Did you do research before you bought your hamster?

Question

Everytime I answer a question in the rodents section, I question whether or not those people know ANYTHING about the living, breathing animal in their home.

Answer 1

i've asked a zillion questions on yahoo answers, read about 13 hammy books, and went to 5 websites. i'm getting a hamster in a month. so yes, i did research.

Answer 2

I research for every animal i get before i get it! I get sad when people don't research before purchasing because then the pet isn't going to get the care that it needs :(

Answer 3

I agree with you. There are some silly questions ain't there lol ah well.

Answer 4

Oh, agreed.

I work in a pet store, and it's downright disturbing to see some people come in and say they want to buy a cute chinchilla, yet know nothing about them! When people depend on pet store employees to tell them everything they need to know about their pet RIGHT before they buy it. Someone working in a pet store may not necessarily know everything they need to know. I would never depend on an employee in a retail store to educate me about an animal. I don't know how many people I tell "Just go out and GOOGLE your animal." There are so many resources online and I don't know why there are so many people who don't utilize them! They don't even need to buy books if they find the right sites and online communities.

Answer 5

yes i did.alot of research

Answer 6

I agree. It really makes me mad when people buy pets on impulse or don't do any research whatsoever before getting a pet. It really isn't that hard to get on google to find information or pick up some books on their new pet before they decide to get it.

I, myself, have gerbils. I did research for at least a month before I even asked to get them. I joined a gerbil forum, I read lots of articles on the internet and I asked a few questions here. I did most of the research on my own, though.

It really bothers me when people have no idea how to properly care for the pet they chose to get.

Answer 7

I don't have any hamsters right now, but I run a rescue for exotic pets and we have hamsters occasionally.

I research every species we take in so that I can make sure we are doing right by that animal. We can hardly claim to be good rescue if we took in animals we knew nothing about.

Just last week I was reading up about Wallabies because someone wanted us to take his. I knew nothing about them! Now I'm a member of several online groups about Wallabies and I have a whole binder full of info printed out.

A lot of our adopters will request an animal, and then it turns out that they know nothing about whatever kind it is! That is probably the most frustrating part of my job; trying to educate people who already have their minds made up!

People these days are all about instant gratification. They want a hamster, and they are going to get one even if they are totally unprepared. Parents also buy pets for their kids because they don't know how to be proper parents anymore. They just want their kid to shut up.

It also really irritates me when I see people here claiming to be "experts" on certain types of animals, yet they are constantly answering questions with FALSE information, and their own questions here reflect less than a basic understanding of whatever kind of animal they have themselves! They are only hurting more animals out there because the people who come here looking for advice don't know what to believe.

I share your pain.

Answer 8

I did a lot of reasearch before getting my hamster(books and the internet). But i knwo many people try getting there info from here. Which can be incorrect from certaine people. So i always try to give a site for people to get a lot of info from.