what would you do??

[ProudGrandma]

You guys have all been very helpful and kind during our hamster sagas throughout this last year. After this last death, my husband and I got to thinking about just how often my son has lost a hamster this past year and started wondering if I should call the pet store and complain...

 

here is the rundown, as I can best remember and figure out using CC bills, other key dates etc.

 

3/01/12 we bought Honey

 

5/25/12 we bought Patches because Honey died days before because he got some weird disease where his insides were bleeding out of his bottom (sorry too much information)

 

6/1/12 we traded in Patches for Scbbers because Patches was eating on himself (the pet store gave us an even trade)

 

10/15/12 we bought Chocolate Chip because Scabbers dies (no known cause)

 

12/10/12 we bought Bear because Chocolate Chip dies (no known cause)

 

It just seems to us that these little guys were dying too quickly....all research I have done says that hamsters on the average live for about 2-3 years. We have 2 other hamsters (in separte cages. All 3 are cared for the exact same way, which is very well. They aren't handled too roughly, they are feed and watered regularly, their cages get cleaned out weekly. All 3 of them are in the same place in the house (the temp is "normal" and no drafts. The cages are the same, the bedding is the same, the food is the same. The only thing that isn't the same is that one child's hamsters keep dying and the other 2 don't.

 

We went to a different pet store yesterday just because we happen to be in a larger city (about 3 hours away) and we when we spoke to the people there (Petsmart)they couldn't figure out why we would be having these problems either. We would have purchased a hamster there, but all they had were dwarf hamsters and they aren't as tame we were told.

 

So we left and came back home and bought a new one at the same pet store we have been. I didn't have the exact times and dates of our previous purchases with me, so I didn't say a whole lot to lady who helped us. But now I am wondering if I should call them back and speak to a manager. We sort of feel that after so many hamsters have died so prematurely that they should do something for us.

 

What do you think? What would you do??

[AK_Mom4]

If this one dies, I would seriously consider going into the lizard-wrangling business.

 

Fun to watch and play with and more "durable" than hamsters.

[Cera]

Have all of these hamsters lived in the same cage? If the other two have been fine all along and the ones that keep dying have all lived in the same cage my assumption would be that the cage was contaminated with whatever killed the first hamster. I would take it apart and soak it for a few days in bleach then rinse it VERY thoroughly and make sure the bleach was completely gone before trying to put another hamster in it (or just buy a new cage).

[Brilliant]

What do you think? What would you do??

 

I would stop buying hamsters.

 

We had hamsters & gerbils when I was a kid. They lived for years. Something is wrong. Either at the pet shop or at your home (as Cera said, maybe the cage?).

[Mrs Mungo]

I will say that we had a hamster did in an aquarium and strongly suspected that he had been gnawing on the sealant around the glass. It was an older aquarium. Since then we have used the aquarium for fish and a hamster cage for hamsters. Our hamsters since have all lived 2+ years. I would suspect that there is something wrong with the cage (contamination...something).

 

Hamsters are not naturally tame. Eldest dd has a dwarf. We handled all of the hamsters at the store before choosing the one that seemed friendliest. He is handled on a daily basis, but you have to do that in order to keep them tame.

 

I would not necessarily expect a large chain pet store to help you out. I don't find their associates to be particularly knowledgable or helpful.

 

[Mrs Mungo]

Oh...on re-reading, were you expecting the other pet store to do something?

 

Since your other hamsters have lived, I would suspect the cage or enviornment rather than the shop. Therefore, I would not expect the store to compensate me.