To tell my friend I don't want her "birthday gift"?

[harrietbarrier33]

Three weeks ago my friend asked me to look after her 2 hamsters whilst her house was being decorated.
I have never had hamsters and I don't really like them but she was desperate for someone to look after them so I said yes.
When she has asked how they are I have been positive "oh they are fine don't worry we are getting on great" etc etc
Today is my birthday ..she rings me
As my gift to you I'm letting you keep the hamsters ...
So I said "oh no don't be silly,I've enjoyed having them but they belong to you"
She replied .."no no I insist ..."
I don't want them
Aibu to say no ?
I think she just can't be arsed with them anymore tbh

If they are actually Syrian hamsters, can we get a photo of their bums?

Hamsters bums are the cutest!!

Woah!! CF!

She's an idiot.

Don't make any excuses. She's the one being rude. Simply say, I was only doing you a favour watching these hamsters I definitely don't want to be their owner.

Omg hilarious you must be joking?! Extremely rude! That is mad

@Gottalovesummer

Poor hamsters, your friend clearly doesn't want them back.

Do you know anyone who can take them in and will look after them properly and love them?

Why would the op get involved in rehoming pets that don’t belong to her??!

Your friend, what a chancer.

Who the hell randomly gives an adult pissing hamsters for their birthday.

Cheeky cow! So she can’t be arsed to look after them? She can take them to a rehoming centre, then. So ruddy cheeky! Don’t see why you should have the responsibility of getting them a new home. Bonkers.

Tell her you’re getting a cat!

She’s a cheeky bitch OP. I would just send back a load of laughing faces and “not a fucking cat in hells chance”.
My dd runs a small animal boarding business and charges £2 per night per hamster. That’s cheap. Other businesses charge more. Send her a bill OP!!

@RuralJuror

*Three weeks ago my friend asked me to look after her 2 puppies whilst her house was being decorated. I have never had puppies and I don't really like them but she was desperate for someone to look after them so I said yes. When she has asked how they are I have been positive "oh they are fine don't worry we are getting on great" etc etc Today is my birthday ..she rings me As my gift to you I'm letting you keep the puppies ... So I said "oh no don't be silly, I've enjoyed having them but they belong to you" She replied .."no no I insist ..." I don't want them Aibu to say no ? I think she just can't be arsed with them anymore tbh*

I wonder how many people would be insisting you return puppies to this heartless person. I would not trust this friend to look after any animals she obviously does not care about. I hope they can be re-homed with someone who cares more about them than the OP's friend.

BTW, Happy Birthday, OP!

I’d say exactly the same.

Why on earth are you trying to make Op responsible for someone else’s pet ownership responsibilities? The owner is responsible for pets whether they are hamsters or puppies. There is no suggestion of animal cruelty and if the Op observes any she can report it to the RSPCA then.

The decision on whether to ‘trust’ the owner rests with whoever sold her the animals.

Right now we have no evidence that the owner is ‘heartless’. She’d like to offload her hamsters so has tried to dump them on a friend - she didn’t feed them to a passing fox or starve them to death - and there is no reason to think she wouldn’t either keep and care for them or re-home them when Op sends them back.

Stop guilt tripping the Op into taking on someone else’s responsibilities. Disgusting behaviour.

OMFG, please update and let us know she’s got her bloody hamsters back

Actually I wouldn't want to return them, she's obviously not bothered about them and I would be worried she's going to neglect them.
I don't know how you are going to palm them off on someone else though, and you should not have to keep them!

@harrietbarrier33 That's so crazy that it's actually funny!

If she won't have them back, see if the pet shop may have them. I would tell them why you're taking them there though, and give your 'friend's' name and address. The RSPCA may want to pay her a visit.

Sounds like they are better off without her tbh.

What a cheek!

Wanted to add, I agree with the posters saying do NOT give them back to this person @harrietbarrier33

My friend tried this with me - but with a cat. I’d have loved to have kept him but DP is not a fan plus impractical for our lifestyle/unfair to the cat. My sister gave me a heads up so I could pre-empt it and avoid the awkwardness.
Took him back to hers, sat down for literally 5 minutes and she rang another friend and arranged to take him there. Practically shooed me out of the house whilst bundling him back into the car so she could go and dump him

Wow your ‘friend’ is a genius how she cooked up that little one to get rid of her hamsters is literally brilliant how much can hamsters get in the way when decorating anyway???!!!

Turn up on her doorstep tomorrow with hamsters and cage and be ready for when she answers the door with this line ready ‘thanks so much for the offer but I Do not want or have the time for hamsters, these little guys have missed their mummy haven’t you’ as you hand the cage over! Then run to the car without looking back

I would say “oh dear I hope you weren’t serious about giving the hamsters to me as a birthday gift, reminds me of all those battersea adds about not buying pets as gifts because they aren’t suitable gifts. Much better sticking to a bottle of wine or bubble bath!!”

I have to say that's quality cheeky-fuckerdom, some of the best I've seen on Mumsnet (and there's some really tough competition here). Gotta give her credit for going above and beyond on the cheeky fuckerdom.

"Fuck off" should about cover it.

[quote littlepattilou]@harrietbarrier33 That's so crazy that it's actually funny!

If she won't have them back, see if the pet shop may have them. I would tell them why you're taking them there though, and give your 'friend's' name and address. The RSPCA may want to pay her a visit.

Sounds like they are better off without her tbh.

What a cheek![/quote]
@littlepattilou

RSPCA won't care that OP's friend wants to give away some hamsters

Please report back on what she says OP!

What a cf!

That’s hilarious !!! Are you sure this wasn’t a joke? She seems to be winding you up

I'm just too busy with work and it working be fair on them.

Do not send this.

This makes it sound like you would love the hamsters but... and she can counter that by saying but they sleep in the day, they don’t care about you working! Or anything else. No. You don’t want the hamsters. They are hers and you were doing her a favour. You don’t have to justify why you don’t want them.

CF-ery and joking aside, if this woman can so blithely give away her pets, then they can't have much of a life with her.

If I were you I would Google the nearest hamster rescue and take them there