Pet Store Horror....

[chinchatcomics]

So I was walking by my local pet store in the mall and noticed a ferret cage out front with some kids looking inside. I came up closer and realized they were pointing at a little grey chin who was huddling in the corner with his ears down.

I realized he was afraid due to the amount of noise a mall walk way has and then I looked closer into the PLASTIC dome, an saw there were 4 MORE chins all in this one cage.

The size of the cage I wouldn't use for more than 2 full grown chins, so to see these 4 babies was heart breaking. They look no more than 13-14 weeks of age..

It gets worse, the bedding they used for these chins was PINE. Like someone basically thought these were hamsters and threw in the same bedding you'd use for them. Poor things, and they didn't even have a proper water bottle...they were using a small bowl that had dirty water from the pine bedding.

The food look safe enough, but the conditions were appalling. I asked a sales person about how much they were selling the chins for, she had no idea between the ebony, standard and one was even labeled "Fancy"...seriously, how ignorant can you get!

I asked her about the bedding and told her pine was dangerous, but she shrugged it off and asked me to leave if I didn't wasn't going to purchase one.

Agh, it's been bothering me but I feel really helpless for these poor guys. Any advice?

 

[chinchatcomics]

Oh, not to mention they were all supposed to be "boys" but who knows...

I stuck my finger in and gave scritches to one of the little guys, I felt so bad...

 

[Hammie]

UGH!! That's terrible! :hair: If it's a chain store, I'd call corporate. Look into whether or not there are any local adopt don't shop groups who could protest or at least know what steps to take/whom to call. My boyfriend's group essentially ran Furry Babies right out of town. The dirty water is probably the biggest issue as far as non-chin lovers would see.

 

[tunes]

Plenty of people use pine, all large breeders, and pretty much most hobbyists with more than 50 chins. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them being on pine. I have used pine for 10 years and my chins are just fine.

As far as cage size - I don't want to sound like a mean, evil breeder, but what pet folks think of as an "adequate" cage, most breeders would run screaming from. Most large ranchers breed in 4 hole runs, maybe 3 hole. That's a 24 x 48 inch block of cages, divided into either 3 or 4 equal sized cages. Most of my breeders are in cages that are considered very large by ranch standards. Mine are in 24 x 24 x 12 inch high cages.

 

[Encantadora]

My concern from this is the water bowl. They need to have access to fresh water and were probably not drinking out of what you described.

 

[SarahKay]

This is something you kind of have to get used to. The pet store I used to stop by had a large mesh wire bottom which was incredibly dangerous, atrocious looking food, dust bath 24/7, a lot of plastic, and an infected looking foot which was being completely ignored. Most stores have a lot of plastic and often carefresh bedding which is not the safest for chins. To top that, 90% of what they sell "for chinchillas" is horribly unsafe. There's not really much you can do unless you've got the time, space, and money to buy them out.

 

[Essentia]

I also use pine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it as long as it is kiln dried.

 

[Isabella Whateva]

I think you're confusing pine with cedar. Cedar has toxic oils in it that give respiratory problems to most rodents. But that is pretty sad about the rest of the conditions. Even I get scared and startled walking around a mall

 

[chinchatcomics]

You're right, I'm probably confusing pine with cedar...
I know there's not much anyone can do, i definitely don't have the funds or room to buy those chins...can only hope for the best that someone will take them home =_=

The store isn't part of a chain (I checked earlier), and yes the water bowl versus actually having a proper water bottle for them was the worst...

And the prices!! $299 for a "Lilac" chinchilla? The lady didn't even know which one was the lilac...argh

 

[Pikaia]

Yeah, I run into this kind of stuff at Pets Supplies Plus. It's just the way it is. At least Pets Supplies has a proper water bottle. They like to leave the dust in their 24/7 for the chins to poop/pee in. Not the best idea there. It can really break your heart. You can sometimes call and report it to a 1-800 number for larger pet store chains, but if those small stores are unwilling to listen, there's not much you can do. Unless they are actually abusing the pets....

