Quote:
Originally Posted by p_anda
When you buy a dog from a breeder, you have to answer a lot of question and they may even inspect your home...it's nothing like that with a hamster or any rodent for that matter, that are mainly sold by pet shops. Buying a hamster from a pet shop is like buying a chocolate bar in a corner shop. It shouldn't be like that in my opinion.
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I had to answer a few questions when I picked Nimh up from P@H adoption, but when I asked, "Is there anything else I need for her except the cage and substrate?", I didn't get much - gnaws, chin sand, wheels and nesting materials, none were mentioned.
Conversely, most hedgehog breeders either have to know you (namely see you are active on a forum), and in some cases, will make you do a questionnaire. I remember asking Bodhi's breeder when I'd get my questionnaire...she laughed at me, and said I knew more than her about a lot of things (other than breeding, of course!) - but I know she gives them out to others - basically asks what cage, what food, what toys are safe, what temperatures and how to keep the hog at those temps, and so forth.
It is a shame they don't do that with the small rodents. I know me and my partner eventually want to re-home rats or mice (well, both! But we're staggering to avoid being over-run!), and having looked at rescue centres around here, a fair few want either details of cage, photos of cage, or a home visit, and that is for hamsters/mice/rats/etc. Which is good to see - but then, this is rescues, so they are more responsible than pet shops.
But yes, although I don't use gumtree, Preloved (which I do look at occasionally) has the same ads for a range of species (although I haven't noticed a trend for russians, I did see more dwarfs than syrians when I lasted looked) - just depressing
