when I adopted my first one I couldn't bare to think of her as that. So I took her home and she had a great life. Recently I got my daughter her first Rat. From a pet store. When I asked for a rat they took me into the back were no person could see them. Only because I am educated about rats did I know she would be fine without her mother. I believe I saved her from being food. I love this little animal so much. She is smart, loving, and living in a 3 story rat townhouse filled with treats. 

I believe that buying from a Pet store can save a rat's life. If you are educated about them.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

this discussion has come up far too many times... saving a rat from being fed to a snake or not, you're giving your money to a cruel and uncaring business so they can continue to breed and sell more rats. you may be saving one, but you're dooming its siblings to an unfair ending. and buying them as pets just makes them realize they can turn and sell the "pretty" rats as pets for more profit... ever seen the difference between the "fancy rat" and "feeder rat" bins? it's sick, and i don't understand how anyone can feel right about giving their money to and supporting these businesses by buying their products.


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## Annahra (Apr 7, 2011)

Keep in mind that pet stores make NO money off of the small animals--they make money off of supplies. You aren't really doing much to support them by buying a $6 rat there, but you are by buying cages/food/litter. The live animals are just there to bring people in and encourage them to buy the other products (larger animals, puppies/birds/etc., are different).


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

So what if they make no money off of them? If you buy rats from a pet shop then you're telling them that you're ok with animals being treated like a commodity. That is something I will never be comfortable with.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

And that is 100% not true.

It costs Pet shops MAYBE a dollar a pop for a rat. And they sell then for 5-10 dollars, that IS a profit.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Annahra said:


> Keep in mind that pet stores make NO money off of the small animals--they make money off of supplies. You aren't really doing much to support them by buying a $6 rat there, but you are by buying cages/food/litter. The live animals are just there to bring people in and encourage them to buy the other products (larger animals, puppies/birds/etc., are different).


They DO make money off of them, they hardly pay anything for them-mills can charge so little for them by giving them substandard care. And as for getting people to come in, they could just as easily have adoptable pets from a rescue there. So long as people support this awful business, they will keep breeding more and more rats in inhumane conditions. 

One of the most common arguments I hear people say is well they need homes too. Here's the thing. There are FAR more rats than can get homes because of mills and people who financially support them, so all the rats will not get homes. I always found it funny that people talk about how badly pet store rats need homes, and don't think of all the rescue rats that need homes too, and don't actually create more homeless rats. Think of it this way: lets say there are two pet store rats, and two rescue rats, and you can physically only have two rats. What would you do, buy the pet store rats, which increases the demand causing them to breed them and them some to replace them, or give the rescues a home, which doesn't increase the pet overpopulation issue.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

smesyna said:


> Annahra said:
> 
> 
> > Keep in mind that pet stores make NO money off of the small animals--they make money off of supplies. You aren't really doing much to support them by buying a $6 rat there, but you are by buying cages/food/litter. The live animals are just there to bring people in and encourage them to buy the other products (larger animals, puppies/birds/etc., are different).
> ...


+1000


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## Annahra (Apr 7, 2011)

I think you misunderstood me--I wasn't saying they don't make a profit, I was saying it's nothing compared to the dry goods. I worked at a big chain pet store in college. Remember, they also guarantee those animals and end up replacing a lot of them, not to mention deaths at the store, and animals that never sell and end up too old to be purchased. I'm not saying you should buy rats (or anything) from pet stores; I'm saying you have to boycott the store entirely, not just not buy live animals there. You are supporting a store more by going there for your food/litter every week or so even if you never buy an animal.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Okay, I see what you were trying to say. I no longer shop at stores that sell live animals for that reason (though just not buying animals helps because the mills only receive money from the pets, but one the other hand if the store thinks they are losing money because they sell animals because of boycotts, they will likely change.)


