# [email protected] horror story!



## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

Well, you may be thinking, the pets where kept in horrible conditions, or i was given mad advice, well No, for once.

The guinea pigs have finally been seperated from the rabbits, lots of food, hay, water in pens, hamsters clean, no dead fish,

They even had quite alot of cheap stuff in, 

everything was fine, until i looked down . .. saw somthing crawling on my arm, :eek4::devil:

I HATE bugs! - i flipped out, and hit it onto the floor, then i saw a huge, stick insect, all green with pinsers (sp?)

My mam ran off, then went to stand on it, until i told her they were selling them :blush:

A women come over, and she put it back into its tank, where there was a hole. :bash:

Seems pets @home just get the care right then let the bloody animals escape :lol2:


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## Rob Wallace (Sep 24, 2006)

LOL, And it was all going so well.


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## Harrison (Feb 29, 2008)

I see something terrible in there everytime I visit and it doesn't seem to matter which store it is.

And I don't think they should be allowed to sell degus. Have you seen how they are treated?

The other day I saw they had a rabbit in a small glass box thing which was a bit odd and the sides weren't very high but the box itself was pretty high off the floor. Sure enough I had watched it for about 2 minutes and it managed to jump up and kind of get itself caught on top of the glass. He was going to have a nasty fall so I grabbed him quickly and gently placed him back inside. I explained that the rabbit is able to get out and will hurt himself or get stressed if is able to jump out and fall. The woman said, "oh yeah, it does that all the time" and walked off. I'm the kind of person who just eats my dinner when I get the wrong food at a restaurant. I'm not someone who complains a lot unless it's something really important. But they really don't like me in my local shop because I always see them feeding the wrong food to animals or providing unsafe habitats for them.

:bash:


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## Youngy (May 19, 2008)

stephenie191 said:


> Well, you may be thinking, the pets where kept in horrible conditions, or i was given mad advice, well No, for once.
> 
> The guinea pigs have finally been seperated from the rabbits, lots of food, hay, water in pens, hamsters clean, no dead fish,
> 
> ...



Was it the pets @ home in hartlepool? they sell stick insects for £5 each :S very random.


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

Youngy said:


> Was it the pets @ home in hartlepool? they sell stick insects for £5 each :S very random.


Nope teesside park, i have been in the hartlepool one, but the teesside park one is bigger


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## Brat (Oct 7, 2007)

Honestly I would have screamed the whole shop down!!


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## Dustcart (May 31, 2008)

The one in Stevenage doesn't do any reptile specific products. Not sure about the rest of the country.


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## loobylou (Nov 18, 2007)

Youngy said:


> Was it the pets @ home in hartlepool? they sell stick insects for £5 each :S very random.


Thats crazy! I used to be able to buy stick insects from school for 5p!!!


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## Harrison (Feb 29, 2008)

Dustcart said:


> The one in Stevenage doesn't do any reptile specific products. Not sure about the rest of the country.


Some do and some don't. They are in a phase of "bringing them in" right now across the country so the stores that do have products are the test stores. My store was a test store for about a month then they removed it all which obviously pissed off quite a few people. Not that I would want to support their business anyway until I see them providing the correct foods to animals.

I should point out that when they did stock rep products at my store for a short while, there was a UV bulb, 3 different sizes of exo terra vivarium and bits of fake wood. The rest of the "reptile" shelf was filled with hermit crab items. The Exo Terra were about 30% more expensive than some other shops.


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## Emmaj (Dec 3, 2007)

No matter how much better they make it i will never buy animals from them again 

to date i have had and lost from them 

2 baby male rats.......lasted 3 days 

4 cold water plecs lasted 3 days 

3 rabbits lasted a few months 

only thing that lasted was my sons evil hamster that died at 5 years old :lol2: yes bloody 5 years old :lol2:


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## Andy b 1 (May 14, 2007)

had nothing but good everything from my local [email protected] over the past few years


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Not all Pets at home stores are bad. The ones near us seem fine, thats at least 3 different stores.

Also........why do they need to seperate guinea pigs and rabbits?


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## joe0709 (Sep 22, 2007)

another has just opened up near me and i was really impressed. the guinea pigs were all looking healthy along with the rabbits (not togethor) they even had an adoption part. the cage for the rats was a little small now that i think about it but they all loked healthy.