I also use pine. It is fine as long as it's kiln dried.

 

[Andrea]

Actually the care doesn't sound too atrocious compared to some pet stores I've seen...my main concern would be the water bowl. One of our local pet stores keeps chins in aquariums with water dishes and rotting veggies. I have reported them multiple times but nothing has happened. The guinea pigs have it even worse...so many in each enclosure that they are crawling on top of each other...so sad.

 

[Remyma0408]

I didn't read the other responses, but uh... pine? What's wrong with pine shavings? I've been using pine for YEARS. In fact, that's ALL I've ever used for my chins and I've had chins a while.

I think the really "alarming" thing you mentioned was that chinchillas are nocturnal and basically they were being disturbed in their sleep period by loud mall-goers. Oh, and the water bowl. They should have a bottle.

But a petstore is a petstore. They don't know nearly as much as they claim to know about small animals.

 

[chinchatcomics]

A quick update on that petstore, I went back last Friday and the four little boys were still in the cage together. Some improvements:
-finally a NORMAL waterbottle, it's plastic but albeit better than before...
-cage size hasn't changed but they moved them out of the front of the store and inside more, where it's less noisy

other than that, the chins look healthy and curious, I really wanted to take one home so bad...it was a little ebony and he was very sweet, he wanted scritches all over!

 

[ratsnchins2011]

I ran into the same thing at my local pet store. They have those glass enclosures, with like no ventilation and jam way too many chins into such a small cage. And there is always a plastic igloo which is chewed up and a wheel that they can get toes and tails caught it. So one day i pretended i was interested in one and the sales lady tried to sell me all the wrong things, and even told me chins are very cuddly creaturea and not to give them hay that it would make them very sick. Needless to say they now know i own chins and don't bother to try to spew their garbage facts at me anymore. I just feel so bad for the chins

 

[Anna]

It's really hard to see chins like that, and hard to not feel the need to rescue them! The pet store will restock and more chins will end up in conditions like that. It always makes me really sad when I see that at places like Petco.

 

[ticklechin]

You don't want pet stores to sell chins, then also protest those that sell chins to pet stores. The whole topic gets old when there is alot of whining and no action.

 

[xoxoimhers]

i was wondering why pine bedding is not safe for chinchillas but pine ledges are??

 

[rem]

Pine bedding is safe for chins, I prefer aspen; but ultimately it's a personal choice. The bedding that is not safe is cedar, it releases toxins that can cause extreme respiratory problems.

 

[xoxoimhis]

Pine bedding is safe for chins, I prefer aspen; but ultimately it's a personal choice. The bedding that is not safe is cedar, it releases toxins that can cause extreme respiratory problems.

what, in everyone's opinion, is the best bedding to use??
we use this kind and it is a blend of pine, spruce and fir.

is this okay?? i hear such GREAT things about carefresh,
and we tried it before, but it is pricier. but if that is the
safest or better option, we wouldn't mind switching over.
we don't want to jeopardize their health to save a few bucks.​

 

[ChinnyMom]

spruce is toxic to chins, so stop using that bedding asap. switch over to kiln dried 100% pine or aspen shavings.

Carefresh IMO is not safe. it is a paper product that expands when wet, so if a chin were to eat it, it would cause a blockage in their digestive system.

I use a fleece liner on the cage floor (really just a folded piece of fleece so it's two layers, as only one of my liners is actually a nice sewn one <thanks to AnnieO!>), and there is a corner litter bowl in the cage with kd pine shavings in it. the combo works pretty good. Rhino does have a tendency to pee on his fleece now and then but makes it to the litter bowl most of the time. i change out his fleece liner every couple to few days and pre-soak them (a couple at a time, i have 3 liners) in a bucket with laundry soap and a touch of Borax for a while before they hit the washing machine. i wash liners with my clothes, on warm, and have no qualms about them in with the regular laundry. i use scent-free detergent.