Question:
Tim bought me a pet magazine the other day because it had tons of chinnie pictures in it and he thought I'd enjoy it. In addition to finding information that is a little silly or inacurate (i.e. chinchillas need a cage that is at minimum 5'x5'x5' ) I'm also finding a ton of ads for businesses that sell insane amounts of pets.
Two that come to mind were selling at minimum ten and up to 100 species that they claimedfor the most part were hand raised. I hope they actually buy from breeders rather than try to raise these all on their own but it kind of makes you wonder. One of the businesses said they are licensed with the USDA but with the number of animals they had, I'd call that a zoo instead of a pet store. I'm not sure the government actually allows some of these "pets" to be in the country, let alone allow people to keep them as pets.
Anyone else ever run into this in a pet mag?


Answer:
Yeah, I've noticed those ads..occasionally see them in the paper too. (i.e. chinchillas need a cage that is at minimum 5'x5'x5' )
You mean they don't?


Answer:
I hope they don't need that at minimum...it's almost bigger than my bathroom!


Answer:
The only pet magazines I read are usually City Dog(for Toronto dogs), Dogs in Canada and there's another free dog magazine aimed at dogs in the GTA. Their information is really good and gives me ideas on where to get doggie supplies in the city and also the events that are going on. The Dogs in Canada Annual is really the only one I read, not their regular issues.


Answer:
I once bought Critters Annual (I think that's what it's called...it is quite popular) and it was okay. It didn't have too many Canadian content but there were a ton of cute pictures. I can't remember if the ads were for wholesalers or not but I would be concerned about the quality of homes when selling 10-100 animals.


Answer:
I read quite a few pet magazines... I have Critter Annual, Dogs in Canada, Dog & Cat Fancy plus Animal Sheltering (published by Humane Society of United States)... I rarely look in the Ads section... but I have come across info in articles that I know to be inaccurate.


Answer:
USDA licensing means nothing. That just means they meet minimum care standards. It says nothing about how much time they spend with their animals, about how much playtime the animals get, etc.