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## retri (Mar 5, 2008)

Havent been in local one for a while, they had a short period with exo terra stuff and stick insects, but its mostly hermit crab stuff.

Was in there one evening and there were a couple asking about some of the fish labeled up as 'Bolivian Rams' over heard the 'fish guy' telling them that they were not bolivian rams, but he did not know what they are, but he would do them at the same price, he then told them about these 'rare' parrot cichlids, which to be honest looked in terrible condition.

I couldnt stands no more, walked over 'those are keyhole cichlids, and those parrot cichlids look in awful condition but are far from rare, and for the tank size you have are too big'

the guy didnt know what to do, came out with 'oh right yeh thats it keyhole....'

after the guy checked the system, turns out that thier price for keyholes is half that of bolivians

I then proceeded to help the customers while the guy stood there looking like an idiot, the customers left happy with some keyholes and dither fish which was perfect for the set up they had.

Made me laugh as they walked out, said to the shop guy 'you should give him a job'

dont think they like me much in there now :lol2:


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## retri (Mar 5, 2008)

Emmaj said:


> No matter how much better they make it i will never buy animals from them again
> 
> to date i have had and lost from them
> 
> ...


they have a gurantee thing, if anything dies under a week you can get your money back


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## neep_neep (Oct 18, 2007)

Harrison said:


> And I don't think they should be allowed to sell degus. Have you seen how they are treated?


Not in your store, no. But in other stores, yes I have, nowt wrong with what i've seen? Better setup than other places i've seen selling degus! At least they give the right food and a decent caresheet - if you've seen them giving the wrong food, have you tried contacting head office? Because the stores all have guidelines to follow regarding the animals (including what they feed the degus!) so if they are ignoring these guidelines then head office should give them a kick in the backside.




retri said:


> they have a gurantee thing, if anything dies under a week you can get your money back


They haven't had the '7 day' guarantee for a couple of years now - because what do you do if your fish dies after 10 days?  There effectively isn't a 'limit' as such, it's management discretion as to each individual case. 




Crownan said:


> Also........why do they need to seperate guinea pigs and rabbits?


Species mixing  Very similar reasons to why people recommend against keeping different reptile species together.

Although it used to be widely accepted, it's no longer considered a good thing do for a whole world of reasons. Firstly, both species are social animals requiring company of their _own_ species - although a rabbit can sit there keeping a guinea pig 'company', they just aren't on the same communication level. Rabbits are also much bigger than guinea pigs, and even if they don't mean to be aggressive, if something spooks them and they dart away, a kick in the head from a rabbit could result in a dead guinea pig. They also have slightly different dietary requirements, guineas need vitamin C in their food whereas rabbits synthesise their own. Although rabbits could 'tolerate' this extra vitamin C, it isn't an optimum diet. Guineas also need a lot more fresh veg than rabbits do, so if the rabbit thieved the guinea pigs share it could end up with stomach issues (they have ridiculously sensitive guts, I really don't understand why they are so popular and sold everywhere!). There is also a respiratory infection that can be carried by one or other of the species (Bordatella/Pasteurella), and can cross-infect. The other one is, of course, rabbits are horrible horny things and don't really care if they are humping a different species... quite traumatic for the guinea pig! Even females will hump, which could inadvertently cause injuries.

I'm sure i've missed something - but it gives the general gist!


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

neep_neep said:


> Species mixing  Very similar reasons to why people recommend against keeping different reptile together.
> 
> Although it used to be widely accepted, it's no longer considered a good thing do for a whole world of reasons. Firstly, both species are social animals requiring company of their _own_ species - although a rabbit can sit there keeping a guinea pig 'company', they just aren't on the same communication level. Rabbits are also much bigger than guinea pigs, and even if they don't mean to be aggressive, if something spooks them and they dart away, a kick in the head from a rabbit could result in a dead guinea pig. They also have slightly different dietary requirements, guineas need vitamin C in their food whereas rabbits synthesise their own. Although rabbits could 'tolerate' this extra vitamin C, it isn't an optimum diet. Guineas also need a lot more fresh veg than rabbits do, so if the rabbit thieved the guinea pigs share it could end up with stomach issues (they have ridiculously sensitive guts, I really don't understand why they are so popular and sold everywhere!). There is also a respiratory infection that can be carried by one or other of the species (Bordatella/Pasteurella), and can cross-infect. The other one is, of course, rabbits are horrible horny things and don't really care if they are humping a different species... quite traumatic for the guinea pig! Even females will hump, which could inadvertently cause injuries.
> 
> I'm sure i've missed something - but it gives the general gist!


