I know what you mean about breeding them...I've always kept fancy mice, & I actually used to have a small side business selling my surplus rodents. I'm only
doing mice now (since I'm "down to" 16 snakes, don't ask how many I used to feed ) but I used to breed rats & Russian dwarf hamsters too. At the time I got
into breeding the hamsters, they had a terrible reputation with local pet stores...their only source was a large commercial place that apparently made no attempt
to avoid inbreeding, & their hamsters actually were more like wild ones...even the babies would literally attack you! Having an appropriate "outlet" () for
any biters, & some hamsters from another far-away source, I ended up producing really cute pets in all sorts of pretty coat colors & great temperaments. I actually
guaranteed them- if any proved unsatisfactory (were biters, even if it was because someone mishandled them) I exchanged them for free on my next weeks delivery.
So they stopped losing money & sold LOTS of hamsters that were friendly pets, the way they were supposed to be. And as I said, I had "customers" for the very
few that didn't measure up.