How do you explain your masses of hamsters?

[Ankali]

I know it's very common in the hamster world to have 5-10+ hamsters at a time.
I have 6, picking up 4 more on Tuesday, and I have a litter due on the 1st of October. All are very well taken care of and get tons of attention (I'm a bit of a homebody) but I do have little periods of anxiety about what people would say if they new I had so many.
I am very diligent about keeping my population under control. I am not afraid to rehome to qualified homes if need be, and I carefully plan my litters so as not to have more than one weaning litter at a time. I'm also paranoid about smell so there is very, very little hamster smell aside from the natural aroma of woodchips.

Anyway.. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have a fear of telling the average person that .. "I have, oh, 10 hamsters plus a litter weaning and a litter on the way" and them thinking "Hoarder!" or the like.

Does anyone else feel this way? How do you justify having so many critters, etc.

P.S. Even typing this, 10 doesn't seem like much to me. But I wouldn't tell most people that I have 10

[Mikayla]

Yes :P I have my nine chins, three hams, and three dogs. I just say it, and people make snide comments (especially my extremely judgmental family) I just say that the truth: They all get adequate attention and cage cleanings weekly for chins/ bi-weekly with hams. They shut-up normally

[lucky]

I don't have lots of pets at the mo, but I'm constantly hankering for more and obsessing about hamsters and dogs and guinea pigs etc etc. My family and friends always just say it's because I'm broody. I say in that case I'm broody for animals because I'm definitely not wanting a baby right now! It is hard when people just don't get it. Animals, to me, are equal to humans and certainly not a 'fill in' for a baby or anything else. Sorry, bit off point but it annoys me!

[firedrake13]

Well I've been facing the hoarding comments from my SO since I went from 1 to 3 when I got Mal and Miranda, not to long after that I got Nanashi, I was pretty happy at 4 (Im way OCD and I gotta have things in even numbers when I get it in my head), then with my two surprise litters I went from 4 to 11, now with the addition of Saffron I'm at 12 currently with all of the babies promised out to homes. Anyway once the babies came I started getting the comments at work...only in friendly joking ways but still. Aside from that I also have a cat and 5 fish lol.

I feel weird telling most people I have as many hamsters as I do right now, I don't want someone knocking on my door, since they are all very well cared for, and each and every one of them gets time with me, and play time out of the cages every night. Sure its a load of work with the babies, but I've also been home bound this last week due to a flare up of my anxiety.

[Hamtastic]

Well you don't really need to explain yourself if you don't want to. You could just say you have hamsters and leave it at that. Unless they are willing to discuss their private hobbies openly, it's fair game to just not go into details. If they are genuinely interested, it won't be "weird" to talk about how many hamsters you have.

[Pomegranate]

I find people normally think it's weird to be very interested in anything they're unfamiliar with; doesn't mean what you're interested in is bad at all, it's just out of their comfort zone.

[Lil Miss]

Coming from some one who probably has as many animals as everyone in this post so far combined......
it doesnt bother me, im long past caring what others think lol

Only those i know i can trust know my numbers, normally when a stranger asks how many animals i have my standard reply is "too many"
If they ask what i have i sum it down into the different specied

[LocoRocoPanda]

Having 15 cats usually gets me weird looks. Saying I have 15 cats, 4 hamsters, 6 koi, a bearded dragon and two dogs gets me even weirder looks. But I don't care to be honest. The cats are my work and I couldn't just have one. My hamsters are awesome. My koi...are koi. X3 Pinkie Pie is a shared dragon between me and my partner and the dogs are technically my housemate/best friend's dogs. But we both take care of them like they're our kids. X3

I do inform people though that I work from home and have quite a large income and, as such, have the time and money to take care of every pet I own no matter what. XD Even if one of my cats was to break their leg and needed it amputated it, unfortunately, wouldn't put a dent into my finances.

[samincittagazze]

How do I explain? I don't. I have 25 years of being called 'a bit sad' because of one of my obsessions or another, so it doesn't really bother me. I know they are well cared for, healthy, happy animals, so I just tend to smile at comments and go along with them. Although I do sometimes point out that squished together, all 8 of my hamsters still wouldn't make up the size of one rabbit, so it's really not that many pets at all.

[Roxie]

I only have two so don't really get comments about numbers. I will have far more pets when my money situation sorts itself out .

I am, however, often asked "why don't you get a proper pet?" .