A local pet chain in my area is attempting to sell a group of hedgehogs before they're even six weeks old. How can I stop them?
Sorry for the length, writing this out feels cathartic.
Some background: The first hedgie I owned was given to me as a gift from a pet store chain only found in Florida, "All Pet's Emporium". He was sweet and adorable and I was thrilled to finally have a hedgehog to call my own. I was younger then, about fifteen, and although I had done my research on caring for hedgehogs, what I didn't realize was that he was given to me before he was properly weened from his mother- in retrospect, he looked about four weeks old. Needless to say, my baby died in about two weeks of undernourishment. He wouldn't eat the food I left out and hardly drank water, the only sustenance he had was meal worms. It was heart wrenching for me to slowly watch him die; I wish I had the sense then to take him to a vet but I didn't even have a license at the time. Since Appa has passed, I have had two hedgehogs, one of which is alive and well today. But I vowed, from the day I realized how preventable Appa's death was, to never support or purchase anything from All Pet's Emporium again.
Today, I decided to go inside one, and told myself that what happened to me was a long time ago and at a different location. I was just going in to buy meal worms when I saw them. They were keeping these three hedgehogs inside the same size box that you'd keep a couple hamsters. They were all piled ontop of each other under a little wooden house, seemingly about four weeks old give or take, but definitely not the right size to be sold. At first I was happy, because I saw that on that box they had written "not for sale". I decided to ask at the register how old they were, to verify that they had a long way to grow before finding a home. The woman I spoke to said that they were indeed not ready yet, she even said I could pre-pay if I was that interested. Then a man chimed in, and immediately stated that they were ready to go that day. I asked him, "well how old are they?". He happily replies "Uhhhmmm, atleast four months!". I ask if by four months he means four weeks, and just as happy as before, he says "nope they're definitely three or four months old". I couldn't believe this guy, I tell him that at four months they're pretty much full grown, those hedgehogs were still cuddling for warmth for pete's sake. I tell him of my previous experience with the store, and he assures me that that wasn't the case. I left all panicked and feeling helpless, I decided to try and find a corporate number and speak to someone above this guy. The number I called from the website didn't want to help me, they just asked at what location I was having the issue with. I told them, they transferred my call, and after explaining my problem with the manager, he goes on to tell me that he was the same man I spoke to in the store. Of course he goes on defending himself, swearing he's raised two litters and that those hedgehogs can eat just fine on their own. Even if that was the case, it has to be illegal to keep three "full grown" hedgehogs inside a 1x1 plastic box!
I don't really know what else I can do. I plan to go back tomorrow and take pictures, try to get in touch with corporate again, but other than that I feel helpless. I don't wish what happened to me upon anyone. Does anybody have advice for this sort of thing?
Posted Dec 2, 2015, 11:40 PM UTC