Buyers Remorse - what was I thinking?

[TupperMom7]

Did this ever happen to you? On an impulse, you buy something and later say to yourself - "what was I thinking", LOL.

Dh and I went to a garage sale a couple weeks ago looking for a dresser for dd10 room. They didn't have any furniture, but I spotted a couple of those hamster cages, the plastic colorful ones with the tubes and stuff. I said to Dh "these would make good presents for dd10 and ds10 for their birthday, we could get them each a hamster"....

Now under normal circumstances, Dh says no to everything, lol. But this day he agreed and forked over the money for the two cages and off we went. Then I started to remember what it was like to have a hamster when our other daughter had one. He would keep us awake at night running around that wheel. He would poop and pee whereever he wanted to, including in the wheel that he was running in. Shavings were everywhere. Then when it was time to clean the cage, it was in the bathtub! Yuck. He didn't smell too bad, until the cage needed cleaning - but we didn't get any more hamsters after that.

So I emailed Dh and told him that I was having buyers remorse and how did he feel about it. He quickly suggested that we well the cages on Craigslist and not mention anything to dd or ds about it. Whew. I haven't listed them yet, but plan to this weekend. I hope they sell for at least as much as we paid for them!

 

[FunkyDuck]

Hahaha! That is funny! I bought one for my DS two years ago...UGH!...You're so right...noisy at night...that wheel...shavings, smell...DS never kept up the cleaning...so it was me (happens to all parents!)...

I just smiled and chuckled reading your post! I'm glad your DH agreed with you and you were able to halt that plan!! LOL

 

[pigletto]

Too true. I remember many nights of playing "How far away can I move this hamster cage so that I won't hear the squeeking of the wheel?"

And the smell.
And the slight revulsion I got everytime I had to touch the darn thing. And the cleaning the cage despite the fact that my kids swore on their lives that they would do it.
And the many times we played "Is he stuck in that tube or sleeping?" only to become convinced he or she was stuck, try to gently wiggle it out of the tube and get bitten

And the inevitable heart breaking hamster funerals.

Nope.. no more hamsters for us. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Yes!! Although I have gotten better at thinking through my purchases. The worst was about 4 years ago I went to the Coach outlet to get a purse as all of the expensive designer purses I have had always been gifts and I wanted something bought with my own money. I ended up buying a purse and a matching wallet for $350. I got in the car and just started crying for about 20 minutes! I couldn't return it as they only offered store credit and I kept thinking of all of the things I could spend $350 on. I haven't bought a purse since (or anything materialistic that is just based on a designer [although I do have to say all of my Coach purses hold up ridiculously good and I haven't needed to buy a purse in years]) and have made very, very few impulse buys since then.

Good decision with the hamsters! I had a few growing up and while they were fun at first I never wanted to take care of them (same thing with the birds and fish I had) and they lost their "appeal" after a couple of weeks (if not sooner).

 

[mom2d&b]

Thank you for confirming my decision. DD9 has a Bday on Monday, she wants a hamster. I vote NO!. I was lucky and found a Zhu Zhu pet and a couple of accessories. Hey, it is a hamster right? She never qualified it by saying a live hamster. I remember growing up and asking for a car, I got a car, a matchbox.

 

[dawson5]

we've had four hamsters. Our last one passed away at the beginning of summer. Do you know they can be litter trained? They are creatures of habit and if you put a small litter box in there, they will use it. It makes clean up a lot easier, but they still poop when they run.


as for impulse buys, a jacket that I now detest and cannot take back. *sigh* oh well. live & learn. At least you figured this out before you actually bought hamsters.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

At least you had buyers remorse BEFORE you bought the hamsters, and not after!

We have avoided the little fuzzy pet syndrome here. I remember having hamsters, a mouse, and a guinea pig. What a mess. And the hamsters bit. Ungrateful little $@^#$$%&$$!

 

[emer95]

we've had four hamsters. Our last one passed away at the beginning of summer. Do you know they can be litter trained? They are creatures of habit and if you put a small litter box in there, they will use it. It makes clean up a lot easier, but they still poop when they run.


as for impulse buys, a jacket that I now detest and cannot take back. *sigh* oh well. live & learn. At least you figured this out before you actually bought hamsters.

Oh my gosh... That sentence made me burst out loud. I am dying laughing here in my chair. What a visual!

We are reformed hamster owners, too. We bought one for our daughters, which two weeks later turned into SEVEN (the horror!!). Then it was our problem to find homes for all of them. When the original and the one baby we kept finally passed away, I cleaned every last trace of hamster out of our house. Then, months later I moved the daybed out of the playroom we kept them in, and I found a stray poop. I went berserk, and I ranted and raved to my husband that we were living in squalor and we were lucky our children hadn't been taken away from us. I may have over reacted a little.
But definitely no more hamsters, or pets period, for us.

 

[vanyel]

I loved my hamster but he died after several months and that was traumatic! I never let my kids have them though -we went the dog/cat route instead.

At least you bought the cages at a garage sale and not brand new, right?

