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Chain Stores!

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« Reply #30 on: February 15, 2009, 03:47:38 pm »

Yeah, it is hard going to these stores.  Me and BPMar went to the best one around here yesterday to pick up some toy supplies, etc.. This store does screen potential buyers, feeds an assortment of good foods to the birds there, and lets the Parrots out, for outta cage time.  The one thing that really bothered me was a cage that had 6 Tiels, and 2 Bourkes.  It was about 18 in wide, 18 in deep, and about 24 in high!  Just way to friggin small!
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« Reply #31 on: February 16, 2009, 10:18:54 pm »

 :'( That's sad, Lorek! Those vets shouldn't consider themselves avian vets at all!

Today I went to Petland, and there were two sun conures who's diet consisted of about 5% pellets and 95% seeds and peanuts! The employee handed them a HANDFULL of shelled peanuts, just for the two birds!! And the other birds were in those cages where people can just reach right in and scare the heck out of them. A woman was looking at the budgies, and apparently was thinking about getting one. I told her a lot about the budgies and hinted for her to go to a bird fair (where she can talk to the breeders for good info) that's coming up. Luckily, none of the employees heard me discourage her from buying one of their birds. :P
It was really nice to walk into Petsmart tonight because the environment there is SO much better than Petland!
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« Reply #32 on: February 28, 2009, 06:00:26 pm »

Ya know, I really hope that with caring pet owners boycotting stores that take poor care of their animals the store will eventually go out of business. The Petland near me closed its doors last summer and I can't say I was sorry to see it go. My boyfriend and I made a visit when we first moved to the area and he was trying to play with a Caique (we are both nuts over those birds, just not the price tags that go with them) that looked very, very ill. I quietly told him not to touch the bird as it looked sick. It has almost gotten to the point where I do not go anywhere where birds may be present as I am deathly afraid of bringing a disease home to my bird. I love shopping for my guys, but I wonder sometime how much risk I take by visiting bird stores and fairs.
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So many birdies.....so little time. :)
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« Reply #33 on: February 28, 2009, 06:42:53 pm »

That is a risk we all take.  Even our shoes, etc that we don't even think about can bring something into our flock after visiting these places!
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« Reply #34 on: March 01, 2009, 09:51:47 pm »

Currently, PetSmart is the only pet place we have here that I know of.  They are not too bad - the cages could be a little bigger for the conures and 'tiels that they sell, but they are not so small the birds can't move around in, either.  The birds are fed a seed/pellet mixture (though I'm not really sure which one), and are given fresh veggies - what looks to be like a carrot mix when I've seen it.  The cages are also kept really clean.  They also promptly took a lollipop out of one of the cages when I'd pointed it out to them - and mentioned that it was unhealthy for them and that it couldn't be in there.  (I think someone's kid threw it in there.)

There is room for some improvement - for instance, I found a budgie toy there recently that wasn't really safe, and they do sell those "bird protector" things, etc.  But they do not seem horrible, either.

There was a Mom & Pop store here in down that closed down a while back - I heard they moved to another nearby town but I don't know.  This place was absolutely horrible, though.  Their birds were not in good condition - the cages were not clean, etc.  There were dogs and cats running around free in the store.  The lady who owned it seemed to love the animals - but I honestly think she was ignorant about properly caring for them.  That place appalled me.
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« Reply #35 on: March 01, 2009, 10:43:27 pm »

Petsmart gives their birds Kaytee Exact pellets.  :)  I'm not sure what kind of seed we give them though... It all comes pre-mixed. Our finches and conures have just about 90% pellets though!  ;D  I always give them monsterous saladas in the mornings when I open.  ;)  Today I switched around all of their toys and gave them new ones as well.
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« Reply #36 on: March 04, 2009, 03:16:14 pm »

