I didnt know hybrids went this far..

[Smysha]

Originally Posted by Erin Loves Dwarf Hamsters

And people actually fall for that?? My goodness! That actually reminds me of the Fawlty Towers episode where Manuel is adiment that his rat is a "Pedigree Siberian Hamster. Very Rare, last one in shop!"

Oh even thinking about it makes me laugh!

[kyrilliondaemon]

I've seen someone claim their hamster was a "campbells roborovski" before.
I guessed they thought "roborovski" was a word for "russian dwarf hamster" instead of a species, and sure enough, the animal wasn't a robo.
Its kinda sad how desperate people are to sound clever and like their animals are really unique.

Oh and we've seen pet shops not knowing much too. I asked ours if they knew what species of russian dwarf their "russian dwarf hamsters" are. The answer was "they turn up labelled as russian dwarf hamsters".
Fortunately the staff do know the difference between a roborovski and a hybrid (or a "russian" as they think they are).

[Gizmo_Gonzalez]

Originally Posted by kyrilliondaemon

I've seen someone claim their hamster was a "campbells roborovski" before.
I guessed they thought "roborovski" was a word for "russian dwarf hamster" instead of a species, and sure enough, the animal wasn't a robo.
Its kinda sad how desperate people are to sound clever and like their animals are really unique.

Oh and we've seen pet shops not knowing much too. I asked ours if they knew what species of russian dwarf their "russian dwarf hamsters" are. The answer was "they turn up labelled as russian dwarf hamsters".
Fortunately the staff do know the difference between a roborovski and a hybrid (or a "russian" as they think they are).

Yeah i've found that with large pet store's here Pets At Home could only tell my mine were Russian Dwarfs. They didn't even regognise the name WW or CR. Scary to think how little they know when they breed the animals.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Originally Posted by Gizmo_Gonzalez

Yeah i've found that with large pet store's here Pets At Home could only tell my mine were Russian Dwarfs. They didn't even regognise the name WW or CR. Scary to think how little they know when they breed the animals.

My local pets at home doesn't do the breeding. I asked loads of questions before we got our russian boys and they order animals on a Sunday (one Sunday every two weeks they decide if they want animals or not and if they want enough to make an order they put the order in, if not they wait two weeks and revisit the decision), they arrive Tuesday and are ready for rehoming either the Wednesday or the Friday depending on which staff member you ask. They get the animals in at 5-6 weeks old, in single sex groups, then keep them in the back until they either get sold (like our russian boys) or move to the front when the older ones are sold.
We were told they'd order a litter in if they got pets that week but they didn't end up getting one. We were even told they'd had a litter in but then when we went to buy them were told the person who claimed they'd got some in was wrong and they only had the older ones we already knew about.
Ended up getting the younger of the two groups in the store but its rediculous how little the staff knew, both about the animals in general and the stock in the store.

Its kinda scary really... That they don't know about species yet are meant to advise potential owners, they disagree on when animals can be sold, even disagree on what stock they have.

[SnickersTheFirst]

Originally Posted by kyrilliondaemon

Its kinda scary really... That they don't know about species yet are meant to advise potential owners, they disagree on when animals can be sold, even disagree on what stock they have.

I had that problem; my Mum went in there and saw little baby gerbils being carried out to the back of the store (new stock). They were all really friendly and beautiful colours so my Mum asked when I could buy them. He said come back in tommorow and you can have two. So we went back in the next day and the staff member we asked said the pups were too young...Eventually it was sorted though and I bought home my two lads Murphy and Buddy.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Originally Posted by SnickersTheFirst

I had that problem; my Mum went in there and saw little baby gerbils being carried out to the back of the store (new stock). They were all really friendly and beautiful colours so my Mum asked when I could buy them. He said come back in tommorow and you can have two. So we went back in the next day and the staff member we asked said the pups were too young...Eventually it was sorted though and I bought home my two lads Murphy and Buddy.

Awesome
Our problem with it was that we wanted young russians. They promised to get some in with the next animal delivery (and ring to let us know when that'd be). They never rung but we went in and asked and they thought they'd had russians in the new pet delivery. Then they knew they hadn't. And couldn't agree on when they were ready. Later I was told they'd lost my details.

In the end we just got the younger of those in the store (11 weeks by then), instead of waiting at least two more weeks for them to possibly mess us around again.
They're lovely boys and I'd prefer these guys to the ones they've got in since, plus this lot do badly when split into pairs so I'm glad they've got a permanent home together (unless they fight and we can't help them resolve their differences, in which case its in pairs based on personality and friendships - much better than pairs based on looks alone).
But that said - Getting them really did show how useless pets at home can be lol