Cross Breeds

A few questions concerning local pet stores?

First of all... Why is it that there is absolutely NOTHING on the internet about where petsmart and petco get their animals? I don't know why I'm even asking, because I have a pretty good clue. They're in some type of warehouse, cages everywhere, and hundreds upon thousands of animals stuck together in pairs. Probably a lot are related, meaning inbreeding. There's no WAY you can keep that many cages clean.. So there's probably lots of diseases going on, correct? The females are never separated from the males, so they're pretty much pregnant for most of lives. When they can't mate anymore, they're probably thrown away. Now, I've never been to one of these places petsmart and petco call their "suppliers" so I don't know for sure. All I know is I bought two adorable gerbils back in March. They both died. I bought two new ones. Cleaned everything up, including toys, and put 'em in. They both died as well. This time Petsmart said they were going to document everything to build a case, as someone else's new gerbil died as well. They would also be contacting their headquarters and their supplier. They also told me their supplier supplies every pet store in the metroplex. I live in a HUGE area. (Dallas/Fort Worth) And, that is how I came to my assumption. While the employees were very helpful and answered questions and whatnot, I still won't be buying for quite some time until the problem is fixed... and unfortunately, in my huge area, there are no active breeders, either. :( So I'm stuck. So, I've decided to give up on gerbils for awhile. I'm going to get a couple guinea pigs at the end of the month, and I was wondering if it'd probably be the same thing with the piggies? Do you think it's the same supplier? Or a different one? Any insight to this whole matter would be appreciated. I just don't like the fact that there are what I assume to be horrible places out there breeding these poor little animals. They don't have voices, just like cats and dogs, but yet everyone jumps to speak out against the horrible puppy mills... Isn't it time for some action for the smaller members of our families, too?

Public Comments

1. Petco or petsmart (forget which one) get their live small animals from a supplier in texas called "RainbowExotics" or something along those lines. It is common knowledge that small animals from pet stores are often sick and unhealthy. Instead of supporting this cruelty, why not adopt a pair of guinea pigs? There are hundreds in your area alone in rescues, and they are often very nice pigs. You can also try and find an ethical breeder, but that is a little harder. Good luck. Edit/ Rainbow exotics is also a feeder breeder mill. They breed rats, mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs as snake food. The nicer looking ones get shipped out as pets.
2. Ok, let me explain a basic business practice to you. You buy inventory from many different people, and keep it in a warehouse. Then you sell it to other people. Its called being the middle-man. Its entirely possible that the 'supplier' that Petco/Petsmart gets their gerbils from is actually a group of breeders that get together and are represented by one business. Think of it this way- Land of Lakes butter doesn't have one farm where they they keep cows, they have hundreds of small farms that all keep to certain standards and sell their milk to the company.
3. I've actually seen a video of a person who went undercover and worked in one of the supplier places and took video of what happened. It was very disturbing.
4. Each place will get their animals from a supplier in their relatively local area, since it is infeasible to deliver animals nationwide from a single business. Any places within a reasonable driving distance likely get their animals from the same supplier though. If you object to the animals being raised to be sold, buy them from private breeders or adopt. A business is going to only sacrifice enough caring to keep their profits. And stores don't make much profits on animals, they make profits on the supplies. However if no one has the animals, they won't profit on supplies.
5. Sounds more like a speech than a couple questions :P But I agree, small animals have been given the short end of the stick for way too long. And I think it would please everybody to know that their pets are coming from a reliable, sanitary source, but that is never going to happen. These places are in business to make money, not to improve he lives of small animals, sadly.. I have bought almost all my small animals from petsmart, mostly being hamsters. And I've never had any issues. But only one lives over 2 years, which is average for a hamster. And i've had about 9 haha. My current hamster is about a year old and no problems so far. I now have 3 guinea pigs. My female I got for free from a friend of my moms, and I wanted to get her a friend because piggies do better in pairs, and I went to Petco. There I bought a "female" and 2 months later I had 3 babies... So the workers were at fault in that cause. Honestly it is probably from the same supplier. Even if you can't find a breeder local animal shelters usually have small animals as well. You may want to try doing some research to find one in your area. And I know it's a bit contradicting. but although I am totally against the way these supplier probably treat small animals, I WANT to buy my small pets from these places because I know I can provide a good home. And it IS showing support to a bad cause, but there's almost no way of avoiding it :/
6. That's why I buy my gerbils from non chain pet stores that bred their own. I got to meet the mom of my gerbil and all the siblings.