Our Pet Supplies Plus store does a fairly decent job with their guys...I don't like that they have a cages on floor level however! They do keep them fairly clean, but there have been times I've gone in there that the birds have just been unhealthy looking. They had 5 Quakers awhile back, and 2 of them had snotty noses and dirty vents, and all of them has messy tail feathers. Two of them were just talking away a storm out on the playstand though. They've had some sun conures and green cheek conures in there as well, and almost always have a couple lovebirds and some budgies. The lovies and budgies usually seem to be in pretty good health.  They had just gotten in some Parrotletts about a month ago (just after they got the Quakers in) and they looked ok- but not great. They were in desperate need of a bath. Alot of the parrots they do let out on the playgym they have though, which is nice. But I have never noticed them cleaning it before switching the birds out :o and they dont ever rotate toys much either.

Our Petsmart does seem to be feeding their guys pretty well. Whenever I go in there I always make it a habit to go see what birds they have and how they look. They always have fresh fruits and veggies of some sort as well as pellets and seeds. The cages are way too small though :( and they have way too many budgies at a time.  All their parrots have messy tails, and the budgies almost always have dirty vents, some ruffled feathers, and just don't look good at all. Not to mention they're scared to death of anyone that comes by the cages. I went to the one of the workers awhile back about one of the budgies. His toenails were completely curled!!! It was absolutely horrible! She said she'd tell the manager, but I don't know if she ever did.  They all get quite a few toys though, which is nice.

We also have a Pet Forum out in town. Their birds are usually in fairly decent health it seems. Most of the time all their birds look healthy, but the last couple times I have been there, there have been a few in the bird room that just dont look right...puffed up and such. They looked like they could be sick, so I didn't go in the room. I've never inspected what they feed their guys. They had a 5 month old Quaker about a month ago that I held. They almost always have one of the friendlier guys out by the cashier so customers can hold them if they ask to. He was a sweet little thing and was just talking up a storm! He actually carried on a small conversation with me :) He was very healthy looking,even as he was going through a molt and had pin feathers all over the place.  Their staff are very knowledgeable about what birds they have though. I go in there every now and then to see what all they have, and usually end up holding a bird as im checking out (I almost brought that Quaker home last time!) and chatting with the guy that handles the birds.

I haven't been to the Petco out in Harrisonburg in awhile..but last time I was there all their birds looked very very healthy, and I wanted a Green Cheek Conure they had very very badly. I was so close to bringing him home. I had the funds, and I had a cage I could have used temporarily. If I didn't leave when I did, I would have brought him home haha.
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« Reply #37 on: March 08, 2009, 05:28:44 pm »

Petsmart gives their birds Kaytee Exact pellets.  :)  I'm not sure what kind of seed we give them though... It all comes pre-mixed. Our finches and conures have just about 90% pellets though!  ;D  I always give them monsterous saladas in the mornings when I open.  ;)  Today I switched around all of their toys and gave them new ones as well.

You sound like you totally rock as a pet store employee.  :)
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« Reply #38 on: March 08, 2009, 09:19:11 pm »

Aww thank you!  ;D I try!
lol, I just noticed that I spelled "salads" as "saladas"... I must've been tired.  :D
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« Reply #39 on: March 20, 2009, 06:17:00 pm »

I have Petco and 2 Petsmart stores within 20 minutes of me! VERY helpful when I need something! There is one mom/pop shop that I know of and I visited there after I heard a neighbor got his African Grey from there.  It was AWFUL.  Dusty, dirty, overcrowded.  It made me think of a 1940s insane asylum :'(.  They owners were not mean, just VERY ignorant.  I was holding a sweet bare-eyed cockatoo  that the couple next to me were considering for purchase. (OMG what an AWESOME feeling by the way!!!it was my first time holding a bigger bird, my heart just pounded-I loved it :D)  It had been hanging out on a branch table in the front of the store (converted from an old house-so the former living room?) I heard him tell her that 'they don't need to go to a vet, I have had them live 15 years and never been to a vet) and that he had no idea of the age of the bird. (15?? out of a possible 50???)  I felt my heart sink.  This is the only place to get bigger or more rare birds anywhere around here and THIS was the education??? The bird sat on my forearm and shyly said 'hi'. I pitied the poor thing. Like when you see a child who is as sweet as can be in a horrible family situation.   :(

