# Petsmart? Petland?



## wtfelvemage

So does Petsmart sell rats?
I know that petco doesn't anymore because of the rat bite incident, but does petsmart? i was looking into buying rats from there and i looked on their website and apparently they're unavailable everywhere.

Does anyone know anything about this?

Also petland as a store kinda sucks (at least the one near me does) but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with rats from there? 

I was looking forward to rats from Petsmart because they have a decent reputation.

(I'm just looking at petstores because the breeder near me has a waitlist and Id have to wait about 3 months for her rats and im impatient :'(


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## Shadow <3

My 3 "local" Petsmarts sell rats, but only "seasonally". They buy from a local source (I'm guessing a feeder breeder), and they usually only have rats during certain months. Last year, when I was looking for some young females to keep my old girl Shadow company (after her cage mate passed away), I ended up calling several local Petsmarts to find any rats. It turns out that the one 2 hours from me usually has quite a few rats available, while the one 15 minutes away only has rats rarely. It's definitely worth calling each store near you to see if/when they have rats in stock. 

Petsmart's rats in my area are usually kept in a pretty good condition, exept for too many rats being housed in small tanks. They even feed the rats oxbow and house them on aspen, which is nice. Personality wise the rats I've gotten from Petsmart are pretty good, though it's clear they were never handled before I got them. But none of my girls (exept for my super shy girl Sonic) ever seemed super afraid of humans, which also seems to indicate that they were never abused. As far as chain pet stores go, I've found Petsmart to be pretty decent in their animal care, even if where they get the rats is questionable.

I wish you luck finding some ratties


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## wtfelvemage

Shadow <3 said:


> My 3 "local" Petsmarts sell rats, but only "seasonally". They buy from a local source (I'm guessing a feeder breeder), and they usually only have rats during certain months. Last year, when I was looking for some young females to keep my old girl Shadow company (after her cage mate passed away), I ended up calling several local Petsmarts to find any rats. It turns out that the one 2 hours from me usually has quite a few rats available, while the one 15 minutes away only has rats rarely. It's definitely worth calling each store near you to see if/when they have rats in stock.
> 
> Petsmart's rats in my area are usually kept in a pretty good condition, exept for too many rats being housed in small tanks. They even feed the rats oxbow and house them on aspen, which is nice. Personality wise the rats I've gotten from Petsmart are pretty good, though it's clear they were never handled before I got them. But none of my girls (exept for my super shy girl Sonic) ever seemed super afraid of humans, which also seems to indicate that they were never abused. As far as chain pet stores go, I've found Petsmart to be pretty decent in their animal care, even if where they get the rats is questionable.
> 
> I wish you luck finding some ratties


Thank you!! Yes I've heard decent things about Petsmart animals as far as pet stores go, and they seem to be at least knowledgable. Which is why I was hoping to get from there.


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## Shadow <3

As a note, I just went to the Petsmart website and searched female fancy rats. I typed in my zip code into the "check store availability" pop up, and clicked 20 miles. It brought up my local Petsmart that occasionally has rats. I'm not sure why it said unavailable to you, but if your talking about the "not available for in store pickup", it's just because they don't "reserve" rats unless you call the individual store. I also believe this is because each store houses either only male or female rats (all the stores in my area only have females ), most likely to reduce the chance of any accidental litters.


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## rottengirl

It really depends on your region. All petsmarts in my area get them from rat mills, but others stores such as PetValu will only take it adoptable rats from animal sanctuary's/humane societies.


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## charlypie

The one of the two petsmarts in my area has rats, but around me they only keep one gender at the store and any stores within a certain distance. I've never been to a petland, but there are pet supplies plus stores near me, and they sell rats depending on the store. They seem to vary in quality a lot depending on the store owner too, so it just depends on the individual location. I got rats from one of them, and they weren't very healthy.


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## Coffeebean

I've never been to a Petland and I've seen only like 2 Petsmarts in my life that carried rats (though I grew up in a rural area with only family owned pet stores) but I know that there are lots of Petsmarts and some of the other chain stores that nowadays keep adoption animals on display rather than mill animals. So some stores you might find offer you an opportunity to rescue, but not all! Depends on the store in your area.


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## Asiposea

Like others have mentioned, whether or not a petco/smart stocks rats will vary. Both stores have them in my area. I know that for PetSmart, the animal care manager makes the stocking decision for this. They may base it on past sales and how fast they sell or any number of things. Likewise, the quality of rats will vary as well. If PetSmart is your only option, I would definitely take some time to observe the animals and talk to the associates. The employees have to adhere to guidelines on care, but associates who love rats to begin with may spend more time petting and holding the rats after hours and may be able to tell you which one(s) are especially friendly. Good luck!


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