lately a lot of people have been asking me where do I get my hamsters so that is
what we're going to be talking about in this video I think a lot of people just
assume you just go to the pet store and you pick out a hamster and you bring
them home and that is where you get hamsters but is that the best choice so
for myself I do not support large chain pet stores simply because they do not
ethically source their animals large chain pet stores are petstores that have
many locations in various areas like Pet Smart Petco pet land pets at home all of
these places have very many stores all over across the world and in order for
them to keep up with supply and demand of animals they need to have a big
supply of pets to be able to sell so where do they get these pets pet mills
if you don't know what a pet mill is it essentially is a big warehouse like a
factory of breeding animals it's absolutely awful they are put into
filthy overcrowded enclosures with minimal bedding and no enrichment or
accessories except for some food and some water and there have been times
where the animals actually have been so starving that they've decided to eat
each other so these breeders are not breeding to
better the species at all they're not trying to improve the health, temperament
or type of the species they simply are breeding quantity over quality they will
take a female animal and they will breed and breed and breed and breed and breed
her until basically she can't breed anymore and then they get rid of her so
with an ethical breeder there is a certain cutoff period of between like
how long you should actually breed a female for you should give her time in
between litters and when she gets to a certain age it's best to not breed them
anymore pet mills don't care about that another thing pet mills don't care about
is genetics they don't care what history the animal has like if their family line
has a history of any types of illnesses or diseases, tumors things like that they
don't care they're gonna breed them regardless because they think of animals
as little products and they just don't care about the health of them in fact
many hamsters and other animals don't even make it to the pet store because
they pass before they even get there due to all of the neglect and abuse they
have to suffer through so those are the reasons that I do not personally support
large chain pet stores for purchasing animals I do not want to help continue
any more animals having to suffer through that having to be bred for
people to buy the only way to discontinue pet mills is to stop the
demand altogether which means not buying pets from pet stores now I know people
will say well isn't it saving a pet if you're buying them from a pet store yes
and no because you're saving that pet right there and then and you're gonna
help them give them a good life which is great but you're just opening up another
spot for the pet store to make another order and say hey we need this many more
hamsters to fill the spot which means they have to breed more which means more
animals end up getting neglected abused it's not a good cycle so if you
shouldn't get a hamster from a pet store where should you get them well there are
two good methods of obtaining a hamster the first one being adoption this is a
great way to help an animal in need it also helps shelters be able to bring
in more animals because if you adopt one they are going to have more room to
bring in and help another animal of course it isn't as common to see
hamsters in shelters because most shelters do focus more on cats and dogs
but it is always a really good idea to just check anyways because there could
be a hamster waiting there for their future home some good rescues such as
the pipsqueakery, munchies place for homeless pets and the great canadian
hamster rescue and sanctuary all are great rescues that focus on small
animals and hamsters and are really a good place to adopt
from some other great websites that can help you find an adoptable hamster in
your area would include petfinder.com adopt a pet.com and pet tango comm
these are websites where you type in what type of pet you want you can put
the age the coloring gender things like that and it will look through and it
will try to find adoptable pets that meet your criteria
another method of adoption is one that I personally generally like to go for
because there's not a lot of hamsters and shelters here so I tend to look on
buy and sell websites like Craigslist, Kijiji, and Gumtree
these are buy and sell websites so anybody in your area can sell anything
they have including animals so a lot of people will put up their animals up for
adoption because they no longer can care for them or for many other reasons and
it's a great way to give an animal a home of course keep in mind if you're
going with this option don't ever go alone to somebody's house take somebody
with you or meet up in a public place I don't want anybody to get murdered or
killed and then lastly there is ethical breeders which these are super important
in order for a species to improve itself whether it be through health, temperament
or type now the important part is that you find an actual ethical breeder as
purchasing from an unethical breeder is not the same thing an ethical breeder is
someone whose number one goal is to overall better the species so they are
not in it for cute babies they're not in it because they want to make a profit in
fact the most ethical breeders do not make a profit at all because they are
putting more money into breeding than they are getting out of it so when
looking for an ethical breeder there are a couple of questions you are going to
want to ask them first to make sure they are an actual ethical breeder the first
question is why are you breeding now if once again they say anything like I just
wanted cute babies or I wanted to witness the miracle of birth or I want
to make money then don't go with this breeder another
good question to ask is what care did the mother and litters receive it's
really important they're giving their hamsters proper care especially pregnant
hamsters they need a lot of supplements and if you notice they're using anything
unsafe towards their hamsters like tiny cages, unsafe substrates or just
anything strange I would avoid them the next question I would ask is at what age
do you rehome your pups if the breeder says anything less than
six weeks of age I would avoid them because hamster pups really should not
be rehomed until after six weeks of age in fact
most ethical breeders will not rehome until eight weeks of age another good
thing to ask is do your hamsters receive veterinary treatment it's really
important they say yes if they say no then they're not getting their hamsters
veterinary treatment and they're not actually caring for their hamsters
properly you'll also want to avoid any breeder who cannot properly spell the
species name if they're like miss seplling it avoid them as well as if
they're using any made-up names like they say they're breeding teddy bear
hamsters or panda bear hamsters or fancy bear hamsters or a flying unicorn
hamster avoid them unfortunately there isn't a ton of ethical breeders out
there there are more popping up now which is really great because they are
super important to help us have more healthy hamsters who can live longer
lifespans rather than shorter lifespans there's a lot of people who often ask me
well what if a pet store is my only option and I honestly would say to just
wait until a hamster comes up for adoption because eventually one will
there's always going to be someone with an accidental litter who needs to rehome
pups or somebody who just doesn't want their hamster anymore or can't care for
them anymore and when one does come up for adoption you will feel so much
better waiting rather than just going out and supporting a pet store that is
not a good cause so I really hope this video is able to help some people as
determine where they are going to go in the future to get their new furry friend
so yeah guys thank you for watching bye