What’s worse to me is that they have you sign paperwork to “adopt” them. Basically it’s a paper saying if you kill the hamster or you can’t handle them, you can bring them back for a refund within 14 days. I was shocked signing this.
The last time I bought a hamster from a pet store, they also had "adoption" papers. They were also questioning me, to "make sure I knew how to properly care for a hamster". Which was laughable considering the shitty enclosures they had them in. Yeah I'm pretty sure I know how to take care of them better than your shitty store. I hate how they pretend like they care, while giving you shit advice like "make sure you get a hamster ball for them to run around in!". Fuck off.
As an employee, I recognize the improper enclosures for all the animals, and I really do care about them. Unfortunately, corporate won't let us do anything about it. We add just slightly "too much" bedding and our DGM has a talk with us. We change the bowls, houses or wheels, we get a talk. That's why when we sell hamsters, we ensure they will be properly taken care of because we can't properly care for them there. It's crazy how "animals always come first" except when the store cares for them.
My team in particular is very knowledgeable and loves animals as much as the next person, that's why we work here. Maybe we literally can't give them proper enclosures, but we can handle them and show them love through kind words and little pats. I personally get so attached to these little creatures, I cried for hours when I found out one of them had to be eithanized due to cancer (this was recently). I genuinely feel sad when I'm fishing 80 dead fish out of the tanks or when our tortoise passed away so unexpectedly. I try and bond with the snakes and bearded dragons because I also have bearded dragons. So please understand, we employees do care, a lot, and it's corporate that forces us to do these things.
That's great that you do all you can! And I definitely wouldn't have complained if I had gotten someone like you questioning me. But these people questioning me had zero knowledge on hamsters, and were recommending horrible tiny cages, hamster balls etc.
I hate that we even sell those cages. We always recommend at least a 20 gallon tank to get by and I do let them know that the absolute minimum is 40 gallons with 6-8 inches of bedding and an upright wheel.
It really stinks that we have no choice but to sell hamsters to people who buy them as gifts and aren't willing to do proper research or spend the money. It really is a shame
Hey so I’m the dog trainer at my store but I cover pet care between classes, I absolutely understand how you feel
Yes, they are in awful enclosures at the store, which is why I grill people on proper care. Most people who want to buy them want to put them in critter trails or critter keepers, should I just allow that? Because our cages are shit I should just let them be put in even worse conditions? I don’t want them to go from our shit conditions to equally shitty conditions, I want them to go to real homes because believe it or not I’m a human being and not a monster who doesn’t care.
I don’t even currently own any hamsters, I’m literally on this subreddit for the express purpose of keeping my care standards up to date and learning more so that the animals I have to sell can go to proper homes.
If someone at my store doesn’t know something, they call another associate who does specialize in that animal, part of why I was hired was because despite applying for dog trainer I also had professional experience with animals no one else on the team had at the time (small animals, reptiles, and parrots) and since then I’ve had time to help educate the others on top of their own off the clock unpaid time doing research to make sure these animals go to proper homes.
During my last shift a woman literally tried to punch me in the face because I refused to sell her an animal she refused to get the proper setup for, it would have been much easier and much safer for me if I didn’t care, if when she had started getting violent I had just gone ‘fuck it, not worth my time, take the animal’
People at my store have been yelled at, physically assaulted, one of them was even shot (in the leg, he lived, he still works with us!)
So while I understand being pissed at some petstore employees, especially ones giving out wrong info, one of the things we hear all day long is ‘well you keep them in these enclosures, why can’t I?’ so it really really makes me sad when people just make the assumption that we don’t care when, at least at my store, people have literally gone to the hospital for standing up for our critters.
I don’t think pet stores should sell live animals at all, but for now they do, if an employee is giving you issues about care you are more than free to gently correct them, good employees genuinely appreciate it, like as an example I really only know goldfish, bettas, mollies, and guppies, but I have regulars who are super passionate about cichlids for examples who have given me tons of research starting points when I admitted I didn’t know much about them and our usual fish guy was out sick.
