Essex Breeding Centre

[Bertiebobbins]

I always ask in pet shops where they source their hamsters, two shops won't tell me and all the others (independent and chains) have said they get their small animals from Essex Breeding Centre. Does anyone know much about this place, e.g. how well the animals are chosen, bred and cared for?

There are lots of branches of Pets Corner round here and I know they get their stock from Essex Breeding Centre too but they say they pay more for their hamsters than other places and claim to make no profit on sales of pets, but how would this work if they get their stock from the same place as all the other pet shops? Would Pets Corner have a special deal with them or something so their stock is treated differently?

[BrainGirl]

I googled out if curiosity and found an article on them. Sounded like a wonderful place, or at least an ethical one for a for-profit, large-scale breeding operation.

[Bertiebobbins]

I saw that article too, and got the same impression BrainGirl.

The pet shops all said something different about them - the independent ones said its "just a hamster farm" and gave me the impression it was a proper factory, whereas the Pets Corner employee told me they're pretty good with the hamsters and they would be handling them etc before Pets Corner received the stock.

[cypher]

That articles does make it sound good, a lot better than I would have expected tbh.