# Another Gross Pet Store (Pics)



## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

This store used to be the only store in town. Two more have opened up since. Unfortunately, they do have the most animals of all the stores... but they are still losing business fast. I think the ignorant jerk face owner said they are closing soon. Good riddance.









Some of the rodent tanks (the skulls are dog toys lol) in the back are the birds.









The parrot and fish room, the rock structure in the middle is a pool with large koi in it.









Ceiling of the parrot room is full of cobwebs, dust, and mold.









Tank cleaning/testing station. How do you clean in this mess?









Looking towards the front doors. The ceiling has a huge hole in it above.









The air system. Gross.









The food selection. The same crap they feed to their animals.









Even from the outside it looks like trouble.

Here's a video of the rats in the tank. There were two females and the rest were males.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiWMI6t8nZM


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## jasugar (Feb 2, 2010)

Looks like iPhone pictures?

I feel all covert! "This is your mission, should you choose to accept!"

Anyway, in all seriousness, this is so sad.  Poor animals. How could anyone own a pet store and not try to know all they can?


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Yeah, I do have an iPhone 

It really is upsetting. I got Miles from there and he is the sickest little bugger ever. Just goes to show what that kind of care does to your animal.


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## vivianelizabeth (Feb 24, 2010)

What the f***. That's waaayyyyyyyyyy too many rats in one cage.
My roommate went into an anti-pet store pro-small rodent rant over the video.


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## psycho_ash (Sep 27, 2009)

I can't watch the video right now, but I definitely will when I get home...


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

vivianelizabeth said:


> What the f***. That's waaayyyyyyyyyy too many rats in one cage.
> My roommate went into an anti-pet store pro-small rodent rant over the video.


It's HALF a tank, not even a full tank! The other side had degus in it I think.

When she approached me and asked me if I wanted to buy any, and I said no I don't want pregnant females. She was like "Oh, well we'll take the babies back" after she said the same thing to a young couple that came in and bought a hamster like it was no big deal.

I just about lost it  I almost took that nice siamese boy with his butt sticking out of the pipe at :20 but resisted the impulse urge :-\


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## eddricksmommy101 (Jul 16, 2010)

GArrrhhhehhrhhhrhrhrhr!


So evil. Those poor babies!


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## Arbutus (Jul 31, 2010)

Sadly it doesn't seem bad compared to the pet store by my old house. I bought my first kitten there and I was utterly horrified by the condition of the animals. They stuffed the kitten into a box that wasn't even tall enough for it to lay down in and then there was the rodent room... I went back there and started to cry (I was only 9-11 years at the time).
It was horrible, so many rats in such little space and the water bottles were either empty or sitting on the ground so the rats couldn't drink from them. Even recalling the memories disturb me. 
I might have to go on a secret mission if I have the guts and get some pictures.​


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## Nekopan (Mar 18, 2010)

I've been to this store. I went while they were renovating the parrot room. There was a really ratty looking cockatoo that was out of his cage, he climbed onto my friend's shoulder. The owner then _yelled_ at my friend, telling him not to touch the birds, etc. One of those large cages has a LEMUR in it. Yes, a wild animal in a horrible cage getting no attention at all. When I was there, the floor tanks with the small animals had no lid, so I was reaching in and giving the animals some attention. I picked up one of the rats to give them some love (they were totally terrified) and the guy got mad at me.

It's one of the worst pet stores I've ever been in.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Nekopan said:


> I've been to this store. I went while they were renovating the parrot room. There was a really ratty looking cockatoo that was out of his cage, he climbed onto my friend's shoulder. The owner then _yelled_ at my friend, telling him not to touch the birds, etc. One of those large cages has a LEMUR in it. Yes, a wild animal in a horrible cage getting no attention at all. When I was there, the floor tanks with the small animals had no lid, so I was reaching in and giving the animals some attention. I picked up one of the rats to give them some love (they were totally terrified) and the guy got mad at me.
> 
> It's one of the worst pet stores I've ever been in.


yes.... they really are complete ignorant a-holes. they actually have two lemurs. they keep one in a glass tank in a little cubby to the left of the other one, along with a tortoise and some snakes. you can actually see that same lemur in the top left of the first picture. i've asked them about the lemurs, and apparently they were "rescues" from some black market exotic breeder or something. if you put your hands up to the glass the poor things go nuts and try to lick you through the gaps because they're so deprived of interaction. and then ed or whatever the **** his name is yells at you. it really is awful


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## blenderpie (Sep 10, 2009)

Pet stores like this really make me angry. And it makes me sad to think that people ignorantly buy from places like this and listen to their advice, which is clearly wrong. 