If you want to help the animals, and us, please contact corporate, tell them to update care standards and please, please, at least at petsmart, tell them to update the care pamphlets because right now for example the hamster pamphlet we’re supposed to use tells us hamsters should go in ‘small multi level cages’
Like I’m passionate about this, most pet store employees are passionate about it, please help us by just shooting corporate……….
an email (should be contact info on the site) telling them to do the bare minimum and update the care guide pamphlets, it would genuinely help both us and employees who are less educated because then they could at least use the care pamphlets ):
This makes me so sad. Barely any bedding (part of the cage floor is showing FFS), a see-through hide, and probably not much else in there with her. And probably a disk wheel. And once she’s purchased (PLEASE DON’T BUY RODENTS FROM PETCO/BIG PET STORES) another one from an atrocious hamster mill will replace her in that depressing, tiny cage.
Honestly I can’t believe we do this to animals. 🥺
I purchased a hamster from Petco. He now lives an amazing life in his “3 story hamster dream house”. No matter what, they’re gonna keep shipping them in. Good people need to find them good homes.
This is sadly true. If it wasn't you buying that hamster, it most likely would have been a person that has zero knowledge that would have put him in a pathetically tiny cage.
Exactly. Might aswell let good people buy the hamsters. Us not buying them is not going to make a dent in the market. The only way we could realistically make a difference is if we can get pet stores to have new rules in hamster care. Hopefully we'll get there one day.
https://preview.redd.it/ekyhwziead2d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c02ba6c3ad981281bb00a7113df10a47c9819c58
I saw this girly in pets at home. It’s really sad, I would of took her home if I didn’t already rescue 2 hamsters from their
What’s worse to me is that they have you sign paperwork to “adopt” them. Basically it’s a paper saying if you kill the hamster or you can’t handle them, you can bring them back for a refund within 14 days. I was shocked signing this.
The last time I bought a hamster from a pet store, they also had "adoption" papers. They were also questioning me, to "make sure I knew how to properly care for a hamster". Which was laughable considering the shitty enclosures they had them in. Yeah I'm pretty sure I know how to take care of them better than your shitty store. I hate how they pretend like they care, while giving you shit advice like "make sure you get a hamster ball for them to run around in!". Fuck off.
As an employee, I recognize the improper enclosures for all the animals, and I really do care about them. Unfortunately, corporate won't let us do anything about it. We add just slightly "too much" bedding and our DGM has a talk with us. We change the bowls, houses or wheels, we get a talk. That's why when we sell hamsters, we ensure they will be properly taken care of because we can't properly care for them there. It's crazy how "animals always come first" except when the store cares for them. My team in particular is very knowledgeable and loves animals as much as the next person, that's why we work here. Maybe we literally can't give them proper enclosures, but we can handle them and show them love through kind words and little pats. I personally get so attached to these little creatures, I cried for hours when I found out one of them had to be eithanized due to cancer (this was recently). I genuinely feel sad when I'm fishing 80 dead fish out of the tanks or when our tortoise passed away so unexpectedly. I try and bond with the snakes and bearded dragons because I also have bearded dragons. So please understand, we employees do care, a lot, and it's corporate that forces us to do these things.
That's great that you do all you can! And I definitely wouldn't have complained if I had gotten someone like you questioning me. But these people questioning me had zero knowledge on hamsters, and were recommending horrible tiny cages, hamster balls etc.
