# Pet Store, plain rats..



## Hippy (Jul 23, 2007)

Well I notice people on here mentioning about how they got their rat at a pet store or something like that but every pet store Ive gone to has never had anything special like a dumbo or a blue or anything. Just PEW, Black hooded and rarely tan rat hooded. Whats with this? Are Bay Area Pet stores just not interested in different kinds of rats?


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

Hm the pet stores in my area buy whatever they can get their hands on that is CHEAP. I got my himalayan Lulu from the petstore and my black berk Piggle to. The most common rats in pet stores around here however are beige selfs, beige hoodeds, black berks, and PEWS.


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

The petstores in my area have all sorts.


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## cashewsmama (Aug 10, 2007)

the pet stores around my area only have pew's and ones that look similar to Jennielove's Silent Bob


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## Kbomblives (Jul 30, 2007)

I got all my rats from various petstores, Double Rex dumbo, a really weird tan hooded rat, and some plainer (but not in personality) black hooded, champagne and agouti rat. I probably went to six different stores looking at all their different types. Some of those stores I had no idea existed. I would just say keep looking.


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

The Petsmarts around me will have blues and hairless. Though I of course don't recommend getting rats from pet stores.


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

My Petco (which sells for feeders, basically) almost always has black hoodeds. Bacardi is the only agouti my roommate (who got him) or I have ever seen there. Very rarely they have a black self or a tan hoodie.

The PetSmart purchases the 'special' sorts to be sold as pets. They often have blues/dumbos/hairless.... thankfully they're all females, so I'm not tempted! :lol:


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

One thing I like about Petsmart is they don't keep males and females in the same building at all. Different Petsmarts will have different genders. They also don't sell as food.

Petco, on the other hand, I think is breeding them themselves. I also like how Petco sells "small," "medium," and "large" rats when it's clear the small ones are just young rats. It's misleading to someone who is getting a new rat to get a small one and think it will remain small. If they get a dude, sometimes they'll be in for quite the surprise!


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

All depends on the ratmill they are getting them from. The Petsmart's in Ontario used to have blazed high white rats, but I guess too many died of MC so the new rage is pearl merles, where the lethal gene kills them before they are born.


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## rattikins (Jun 12, 2007)

cjshrader said:


> I also like how Petco sells "small," "medium," and "large" rats when it's clear the small ones are just young rats. It's misleading to someone who is getting a new rat to get a small one and think it will remain small. If they get a dude, sometimes they'll be in for quite the surprise!


Exactly CJ, I find this amusing as well!

The other weird thing about that is that they price them higher as they get larger.... ie - small is $4.99, large is $9.99, Further convincing buyers that they are getting different things. 

Wouldn't you think that the younger rats should be the most expensive, being that they would live the longest (in general) and be the most maleable? :lol:

Always thought that was really misleading and stupid of them.

And yes, petco DOES breed their own rats. I was at one before I bought my girls and the checkout lady said "want to see a newborn?" and she brought me into this CLOSET sized room where there was a mother and brand new babies. I felt so bad for them. 

The Petsmart stores in this area have the best variety of rats, and the only place you can occasionally find dumbo rats in the area without going to a breeder or ordering them in, both better options than buying from the store anyway, but just thought I say.


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## Mana (Apr 22, 2007)

One of my friends bought some rats from either Petco or Petsmart in Las Vegas, and blues were being sold for $15.99 while the "fancy" rats (hoodeds or black berks) were $6.99. I remember having to explain to him that all pet rats are fancy rats, and blues and dumbos are not different breeds from each other or from fancy rats, and that he just paid more for a certain color and bigger ears.

I haven't really looked at the rats at Petsmart around here because they only have males, but I do remember seeing dumbos there. At Petco I've only seen beige and black hoodeds and black berks. But I do try to avoid looking at the rats now, because if I ever saw a dumbo female there I'd probably take her home ^^;


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## rattikins (Jun 12, 2007)

Mana, the petsmart in Maple Grove has females right now.  SO CUTE too!! two standard and two dumbos. I almost bought the dumbos because they had a dark brown self and a gray and white blazed!!


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## chrisstrikeagain (Apr 10, 2007)

Petsmart may have mixups. They sold me a boy guineapig at an all girl location so check em first!

My store sells as feeders. We get them from a lady whom breeds rats and mice. We get PEWS, hoodeds, few berks and occassionally we get batches of dumbos.


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## Mana (Apr 22, 2007)

Oh rattikins, don't tell me that! 

Luckily, I don't have a car or a way to get to Maple Grove, so I can't run out and get them ^^; I'm soon going to have a full house of rats anyway - by next weekend, I'll have doubled the size of my ratpack! 8O


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## HeidiMG (Aug 1, 2007)

rattikins said:


> The other weird thing about that is that they price them higher as they get larger.... ie - small is $4.99, large is $9.99, Further convincing buyers that they are getting different things.
> 
> Wouldn't you think that the younger rats should be the most expensive, being that they would live the longest (in general) and be the most maleable? :lol:
> 
> Always thought that was really misleading and stupid of them.


I don't know Petco but I assume they sell feeder rats and if so generaly feeder rats are always priced by size . You pay a higher price for a larger "feeder" rat because of the time it takes to raise them to that size , the cost of feeding them ect... 

