Sorry to hear about your loss MG. Ya my store does have issues at times with reptiles and small animals but for the most part they are better than Petco. I have had numerous daily customers tell me they will absolutely not go to Petco nor will i ever again. I got Beauty Queen my hamster from Petsmart (not my store but the Valencia one) and she's almost a year old now.
The longest i've had a hamster the last one i got was from Petco and she didn't live very long. Most of our rats are sold as soon as we put them out and we did have a return one due to biting but other than that no major problems. Good luck MG.