this page is just temporary. a place to put this rant, as it is related to the FAQ. this will be redesigned when the page is open.

rant. it's long, but it's good. and it's Nigel related.

(written on 04/28/03)


this will have more meaning for local people i suppose, although the truths here are universal.


pet stores suck.


let me repeat that, you might not have been paying attention


PET STORES SUCK!




saturday we were in the area, so we decided to pop into a local pet store, called Zookeeper. 
it's usually an ok place to go to, they have some cool stuff sometimes. they're a typical petstore 
however, and they tend to pull the old trick of selling some kid a snake, with no regard to the fact 
that it'll get to be 18 feet long eventually, and the idiot buying it can barely wipe his own ass
without a flashlight, 2 friends, and a map. but that's to be expected. it's a store after all, and 
the bottom line (as tragic as that is when we're talking about the LIVES of animals here...) is to 
make money. i stopped going there for a year or so a few years back, because i saw them selling a 
fucking nile crocodile to anyone who wandered in off the street with 400.00 to their name (for those 
of you who aren't nerds, that's VERY wrong to sell a nile croc to anyone, because these things can 
seriously get to be like 20 feet long, over 1000 pounds, and commonly EAT PEOPLE in the wild). i'm 
all for public ownership of damn near anything, but seriously... that's just asking for trouble that 
nobody needs. i started going back eventually, and it seemed to have improved some. at least i haven't 
seen anything THAT bad since my boycott. 

but back to saturday... they had all kinds of stuff in there. the place traditionally caters to the 
herptile crowd, but for some reason, they've been upping their trade in "exotic" mammals recently 
(i'm sure some of you already see where this is going, eh?). they're over all fairly knowledgeable 
about herps. i'm not going to start with my issues with the three baby Cusimanse that they had. i'm 
going to jump right into my issues with the baby genet that they had.

they had a seven week old Small Spotted Genet (genetta genetta). it was on display with a label 
simply saying "genets - 925.00" not even bothering to tell anyone what kind of genet it was, much 
less any information at all. that's not really a big deal, because in theory, if you have questions, 
the polite employee comes over with all the answers and wisdom you could desire, right? hah. i'd love 
to live in that world. the lady whom had a few minutes before, been throwing live crickets into the 
cusimanse tank, and giving a very bragingly graphic account of how much they loved to feed them live 
mice, and how much the cusimanse loved to tear them apart, and mutilate them, strolled over. needless 
to say, she was already kinda sketchy in my book. 

i'm not being conceited, or bastardific when i say that i happen to know a good deal about genets. 
granted i've only owned one for 11 months (Nigel will have his 1st birthday on the first of May 
coincidently! yay!), but i researched them for a good year before i bought one. i have never stopped 
learning, researching, observing, and doing everything i could to gain genet info for the past two 
years. my genet FAQ is the largest (and in my opinion) the most complete one in the wired. it's 
something i care about, and when you care about something, you take it seriously, and you learn 
etc etc. all that being said, i don't think this woman (who i'm assuming was either the owners 
wife / girlfriend / something) knew doodly squat about them. that makes me VERY sad for these genets. 
i found out that there had been four of them originally, this guy was the last one left. 

so anyhow, we were looking at the genet, and i was remarking on how TINY he was (not yet knowing 
his age or anything, but already rolling my eyes at the label "genets") when the Queen of the 
Cusimanse wanders over, and starts bragging to us about the genets amazing ability to also mutilate 
mice. my jaw just dropped at that. he was obviously too young to be on solid food (despite the little 
bowl of cat food they had in there with him). a wild animal who is going to be someone's pet (and i'm 
not talking about herps here, 'cause thats a whole different story/set of issues) should NEVER EVER be 
fed anything alive. if the pet owner/customer decided to raise it that way, that's one thing, but it's 
SO WRONG for the store to do it. an animal that has been weaned / reared that way will NEVER behave 
the way you'd want it to. it will instill a hunting, killing, predatory behavior in the animal. it 
will basically cause it to behave the same way it would in the wild. that goes with any animal, even 
the house cat who's been domesticated for nearly as long as the ferret. 

if you don't believe me, you get 2 kittens, and 2 baby ferrets. you raise one of each with snuggly 
pillows, meow-mix and a domestic attitude. now raise the other 2 with live mice, crickets and small 
birds to eat, while reveling in their ability to 'tear off mouse heads, and slit open mouse bellies" 
(yes, i AM quoting her). which pair do you think will be more 'domesticated' and tame? now imagine 
an animal no more removed from the wild than your average genet? with either parents, or grandparents, 
straight from the wilds of Africa. 

they were raising these genets as though they were in the wild. yet they were selling them as pets. 
i'll explain / justify that claim. in the wild, genets are usually weaned at around 7 or so 
weeks. life is hard, food is scarce for wild animals. these genets were just reaching 7 weeks. she 
had already weaned them. that's a BAD IDEA if you intend to make a pet out of these animals. 'pet' 
genets should be bottle fed for AT LEAST three months. that's 12 weeks. note that i said AT LEAST. 
'pet' genets SHOULD be bottle fed for about 6 months. the reason is pretty f'n simple. it causes them 
to become 'bonded' with their human 'mother'. that's VERY important when you decide to keep a wild 
animal as a 'pet'. otherwise, you end up with... well, a wild animal (go figure). it's important that 
the owner (meaning 'pet store customer' in this case) get the genet as early (young) as possible. 
seven weeks is a great age to get a genet. that's about how old the Nige was when i got him. BUT, 
your genet should still be on the bottle. it's important that the person who is going to live with 
them for the next 20 years gets to go through that bonding period. this store wanted to ween them as 
quickly as possible, so that they could sell them fast, and not have to worry about putting in the 
time every day to bottle feed them. just trying to turn a fast profit.

