PetSmart Hamster Homes Allow Rodents to Escape, Suit Says

PetSmart Inc.'s hamster and gerbil homes are defectively designed, allowing rodent pets to chew through soft plastic parts and become sick or even escape, a new proposed class suit alleges.

The company’s “All Living Things Tiny Tales Small Pet Habitats” are artificial habitats or cages resembling castles, cars, rocket ships, and other things. They have tubes that let hamsters, gerbils, and mice explore, the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California says.

The tubes can be linked by malleable plastic pieces to connect more than one Tiny Tales home and create even larger structures.

But ...