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hellohedgie

Active member
Joined
Jun 11, 2009
Messages
40
Location
chicago
hi, i am a hedgie owner but i will soon be introduced to some chins that will be coming into the corporate pet store that i work at. i just wanted to say hi and that i will be reading and probably posting a couple things here and there as i may have some questions or comments. i am not sure exactly when we will start selling the little guys but i wanted to make sure that i know exactly how to take care of them so i can put them with good families and inform them with good information. i know i will tell them about this forum because it has helped me so much with my hedgehog.

so hello everyone on the chin side!
 
Where in Chicago is this store?? Maybe some of our members live near it, and could check it out!
 
that's great! After you get a little more buffed on your info-you should make a little booklet to send home with them!


Welcome to the dark side, once you're in there's no going back :tease:
 
im actually located in a far north suburb called mchenry... pretty close to wisconsin. but its actually a petsmart, and not all petsmarts have chins but i think petsmart is trying to start selling them in more stores around the country so for you chin lovers out there go check out the stores in the near future and ask because they may be coming in for them also

we have a careguide that we provide for our customers and i took one home to read over and see if its missing any important information that i might find here.

it says a minimum cage size is 30"L x 29"W x 18" H, is this pretty standard or still on the small side? i always try to get people to buy bigger than what is on the careguide because i want the best for the animals that go home to new families
 
oh yeah, and i am also kind of worried about the temperature required for them. our store is awful hot in the summer!! they need 65 to 75 degrees and the past two weeks have been rather warm and we have thermometers on the habitats and the small pets has been to 75 pretty often. i am going to mention this to my managers
 
I think it is wonderful that you are here and learning about chin's proper care. I've seen my local Petsmart with their first chin for sell, in a very small enclosure, with a plastic hidey house and plastic wheel. It makes me cringe and feel sorry for him when I see him. Learn all you can and hopefully your managers will be open to providing their chins with the best care.
 
It's a shame that Petsmart is going to start carrying more chins, but if they are, at least it's good that the person caring for them is taking the time to actually learn how. In my book, that makes you head and shoulders above the other employees I've talked to at different pet stores. Good for you!
 
I agree, it's unfortunate that they want to put them in more stores..

As far as things, for chins, obviously the larger the cage the better. But most cages at pet stores aren't good for chins.. Chins can chew through plastic so those plastic bottom ones aren't the best, they work for temp homes or if you're lucky and have a chin that doesn't chew through plastic.

Also, if you carry Mazuri chinchilla food, please recommend that for the chins over any of the other feeds. Definitely not the Kaytee Charlie Chin as that is filled with treats which are bad for chins. Mazuri is the best food you can get at a petstore, or if they carry Oxbow that would work too.
 
wow Mchenry, I was in Mchenry yesterday on my way to the vets in Fox lake...or was that Monday..I am in Cary. If you want to see in person how to handle chinchillas and how to care for them You could come by. sad that they will be selling chinchillas, but good someone there wants to learn about them
 
eroomlorac, thats cool that youre from dekalb, i have a couple friends at niu and i go there once in a while.

we do carry this mazuri brand but what we feed the pets we have comes in bulk bags and idk if wed get that brand but i could ask about this too.

i will also go through the empolyee habitat set up guide this week and check out what exactly petsmart requires in chin set ups at the store. they recently changed these guides and we had to change a lot of things in the store last week so the chin set up might be different than what anyones seen in the past.

unfortunately, the kaytee timothy hay thing i dont like i can do much about. thats what we use for all of our pets and up until yesterday i didnt know that it wasnt the best option for pets. i never had anything to compare it to. but what i can do is inform people on where they should get their hay when they take a chin home.
 
Welcome to the chinnie side and kudos for taking such an interest in the little guys!

At least at our local Petsmart, they do carry the Oxbow hay, so although you may not have control over what they eat at the store, you can direct them to the good stuff. I would also advise against most of the "treats" sold there and instead suggest simple things like rolled oats and shredded wheat. As far as cages, some of the smaller ones are still ok, like the All Living Things chin cage (no plastic and sufficient for a single chin), but most people love the Ferret Nation cages, if your store carries those.
 
I am glad to know you are looking into chin care. I bought Trixie from a Pet Store..but only because the person I dealt with was a chin owner herself, and took the time to answer my questions fully. She even let me call my husband so she could talk to him as well. A few weeks later I stopped back in with a picture of Trixie in her new cage we had bought, and she was so pleased she asked if she could keep it at the store to show other customers.
 
starleomach, awesome that youre in the area too i really want to learn as much as possible.

i work with a couple really dedicated people and others i dont trust as much so im trying to make up for what they lack but i can only get them to absorb and do so much. i want to pass as much information on as possible. i know that one of my co workers owns a chin and she knows what shes talking about and i am hoping she can show me the ropes with her chin
 
Well if you or any of your co-workers would like to come by just let me know and we can set something up. I would be happy to know if selling chinchillas atleast people will be able to pass on how to care for them
 
this is so amazing!!! im new to chins and got gizmo from a petsmart. the people knew nothing but luckily im addicted to internet forums (yahoo) and Tunes directed me to this site.

the other day i ventured to the nearest petsmart (i live on an island) and was so happy to see that they sold mazuri and oxbow hay. so i stocked up! and i took the last of the mazuri so its good to know that other chin owners still buy mazuri even though the other food is always marked down. please let the owners know not to buy the plastic wheel, the honey logs, any of the fruit snacks, and the scented dust (petsmart really needs to pull scented dust off the shlves). and i say all that because i bought each of those items when i first got gizmo. its been a bit pricey to fix those mistakes so let them know what works. sometimes i want to go into petsmart and put post-its on some of the items just so people dont buy them.

i saw a "now hiring" ad while leaving my petsmart and wanted to apply just so i could educate people on chinchillas but unfortunately it'd be half an hour drive to and from. but good job for being such a caring employee!!
 
hellohedgie...It's great that you are here to learn about chins! I agree with what's been said about selling chins in pet stores but the fact that the chins in your store have you on their side is a huge plus!

its been a bit pricey to fix those mistakes so let them know what works
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sometimes i want to go into petsmart and put post-its on some of the items just so people dont buy them.
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Luci this is exactly how I feel :(
Another item chins shouldn't have in their cage are those hide-out houses that are made out of plywood.
 
yeah, i know how you guys feel. a lot of the things in petsmart and other pet stores arnt good and thats why i try to inform people to the best of my ability. its really hard to get people to buy the right things especially when the store isnt supplying these things...

people always want to go to the cheaper options... smaller cages.. low quality food... cheep filters... and those are just small examples... i have people come in everyday that have had pets for months sometimes years and they have no idea what theyre doing and what their pets needs are. its very frustrating.

our chins wont be here for about another three weeks so im just trying to prepare myself and everyone else. i read the facts page and now im just doing a lot of browsing.
 
our chins wont be here for about another three weeks so im just trying to prepare myself and everyone else. i read the facts page and now im just doing a lot of browsing.
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I think you're doing a great job so far! :thumbsup:
 
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