i was already feeling so frustrated and angry at this point. that's when this guy walks past, and sees 
us looking at this little genet, so he stops to see what we're looking at. he says "wow, that's cute, 
what is that? some kind of rodent? maybe a fox of some sort?" those are reasonable questions, if you 
don't know much about weird mammals (he was buying reptile gear, so i can forgive him ;) ) and you're 
seeing a genet for the first time. the woman replies to his question with "No, it's a MONGOOSE." she 
fucking said 

"no,
it's
a 
mongoose."

at this point, my friends were beginning to be annoyed themselves, and muchly sensing my mounting 
fury. when she said that they simultaneously looked at me with this "oh shit" expression.


i gritted my teeth, took a deep breath, and said "no, they're actually in the civet family, as is the 
mongoose, but they aren't as related to a mongoose as lions are to tigers" (that may not be an exact
quote, my rage has burned my memory at this point, but it was something like that). she looked at me, 
and blinked three or four times. then she started telling us (and the guy) how much like cats they 
were, and the noises that they make and this and that. the guy wandered off at this point. she then 
started in again with how much mouse meat it could flay apart in torturous 
wild-animal-i'll-never-be-able-to-make-a-good-pet style. when i'm disgusted or upset, you can see it 
ALL over me. in a public situation like that, when i'm all overwhelmed, and 'jaw dropped', you can 
very easily tell. apparently she couldn't. she offered to 'throw it a mouse' so that we could watch 
'how cool' it was. she seemed to think this was the major selling point of the genet. 

"Ginsu Genet! for all your mouse mutilation needs!"

i looked at her, and it was my turn to blink 3 or 4 times, while millions of thoughts, ideas, and 
computed outcomes crashed around in my head. i said to my friends "i think we need to leave, right now. 
i turned and walked out the door.

i think i've pretty much been upset ever sense. 

small spotted genets aren't as cute as large spotted ones. you'd prolly have to see them up close, 
and in person to really see all the little differences, but that's really beside the point. i don't 
know what to do. on one hand, i'd like to roll in there, with righteous indignation, trailing 
brimstone, and lay the cold, hard, scientific facts of Genetery 101 on them. then, i'd also like to go 
in, nice, respectfully, and educate them on the matter. i have those options, along with asking a lot 
of questions, and giving them hints etc... 

but after lots of thought, i don't think it would do any good.
i think most of the clerks would be apathetic and all "well, the owner makes the policies about 
everything". the owner seems a nice guy, i met him briefly at a reptile show one time. he supposedly 
bred the genets himself (well, not HIMself, but you know what i mean, pervert). BUT, at the same time, 
usually petstore people, like computer store people, know OH-SO much more about all that kind of stuff 
than YOU ever could. they get really huffy at the implication that their animals are less than 
absolutely perfect, or that they are less apt at taking care of them than the lord God almighty 
himself. i remember years ago, casually informing a store owner that their "red tail boas" (which were 
actually colombian boas, although i didn't point that out) had mites and ticks (yeah, there's special 
'snake ticks' clever, huh?). i thought i was doing them a favour, and helping to improve / save their 
animals, but i was greeted with anger, hostility, and told that i needed to leave the store.

people are so touchy about being ignorant. i don't know what i could do. i mean the genet's lives 
weren't in danger, but at the same time, they aren't being taken care of correctly either. how do you 
tell someone "you don't know what you're doing / talking about with this animal." and "you need to 
re-evaluate your ideas of why people want to buy / own things." i think theres a small population of 
reptile owners (and i pray it doesn't bleed over into mammal owners) who get their sick kicks from 
watching their animals rip up rodents, but i don't think that's the proper way to go about marketing 
them.

she had previously been telling someone similar stuff about the cusimanse also. i mentioned that 
briefly, but then i forgot to get into it. they were raising them much the same way. and they get down 
right M E A N when they get used to live food. i don't know a whole lot about them. just that i've seen
them first hand that were raised on live food, and i wouldn't have reached in the box with them with a 
pair of welding gloves. not even for money.


i just keep turning it over in my head, and i don't know what to do. if i had the money, i'd just go 
buy him, put him back on a bottle, hope it's not too late, and do my best to give him a good life. but 
even if i could somehow do that, i couldn't do it for every one they ever get in there... i worry if i 
try to do or say anything to them, it'll just make them more determined to do it 'their way'. i've 
seen that shit happen too...



well... i'm not really feeling much better. i know i can't change / save the world, or all of the 
creatures who live in it. i wish i could not care so much.

i wish i had creepy mind powers that could make things different. i've run myself dry of words. but i 
know i'll still be thinking about this, and i'll still be frusterated about it for a long time.




but in closing, i want to say this. 
if you ever decide to have any kind of pet, from a kitty, to a giraffe, whatever it is...


PLEASE do your own independent research before you buy it. talk to a lot of people. get lots of facts. 
don't rely on someone who wants to make fast money off of you. don't buy anything that has a life on 
an impulse. i don't care how cute it is, i don't care what the guy with his palm thirsty for cash 
says. just be well informed. and don't do business with a place who had bad or questionable business 
ethics.

don't do business with a place who cares about money, and showmanship, and not the animals. if you're 
gonna drop over 900. on something, be wiling to drive to a better place and get it, even if it's a 
couple of days away or something.

don't buy things from Zookeeper pets in Austin, Texas, until they improve their knowledge and 
attitudes.


anyhow, thanks for reading all that.

it's really long, and it may wander a bit, but i'm too jumbled over it all to do any better right now.