Hamsters? Where to buy?

[Becky99]

What's the pet store chain I've seen around London? Pets at Home? Pet Care? Help! 8 yr old DS wants one for his birthday.:)

Try and find a good breeder!
You will get a well bred, well handled hammy, who will be easier for your ds. Probably alot bigger too.

If you can't find a breeder try and find a good recommended independent pet shop.

Always worth trying a rescue first though. It's not unusual (sorry for the Tom Jones effect!) for small pregnant rodents to be brought into a rescue, so they often have young as well as adult's looking for forever homes. Best of luck!

Duh! How could I forget rescues!

Pets at home have a rescue area too, quite often where people have bought pets they can no longer keep.

We tried local rescue centres but there weren't any hamsters available at the time. We got our hamster from a breeder. Lovely hammy, very tame and we had no trouble handling her around 24 hours after we brought her home (we gave her time to get used to her new cage).
We found our breeder through our regional hamster club (via the National Hamster Council)
www.hamsters-uk.org/index.php?option=com_weblinks&catid=20&Itemid=58

Also hamster forum might be good place to ask
www.hamstercentral.com/community/

or this might have breeders near you
www.britishhamsterassociation.org.uk/locate_breeder.php