I've heard such negativity about pet shops and such sad stories from people on this board that I thought I'd put forward my own happy one.
I went into a local pet shop, not a big name brand one, to find another tube for Cheech to cheer him up and take his mind of his reduced dust baths. There was a chinchilla in there and I was appalled to see it was missing and ear and had quite a horrible stump there. So naturally I asked the woman about him expecting to hear some horrible story about what happened and that she didn't really care but couldn't sell him. I was pleasantly surprised. She said first he's not for sale. He's eight years old and he's a rescue chinchilla. Apparently he had his ear bitten off and was left in a tiny box on the doorstep of her pet shop. She took him in and has had him ever since. And he was a lovely little fellow. He had a nice big cage with lots of wood, cuttlefish and lots of hay. I asked some covert questions about dust baths and stuff and he was being looked after really well.
Then we talked about her breeding pair and compared the size of my chinnie to her rescue one.
And this isn't the only nice story. The shop we got Cheech from we originally went in there to buy some geckos but they hadn't set up the reptile house at the time. My boyfriend saw Cheech and fell in love with him so we asked about chinchillas and how they were as pets. The man we spoke to said he'd fetch another woman who was the small animal expert and she gave us all sorts of useful information such as the correct way to hold him (base of the tail), feeding and being sparse with treats. She even mentioned replacing the floors of the cage with wood.
And then there was one bad story which I have mentioned before about the pet shop with the chipmunks in a tiny cage. Their chinchilla did not look happy at all in his plastic house.
I mentioned that I phoned the animal protection services about that place and that they had a sign up a little later that said under new management. Well I went to have a look.
It was so good to go in there and not hear the horrible woman shouting at the parrots to shut up. Instead there was a lovely woman who when I asked about their chinchilla was happy to give me all the information I needed. And I would have bought her but I'm not quite ready for another little monster yet.
I just wanted to let you know that the world of pet shops isn't all bad. There are a few rare places that know what they're doing and actually look after their animals. And if they're not, you can always do something about it. I didn't think anything would come of me phoning the RSPCA but to go in there again and see the change was just overwhelming. I think perhaps the big name brand pet shops are often like supermarkets and shouldn't be allowed. I would urge everyone to do what you can to alert people to the suffering animals go through in those places. Perhaps, in the future, all pet shops can be like the ones near me.
