On Tue, 26 May 1998 Mary Reeves <[log in to unmask]> Wrote:
>However, I also frequent 2 different Petco stores here.  Because there are
>ferret owners working at both of these particular Petco's, I've found them
>to be very educated.  One of the Petco's even keeps their ferrets in cages
>and allows people free access to pet the fuzzies, as opposed to that
>horrible octogon shaped enclosure that everyone hates.  While they don't
>have the best selection, they have always been willing to special order
>whatever I request.  And while prices may be a little higher than
>Petsmarts, they have FANTASTIC clearance sales (ok, I just bought over $150
>worth of animal supplies and pelleted litter and spent less than $25 for
>it...I'm prejudiced :-) !)
 
No offense, but that "horrible octagon shaped enclose that everyone hates"
was a very welcome addition to our local Petco.  My wife & I were upset to
find kits in glass aquariums upon our first visit to Petco.  The poor things
were showing signs of respiratory distress due to the mimimal ventilation
and bright lights.  We were very happy to see the large "coral" upon
subsequent visits.
 
I don't believe the octagon design is optimal however.  It's almost cruel to
put an animal in a "round" enclosure when it seeks a corner to go potty in.
If the octagon had one long flat side it would be easier to designate the
potty corners.
 
I believe the octagon design would work much better if Petco stopped putting
that paper poof bedding/liter all over the bottom of the pen and stategicaly
fixed litter pans, tubes & hammocks in all of the corners of the pen.  Our
Petco doesn't remove feces from the 8 corners of the pen nearly as often I
would want.
 
The locked wire lid to the pen is a bit annoying to experienced ferret
owners.  However, I don't want just anybody to be able to reach into a
ferret cage.  It's safer for the ferrets and the uninitiated alike.
 
Thanks,
Gregory Smith
[Posted in FML issue 2322]