Pet Stores are Evil...

[Helitorian]

Yeah I know I'm being a hypocrite because I claim pet stores are evil and yet I work at PetsMart but I have a good reason. I figured since I practically live in the backyard of the second largest city in my state, I'd go check out some of the pet stores my own customers have told me about. Boy was I in for a shock.

The first one I went to was a little ma-and-pa store in a little strip mall. I had heard good things about their Amazon and was looking forward to meeting my first Zon when I went in. It wasn't hard to find the birds because the store was so small and I was stunned. They had a Jenday, two Suns, a red Electus, a B&G Macaw, the Amazon, three Parrolets, and a handful of finches budgies and cockatiels. A nice selection really except that they were all in small cages with no toys, no food and sludge for water. The Parrolets were eating seed, the Suns were very aggressive, the Jenday was scared to death of hands, the Macaw was bedraggled, the Electus was a giant ball of plucked/fluffed feathers and the Zon...well the Zon stole my heart with his soft hellos and following me around as I met the other birds. If I had the space and the cash, I would have brought the Zon and Macaw home tonight. I felt so bad for them and had to leave quickly. Thankfully, the store employees (two guys about my age of 21) weren't very friendly or I might have gotten into an argument.

The second store I visited was the polar opposite of the first one I had visited. Though cluttered, it was clean, the birds were fed Zupreem and fresh, yes FRESH veggies and they had toys and clean bedding. The only thing that I didn't like was that the Cockatoo was locked into a small cage with three perches and only two large toys. The little green cheek they've had for ten months though...yeah he stole my heart too. He also gave me my first parrot bite. The manager even admitted they never spent time with their birds but she seemed to know what she was talking about when I asked my questions.

Sorry for this long ranting post but I really had to tell you guys about my horrible adventure. Oddly enough, I find myself wanting to go back to the first store to see if they have need of another employee...like, you know, someone who knows something about birds

 

[YNAMomma]

Yeah i know the feeling, being a big animal advocate sometimes seeing the stores the way they are is painful on the heart. For awhile i worked at one of the local pet stores to try and help make the animals lives better. I filled binders with information on every animal they kept in the store and each binder came with a healthy stack of information packets about each animal they could give to potential buyers. Me and my sister worked there for a year until we felt the current staff was able to continue the care we had started and even offered to make more pamphlets any time they rand out. So like you said sometimes the only way to fix it is to take a temporary job there and do it yourself!

 

[roxynoodle]

Very hard to hear. I admit I try to stay out of pet stores that actually have animals in them, especially birds.

I got my Nanday from a pet store. She was clean at least, but the cage was this tiny plexiglass thing. She had one perch and one toy. I wasn't planning to buy a bird that day. But, I said hello to her and she started begging for my attention. So I talked to her for awhile and every time I walked away she contact called me. So finally I found an employee and asked some questions as I had never seen a Nanday before, but was familiar with conures in general. The employees weren't too enthusiastic about her (she was 8 months old and in the terrible 2's phase). I loved her though. She stepped up for me and kissed. The friend who was with me that day thought I was nuts, but I bought her. I first took her up and down the toy aisle to let her pick stuff out, found an appropriate cage and brought her home.

That very evening she came out of her cage and acted like she'd lived here her whole life and ate half my dinner, lol!

We had to deal with the whole terrible 2's thing and her domineering personality. But, she has now been my companion for a dozen years. She said her first word in only 2 weeks of being with me. It was "hello".

 

[Helitorian]

I don't know if I can get a job at the one I want to go to. If I do, I could get fired from the job I have now for conflict of interest or something like that. I just want to specialize in the birds is all. The boys can deal with the snakes and other non-feathered creatures. Heck, I'd even work for free just to see those Suns tamed, get a cuddle from the Amazon, and see the Electus with the amazing plumage it should have. Seeing them makes me want to have my own pet store just so I can show people how it's done right without jacking up the price.

 

[SunMommy]

Roxynoodle:

I love your story of how you and your nanday came to be companions.

 

[usamimi]

Your nanday story is exactly why we have our sunnie! He literally wouldnt leave us, he's practically feral the way he was treated, but he's learning. THe cages were clean but very sparse and full of sunflower seeds.

Kevin came from another pet store but this lady hand feeds all her birds. They're fed good diets, have toys and are so social!

I've dont both sides of the coin.

 

[Mamanda]

roxynoodle:

I love your story of how you and your nanday came to be companions.

me toooooo!!

 

[roxynoodle]

I'm glad you enjoyed our story of how we came together This particular pet store had a huge addition for horse tack and supplies. A friend and I went there for the after Christmas sale on those things. My last budgie had died maybe a year before, and I did want a new bird, but wasn't sure what yet. I was also planning to get one from a breeder. My friend who was with me is not a bird person. She thought Rowdy was loud, obnoxious and somewhat frightening, lol! To this day I think she is the only person Rowdy downright dislikes, but I think Rowdy knows this person doesn't like her.

At the time, too, I was about 8 months into divorced life and lonely. Rowdy was a great companion for me. A bird is just different than a dog or horse. It was very nice to have a talking animal again. She was interesting too in the fact that she never seemed to have to adjust to being in a new home. She wanted to come home with me, lol! It was maybe a whole hour of her being her when she ate dinner with me.