I was at the Surrey Place Mall Pet store today and was shocked by the "care" that was provided to their small animals, specifically hamsters and 3 guinea pigs. There were 7 hamsters all living in one small aquarium, about the size of a standard shoe box. It is said that a guinea pig requires 4 cubic feet of living space, any website or book on the topic will repeat that. If one does a small amount of research they will also learn that cedar is terrible to use as bedding for small animals because it causes sevear health complications, and glass aquariums should always be avoided as they do not allow for adequate air flow. In this store I found 3 almost full grown cavies, on a bed of cedar shavings, in a glass aquarium that was not even big enough for one of the guinea pigs...

I sent a copy of this to Judy Stone of AAS first, and she recommended that I post it on a message board. I plan on taking a digital camera into the pet store and taking some pictures of the animals to put online for proof and education purposes. If anyone has any ideas so far as helping out these Guinea Pigs and Hamsters goes fire them my way.

I am hesitant to adopt them all because I am positive that I, a student with a fulltime job, would be unable to provide them with the love and attention that they would all require. I have 2 guinea pigs as is, and they are already a handful. In addition, I fear that once the animals are adopted, more will simply be put into thier place.

I'm at a loss...