# Petco Nightmare



## haunt (Sep 9, 2012)

So, my roomate and I went to a petco over in Goodyear, Arizona yesterday. We purchased a giant fatty male rat and brought him home. We put him in the cage with our males... and noticed instantly they were acting odd. So we took him back out to inspect him closer.. and HE is actually a SHE. Now, I recognize this was a bit of a foolish mistake on our part, we should have checked.. but we trusted that the store would have labeled and organized things properly. So we take the blame for that.. but moving on, here is what infuriates me.. We took her back because she was PREGNANT. Not like.. a little pregnant.. like swollen belly ratty baby time pregnant. We asked to see the other rat that was in the cage with her, and upon closer inspection that one was ALSO female. *shakes head*

We asked the store what could be done to fix the mistake they had of mislabeling the animals, because we had taken the rat home having SPACE for a male rat and anticipating equaling out our two cages so we'd have three females and three males. (we now have four females and two males) basically they told us that there was nothing they could do except refund us or replace her with 'this male rat! he looks just like the one you picked out!' Well no. I don't fucking WANT your male rat. I wanted -this- rat because it was super chill, relaxed.. enjoyed being held, very friendly and affectionate.. So we asked what happened hypothetically if we gave her back, they said they'd send her back to the vendor they got her from.. (I heard later on that if rats get sent back they get euthanized.. not sure if that's accurate or not, but I sure hope not) So we decided to keep her, because she is a really big sweetheart. We asked if they could give us a small cage since she was going to be having babies and basically turned us away, even though this was all on their shoulders as it was.
_*//Edit: May have to use this cage earlier now because one of our female rats is not very fond of our new rat.. Constant fighting. is there anything we can do to try and make them friendlier towards each other? //*_

So we left, seriously annoyed, and headed over to petsmart. We explained our situation to a manager there, and they decided to help us out and gave us a 20% discount on a small cage for her. So once she's closer to her due date, we're gonna move her into that cage so the babies are safe from all our other female rats. So that's settled. 

Now onto my main rant.

The store we purchased this rat from was absolutely HORRIBLE. Their ferret enclosure had about ten ferrets and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in at least a week. There was **** piles EVERYWHERE and you could smell them the second you walked into the store. The cage I purchased my rat from was by far the cleanest cage there.. and even then that wasn't saying much. Many of the rodents had CEDAR shavings in their cages and the shavings were SOAKING WET. Like.. there was nothing dry in any of their cages. These conditions extended to about 5 various cages including the other rats, some of the mice, and the cage of Guinea Pigs. I was absolutely appalled with the the living conditions of their animals. 

Now, a two month hop back in time.. while living in Stockton California, I adopted three male rats.. (two of them I still have) The third.. named Houdini, came home with a frequent sneeze. We didn't think much of it at first.. he was smelly too.. which we attributed to the diet he was on. As it turns out, he actually had an outstanding respiratory infection.. but by the time we realized this was the problem it was too late.. We scheduled a vet appointment, but he died the day before we were supposed to take him in. We were sold a sick rat, and he died in under two weeks of us owning him. Sure, we had a warranty on him, but it wasn't about that.. he was our PET.. you can't put a price over their head once you've named them and vowed to take care of them, and even though I only had him for a short-while.. it was absolutely heart-wrenching.

So long story short.. Petco has absolutely atrocious animal care, and if you MUST buy from a petstore.. I reccommend petsmart because I've had far better experiences with them as a whole. /endrant


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## ILoveMyMonsters (May 25, 2012)

No no no. I'm glad you decided to keep your lovely expecting girl, but I have to point this out from experience: Stick to independent pet stores if you can. Not all of them do, but quite a few purchase from actual breeders and take better care of their animals, or find a reputable breeder or rescue. PetsMart is the same way as Petco. Their animals come from horrific mills or "suppliers" as they like to call them, as well. I work for a major chain store, so I was able trace where Axl, my sweet little dumbo, came from... Google "Rainbow World Exotics" which supplies both of those major stores. After finding this out, needless to say he will be my last pet store rat. I am proud of you for giving Petco a piece of your mind. Not a lot of people will stand up for these little guys. Thank you again for saving her and giving her a voice.


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## Flashygrrl (Feb 8, 2012)

I'm glad they helped you out and gave you the discount, but ILMM is right about the supplier unfortunately. As for the condition of the store I would suggest next time that you take a picture. The ferret enclosure I can somewhat understand because 10 ferrets will make a huge mess out of one of those in less time than it takes to bat an eyelash (not saying they should have 10 in there but that's the way it goes) but if the other cages were also nasty that's another story. Anyways, take a picture and send it to corporate and also complain on their facebook page, as it seems to be an reasonably efficient way of getting attention.