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## Janet04 (Mar 17, 2011)

I am looking over at my Snowflake right now playing in her Rat Townhouse eatting a carrot. I get sick thinking of what would have happened to her if I didn't bring her home from that Pet Shop. If they made money off of me or not. I did buy alot of supplies from them. I understand that there are breeders, And those rats I assume will get good homes. But my Snowflake and for the record is not a fancy rat but pure white she would have been food for sure. Would have been food for sure. And maybe I can't save all of them. But I saved her and to me and my family that makes us happy.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Oi, this comes up every time. It is nothing against your pet store RAT, my "heart rat" is from a pet store and I wouldn't change her for the world. Heck most rescues are from pet stores originally, but no money is paid to them (that's the difference). I absolutely do regret that mills were paid for her though-it is that, the supporting of mills that we have a problem with.

Also, rescue rats do *NOT *all get homes, not by a long shot, and many are even put down because people don't check in shelters for rats.

It just baffles me that people don't get it and would rather pay money for more rats to be bred in crappy conditions than go through rescues-at least then it actually saves a life without condemning more.


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## wheeljack (Mar 17, 2011)

smesyna said:


> Oi, this comes up every time. It is nothing against your pet store RAT, my "heart rat" is from a pet store and I wouldn't change her for the world. Heck most rescues are from pet stores originally, but no money is paid to them (that's the difference). I absolutely do regret that mills were paid for her though-it is that, the supporting of mills that we have a problem with.
> 
> Also, rescue rats do *NOT *all get homes, not by a long shot, and many are even put down because people don't check in shelters for rats.
> 
> It just baffles me that people don't get it and would rather pay money for more rats to be bred in crappy conditions than go through rescues-at least then it actually saves a life without condemning more.


+2
Rescues only have so much space. NTRR is full and we can't take in any more until some of our current rats are adopted out. We get several requests weekly for owner surrenders--since we can't take them what ends up happening to them? They wind up released to fend for themselves in the wild, put up for 'free' on Craigs's list almost guaranteeing they'll wind up as snake food or they'll wind up at a shelter.

If you adopt a rat from a rescue it gives that rat a home and allows the rescue to take in another to take it's place.

If you buy a rat from anywhere other than a reputable breeder it gives that one rat a home but more rats will be bred to take it's place AND a rat in rescue that you could have taken instead is still homeless.

There is a bigger picture than just that one rat in the pet store and only by tackling that bigger picture is anything ever going to be accomplished.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

I think it's easy to take things a little out of context in this thread, as things differ to much between US/CAN and the UK.

We have very strict animal welfare laws here now and it is an obligation for pet stores, especially large chains such as PAH to meet the standards set out by the law. Although I in no way condone buying from pet stores, you can get a lot worse out there than PAH. I've been in quite a few across the country and the set out is usually the same; tanks, (usually) correct bedding for their animals, consistant food etc. There will be ones that deviate from the norm but the ones that I have seen don't make me cringe too much.

We also don't have the amount of 'mills' that the US and Canadians have to suffer. PAH for example stock from local breeders or commercial breeders, and the commercial breeders are subject to the same regulations that the pet shops are. I've spoken at length with my local PAH manager and they only source locally as it is company policy to do so. 

It's the out of the way pet shops that are self regulated that you really need to keep an eye on as those are the ones that easily slip under the radar unless someone has complaint.

Just my 2 cents.


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

[email protected] get their animals from Simon's Rodents, which is a large rodent farm in Essex. Some staff aren't clued up on where their animals come from, others will say 'local breeder' because it sounds much nicer then 'rodent farm'. True, there aren't as many rodent farms in the UK, but it's much smaller then the US so there we still have the same problem with the few we have. 

The Animal Welfare act is pretty minimal. They meet those, and nothing more. They have to be fed and watered, have somewhere to hide and have access to a vet when they're ill. That is pretty much it. I know this because I recently did legislation at college. [email protected] often bed their animals on shavings or wood pellets which are no good for the rats. They don't need to provide the correct bedding at all!

I am in the UK, and this information isn't hard to come by on the UK forums.


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