 

[susykt4]

Don't waste time/money on rodents! Sure, they "can" be litter trained and trained not to bite and you will find plenty of people who LOVED their little furry friend, but for a "normal" family with limited time and kids who have other interests, nobody is going to spend the necessary huge amount of time required to make these guys handleable. They stink and cleaning those tubes is horrible. Most kids lose interest because they eventually give up on making them tame and then the rodent is just a stinky nuisance who has to be constantly cleaned and fed. I've found that (ironically) the rodents who are ignored (other than their basic needs) tend to live MUCH longer because they aren't constantly stressed over being played with and held by the kids. There will be no more rodents or small animals in my house. We will stick with dogs and cats! I've learned that awful lesson. Several times...

 

[mb168]

I've thought about getting the kids a pet of some kind but our love of taking of and going to Disney has made me afraid to even buy a fish.

Had a bunch of hamsters when I was a kid and I can remember several of them that would wake me up in the middle of the night running on that metal wheel (squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak) and later the plastic ones (thump, thump, thump) and my mom yelling "That %^^&^%$$ rat is going outside if he doesnt stop." She always laughed about it the next morning but at 2AM it didn't sound funny.

 

[sarah4770]

this is a little off topic, but my son got a guinea pig, that I ended up taking care of....you all know how that goes. Anyway, we have become really fond of him. They are a little quieter than hamsters.

 

[NMW]

Ugh, hate pets like that. One Christmas I thought it would be wonderful to buy each of my sons really nice fish tanks and 2 fish each, plus all the decorations for the tanks, etc.

I can't tell you what a pain those fish tanks became. I was the only one ever cleaning them, replacing carbon filters, replacing dead fish, siphoning out water, etc. I had to treat a new fish with ick one time that required 2 vists to Petco. When the last fish in my older sons tank died...and I feel bad admitting this...my younger son still had one fish alive and I flushed it. I then removed any trace of fish tanks from our home. They came home from school one day to fishtankless rooms. They asked for years for more fish and I have never wavered.

Hamsters seem like even more work. I don't think you could pay me enough to bring hamsters in my house.

 

[dawson5]

after four of them, I wouldn't hesitate to have another but I know going in that it will be me taking care of them. We've been blessed with wonderful hamsters. They usually live to be about 2, had one that lived to 2 yrs & 3 months, he died in my hands. We researched before buying, knew what to expect going in. They are nocturnal but you can switch them, it takes time and work. No different than training dogs, just on a smaller scale.

After the last one died, I told my youngest we would talk after baseball season (travel), I can't do it though. I get too attached. They do need to be handled to be socialized. What's the point of having one if all you can do is look at it? Get a fish if you want that. That's me though. We do have a fish, when this one dies, I'm done. Just dogs now and one very lonely fish.

 

[beansmom]

Thank you for confirming my decision. DD9 has a Bday on Monday, she wants a hamster. I vote NO!. I was lucky and found a Zhu Zhu pet and a couple of accessories. Hey, it is a hamster right? She never qualified it by saying a live hamster. I remember growing up and asking for a car, I got a car, a matchbox.

makes me think of that commercial where the guy asks the little girl 'do you want a pony?'

 

[hsmamato2]

haha! this is a funny thread- we are SO done with caged rodents around here, we have dogs and cats,they're actually easier to care for IMHO the easiest pets in the world that my kids currently own are beta fish, an anole lizard- plus a friendly hermit crab( I know,right?) these guys are easy to care for,non smelly,and the kids are always playing with the lizard and crab,yes,they build lego fortresses for Jack and Hermie to crawl through,it wierd how much enjoyment they get from these critters-my youngest spends all his allowance on new pets! (I like them better than junky throwaway toys)
To OP,you can sell the cages on Craigslist and your kids will never be wiser.....

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Thank you everyone for confirming my stance on pets.
We used to have fish but that became my job (like I expected otherwise) and I would gag everytime I had to clean the tank. The fish went home to their Moms (all drains lead to the ocean and all) and the fish tank went in the garage sale.

I will continue with my rule that nothing that poops can live in this house unless it came out of my body. My kids do ask ask for the occassional pet and I ask them if they want to clean the poop. They say no (with a look of disgust on their faces) and I say then they cannot get a pet.
We are going to hatch chicks though from a local farm after the holidays this year though. We raise them as babies and then give them back. I can take short term poop. I raised birds as a kid all the time. I am sure we will have drama when it is time to send the birds back to their mamas but we will survive.

 

[maleficentmom]

Oh, we had a gerbil..Jackie Leggs(after the kangaroo in Kangaroo Jack)..all was well until he got old enough to bite.The little demon bit me and wouldn't let go until I walked inside,through the house and put him down in his cage.(w/blood running down my arm)He could jump out of the glass tank,so we had to buy a lid,and he would still find loose spots and escape the lid.You could track him down by following the poop trail.By the time he expired,I asked my oldest if she wanted me to put him in a box and give him a funeral...her answer was"No...just throw him in the trash...or feed him to the cat!".....no more for us,either.

 

[ceecee]

I remember growing up and asking for a car, I got a car, a matchbox.

That happened to me too!!! They even painted it to be the color I asked for!!!

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

We have hermit crabs. They are fairly easy to take care of and fairly inexpensive too. Maybe you could use the Hampster cages for them