Where to get a hamster?
The best way to find an ideal hamster for sale is to look for an ethical hamster breeder in your state or region, on craigslist, or simply wait for a surprise pregnancy and adopt one when they are adults. You can also find and adopt one from a pet rescue.
Why you should never buy a hamster from a large chain pet store?
You may argue that it is sufficient to go to PetLand, PetCo, PetSmart, PetsatHome, GlobalPet, PetValu, and so on and purchase your hamster directly.
Yes, it is easier for you to do so, but you are unaware of the consequences of your decision, so here are the reasons why you should not look for a hamster for sale at pet stores:
- Buying your hamster in a pet store is supporting animal cruelty
Almost every pet store sells hamsters, but have you ever wondered where these pet stores get the hamsters they sell in their chain stores?
The hamsters that pet stores want to sell you are supplied by the infamous Pet Mills.
You have no idea what pet mills are! They are large rooms full of small cages like prison cells where animals, particularly hamsters, are reproduced on an industrial scale without regard for the hamsters’ well-being, the purity of the breed, or the genes of the hamsters born in these cruel breeding factories.
As soon as you purchase your hamster from a pet store, the store manager will place a new order with the Petmill to deliver another hamster, and you will unknowingly be participating in this cruel economy.
If you’ve never seen what a pet mill looks like, I recommend doing a Google search; you won’t believe how badly these places treat animals.
To avoid encouraging the pat mills to torture more hamsters, you should never look for a hamster for sale in a pet store.
These pet mills only provide low-quality food and water to female hamsters and then breed them indefinitely until they die of exhaustion or stop giving birth, at which point they are simply discarded and replaced with other young females.
Furthermore, hamsters require at least 1000 square inches of floor space, and pet stores keep them in cages as small as a few inches; they have no right to treat poor hamsters in this manner!
- Hamsters sold at pet stores will not survive very long
The hamsters sold at pet stores are not the offspring of selected, healthy and disease-free parents.
Pet mills that supply these pet stores only breed females and do not choose healthy parents who are not prone to hamster diseases and tumors, for example.
This will result in pet store hamsters with fragile genes, hamsters that are easily sickened, contract cancer, suffer from stress, are not well-tamed, are not socialized, and die young from their diseases.
These hamsters do not live long, and this is done on purpose by pet stores in order for you to buy hamsters again and again, and they are unconcerned about the welfare of these small rodents.
- Hamsters sold in pet stores are hybrids
Purebred hamsters are uncommon in pet stores, and the seller will never be able to show you the parents of the hamster for sale.
These are hamsters from petmills, which suffer from inbreeding. Petmills do not wait even four months to breed a female hamster, and they do not put the female to rest after her first litter, instead breeding her until she dies of exhaustion.
Baby hamsters are born fragile, crossbred, predisposed to diseases and deformities, but most importantly to chronic stress because in pet mills, baby hamsters are separated from their mothers and placed in large groups before they are weaned, which causes them to be nervous, stressed, and aggressive.
A purebred hamster will never be found in a pet store; they are hamsters born and raised in pet mills, half of which are sold as live food for snakes, raptors, etc., and the other half are delivered to pet stores, which treat them as merchandise rather than living beings.
- Hamsters for sale in pet stores are not accompanied with advice
Finally, one of the reasons you should avoid purchasing your first hamster from a pet store is that the seller knows almost nothing about hamsters and is only concerned with selling as many as possible.
When you buy your hamster from a pet store, you will not be well advised; additionally, the salesperson will try to sell you a cage that is probably too small because it must have at least 800 square inches and the stores do not have enough space for this type of enclosure.
And then he’ll try to sell you pellets as exclusive food for your hamster, despite the fact that they need a varied diet and a rich seed mix, and he’ll do the same by proposing a wire mesh wheel and everything else you should never buy for your hamster.
It is for all these reasons that I beg you to never buy your hamster or any other pet from a pet store.
So where will I find a good hamster for sale?
Don’t worry, there are other options for purchasing or adopting a gentle, docile, already tamed hamster who loves to cuddle, purebred, from selected parents whose genes are pure and solid, and who will undoubtedly live in your home for as long as possible without ever visiting the vet.
- Find a hamster for sale from an ethical hamster breeder
- What is an ethical hamster breeder?
An ethical hamster breeder is someone who adores hamsters and strives to select and breed them for the benefit of the breed in order to produce healthy, strong, and more beautiful baby hamsters that will outlive and outperform both parents.
They actually try to eliminate bad genes and promote good genes for the benefit of the hamsters themselves, rather than for monetary or commercial gain.
A passionate breeder will not breed a female hamster to exhaustion; instead, he will select females in good health and of pure lineage and wait until they are adults before breeding them again. He will also allow the female to recover from her delivery and the breeding of her litter before breeding her a second time.
A veterinarian also monitors the hamster females (sows), assisting the breeder in selecting the best individuals. The females are then retired and continue to live a happy life without mating after a certain age.
A dedicated breeder will not sell or rehome a baby hamster until it is at least 7 or 8 weeks old and well weaned and developed, and will ensure that it is healthy and free of malformations or behavioral issues before selling it to you.
Finally, you will not find a hamster production factory at a breeder’s home, as is common in pet mills, but rather a few large pens with all the necessary and enrichments for the welfare of hamsters.
