LexieHeg
I'm a Hedgie kinda girl
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2011
- Messages
- 174
I had my first bought of hedgehog advocacy which apparently develops after purchasing a hedgehog.
I bought Lexie from a pet store - although I had done lots of research on her, none of it included forums where I learned after purchasing her that pet stores are a no-no.
The store we got her from seemed pretty good. She was alone in her cage because she was a female, she had good bedding and a hut and some fun stuff so I didn't know what all the huff was about with pet stores.....Now I do.
This weekend we went to another pet store we used to go to all the time before we got Lex - a fairly large chain here in Canada - to see the puppies. As soon as I walked in, my heart sank. There were these two open glass enclosures that were attached in groups of four (so 8 cages). They were full of fun stuff, good bedding and the like which was good but what really got to me was that they are kid height so that kids can pick up and touch. The enclosures are side by side so you had rats, hamsters, bunnies and hedgehogs in one and these kids kept picking up tiny teddy bear hamsters and dropping them in the WRONG enclosures. Their parents were laughing like it was cute. A 2 foot fall for a teddy bear hamster into a cage full of rats or hedgehogs could mean death or serious injury. It is not funny, I wanted to scream at these parents.
Then I noticed the hedgehogs on the end....3 adults to a small enclosure. The guy at the store said they don't pick up the hedgehogs because they're nasty (well...hmmm....I wonder why they'd be grumpy with all those bright lights, noises, screaming kids.. and one small hut to three hedgehogs..... the poor things were sleeping out in the kerfuffle because they couldn't all fit inside). I asked him what sex they were and he said he "didn't know but probably both, you can't tell with hedgehogs cause everything is inside" <-- uh, have you ever looked?. I asked him if he knew they were nocturnal and that's probably why they were so grumpy...and he said so were hamsters and they are sweet and cute in the day. :hair:
So after picking them all up and discovering there was at least one male with two females in the cage, I start lecturing him on the fact that they were risking sending home a pregnant hedgehog. He said he just works there and blah blah blah...the manager was just as unhelpful and kept reiterating that their enclosures are meant as a temporary basis not long term...and my response to that was, "oh then you'll be fine because hedgehogs don't breed in cages meant for temporary homes so never mind then!". :hair: After a very unsuccessful discussion with this guy, I did manage to get some email addresses for the headquarters that I have already sent scathing emails to and my rant hopefully educated the customers who were considering buying the hedgehogs as well so they don't get any surprises a couple weeks after bringing their girls home.
The hardest thing was as soon as me and my fiance picked up the hedgies, we cupped them in our hands right against our bodies to give them some privacy and they immediately relaxed and turned into the sweetest little things...the poor things were probably tormented by all the noise and lights and grasping hands because every kid from here to timbukto wants to touch a hedgehog. The guy working at the store kept saying we must have a "way" with hedgehogs to make these ones so sweet...... so I very frankly told him if they had any idea of how to care for a hedgehog, they'd be amazed at how wonderful they could be. :impatient:
I have been to this store a hundred times and never did they have these open glass enclosures for kids to man handle all the scared little animals. Actually the reason I liked this store was how large and comfy the puppy and cat cages were but apparently small animals don't get that same consideration. It was an absolute gong show and I will never return to that store for anything.
The fact that kids were running wild dropping, squeezing and hitting everything with a heart beat made me sick and their parents were just sitting back allowing it to happen - they didn't even try to teach their kids how to properly handle these animals and the store employees were even worse. No wonder so many pet store animals die. :banghead:
Sorry for the long winded rant...I'm just so disappointed in all of this and even more so that in a store packed full of people we were the only two who felt these clearly mistreated animals deserved better. :no:
I bought Lexie from a pet store - although I had done lots of research on her, none of it included forums where I learned after purchasing her that pet stores are a no-no.
The store we got her from seemed pretty good. She was alone in her cage because she was a female, she had good bedding and a hut and some fun stuff so I didn't know what all the huff was about with pet stores.....Now I do.
This weekend we went to another pet store we used to go to all the time before we got Lex - a fairly large chain here in Canada - to see the puppies. As soon as I walked in, my heart sank. There were these two open glass enclosures that were attached in groups of four (so 8 cages). They were full of fun stuff, good bedding and the like which was good but what really got to me was that they are kid height so that kids can pick up and touch. The enclosures are side by side so you had rats, hamsters, bunnies and hedgehogs in one and these kids kept picking up tiny teddy bear hamsters and dropping them in the WRONG enclosures. Their parents were laughing like it was cute. A 2 foot fall for a teddy bear hamster into a cage full of rats or hedgehogs could mean death or serious injury. It is not funny, I wanted to scream at these parents.
Then I noticed the hedgehogs on the end....3 adults to a small enclosure. The guy at the store said they don't pick up the hedgehogs because they're nasty (well...hmmm....I wonder why they'd be grumpy with all those bright lights, noises, screaming kids.. and one small hut to three hedgehogs..... the poor things were sleeping out in the kerfuffle because they couldn't all fit inside). I asked him what sex they were and he said he "didn't know but probably both, you can't tell with hedgehogs cause everything is inside" <-- uh, have you ever looked?. I asked him if he knew they were nocturnal and that's probably why they were so grumpy...and he said so were hamsters and they are sweet and cute in the day. :hair:
So after picking them all up and discovering there was at least one male with two females in the cage, I start lecturing him on the fact that they were risking sending home a pregnant hedgehog. He said he just works there and blah blah blah...the manager was just as unhelpful and kept reiterating that their enclosures are meant as a temporary basis not long term...and my response to that was, "oh then you'll be fine because hedgehogs don't breed in cages meant for temporary homes so never mind then!". :hair: After a very unsuccessful discussion with this guy, I did manage to get some email addresses for the headquarters that I have already sent scathing emails to and my rant hopefully educated the customers who were considering buying the hedgehogs as well so they don't get any surprises a couple weeks after bringing their girls home.
The hardest thing was as soon as me and my fiance picked up the hedgies, we cupped them in our hands right against our bodies to give them some privacy and they immediately relaxed and turned into the sweetest little things...the poor things were probably tormented by all the noise and lights and grasping hands because every kid from here to timbukto wants to touch a hedgehog. The guy working at the store kept saying we must have a "way" with hedgehogs to make these ones so sweet...... so I very frankly told him if they had any idea of how to care for a hedgehog, they'd be amazed at how wonderful they could be. :impatient:
I have been to this store a hundred times and never did they have these open glass enclosures for kids to man handle all the scared little animals. Actually the reason I liked this store was how large and comfy the puppy and cat cages were but apparently small animals don't get that same consideration. It was an absolute gong show and I will never return to that store for anything.
The fact that kids were running wild dropping, squeezing and hitting everything with a heart beat made me sick and their parents were just sitting back allowing it to happen - they didn't even try to teach their kids how to properly handle these animals and the store employees were even worse. No wonder so many pet store animals die. :banghead:
Sorry for the long winded rant...I'm just so disappointed in all of this and even more so that in a store packed full of people we were the only two who felt these clearly mistreated animals deserved better. :no:
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Fortunately no petstores in my area have hogs, otherwise I would be raising ****.