Of course, if I'd have actually thought about it for a second I could probably have come up with most of that lol

We used to keep them together when I was young (15 odd years ago now!) But at present I have my GFs Guineas and Rabbits at my house. They are in seperate cages, have different diets etc and yes the rabbit can get an upset stomach extremely easily! lol

Thansk for the info though :2thumb:


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Most petshops hate me:lol2: I was in one on a hot day last year and they sprayed the Chinchillas with water to cool em down then wait for it??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????they put a sand bath in for them. Didnt like being told they shouldnt be spraying them............................ IDIOTS:crazy:


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## rapunzel (May 29, 2008)

Our local branch was extremely rude to me when I (stupidly) asked if they sold frozen mice/rats. I mean *really offensively* rude....like I was the cruellest person on the planet for feeding them to my snakes! Bunch of idiots! 

I used to keep Stick Insects when I was about 10...had dozens and dozens of them for years. One year my uncle was feeding them when we were on holiday. We came back to find they'd all escaped....they were all over the house. Luckily all my family liked them, so we had hours/days/weeks of fun finding them!! I used to breed them...I was given mine for nothing by our Biology teacher. *
£5 each!!!!!* Crazy!


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## Esarosa (Jul 13, 2007)

went to the one in teeside park a few weeks ago and all the enclosures etc were clean all animals well fed and everything in order...except... a little male rat in the FEMALE tank..i asked an assistant why he was there and got told 'oh its just a tumor...its safe tho, she's been in there a few days with no problems' i said no offense but that aint a tumor it's testicles.anyways after ten minutes of debating the point i got the supervisor over who swapped him into the male tank..i asked if they would take the females off sale to ensure they weren't pregnant and got told 'no need he's too young to breed!' it's ludicrous..so now some poor unsuspecting customer will buy these female rats and end up with litters in a few weeks time... ever feel like banging your head against a brick wall???

I mean if the assistant had just said 'oh god i didn't realise one sec i'll sort it out' or even a 'i didnt notice' but why make up some cock & bull story about him having a tumor that was safe..it just baffles me completely!


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

neep_neep said:


> They haven't had the '7 day' guarantee for a couple of years now - because what do you do if your fish dies after 10 days?  There effectively isn't a 'limit' as such, it's management discretion as to each individual case.


 
The still do in the one at the metrocentre Gateshead.
I got a couple of hamsters a few months ago and they gave me a 7 day guarantee.
Lots of inaccurate advice and a male and a female when I wanted two females but they are healthy and friendly little things.
They were in the little glass stacks but seemed happy enough they had toys, tubes etc.

They are trying to get me to breed my Robo's for them as they cant' get them.
Beside the fact my robo's aren't breeding I did tell them I dont' supply petshops. Definitely not [email protected] as the staff don't seem to have the training they should get.

Again I've had to 'interfere' when staff have been selling degu to a customer.
The customer was being told that degu are 'the same as gerbils just bigger'. They have babies every month or so. They can be fed as you would feed a hamster, gerbil or rat.


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## neep_neep (Oct 18, 2007)

saxon said:


> The still do in the one at the metrocentre Gateshead.


They shouldn't though - this is what really bugs me about the company, stores just seem to ignore what they get told by head office :whip:




saxon said:


> They are trying to get me to breed my Robo's for them as they cant' get them.


Again, that is most definitely against policy...last time I heard they were absolutely not allowed to buy from random breeders! I don't mean that in a nasty way, I just mean they are only supposed to get their animals from specified breeders that are vet/RSPCA/council checked.




saxon said:


> The customer was being told that degu are 'the same as gerbils just bigger'. They have babies every month or so. They can be fed as you would feed a hamster, gerbil or rat.


Have you emailed head office with your concerns?

The problem with these stores is that head office don't know when the staff are ignoring guidelines and giving naff advice until someone takes the trouble to point it out to them. They are given all the right information, so I seriously struggle to work out how they come out with some of this rubbish.