I belive anyway


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## taralyncouture (Aug 23, 2007)

thats what makes me mad. I really want a dumbo. REALLY REALLY BAD. but the closest rescue is like 3 hours away. and when you dont have a license thats very difficult. and probably next weekend or the week after that i will be getting another female.
Origanaly fiona was a black hooded but now shes more of a chocolate. is there any reason for that change?
and i think the reason for the lack of variety is because i think a lot of them are feeders because i know fiona was labled in a aquarium that said small,medium,large,jumbo. and i checked the local spca and they didnt have any rats. and if they did they were all black hoodies. and i almost took in a little girls black hoodie a few weeks ago who lives near my mom. my fiona was still suposed to live at joshs(boyfriend) . poor baby was skin and bones. and i thought fiona was small. this thing was tiny compared to fiona and fiona is younger. i felt bad about it. but i didnt think it'd be best for the rat at the time. but does anyone know of any rescues in va closer to hampton,va? or pet stores that offer dumbos?


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

taralyncouture said:


> thats what makes me mad. I really want a dumbo. REALLY REALLY BAD. but the closest rescue is like 3 hours away. and when you dont have a license thats very difficult. and probably next weekend or the week after that i will be getting another female.
> Origanaly fiona was a black hooded but now shes more of a chocolate. is there any reason for that change?
> and i think the reason for the lack of variety is because i think a lot of them are feeders because i know fiona was labled in a aquarium that said small,medium,large,jumbo. and i checked the local spca and they didnt have any rats. and if they did they were all black hoodies. and i almost took in a little girls black hoodie a few weeks ago who lives near my mom. my fiona was still suposed to live at joshs(boyfriend) . poor baby was skin and bones. and i thought fiona was small. this thing was tiny compared to fiona and fiona is younger. i felt bad about it. but i didnt think it'd be best for the rat at the time. but does anyone know of any rescues in va closer to hampton,va? or pet stores that offer dumbos?


Some smaller pet stores will have dumbos, or you'll see them at humane societies, but your best bet is patience.

As for Fiona, she's probably what's called a 'bad black'. A black with poor breeding will often fade to brown.


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## rattikins (Jun 12, 2007)

You can also try having a smaller pet store order you some dumbo rats. A lot of the smaller ones will do special orders. But be cautious, I ordered dumbos and got fancy rats instead. Then of course when I went to pick them up and found out about the mistake I immediately fell in love and the rest is history.


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## Cyke (Aug 31, 2007)

Hmm by what some of you have posted I now realize that the major pet stores like Petsmart have different rats depending on what state you live in I think.

For example, I live in San Diego California and I got my rat at Petsmart. They have Rex's, and I've seen Blues there too. BUT. I noticed one of you say that the Petsmart where you're at only sells females. The petsmart near where I live sells ONLY males. Which is funny how certain stores only sell the certain sex.

Oh and what I really like about Petsmart is that they clean their cages daily and their rats are always in very good shape (or at least the petsmarts around my area) Because the Petco's in my area have TERRIBLE looking rats and disgusting cages. I feel so bad for them, their cages are all dirty and smell terrible. At Petsmart the cages are always fresh and clean. But I'm sure this all varies depending on location just as anything does.


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

Cyke said:


> Hmm by what some of you have posted I now realize that the major pet stores like Petsmart have different rats depending on what state you live in I think.
> 
> For example, I live in San Diego California and I got my rat at Petsmart. They have Rex's, and I've seen Blues there too. BUT. I noticed one of you say that the Petsmart where you're at only sells females. The petsmart near where I live sells ONLY males. Which is funny how certain stores only sell the certain sex.
> 
> Oh and what I really like about Petsmart is that they clean their cages daily and their rats are always in very good shape (or at least the petsmarts around my area) Because the Petco's in my area have TERRIBLE looking rats and disgusting cages. I feel so bad for them, their cages are all dirty and smell terrible. At Petsmart the cages are always fresh and clean. But I'm sure this all varies depending on location just as anything does.


The sex is set by store. So if you have two PetSmart's one may be female and the other male. The idea is to prevent pregnant animals, I think.


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## Bandit (Jul 30, 2007)

The petsmart around here does not sell rats. The Petcetera on the other hand gets rats in every month or two. They normally have hairless and ones with some pretty fancy markings. They never last long around there. They're all gone within a day or two.


The smaller petstores normally have just hooded rats and that's it. I think they're mostly feeders because they never have any exciting markings or colors. Some of the rats have outstanding personalities though. I nearly brought home another lady the other day when I was looking at cages. She was just so cute.


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## Hippy (Jul 23, 2007)

Ha, I called Petsmart thats near me and they had a blue female. ahh, I guess its early bird gets the worm?


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## Kimberly (Aug 13, 2007)

cjshrader said:


> One thing I like about Petsmart is they don't keep males and females in the same building at all. Different Petsmarts will have different genders. They also don't sell as food.
> 
> Petco, on the other hand, I think is breeding them themselves. I also like how Petco sells "small," "medium," and "large" rats when it's clear the small ones are just young rats. It's misleading to someone who is getting a new rat to get a small one and think it will remain small. If they get a dude, sometimes they'll be in for quite the surprise!


Yes very misleading!!! Ducky came from Petsmart and was noted as a Hairless (we didnt know any better until coming here  ) and found out he is actually a double rex. Thumper came from Petco, My youngest son ran up to the lady asking where the rats were and she took us to the backroom  I asked why they were housed in the back and not out front where they could be seen and all she said was they are feeders!!! I wanted to take them all at that point. So I told the boys, maybe we should take one home with us and save him from the life of being a snakes food and thats how we got Thumper. He was in the tank labeled "small" He is a blackish/grey color with the white stripe down his tummy and white on his paws so Im thinking he is a Berkshire?? Whatever he is we love him and are glad we brought him home. 

I know in our Petsmart and Petco they only carry Males. Petsmart did say they only get females on occasion and its only if someone has requested one. They will then order it from the breeder.


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

As far as most people are concerned a double rex like yours IS a hairless. :lol:

As for the black boy he's probably a mismarked berk or a mismarked irish.


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