Not sure about your situation, but if your having doubts about irresponsibility you might wanna go w/ your hunch.

Well, it's mostly because we don't really think we should be buying from a pet store. :V I just hate to think about her giving birth in scary crowded hamster land. It's definitely not a space or money or time issue. Just a ethics issue, I guess.

I personally don't like buying from them, but do you REALLY want the babies if it is pregnant? That's the thing you mostly gotta think about if u get it. Also I think most pet stores breed their stuff in the back anyway, so it's not so uncommon. (Mice, rats, hamsters, ect.)

Well, I'm not like ~~~woo hoo a thousand baby hamsters~~~ but it would be within my resources to care for them if I wasn't able to find homes for them. :] I definitely wouldn't purchase a pregnant animal if I didn't think I could support the babies, haha.

And yeah. Unfortunately this particular pet store keeps their hamsters together, so I'm sure the females just continuously get pregnant and give birth. :<

Hmmm~ Well I personally dislike hamsters so my judgement won't be any good. :3
But if you think about it a lot of hamsters are there getting pregnant, would saving one really help? IDK that's just my views. :C
Ignore me~ :P

Well it wouldn't help in an objective sense! But she is a really nice hamster.

Then if that outweighs all the negatives do watcha gotta do.

She's cute, and it's up to you, but i'm personally very much against purchasing animals from pet stores. But again, it's really up to you. But yeah, she's pretty friggin' adorable.

I'm against it, too, generally. :< That's what has us hesitating. I'd just really like to make her comfortable and make sure her litter is healthy and have a nice place to live. D: And that she doesn't keep getting pregnant. lul. :/

GET THAT POTATO. She is an adorable little thing and although pet's 'can' be an irresponsible choice you guys always seem the type to know what you're getting into. So it just comes down to if you want to make that commitment because you're attached enough.

Well, it would be an irresponsible decision pet-store-ethics-wise no matter what we did, just because they would be seeing profit from us, which is no good.

I want her because she was so lovely and because the selfish part of me wants a nice hamster. Another part of me just wants to make sure she is able to give birth in a healthy environment and that the babies can be cared for properly, etc. I just can't decide if the one hamster (+ babies) is worth the profit the pet store would see. :/

I agree with getting her to help the babies. I doubt they get proper care for that at a pet store..:c

You could always talk to the store about taking the hamster for free to get it off their hands-- let them know she appears to be very pregnant and that you'll gladly take her and care for the babes. If you try you can sometimes get stores to give you their sick/problem animals for free. It's not worth it to actually give them money though, honestly. You'd only be perpetuating the system. Do your best to fight with management!

I was considering trying this, actually. :V

Or getting them to knock the price down so much that they'd be breaking even maybe.

I understand not wanting to buy from a mill run type pet store. >,,< Hopefully you can get her for free like was suggested. I don't know what experience you have with pregnant hamsters, but be prepared, if you do get her, for the possibility of her eating her babies. D: Hamsters are notorious for it. But if she's left there, there's an even higher possibility it'll happen, be it by her or one of the others, if they don't separate them. Especially judging by how many are in that one cage. >,,< And of course, make sure it stays quarantined from any others for a while, to make sure you don't see anything concerning.

Well, hamsters are actually meant to be kept solitary, so she would be quarantined simply by necessity. :V But I do keep my small mammals in separate rooms, actually, almost always.

Schway stuff. ^..^ I knew you guys had rats, wasn't sure about hamsters.

I wasn't aware they were meant to be kept solitary though. Interesting.

I hope you'd actually name her Potato, otherwise no, don't get her.

lol

but seriously.

Uhh, gah, that is such a hard decision because in-the-moment you wanna help that hamster. There being potential better living conditions in the future doesn't help her or her babies.

The talking them down/to free sounds like a good idea to start with, at least!

I've always found myself at an impasse with pet store pets... on the one hand, there's the plus of getting them out of a bad environment and giving the animals a good life. On the other hand, there's the negative of perpetuating the system that put the animals in a bad situation to begin with.
I remember once when I was young, going to the local pet store (Jerry's Perfect Pets.) I always loved going in there because I could play with the puppies and kittens and watch the fish and the lizards... but one day, they were going under. I didn't really understand why, because I was young. But on the last day I went there the store was crammed more than usual (mostly because they were practically giving exotic animals away in their rush to close shop.) I remember stopping by a hamster cage and being horrified. A very pregnant hamster was walking along, giving birth as she went, while other hamsters were crawling over her and eating her babies almost as soon as the babies came out. The cage was so packed that what baby hamsters weren't eaten, were trampled.
All in all, I guess it wasn't a huge event, but it was something that has really stuck with me and I can't help but think of it whenever pet stores come to mind. x.x It all seems to be a lose-lose situation, yanno? You can't win by buying the hamster and giving her a better life, because then you help perpetuate the business that put her in that situation in the first place (unless, of course, you get her for free like others have suggested.) You also can't win by leaving her there, because you know that it probably won't end well... It's a hard choice. :/ I really feel for you, and best of luck.

Yeah. :< Totally the fears I have for her. Especially since she seems so well socialized and has the potential to be such a nice little pet for someone. :<

I think my plan will be to try and get her for free or at least get her price knocked down considerably.

Potato. Great art inspiration. You need to buy the inspiring hamsterla

I hate to be a debby-downer, but you could always get her priced knocked down, if not for free. Simply because of the fact that she is pregnant, and there could be life threatening complications.

depends on the pet store, I have seen in one store were a parakeet had chicks, but that super rare and surprised the hell out of the owner, but they have always been clean and disease free.
I got my mice from another pet store that was not quite as good, but they kept their females and males seperated after receiving them so it was a complete shock when I came home one day to see babies in the cage

it isn't so much the actual 'store' that is terrible as where the animals came from. So, while your local petsmart could be nice, clean, tidy and filled with caring workers, that doesn't mean you should ever buy from there.
Pet store animals come from farms or mills-- and not just the puppies. Rodent farms are a horrific thing, and that's whats feeding the industry, since the only way you can make profit off of selling a rat for $2 is to breed them like mad. The same goes for guinea pigs, hamsters, ferrets, rabbits, mice etc.

that is true but the first store mentoin does it best to monitor that if a pup comes in sick from a breeder that is the last they can bring any in

There isn't any reputable breeder, unfortunately, that would ever sell its puppies to a pet store. You can pretty much guarantee your pet store puppy has come from a puppy mill. Enter equivalent for any other animals as well.

no that is not true, while there are a great deal of puppy mills, not pet that go to a pet store come from there, I know of breeders that send them to pets stores and they are upstanding breeders, a lot of it is due to the season.

I don't know any worthwhile breeders who don't tend to have waiting lists for puppies that far exceed the number of puppies they actually produce.

I SAY PO-TAH-TOH!

So cute and chubbeh - just like a hamster should be! <3