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

neep_neep said:


> They shouldn't though - this is what really bugs me about the company, stores just seem to ignore what they get told by head office :whip:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
They are having problems with the suplier they are using, he also supplies other petshops in our area, he isn't getting them the animals they are asking for.

They cant' get Robo's anywhere. That may be because it seems no-ones are breeding this year. Last year there was a glut of them and this year there are hardly any about.
When I got my hamsters they were also selling top eared hooded rats as dumbos and when I pointed out they weren't dumbos the lass said yes they were as their ears were massive.
I tried to explain that they are called dumbo sue to the placement of the ears not the size but she told me quite categorically that I was wrong.
I took one of my dumbo's down the next day to show the girl but she wasnt' in. Another assistant showed me the 'dumbo' rats, I'd left my boy in the car, we went throgh the same discussion as I'd had the day before. I then brought Tornado in from the car to show them. They still wouldnt' have it the their rats werent' dumbo's. The breeder had said they were so they were as far as they were concerned.
If that's the kind of breeder who supplies them then I dont' wonder that they want better breeders.

There are currently no laws stating that petshops can only take stock form registered breeders as far as I have been told. Apparently the law is ready to be passed but not yet in operation.

As far as the degu are concerned.
That particular girl was more than happy to listen to the correct advice.
I havent' bothered emailing head office becaue it isn't oging to make any difference anyway.


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## neep_neep (Oct 18, 2007)

saxon said:


> There are currently no laws stating that petshops can only take stock form registered breeders as far as I have been told. Apparently the law is ready to be passed but not yet in operation.


Oh no, it's not law, I was just saying that it's their policy.




saxon said:


> As far as the degu are concerned.
> That particular girl was more than happy to listen to the correct advice.
> I havent' bothered emailing head office becaue it isn't oging to make any difference anyway.


Well, that's good she listened to you - shame they didn't listen to information they got the first time around :bash:

As far as contacting head office - it does make a difference - they got constant complaints about keeping rats on woodshavings so company policy is now to keep them on paper bedding, they got complaints about keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together so they changed that... as Tescos says, every little helps : victory:


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## ashley (Sep 10, 2007)

I used to work at Pets at home. All staff must complete "stage 1" in pet care within 12 weeks and then go onto stage 2. It was a good system but there is a huge problem with the staff. The turnover of staff is quite high so there are new people every month (students, school leavers) and they give out awful advice! There were many times I had to correct colleagues while I was there.

To be fair, head office has the right idea and there are inspectors out every month or so. The stores aren't allowed the staffing levels they need though. 

Talking from my experience, when I was there, all the animals got the correct food and the animals on the shop floor were kept clean. Through the back was a different story. The animal in isolation (due to illness etc) are supposed to be cleaned out every day. The manager did not let us do this. In quarantine (where all the new livestock go for a set amount of time before going for sale) I was checking the animals before we went home for the night and there was a baby bunny who was just lying there. No-one would do anything about it so I gently removed it and put it in a cage on its own and tried giving it a little water. The next day, I went in at about lunch time and it was still there. I ended up taking it to the vet myself to get PTS, poor thing.

I spent every day for a while in the fish department, cleaning all the tanks etc until I wasn't embarassed of them (I worked extra to get on top of things) and a week after I left it was back to disgusting.

Some of the staff genuinely want to help but aren't given adequate training.

I wouldn't buy a fish from there and if I were to buy a rabbit or guinea pig, I would ask if I could check it over first as the ones we got in often had sniffles, cuts on their legs etc.

Sorry for the huge post :lol2:


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## TianRunty (Apr 15, 2008)

out of our local stores one is a disgrace the other is a little better.
i have photographic proof of the back of the store in the worst one, they have budgies in hamster cages by the dozen, rabbits upon rabbits in hamster cages. there is very little seperation for sick/new animals etc. a staff member sent me the pics, they are too scared to speak out because they really need the job.
the other one, though better still have things like african dwarf frogs in beside clawed frogs and being sold together because although the manager knows the difference the staff don't. the adfs are also in a tank thats way too deep for them considering they breath air and all.
both stores mix rabbits and guinea pigs, and have stocking level issues. the animals look healthy enough but if you look closer they are usually wheezing or have something else wrong with them.
i'm glad the stores have gotten better since petsmart days but there is still room for improvement....a whole lotta room


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## m4rky (Nov 26, 2007)

TianRunty said:


> i have photographic proof of the back of the store in the worst one, they have budgies in hamster cages by the dozen, rabbits upon rabbits in hamster cages. there is very little seperation for sick/new animals etc. a staff member sent me the pics, they are too scared to speak out because they really need the job.


