Cloudy ;;
I think to me, when you buy an animal from somewhere, you are supporting/justifying that entire litters creation. With unethical breeders, they typically breed to see the miracle of life, because they like babies, etc. They can sell the animals for cheap, but the species overall health, longevity and genetic pool aren't considered. If no one was to buy from breeders who advocated poor care, then they wouldn't breed at all because there would just be too many hamsters. Therefore, I would only justify buying from a breeder who required basic things like a 100x50cm cage minimum, 28cm wheel, etc. It doesn't matter if I provide one of those pups with that, because the other 6 wouldn't get to live a life like that. Not sure if that makes sense, but it's how I've always felt about breeders.
Ria;;
I honestly refuse to believe there isn't going to be at least one breeder in the UK that requires updated minimum care to their hamsters. I don't think wanting a pedigree and for a hamster litter to have homes that have the minimum care should be unrealistic/an ideal world. If so, then that is a real, real problem.
Velma ;;
I definitely understand that. I know NHC breeds for show lines and overall health, but I've consistently found a majority of breeders to be really quite outdated. Suggesting things like pine shavings, a handful of teabag/paper bedding, high fat/sugar diets, etc. I think the specific member that I mentioned, who suggested 1000cm2 for a Syrian, and that they own "120ish" hamsters really threw me quite a bit. Seems like some of them do it just to hoard hamsters, and then the selling of the hamster is more so to unload their unwanted stock.
Sushi_78 ;;
Definitely! I don't think everyone needs to think the same as I do in terms of care. Hamster care has come a long way and it's safe to say me and other hamster enthusiasts have argued on certain topics. With that being said, I don't feel comfortable supporting breeders who are incredibly outdated. It's not that they don't agree on whether moss should be in a cage, if wooden wheels are good, if a certain bedding holds burrows better. It's them promoting softwood shavings, miniscule spaces (150 square inches for a cage!), etc. I don't want to support that specifically. I honestly think it would be easier moving to Germany to get a hamster at this point.
flowerfairy ;;
Neptr wasn't a massive fan of food when he was little, and weighs 175g now. A white long haired hamster. I only saw the temp cages they were in at a Dawlish show, and it was between Neptr or a beautiful ginger female. I think because of Neptr's temperament, I do want to try some other breeders that I've done more research into
