i am new and am wondering....

[flippedside]

The longer you are on CS, the more rares you get. I have quite a few because I've been adopting for...about a year and half. Also, as has already been mentioned, if you adopt multiple pets, you are more likely to get an "uncommon" pet. Adopting pets on holidays gives you (usually) several uncommon pets. With time, more people join the site and the older uncommon pets usually end up as rares. Many of the pets that were "common" when I first started are now uncommon (and I think a few are even rare!). Occasionally, you'll get lucky and adopt a pet out of a set that just happens to be rare, but most people have rares because they've been adopting on CS for quite a while. XD

As a suggestion for trading, if you set up a separate group with your duplicates and pets you are willing to trade called "trades," it is usually easier for people to trade with you because they know exactly which pets you are willing to trade. I know I'm much more likely to trade with someone if it's easy for me to find their trade-able pets (and I don't have to worry about trading away my own pets, because they're in separate locked groups).