Is it really THAT bad to get rats from a petstore?

[Vanessa]

Dewi, boycotting does work although it takes a bit of time. Just watch what boycotting of Canada's fishing industry ultimately has on the seal hunt. Our fishing industry had a revenue drop of 44%, last year, because of boycotts, and I can guarantee you that it will not be able to sustain multiple years of that. It is just our hard headed government insisting to still have it yearly, even though it is resulting in millions of dollars of subsidies and that loss to other industries.
But more importantly, your theory on whether they work or not does not address my most strongly felt point of how can anyone do it anyway knowing the misery and suffering that they are inflicting on those rats who are out of sight in the mills? How can people give their money to people who inflict that pain and suffering? Would you pull over and give a guy a $20 bill for beating his dog at the side of the road? When people buy animals at petstores, that is what they are supporting, and other rats are suffering in misery because of it. Just because some people will still do it, how does that make it ok for you to do it too? It doesn't, and it is the same childish argument that kids give their parents when they say...'Well, all my friends were doing it.' Just because other people do something doesn't make it right.
I can see people who hate rats doing that, but what is our excuse as supposed rat lovers?

 

[Dewi]

Boycotting works in some instances but I don't believe it will work for rats sold in pet stores (I gave my reasons why in a couple of my previous replies).

Obviously I wouldn't give anyone $20 to beat a dog, but I can't ignore an animal in need. I simply cannot! When I see a rat in squalor or in danger I will fork out my money to get them out of danger. It's a case by case decision. Generally I avoid pet stores as I find them heart breaking. I do other things too (also mentioned in an earlier response) like adopt rescues, complain to the store and RSPCA, sign petitions, educate people about the evils of pet shops and my contempt of the pet industry; tell people I know about the down side of snake ownership when they are interested in snakes; donate to animal rescues etc. So it's not like I'd shop exclusively from pet stores and ignore the rest. But a blanket ban on pet store rats isn't right either and I do get fed up when I read that someone saw this dear little rat in a feeder bin or crappy store but didn't get it out of there because they don't want to support pet stores. I truly feel that when a rat or other animal pulls on your heart strings, help them! In the grand scheme of rat and animal welfare, these occasional pet shop "rescues" won't make a significant difference to the sale of rats by these stores. But by all means I recommend rescue rats first, but pet shop rats shouldn't be entirely ignored either.

Really when it comes down to it, the rising trend in pet "ownership" is so perverse. It's as sickening as the meat industry.

 

[Vanessa]

It's as sickening as the meat industry.

Why don't you eat meat? The suffering of that one animal is over, it is dead already, so why not just eat it and not let it go to waste? My guess is because you don't want to support all of those animals behind the scenes, that you don't see in your grocery store, that are still alive and continue to suffer for it. Makes perfect sense, but I just wish people could apply that same reasoning to pet store animals because it is exactly the same. The suffering of that one animal that you purchase is over, but the ones behind the scenes are still suffering and you are still supporting it.

 

[jorats]

At first I thought the same thing about boycotting. But then, this one pet store, I went too a lot started to sell feeder mice. I flat out told Sue the owner that I would no longer be shopping there, neither would my parents nor my sister and anyone else I knew. After a few months, she had to stop. She told me she lost so much business. I was so glad she stopped. And we shop there again.

 

[Moon]

As I've said before, I no longer purchase any product from stores that sell animals and I recommend that others do the same, especially my customers if they ASK my opinions on stores or the like. (I don't push it on them or anything)

That said, Dewi makes a good point that on a grand scale, simply boycotting will not work. But it is a good step in the right direction, if you ask me.

 

[SQ]

If you don't support stores that sell animals by buying from them, chances are you will not be in those stores to see and purchase rats .... unless you go into the stores to keep an eye on the conditions animals are kept in.

If you help rescue rats, you aren't going to have any room left to buy rats from the pet stores
and the rescue rats you are helping probably came from a pet store ... so you are helping pet store rats, just not paying the pet store.

All ideas on here are good ... we do need to boycott stores that sell animals,
we also need to organise with other people who care about animals, get petitions going and change some laws.
As previously stated, the whole situation is completely out of control.

 

[Dewi]

To answer Jo's question (sorry I didn't see it until just then), well the pet stores here are as lousy as anywhere else and the rats are from back yard breeders, rat mills or bred by the store itself. Of course some stores are substantially worse than others. The franchise stores "appear" nicer and the rats have clean cages. There are no "feeder bins" as such, due to live feeding being a no no, but it's well known that people buy rodents to feed their reptiles. Some stores sell frozen rodents, but who knows how these critters were killed. Many would be frozen live which is just as bad as live feeding.

Jo it's great that you pressured that other store about the feeder mice and it worked, but many stores wouldn't give a hoot as they are unscrupulous anyway. Also, by formally complaining to this store you did more than just passively boycott.

Since mid-2006 I've bought 3 pet stores rats, but with two being pregnant most of my rats are their offspring. I currently have 8 rescues (proper rescues), 1 wild rat (a rescue I guess), 3 pet store rats and 11 offspring from the pregnant pet store rats.

Holly, the reason I go to pet stores is to check out their conditions, but since acquiring my last pet store rat (a heavily pregnant female living in an outdoor cage with wire floor and no suitable place to give birth), I've been avoiding these stores just in case I come across another heart wrenching situation. I'm trying to work on my husband to keep an eye on this really awful store so that if they drop their standards even lower again I'll report them to the RSPCA (again). But it's hard for Neil to go in there too.

Anyway, I feel strongly about my view and feel obligated to tell people to not ignore pet store rats in trouble. I'd recommend people adopt rescues as well and people shouldn't make pet stores their first choice. Boycotting may make us feel like we are doing something, but it's not enough in itself. Although most (if not all) who have responded to my posts do more than just boycott. This is not to say that I don't feel anyone else’s views are valid, but to be honest we will simply will have to agree to disagree.

 

[Dewi]

It's as sickening as the meat industry.

Why don't you eat meat? The suffering of that one animal is over, it is dead already, so why not just eat it and not let it go to waste? My guess is because you don't want to support all of those animals behind the scenes, that you don't see in your grocery store, that are still alive and continue to suffer for it. Makes perfect sense, but I just wish people could apply that same reasoning to pet store animals because it is exactly the same. The suffering of that one animal that you purchase is over, but the ones behind the scenes are still suffering and you are still supporting it.

Well if I buy an animal to eat, then I become directly responsible for its death and yes you're right, I don't want to support the meat industry. But on a side note I do still support the dairy industry as I'm not vegan just yet (getting there slowly). But prior to vegetarianism I would have eaten several chickens, umpteen fish and a fraction or a cow in one year alone, so it's a big reduction, even for one person. But like I mentioned the occasional purchase of rats from stores won't significantly impact the pet industry it would be akin to the occasional "slip up" made by a vegetarian or vegan.

But I guess if someone is looking for rats (as the original poster was) and couldn't find any from rescues I would say don't go to a store or breeder (reputable or otherwise) unless they happened to find some rats in dire straights and to remain rat-less in the mean time.