when i did my exotics section at college i loved it!!! i was the only one in our group of 8 who would get the snakes out of their tanks, who would pick up the lizards. i loved them all, yet i didnt really know alot about them until i did my course. we had such a range at college as well so i learnt alot about different animals

It is a fact. He was just short of 3. He was exceptionally healthy throughout his life.
It is also a fact that his breeding conditions were not acceptable...although they probably were by RSPCA standards.

I'm not saying it's not a fact. Anecdotal doesn't mean not a fact. Just means that it's one particular bit of "evidence" rather than a big study, one particular hamster living until 3 doesn't necessarily reflect the general lifespan of all the hamsters from that source, hence it being anecdotal. Like meeting that 90 year old chain smoker - from that one person, you couldn't say that everyone should take up smoking and eating burgers because it means they'll live to 90, it's just one small statistic.

No. It would be anecdotal if I said 'PAH hamsters are all okay because my hamster lived until he was 3' I didn't ever say that. I just said my hamster was fine. I didn't ever say he was representative...I didn't present him as evidence, I was merely saying he was 3 when he died( or just short of). Therefore it is a fact he died at three...we could argue that it is anecdotal that puppy farmed animals have shorter life spans,unless you have scientific evidence for every animal that is unfortunate enough to be mass farmed that suggests otherwise.

I did not present my hamster dying at 3 as evidence that PAH all PAH hamsters live to a ripe old age, it was not something presented as evidence that rodent farming is okay. It was just a fact. Presented as a fact. My hamster was 3 when he died. {sigh}

ETA: I do understand what anecdotal evidence as opposed to scientific evidence is...but I didn't present the info re Sulu as 'evidence' merely as fact. For him. That one hamster. Our hamster.

I disagree.

Our hammy breeder encourages anyone who experiences any kind of problem (health or temperament) to get in contact with either her or us. She shows them, so health and temperament are paramount for her. Thankfully I could probably count on less than one hand any problems we've had over the years. A massive proportion of our customers are regulars that will keep us updated on their animals, so it definitely isn't always a case of handing over a tenner forgetting about it.

I have to say though, that we we really lucked out in finding this breeder. It works for her because it cuts out the middle man...avoiding her having to have 12 different sets of people around every time she has a litter of hamsters.

We don't sell animals in my shop at the moment due to me being off sick long term.
But when we did.....we didn't always have everything in , as it depended when the breeders had litters, and also the time of year.

My Abysinnian Guinea Pigs came from an eldery couple who bred to show (as and when they wanted a new one to show). I got the ones that weren't quite 'show quality'.

I bred a couple of litters of rabbits myself, now and again and I had another local breeder for the others.

My Hamsters came from another local breeder, as did my Budgies (also from a 'show' breeder who sold me the ones that weren't quite show quality).

I can honestly say we never had any problems with any of them dying or becoming ill.
My shop is the only one in a village, and has been open for going on 40 years. My customers come in weekly, and still tell how how 'fluffy' is doing, and to buy the food and bedding
We offer after care, we also offer a small animal boarding service for when our customers go on holiday, and it's nice to see the 'babies' we sold come back to stay with us a few years later

That's a shame because if you spent time doing some research you'd find there are some excellent breeders out there.

My Sister wanted a hamster for her Daughter earlier this year. Thankfully I managed to steer her away from PAH and found a lovely little breeder after trawling through Preloved for many weeks. There are some people on there that churn out hamsters for moneary gain, as do the rodent breeders that supply PAH, but spend some time searching and you can find real gems.

"Cookie" has come from a lovely breeder who only has a litter when she wants to keep a hamster to further her lines, they're all handled from an early age and all kept in large, airy cages.

I wish I had hammies again - I miss them

Accidental litters aren't bad either I had two and as I said before, I set out a questionnaire and made a leaflet and gave them a website they could visit with a forum on if they had any other problems. One litter was incest due to the wrong classification (robo's are quite difficult to sex as babies) so I told the new owners that they may require some medical attention at some time and those who didn't want to or couldn't afford the medical attention they may have needed - kicked out the door. I made sure my babies went to good homes and that the new owners were able to contact us in any way just incase they had a problem. I also gave them the details to my vet - she is an expert with small animals and handles them brilliantly - even with Gizmo - no one could hold him - you stuck your hand in the cage to pick the dish up and he'd go for you - vicious thing, so I knew if they had any problems they could see her and she'd steer them right too.
So don't knock us accidentals - some of us are alright

im heading to pah today and the manager is going to get told off from me, when my cousin was through last month she bought 2 male rats as a friend for her lone male and now she has 19 babies, she has had to give her lone boy to a friend and is keeping the mums and 2 of the girl babies and i had to take her my spare jenny cage, just so she can seperate them grrrrrrrrr, her friend is going to take one of the boy babies, so that the lone male, will have a friend

That doesnt make them any better though, if they breed the animals on site they are just as bad as rodent farm imo, a reputable breeder, especially with rodents, will keep track of each animal they breed so they can track any health issues within their lines.

Whats happens to the females after they have been prostituted their entire lives? I bet most still end up as snake food, I cant see there being any profit in any other way, and lets face it shops are about profit, they are meant to be about profit, which is why shops should not be able to deal in life....

Pets at home are bad, but they are easier to point the finger at than your local friendly faced pet store....