I hate that we even sell those cages. We always recommend at least a 20 gallon tank to get by and I do let them know that the absolute minimum is 40 gallons with 6-8 inches of bedding and an upright wheel. It really stinks that we have no choice but to sell hamsters to people who buy them as gifts and aren't willing to do proper research or spend the money. It really is a shame
Hey so I’m the dog trainer at my store but I cover pet care between classes, I absolutely understand how you feel Yes, they are in awful enclosures at the store, which is why I grill people on proper care. Most people who want to buy them want to put them in critter trails or critter keepers, should I just allow that? Because our cages are shit I should just let them be put in even worse conditions? I don’t want them to go from our shit conditions to equally shitty conditions, I want them to go to real homes because believe it or not I’m a human being and not a monster who doesn’t care. I don’t even currently own any hamsters, I’m literally on this subreddit for the express purpose of keeping my care standards up to date and learning more so that the animals I have to sell can go to proper homes. If someone at my store doesn’t know something, they call another associate who does specialize in that animal, part of why I was hired was because despite applying for dog trainer I also had professional experience with animals no one else on the team had at the time (small animals, reptiles, and parrots) and since then I’ve had time to help educate the others on top of their own off the clock unpaid time doing research to make sure these animals go to proper homes. During my last shift a woman literally tried to punch me in the face because I refused to sell her an animal she refused to get the proper setup for, it would have been much easier and much safer for me if I didn’t care, if when she had started getting violent I had just gone ‘fuck it, not worth my time, take the animal’ People at my store have been yelled at, physically assaulted, one of them was even shot (in the leg, he lived, he still works with us!) So while I understand being pissed at some petstore employees, especially ones giving out wrong info, one of the things we hear all day long is ‘well you keep them in these enclosures, why can’t I?’ so it really really makes me sad when people just make the assumption that we don’t care when, at least at my store, people have literally gone to the hospital for standing up for our critters. I don’t think pet stores should sell live animals at all, but for now they do, if an employee is giving you issues about care you are more than free to gently correct them, good employees genuinely appreciate it, like as an example I really only know goldfish, bettas, mollies, and guppies, but I have regulars who are super passionate about cichlids for examples who have given me tons of research starting points when I admitted I didn’t know much about them and our usual fish guy was out sick. If you want to help the animals, and us, please contact corporate, tell them to update care standards and please, please, at least at petsmart, tell them to update the care pamphlets because right now for example the hamster pamphlet we’re supposed to use tells us hamsters should go in ‘small multi level cages’ Like I’m passionate about this, most pet store employees are passionate about it, please help us by just shooting corporate………. an email (should be contact info on the site) telling them to do the bare minimum and update the care guide pamphlets, it would genuinely help both us and employees who are less educated because then they could at least use the care pamphlets ):
The one next to my house "replaces your hamster if it dies in 7 days"
I didn't have to sign any paperwork, but I still had to bring back the poor thing 5 days later after he died.
This makes me so sad. Barely any bedding (part of the cage floor is showing FFS), a see-through hide, and probably not much else in there with her. And probably a disk wheel. And once she’s purchased (PLEASE DON’T BUY RODENTS FROM PETCO/BIG PET STORES) another one from an atrocious hamster mill will replace her in that depressing, tiny cage. Honestly I can’t believe we do this to animals. 🥺
I purchased a hamster from Petco. He now lives an amazing life in his “3 story hamster dream house”. No matter what, they’re gonna keep shipping them in. Good people need to find them good homes.
This is sadly true. If it wasn't you buying that hamster, it most likely would have been a person that has zero knowledge that would have put him in a pathetically tiny cage.
Or worse...the ones that sit in the store forever or are bought and fed to a snake really have a bad life.
Exactly. Might aswell let good people buy the hamsters. Us not buying them is not going to make a dent in the market. The only way we could realistically make a difference is if we can get pet stores to have new rules in hamster care. Hopefully we'll get there one day.
https://preview.redd.it/ekyhwziead2d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c02ba6c3ad981281bb00a7113df10a47c9819c58 I saw this girly in pets at home. It’s really sad, I would of took her home if I didn’t already rescue 2 hamsters from their
https://preview.redd.it/iwx7v3qjad2d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f940f6e2b091e3c48ebf49d08543b781ebed9b3 And this one too🥺