There are only a few females, but they have a good life and raise their baby hamsters in excellent conditions.
So, as an alternative to pet stores, look for an ethical breeder in your area to find hamsters for sale.
There are many hamster breeders popping up all over these days, but not all of them are trustworthy.
When you find a hamster breeder, make sure that he is truly a hamster lover. Find out why he breeds these animals, and if you find that he is truly passionate, you can buy your hamster from him.
Hamster breeders can also be found on Facebook, Craigslist.com (USA), Kijiji.com (Canada), and Gumtree.com (UK).
Learn about the person ahead of time and never meet him or her unless accompanied by your parents or friends (security measures)
- What is the advantage of buying a hamster from an enthusiastic breeder?
The main advantage of purchasing your hamster from a breeder rather than a pet store is that you can be certain that your hamster is a pure breed rather than a crossbreed or hybrid.
Your hamster will have well-selected genes, an innate and natural resistance to disease, and will be a calm and easy-to-tame hamster who may never contract a disease that necessitates a trip to the vet.
Another advantage of purchasing your hamster from an ethical and passionate breeder is that he will teach you everything you need to know about hamsters in a very short period of time.
The breeder will advise you on what to buy for your hamster, what to feed your hamster, what the ideal seed mix is, how to handle your new hamster, and how to care for and enrich your new pet.
Finally, you can request that the breeder leave you his email or phone number in case you have any questions for him in the future, and he will be more than happy to assist you and teach you how to properly care for your hamster.
- Find a hamster for adoption instead of a hamster for sale
If you truly want to help animals, do a good deed, and have a hamster that has already been tamed, perhaps even of pure breed, and has been auscultated by a veterinarian, thus a hamster that is disease-free, I recommend looking for one in a pet rescue and in shelters in your area.
Of course, you’ll find more cats and dogs in shelters, but you might also find hamsters, because people move and can’t take their hamster with them, or they can’t take care of it anymore, and the poor thing ends up in a shelter.
If a pet rescue does not have a hamster available, you can always leave your contact information and they will contact you as soon as they receive one.
Accidental litters are common among hamster enthusiasts, and it is preferable to purchasing one from a pet store. Patience is the key word here; wait a little longer and you will have a hamster you will never regret.
You can also adopt a hamster online; however, you will have to go and bring it back because I doubt they will deliver it to you because this type of delivery is very stressful for hamsters and they may not survive.
So try places like:
- The Facebook groups “Munchie’s Place for Homeless Pets”, or “Mustachio Hamstery”.
- Websites like: PetFinder.com, Adoptapet.com, Petango.com, cheeksandsqueakshamsters.com, happypawshamsters.com, hubbahubbahamstery.com, strongbrew.ca
There are also some ethical hamsteries like:
- Here’re some hamsteries in the US:
- Nantucket Hamstery
- Winterbell Hamstery
- Kaanli Hamstery
- Shady’s Creek Furry Critters
- Pearl Hamletry
- Happy Paws Hamsters
- Moxie Hamstery
- Snow Creek Pocket Pals
- Holmden Hill Haven Hamstry
- Cheeks & Squeaks Hamsters
- Hubba-Hubba Hamstery
- Poppy Bee Hamstery
- Here’re some ethical hamsteries if you live in Canada:
- Hathor Hamstery
- Mister Saddlebags Hamstery
- Silversage Hamstery
- Strongbrew Hamstery
- Here’s where to find ethical breeders in the UK:
I recommend that you look for a hamster Facebook group in your state or region and ask the members to advise you and direct you to a hamster breeder or shelter in the area where you might find hamsters for adoption.
Will a breeder charge me more for my hamster?
When you see the prices of hamsters in pet stores, they usually range from $15 to $25 on PetSmart, PetCo and PetWorld and can go up to $35 if you are in Indiana and you buy your hamster at Uncle Bill’s.
While your hamster can cost you up to $60 at an ethical and passionate breeder, like Cheeks & Squeaks Hamsters in California or Hubba-Hubba Hamstery in Portland ($55), or even only $50 at Poppy Bee Hamstery in Virginia.
You will pay a little less in Illinois at Nantucket Hamstery by buying your purebred dwarf hamster for only $25/$30.
However, if you pay twice as much for your hamster at a breeder’s as you would at a pet store, you will be purchasing a hamster that will save you hundreds of dollars in vet visits and medication, as well as a hamster that will not bite you without reason and that you can easily entrust to your child without fear of the hamster transmitting zoonosis to him.
Finally, I believe that the calculation is clear and the choice is straightforward, so it is preferable to purchase your hamster from a dedicated breeder.
Conclusion
Don’t rush into anything when looking for a hamster for sale because that’s exactly what pet stores want you to do.
Remember, if you really want a good hamster who will live happily in your home for a long time, it is better to get it from a pet rescue, for example, because you will be giving a home to a hamster who does not have one.
Otherwise, look for a hamster for sale from ethical and passionate breeders in your area or not far from where you live, which you can almost always find online or on Facebook.
Remember that a hamster is a companion for at least two years, if not much longer, and it is critical that you choose a healthy hamster with pure lineage who will not spend his life going to the vet and risk dying from the first flu he may contract.
If you want more helpful advice on looking after your hamster, including tips on food, toys, accessories and accommodation, add a comment below to let us know!
Waiting for our next post here.
