Sunisea

You know them because of things like breeds, marking, size, colour, behaviour (friendly black poodle, huge grey husky etc.). If somebody sat five golden retrievers of the same size and age in front of you, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell which is which without knowing them very well. You know your own dogs extremely well, so it would be much easier to notice details about them that others would miss, especially in behaviour and markings. I imagine that’s the experience OP is describing.

Hi! Thank you for everything you do. :3

My Whisper was a Valentine's gift last February. I had wanted a hamster for months, and thought I was prepared. The reality became apparent so incredibly quickly. How could the store have sold us a cage that was so incredibly small, with a wheel that would inevitably damage her back within a month, when they sold us a female Syrian that they should have KNOWN would grow to be large? Why didn't they have any wheels big enough for her? (We eventually bought her a chinchilla cage and modified it, but when it turned out that she was a serial bar chewer, we switched to a 60 gallon tank with a mesh lid.) Why do they even sell bedding marketed towards hamsters if they know it is unsafe, such as cedar shavings? Why did one store expert tell us that supplementing her meals with dried mealworms for extra protein would kill our hamster when it is perfectly safe? When she was being too picky with her eating, the advice was basically "feed her bread, if she doesn't like it, tough"? Why do they tell people that hamsters can be housed together when they rarely get along peacefully? Why are treats sold that are basically the worst kind of sugar-filled junk? Why on earth is it never mentioned by anyone that tomatoes and their leaves are poisonous to hamsters?!

Those are rhetorical questions, of course. It's just frustrating, and I'm sure you understand all too well. It was a hard journey for us and mistakes were made, but the internet was the best resource in learning how to care for a hamster, because the resources in the real world are useless. For any hamster owner, or indeed pet owner out there, I implore you to look up online what is best for your pet and do not take the pet store recommendations and advice to heart without extra proof. A lot of those people mean well, but they are misinformed and, at the end of the day, paid to sell products.

Okay, so my real questions! What do you think could be done about the spread of misinformation and the lack of resources available for people who want to take care of their pet in the best way? Do you think pet stores and chains will catch up with the times? Likewise, the companies that produce the products themselves?

One last thing: can I suggest a couple of names for you to give to hamsters? I had a pair of dwarf hamsters when I was young, but they went missing after my cat tipped over their cage. Their names were Charlie and Jaikai (pronounced Jay-Kay). I'd love it if their names could be passed on!

Edit: Words!

Hi! Three questions:

I like haunted houses as long as I'm with a group -- but they always seem to have sections where they force you to be alone or move single-file. That's always the part that gets me to go from "Ahaha I nearly died of fright just then" to "Okay I might actually have a nervous breakdown here". Is a section like that a common thing to find in haunts?

My SO once worked in a haunt in his teens. He's normally a very friendly, somewhat introverted person. However, he described the job as a kind of "power trip", where he got into character so much that he enjoyed being intimidating and going as far with it as he could. Is it a similar experience for you, or just a routine "do what you're paid to do" thing?

Finally, could you tell us about all the characters you've been over the years? Which was your favourite?