Success at the petstore!

[hemi_mygirl]

I've been after the petstores here for awhile now, to increase the living space for hedgehogs since they won't put a wheel in the cage, as well as giving chins something more than an aquarium.

The other day, I visited three petstore locations, and noticed that each hedgehog has a cage about 2 feet long, by 1.5 feet wide, and a nice BIG hidey house. Next step is better food (pretty pets, yuck!) and hopefully, a wheel. There was one cage with two hedgehogs in, and after checking, both are female and extremely friendly, and healthy looking.

The chins were moved to a 4 level cage, complete with wooden chews and a hammock. The big issue I have to raise next is the plastic hidey house and a plastic/rubber dog chew bone. Since I'm not experienced with chins, I didn't ask to hold them, but from what I saw, bright eyes, nice fur, and no drooling.

I just wanted to rave about that. For nearly a year, I've been after three PJ Pets locations here in Edmonton, and they finally listened!

[Vincent]

Eeh, I'm so proud of you! :D I haven't had the chance to harass anyone around here, although I'm always investigating.

...it's people like us who make pet store owners cower in fear, I think. Lol!

[hemi_mygirl]

LOL, I think they want to run when they see me coming. I go in at least once every few weeks and inspect the hedgehogs. I remember visiting a PJs location, and finding that a large male was in with a very tiny female. I raised a bit of a ruckus, and the next day, she had been moved to her own cage. Luckily, there were no babies.

I've been warned about "mean" hedgehogs, yet I've never been bitten by these petstore babies. LOL.

From my schooling, I've learned a marketing approach works best. To get the larger cages, I made a remark to the cashier about how a larger cage would better display the hedgehogs, and promote proper care. More running space would keep the hedgehogs healthy. They also raised the price to nearly $200 per hedgehog, which is fine. It helps weed out impulse buying.

Next step is telling them a dead chin won't sell, so they'd better consider getting rid of the plastic hidey houses in their cages. At least, business school is coming in handy in some ways.

[Vincent]

LOL! Yeah, before I bought Vincent, I would stare at pet store hedgehogs but never touch them for fear of being 'stabbed'. Now that I'm immune to the quills, I'll scoop them up with my bare hands and listen to the employees gasp in horror. I saw one person put on gloves, THEN pick up a hedgehog with a towel!

Just out of curiousity, though, who do you usually talk to? The only place that sells hedgehogs around here is PetLand, and I've been wanting to go in and check the hedgehogs to make sure they were sexed. When I bought Vincent and asked whether or not he was a boy, they told me that they never sexed rodents when they got them. Now I really want to go back and make sure their new batch is all girls or all boys... but do you talk to employees, or ask to talk to the manager?

[Missmegz]

Rodents? REALLY?!? If a petsore can't tell the difference between a RODENT and an INSECTIVORE, oh my gosh. Admittedly it's not common knowledge but they should at least know WHAT the pets they sell are.

[hemi_mygirl]

I speak to the employees first, and see how far that gets me. If they're not receptive to listening to me, I ask to speak to the manager, and lay out the details from a profit point of view. Usually, the employees are pretty good, especially if you're civil and don't raise a fuss in front of other customers. Usually, one hangs around as I'm handling the babies, and playing with them, and I casually mention that they sexed one wrong, and a baby female shouldn't be bred, because she could die, or have difficulties. Then I mention that they should move her to a cage in the back, just in case she was pregnant, so she wouldn't stress out. They're usually pretty good about that, since they know me.

Sometimes, they ask me if I'm sure I know what I'm doing. I just tell them that I've been around animals my entire life, and own a hedgehog right now, and have fostered two others. Sometimes, they'll quiz me about hedgehog related things, but most times, they just take my word for it. As long as I'm civil, they'll be as well.

When I go in to pick up hedgehogs, the employees stand back and ask me if I'm afraid of getting poked. I've had customers come up and ask me questions as I'm cuddling the babies. I just always stress they make great pets, but they have certain diet and temperature requirements that make their care alot different than a cat or dog. I tell them about Hemi's vet costs, and everything. That usually deters people.

[nicole1719]

There is a petstore here in Victoria that shall remain nameless, but they have a few hedgies in aquarium style tanks, they are on some sort of wood bedding, aspen i believe...and that's it in the house. There is a water dish and a food dish, but they are both so full of bedding that you can't tell which is which. And this is all the time, I have checked several times. No hidey house, no wheel...nothing. They do have 2 seperate tanks for males and females, but I feel so bad for these little guys, I have been so close to buying them. I used to go there to get certain supplies but I have found better stores in the area that I can go to instead so I no longer have to support this store. It makes me sad :(

[Vincent]

Why don't you try talking to the people who work at the store? It's not very hard to keep a water and food dish clean, and it's kind of their job. Perhaps you should talk to them about the wheel and the hidey house issue, and suggest that if people saw the proper toys in there, they'd probably sell more of everything. If I went to buy something I didn't know much about, and saw that it had certain things in its tank, I'd assume that's what it needed and I'd probably buy those. :)

[Lauren_201]

Great job Courtney. I am glad they are listening to you and making an attempt to fix things for the better.

[HedgieMate]

Job well done! :applause: I've been to a few pet stores where HHs were kept in very sad condition. I spoke to them but met with a very cold reaction, so I gave up as their HHs were not my properties. I should be more persistent like you...