I've had more rescues than breeder hams. I've had 2 from pets at home adoption, 1 from a shelter and the rest (about 7 or 8 ) just from responding to ads by people who were dumping an unwanted hamster. The latter sorts come in such terrible tiny, filthy cages and i definately call it rescuing.
for example, this is the mouse starter cage that one hamster had spent his life in:
He was a very small hamster and if he stood on back legs, his head touched the roof. The wheel didn't turn and he had no other toys. It had piles of poo and urinated bedding. Almost all of my rescues have arrived in these conditions. One lady had a similar cage that was filled with only straw and nothing else. She'd been living like that for 18 months.
The worst thing is that it's not a small minority of hams that live like this, it's millions.
Look at this beautiful, intelligent lady... She came from a home where hamsters lived in Hagen carry cases with a bowl of water.