On a happier note, I went to an exotic pet store called the Enclosure (outside of Pittsburgh) that only sold reptile and parrots (and all of their things, of course) It was clean, the animals were kept exactly as they should be, and they gave out "how to care for" paperback books for whatever they were selling and kept their animals to those specifications in store. The owners were a zoologist and animal enthusiast. I just wish all pet stores could be like that place and less like the store this thread is about.


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## Nekopan (Mar 18, 2010)

Also when I went, there was a 2-level ferret cage filled with 4-5 kittens.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Nekopan said:


> Also when I went, there was a 2-level ferret cage filled with 4-5 kittens.


can' tell you how many times i've gone in there to see 5+ kittens or puppies stuffed in a plexiglass box with a hole in the top in the middle of the floor :-\ they're the type of people that would take a litter of kittens or puppies off you and then turn around and sell them.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

This pet store is selling two Lemurs? Does anybody know for how much?


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

ema-leigh said:


> This pet store is selling two Lemurs? Does anybody know for how much?


no, they're not for sale  they're just going to let them sit in those glass boxes until they die i guess.


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## SilentRobert23 (Aug 16, 2010)

Jaguar said:


> ema-leigh said:
> 
> 
> > This pet store is selling two Lemurs? Does anybody know for how much?
> ...


What a heart-warming "rescue".


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

What about when they do close? I'd buy them and give them to a wildlife rescue, thats where they should be.. not in the back of some shady pet store lol.


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## Memoryguy (Aug 10, 2010)

What's the point of investing your time and resources into something if you're going to do a piss poor job at it?

However...

I must say the economic climate has been rather harsh these days. People are sometimes hit hard and management starts to fall apart. Maybe it wasn't always like this before and the guys at the shop have become less enthusiastic when faced with financial difficulties?

I try to give small family owned stores the benefit of the doubt these days. I help my parents run their business and I know how tough it is in a time like this. Many fold under the pressure but those who come out with their chin held high with integrity really needs to be commended. Integrity is really important. That's one thing that should never change regardless of anything. 

You see all these places come and go, and you just have to be thankful that you're still around. We know we are.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Memoryguy said:


> What's the point of investing your time and resources into something if you're going to do a piss poor job at it?
> 
> However...
> 
> ...


unfortunately, it's been around for quite a long time now :/ i've lived here for 6 and a half years now and it's always been like that. there are two newer stores here though that are far better, and i remember talking to the owner and him saying they were going to be closing in a few years so they could open up an aquatic garden center instead. lol


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## Nagi (Sep 19, 2010)

Is there anyway to report them?


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Regardless, owning animals should always be more than a business. The economy affected us all, you don't see my animals receiving sub standard care. If these small terribly run family businesses are going to blame the economy for using pine, keeping them in small dirty tanks and letting them breed back to back... thats a poor excuse. 

What was the comment ''whats the point of investing your time and resources into something if you're going to do a piss poor job at it?'' directed at?


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## Memoryguy (Aug 10, 2010)

ema-leigh said:


> Regardless, owning animals should always be more than a business. The economy affected us all, you don't see my animals receiving sub standard care. If these small terribly run family businesses are going to blame the economy for using pine, keeping them in small dirty tanks and letting them breed back to back... thats a poor excuse.
> 
> What was the comment ''whats the point of investing your time and resources into something if you're going to do a piss poor job at it?'' directed at?


I am 100% with you on this.

I would assume you open a pet shop because you love animals, and the care and well being of animals is the number one priority. Why pursue this business venture if you're going to half ass it?

