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RenK777 · 09-21-2019, 05:42 PM

Sooooo...my youngest daughter is a sweetheart and exceptionally responsible for a 7 yr old. She wanted her own room to keep clean...and a hamster. I gave up my room and am currently sleeping in attic to move bedrooms around and grant her her wish. And she's amazing...cleans up, puts away her laundry, and even makes her bed. Every day. Not sure what I did to deserve her but she's pretty darn cool. Anyway, she wanted a hamster so badly so back in June, I located one through a rehoming site that was just about 8 weeks old. And that is how we got our Buttercup...a delicious little dumpling of a sort of copper and white. Such a sweetheart and such a hit with my fam. But over the months, I got jealous! haha I wanted a hamster too. Sometimes, when we run errands at a local mall, we stop in the pet store. Because I don't believe in buying pets and supporting the horrific breeders that supply chains, it's never even been dangerous to walk into one. The only thing I did allow buying in a petstore was my eldest's mice...because I knew they'd be snake food if we didn't. Back to the hamsters, we of course, walked over to their section. And an employee was nice enough to open the cages and let us see and pet them even though we weren't buying. I had in the back of my head that if there was a black/white dominant spot, maaayyyybbbeee, I'd ask my husband but it was safe to think that because I could see in the little huts that there weren't any of that coloration. And then the employee turned over the hut of a black-eyed ivory? boy. This particular hamster did not try to bite when we pet him, and when he was returned to his tank, he ran up to the glass and put his little paw against where my hand was resting on the glass. And my heart melted. THis was on a Wednesday. For the rest of the week, he's all I could think about. It didn't help that I already had a name for him...Yeti...and that the kids were chanting 'Yeti, Yeti, we need a Yeti' every chance they got. I finally did ask my husband on Saturday morning...agreed to give up one fish tank and take it down and consolidate fish into other tanks...and ran back to PetSmart with my heart in my throat that he might be gone. He wasn't. And now he's mine <3 I've since learned that PetSmart marks down it's hamsters as they approach 6 months and after 6 months, they're brought in the Employee Only room to be sold cheap as snake food. My Yeti was on sale. I called the store to try to determine his age as I'd read from mutiple sources that they usually receive them around 3 months. The employee said he was with them for at least a month--month and a half and that he was bigger than the other hamsters he arrived with. Her guess was that he was at least 4.5 months old...but probably 5 months old. Can't know for sure but perhaps that's why he was marked down...to increase his chances of selling as snake food rather than not at all? Maybe someone can confirm this that works for PetSmart? Anyway, I am so grateful he's mine and never has to worry about snakes! I didn't think any hamster could be as perfect as our Buttercup but now that I have Yeti, I realize they're all pretty darn cute hahaha Never thought I'd own a hamster...now I can't fathom how I went without for so long!!! Not sure how to upload photos from my laptop...maybe I need to reach a certain number of posts before I can attach? Regardless, just wanted to say Hi!

09-21-2019, 05:42 PM
RenK777 Hamster Pup Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: East Coast, NJ Posts: 51	Hi! New here! Sooooo...my youngest daughter is a sweetheart and exceptionally responsible for a 7 yr old. She wanted her own room to keep clean...and a hamster. I gave up my room and am currently sleeping in attic to move bedrooms around and grant her her wish. And she's amazing...cleans up, puts away her laundry, and even makes her bed. Every day. Not sure what I did to deserve her but she's pretty darn cool. Anyway, she wanted a hamster so badly so back in June, I located one through a rehoming site that was just about 8 weeks old. And that is how we got our Buttercup...a delicious little dumpling of a sort of copper and white. Such a sweetheart and such a hit with my fam. But over the months, I got jealous! haha I wanted a hamster too. Sometimes, when we run errands at a local mall, we stop in the pet store. Because I don't believe in buying pets and supporting the horrific breeders that supply chains, it's never even been dangerous to walk into one. The only thing I did allow buying in a petstore was my eldest's mice...because I knew they'd be snake food if we didn't. Back to the hamsters, we of course, walked over to their section. And an employee was nice enough to open the cages and let us see and pet them even though we weren't buying. I had in the back of my head that if there was a black/white dominant spot, maaayyyybbbeee, I'd ask my husband but it was safe to think that because I could see in the little huts that there weren't any of that coloration. And then the employee turned over the hut of a black-eyed ivory? boy. This particular hamster did not try to bite when we pet him, and when he was returned to his tank, he ran up to the glass and put his little paw against where my hand was resting on the glass. And my heart melted. THis was on a Wednesday. For the rest of the week, he's all I could think about. It didn't help that I already had a name for him...Yeti...and that the kids were chanting 'Yeti, Yeti, we need a Yeti' every chance they got. I finally did ask my husband on Saturday morning...agreed to give up one fish tank and take it down and consolidate fish into other tanks...and ran back to PetSmart with my heart in my throat that he might be gone. He wasn't. And now he's mine <3 I've since learned that PetSmart marks down it's hamsters as they approach 6 months and after 6 months, they're brought in the Employee Only room to be sold cheap as snake food. My Yeti was on sale. I called the store to try to determine his age as I'd read from mutiple sources that they usually receive them around 3 months. The employee said he was with them for at least a month--month and a half and that he was bigger than the other hamsters he arrived with. Her guess was that he was at least 4.5 months old...but probably 5 months old. Can't know for sure but perhaps that's why he was marked down...to increase his chances of selling as snake food rather than not at all? Maybe someone can confirm this that works for PetSmart? Anyway, I am so grateful he's mine and never has to worry about snakes! I didn't think any hamster could be as perfect as our Buttercup but now that I have Yeti, I realize they're all pretty darn cute hahaha Never thought I'd own a hamster...now I can't fathom how I went without for so long!!! Not sure how to upload photos from my laptop...maybe I need to reach a certain number of posts before I can attach? Regardless, just wanted to say Hi!