[racinghamster]

I agree with everything P anda said. I wouldn`t deal with Pets At Home or any shop that sold pets. I just don`t agree with it. It`s like walking into Tesco and the prospect of seeing animals in glass tanks and looking miserable isn`t my idea of the best way to give a pet a home. The only good thing about PAH is their adoption area and that`s only there for people to rebound back to if they want rid of the pet they purchased and for whatever reason, don`t want it anymore (because they shouldn`t have bought the animal in the first place).

I was badly bitten by my cousins syrian when I was a child and needless to say, it took a good number of years for me to keep a hamster as a pet and that turned out to be two roborovskis and a russian dwarf! I now have a syrian and a chinese and adore them. Children should NOT have a hamster as a pet for all the reasons given earlier. They sleep during the day (child comes in from school and wakes the hamster up and ends up bitten). Result? Angry mum and dad who then want the hamster gone because little Johnny is crying and how dare the hamster bite him.

I will be glad to see the day when only good, licenced breeders can sell hamsters and other pets or rescue organisations only. Shops floors are no place for animals to be. Potential owners should also have to fill out a quastionnaire and be quized about their income and told how much a vet might cost should the animal need a vet. None of this is asked by pet shops and it`s totally wrong.