Needless to say, this store has strayed from its core mission.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

went back here today, saw they were doing some renovations to the store and for some reason was hoping they had slightly improved the care of their animals .... boy, was i wrong. pics to follow.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

well, apparently they cleaned out that gross parrot room in the back to make room for a doggy daycare center... whatever. so they somehow "got rid" of all those parrots, the lemurs, large koi, a ton of other animals they used to have... i don't even want to know how. so in preparation for this renovation, they had all the animal cages and tanks absolutely CRAMMED in the front of the store with multiple species mixed up in tanks.. they were literally jumping the walls between the uncovered tanks. my boyfriend and i nearly wreched when we walked in, the smell was so awful. the rat tank also contained two fully grown guinea pigs and two rabbits. we watched the second rabbit hop the wall and go into the tank while we were there. there was probably 20 rats in there of various ages and genders, mostly siamese though there were two black hoodeds and what looked like one beige hooded or fading out siamese. the entire tank reeked of the rotting vegetables in the bottom and disgusting dirty pine shavings. all of the animals were unsocialized - you couldn't even TOUCH the guinea pigs and the rats squirmed and jumped out of my arms whenever i picked them up. most were sneezing, some had porphyrin around their eyes, they all looked thin and had poor coats... it was just a mess. even my boyfriend wanted to get out of there ASAP.





































these pictures are of only ONE of the tanks. all of those animals were crammed in ONE TINY TANK. there were others with mixes of rabbits/guinea pigs/degus/hamsters as well.


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## toyxxhearts (Mar 1, 2011)

:'( That is AWFUL! They shouldn't legally be allowed to stay open. Absolutely unacceptable. It's like a pet store near me, they keep the animals seperated but they use 10-15 gallon aquariums and there's always 10-20 rats in EACH tank. Ugh, some people make me sick!


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

it was absolutely awful  the photos don't really demonstrate how many rats there were in the tank - that pvc pipe was literally CRAMMED full of probably 10 of them... :-[


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Memoryguy said:


> What's the point of investing your time and resources into something if you're going to do a piss poor job at it?
> 
> However...
> 
> ...


These are lives. If they can't afford to take care of the animals properly, they should stop getting more. The cages and accessories are what they make money on anyway, there are some stores in my area who don't sell animals at all and they still get business, it is also always an option to partner with rescues so you still get the people who come to pet stores looking for an animal, but don't have to pay for them. There is NO excuse for not taking care of animals, for both pet stores and owners alike-you do what is best for the animals and rehome them if you can't give them what they need. Also, there are a lot of things places can do that don't cost money to enrich their animals lives if they cared enough to do it-like putting cardboard boxes in there that they'd throw away anyway-but they don't. I'm against pet stores that sell animals no matter what, because they are supporting the breeding of more animals in a pet overpopulated world, and the animals are purchased from mills or BYB's where they are treated poorly whether the store does a good job with taking care of them or not, but the least they can do is give them the basic requirements.


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## lovinmyratties969 (Feb 2, 2011)

Can you report them to the local Humane Society? There has to be someway to warn the general public about they way they "don't" care for there animals. Those poor babies...I just want to take them all.


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## sonoma (May 26, 2007)

Wow. That’s terrible. 

Is there someone you can call? Animal Control? Humane Society? I wonder if they need some kind of permit to keep exotic animals like the lemurs. If AC won’t come out for the rats and guinea pigs, they probably would for the lemurs.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Oh my god.....That's is literally the WORST pic of a pet tank I have ever seen.

Those animals crammed together is NOT okay! Usually I know the humane society can't do anything, but that is gross, unclean, and DANGEROUS.


I hope they get shut down, and fined so bad they are paying off till they go to the grave.


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## Nazarath (Feb 20, 2007)

Those really are horrible conditions, we have a local reptile guy down the road who takes care of this animals. yeah I have seen an empty water bowl here and there and in the beginning I would ask "Oh what's the bowl for?" and he would answer "Normally water when I am doing my job right" and fills it up lol. I can't say I have seen that many times though, I really want to bug him about giving me a job there but I think him & his wife seem to have it covered =(. All their animals look great but I am not going to lie I don't go NEAR the spiders lol. I would have complaints about the rats but a lot of the time I come in he is cleaning their cages and puts them into a 10-20gal while scrubbing everything out. So I don't want to say he is a god or anything but he does appear to make a good effort to keep his animals in proper care conditions =D


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