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

The bottom line is PEOPLE HAVE TO CHECK. You cannot expect these stores to do it for you. I check and re check any time I look at a rodent. 
The other day I went in and had to inform Petco that they had one VERY OBVIOUS male mouse in with the females. I am sure they have a ton of pregnant ones now.


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## trematode (Sep 8, 2012)

I know exactly where you are coming from with reguards to chain stores. Here in Canada, we have PJ's Pets (AKA Pets Unlimited). I have been boycotting them for years based on giving out bad information with reguards to gerbils and fish, witnessing that a staff member had put a male betta into a tank full of females ("so the would breed"), not honoring a return when they bagged me the wrong fish (tried to convince me to keep fish ment for at least 50 gallons for my 10 gallon tank and to bring them back when they out grew it) and for laughing at me when I requested an aquarium and cage topper for my gerbils (apparently "the book" recommends habittrail cages). This was at 3 different stores and different areas over a 4 year span. This is why pet stores that sell animals are my last resort for animals and supplies. End rant haha.


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

That store needs to be turned into corporate because their standards definitely don't allow that. I don't like the supplier part but our local PETCO is phenomenal about care and advice but the one on the other side of town is deplorable. Each store is different but there are some good ones out there


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## Ratmaster (Sep 21, 2012)

I totally agree. A few days ago i went to petco looking for some doggie treats. Of coursei walked past the adent cage and was disgusted. In one cage there was one rat curled up in a corner. It seemed to be breathing funny and didnt respond to aything. I felt so bad for the poor thing! I also saw dead fish in tanks and about 30-49 mice (this isnt exact but they were so crammedtogether) it made me so sa and upset. I decided I am never going back there again!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

The pet shop industry is a horrible system sometimes, but it's driven by economics. Simply put consumers have shaped this industry into the mess it is today. I could do the math for anyone actually interested. But it's only likely to get worse. 

If there's a single reputable breeder or retailer on this list that's making a decent living off their rattery or retailing rats, please IM me, I've been into breeding animals for much of my life and I can't concieve of a business model involving responsibly breeding and raising rats that someone could possible make a living off of. I'mnot being cynical, but I'd just love to know how it could possably be done.

People didn't support the small corner pet shops while they had them. They went to the big chains for bargains and starved out the little guy. They bought a $5.00 healthy rat from the local shop and the $200.00 cage at the bargain chain store. Now this is what we've got to live with. 

Fish and small animals are the loss leaders of the pet industry. They are simply there to bring in customers to buy durable and dry goods. If there were any real profit to be made in it, there would be small animal only stores and all of our rats would come from China.

So when you buy your animals from chain stores hope for the best, but expect the worst.


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## unlikelyfather (Sep 11, 2012)

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this. But you really should not have put the rat in with your rats. Especially since she's from a pet store with extremely bad housing, she may be carrying something nasty that you just exposed your entire colony to. 

Such as a vicious URI, or even worse - something like SENDAI. Pet store rats can be carrying things that will kill all of your rats. To just put it in with your rats can be really dangerous. You need to keep her and her babies, at the very least, in a completely separate cage in a completely separate room and wash your hands and change clothes between visiting each cage/rAt.


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

Unlikely father is right. That is most likely why they are not getting along as well..they need to be introduced slowly


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## gothicrats (May 13, 2012)

In my first years of owning rats....I would acquire them from Petco...and they were Satan. They were the most aggressive vile critters I'd ever met. Petsmart has had pretty great rats...some of my most loved rats came from them, but now I just cannot stand their short sickly lives and only adopt from breeders/breed my own.


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## Munchie (Mar 13, 2012)

I got all my 4 rats from chain stores... my heart rat Aliss died within the first 6 months of her life of a respiratory flare up (we medicated her, she was on carefresh, in an airy room... I never even spray deodorant or air freshener in my room... it was just a freak occurrence) her sister Cleo has always had problems with porphyrin and 'looking under the weather' and had many vet visits but nothing has ever come up... My 2 other girlies (same chain, same standard of care) have been perfectly fine and robust so far and have never needed the vet or given me cause for concern.

All were well socialised (except for Jelly who is a runt but seems to be a special case as she has always been a little scatty) and very friendly... but health wise it does seem to be massively luck of the draw as to whether you get a healthy rat or an extremely sickly rat from a pet store... I love my girlies and don't regret getting them... but I already have a local breeder picked out that I hope to buy from in the future, as I would rather not go through the heartache of watching my babies go downhill.

I will also point out the pet stores I've bought from in the past have always had at least one knowledgeable staff and the rats enclosures have always had paper pellet litter, decent food and toys, so it is not exactly like buying an abused pet... hearing about some of the pet shops others have visited makes me so sad :/ How can people can even treat living creatures like that?


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