There have been no birds in stores for quite some time now.


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## Andy b 1 (May 14, 2007)

retri said:


> they have a gurantee thing, if anything dies under a week you can get your money back


and they give u a new one


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## serz (May 8, 2006)

believe it or not i have never had any problems with are local one apart from that they have no knowledge at all on the animals that they keep in there. I went in once and asked them about a pet bed and told them i was buying it for a african pygymy hedgehog and they told me that it was illegal to keep hedgehogs!! They had never heard of one in captivity before.


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## TianRunty (Apr 15, 2008)

m4rky said:


> There have been no birds in stores for quite some time now.


i know this but it was just before they stopped selling birds, which in this store wasn't too long ago. the other store got rid of the birds waaaay before the second store. it was less than a year ago and the staff member says nothing has changed through the back other than the types of animals kept in cramped conditions


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## deano2 (Feb 20, 2007)

i have heard through the grape vine they might start selling a few reps in the not too far future no snakes think leos and beardies what is the general feeling on this?


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## Esarosa (Jul 13, 2007)

deano2 said:


> i have heard through the grape vine they might start selling a few reps in the not too far future no snakes think leos and beardies what is the general feeling on this?



considering the diabolical information i've heard them give out over the years at various stores, the lack of proper sized enclosures. the lack of care alot of the staff show etc etc ( i really could go on for hours) I think it's a terrible idea! It will lead to more fad & impulse buying, backed up with incorrect advice and will get all rep owners a terrible name..it's the last thing we need to happen in my honest opinion!

They can't even sex blooming rats and lets face it they're not backwards about coming forwards in the testicular department for crying out loud.

They should just stick to selling dry goods tbh, and leave animals and especially exotics out of it.


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## jackyboy (Apr 8, 2008)

yes i kno its always the vicious one that hang on i had a gerbil last 5 years once it was a nutter


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## Salamanda (May 28, 2008)

I went there a few months back, they had a mature male and a female syrian hamster housed together!
someone will have a shock when they buy a syrian and end up with a dozen more


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## SnuffBunny (Jan 23, 2008)

I bought my Boy guinea pig Big nuts from pets at home 6 years ago.
He had a huge hole in his side and I took him back, told them he was ill, had a RI infection and alla that...they took him back and treated him for two weeks untill his chest and the hole cleared up.

He died of pnewmonia as his lungs were so scarred and always always had problems with his breathing.
Six years though...Cant complain as he was happy and spoilt and comfortable.

Little nutz, My mum come home with the tiny hairy "Blue eye'd" Little piggy 5 n half years ago...
Straight to the vets. He had cateracks. They told my mum he had blue eyes.....
Still have him though and hes a great pig and so was big nutz.
They sell duds. lol But Im really happy they have split the pigs from the rabbits as I did not agree with that at all.

Also...every fish I ever bought from there died within my "warrenty" I was spending to much cash returning dead fish and gave up.

They are cheap though?:lol2:


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## Dextersdad (Mar 28, 2008)

stephenie191 said:


> Well, you may be thinking, the pets where kept in horrible conditions, or i was given mad advice, well No, for once.
> 
> The guinea pigs have finally been seperated from the rabbits, lots of food, hay, water in pens, hamsters clean, no dead fish,
> 
> ...


Stick insects are good escape artists. It happens to the best (and worst) of us. Life goes on.


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## Luvbug19 (Feb 10, 2009)

stephenie191 said:


> Nope teesside park, i have been in the hartlepool one, but the teesside park one is bigger


Cool, might go get myself a free stick insect :whistling2:


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## LaurenJ (Jan 3, 2009)

god thats weird i went to the pets at home in stockport

and it was really nice, the aquatic section was amazing, all of the animals were well looked after 

but thought it was abit weird that there was a viv thing with torts in and then in the next tank/viv thing there was hamsters lol but everything was clean and i was really impressed cz the 1 in ashton nearer me is crap and should be shut down


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

Luvbug19 said:


> Cool, might go get myself a free stick insect :whistling2:


This was a year ago ! :lol2:


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