Monday, January 14, 2008

Get Rich Raising Hamsters!




Wow! What a great idea! Syrian hamsters have the fastest gestation times on earth -- just 16 days! And they have large litters too! Eight young is the average, but some hamsters have had as many as 20 babies.

Do the math! You could become a millionaire raising hamsters for the pet trade.

What could go wrong? Nothing!

This ad is from a September 1950 edition of Popular Science magazine.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm laughing at odorless!

Anonymous said...

Hey, Patrick!

My husband seems to love Popular Science as much as you do -- he wonders if you have the 1958 edition that features the personal nuclear-powered flying machines -- supposedly, it featured drawing of all these people flying around in their own little "airplane cars" that each had its own nuclear reacter in it.

Anyway, if you have the copy and once you've run out of "Get Rich Raising Animals" Ad, he'd love to see those picture again!

Dorene

PBurns said...

Ford talked semi-seriously abuot a nuclear powered car at one point. See >> http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=656

As to personal flight machines -- they continue to be a staple of the Popular Sciece and Popular Mechanics Set. In fact, if you had some serious money, you could have owned a proto-type right now. See >> http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/The-last-Concept-Sky-Commuter-aircraft-in-Existence_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ26428QQihZ012QQitemZ220188946461QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

My bid was a little too low, LOL.

P

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Patrick!

I sent my husband the URLs. I'm regretting it mightly as he's probably going to want one of those prototypes! ;-D

Anonymous said...

This sounds an awful lot like the Alpaca hype you hear today.

"Get Rich Raising Sweet Furry Critters!"

The nice thing about Hamsters is that, unlike Alpacas, you don't go broke buying them ;-)

Janeen at SmartDogs (who can't figure out how to log in with my real identity)

Anonymous said...

Here in PA, Alpacas are becoming a very solid niche livestock. They are sweet animals, they all poop in one spot in the pasture (and the poop can be used directly -- no composting needed) and their fur is lovely.

If you're into natural fibers, want to add a few livestock to your growing mix and are smart about purchasing, you can do decent with alpacas.

My favorite tagline about my profession is "Agriculture -- it's an addiction!" Anyone who expects to get rich in agriculture (especially sustainable agriculture) is going to very disappointed very soon -- but with decent research and due dligence, you can create a satisfying (through not cash-rich) life for yourself.

Dorene