The 2 petsmarts by me have conures and all the little birds, they seemed pretty happy, fed 50/50 pellets and had clean cages, were having a blast wheeling around on hanging toys.  The birds were displaying 'happy' behaviors and there is always at least one person on staff who is a 'bird person'  (I go a lot for my menagerie of critters) .  the prices are nuts  :o so the conures sit and sit and sit and sit. The only thing that absolutely bugged me was that they have NO IDEA how old the birds are.  The vet tech couldn't tell budgie boys from girls, (I told him), wow, and I am the newbie???  ??? I said that the birds had leg bands, weren't there records somewhere that told how old they are or whatever so the person getting them would have some idea training-wise what they were in for?  'We don't have that kind of information. wow.  Prices are better than Petco too.  One of the stores is across the street from a mall so it has WAY more foot traffic and a little less attention paid to the animals as a result.  But still satisfactory (except for the hermit crabs-they are awful with them-Petco wins here hands down)

As for Petco, they usually have better care of their animals there, the store seems to be only as good as the manager though.  There was a manager there before who was a 'bird guy' and he was so kind to all of the critters.  Once they got a bird in with a deformed foot, but otherwise healthy.  He adopted it since they could not sell it.  The birds are all behind glass, but can interact with each other through wire cage grates.  I see them preening each other, it is so sweet.  The prices are also crazy there.  :o That is why they also sit and sit and sit and sit for months.  If they would make the prices reasonable, they would find homes in time to train them before bad habits form.  They had a Cockatoo in there (umbrella) that was not socialized often so it was nippy.  they had the 'standard' smaller birds, and conures as well.  I see a few of the employees walking around with the conures to help socialize them, I thought that was cool.  The last batch of Budgies were so pretty, piebald.  I couldn't see inside the bird bowls for the budgies to see what they were eating, but the medium parrots had fresh food.  When the 'good' manager left, I saw the conditions in the store start to slide.  The dog food was infested with grain moths, EW.  the store was in general disarray, animals were cared for, but not at the level I had seen before. Not trashed, just disheveled.  I wrote an email. Not a week later there were corporate folks and inspectors with clipboards walking around with the new manager looking over everything. I was extremely satisfied with myself.   usually,  If you told them there was something wrong with an animal, be it a mouse or a parrot, they were on it.  The employees more than the manager really seemed to be genuinely interested in the animals.  The small animals' and the birds' cages were clean.  They always seem to be clean.

I have been a Drs Foster & Smith customer for 10 years, their prices are higher than the pet stores and you have to pay shipping, but you get your stuff Fast and the customer service is unmatched.  They have many many good brands and stuff I can't find elsewhere.  you can go on their site and get catalogs for specific pets (like horses, small animals, reptiles, birds, etc. and of course cats and dogs) so you can see what they have for your pet without wading through all the rest.  

I agree wholeheartedly about Petland, they are just awful.  The last one closed around here I think 10 years ago.  I was the kid who walked to the pet store to buy hamster treats with my saved up quarters, then play with all the ferrets and bunnies while I was there.  I loved going there, it was my toy store. :)  I think that may have been a Petland, but it was too long ago to be sure, the store was clean and the animals were happy, so probably not :P.

I have/have had bunnies, hamsters, dogs, mice (once), a rat (once), hermit crabs, gerbils, bettas, fantail guppies, and now a bird.  So I  look in the cages and see if they are acting 'normal'.  I always say aomething if they are not. That earlier post with the 'hamster that wouldn't move' was awful.  That person must have felt so helpless as there was this little thing who was obviously sick and no one would help.  I would have left in tears.



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« Reply #40 on: March 20, 2009, 06:37:56 pm »

Thank you for posting your observations, input, experiences, etc..  This is how we all grow and learn! AddEmoticons04239
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