What are your favorite rodents? Please go from the ones you like most to the ones you like least and if you can- why?
Here:
~Hamsters
~Mice
~Guinea Pigs
~Gerbils
~Rats
~Degus
If I don't have anything that you like, you may add it to the list.
Thank you very much!
2007-10-29 14:06:57 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Rodents
Hamsters are my personal favorite, but they are all cute! I think most people like rodents without tails better than with tails since the tails look more rat like to them and they consider rats nasty.
2007-10-29 16:15:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mice- Sweet, social, hilarious to watch, all-around wonderful pets, oh and totally adorable! Should also mention that if raised and tamed correctly they are exceptionally friendly and easy to handle.
Gerbils- Very active, social, nice
Rats- Haven't owned any (yet), but the ones I've met have been very doglike in their devotion to their owners, and it's cute to see
Guinea Pigs- They just don't float my boat. Had 3 growing up, and I loved listening to them, but they just weren't my thing.
Degus- Probably ought to be higher, but I don't feel I can rate an animal I've never met or had in real life, though they seem pretty cool from what I've read on them. :)
Everything else in the world then...
Hamster- I really, really, really don't like hamsters. Sorry. I've had about ten throughout life (before I discovered gerbils then my precious mice), and they weren't very social or sweet. I would get them young (except once when I was little, and that once with a pet store adult left me with a permanent scar on my palm), preferably from a breeder, and while they would tolerate handling they never seemed to enjoy it or really seek it out like my other rodents do. They sleep during the day, and if you wake them up they can get crabby. To cap it off, I worked at a Petco for a while as the small animal specialist, and had to start wearing gloves just to clean their cages. Meh. I'm just not a hamster fan. Except Robos. They are sweet.
2007-10-31 05:17:32 · answer #2 · answered by Falcon 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rats are by far my favorite rodent pet - there is no comparison. They are extremely intelligent and affectionate and do not bite as much as the others (I put them in the same class of pets as I put dogs because of their affection and intelligence) - they do not just sit there all day and look around or run in their wheel (in fact, I think they are too smart to put up with the wheel thing because I have never gotten mine to use one). I spend a lot of time with mine and they learn their names, come when I call, etc. One that I have right now cuddles with me and gives me hugs with his cute little arms whenever I'm laying of my bed watching movies - he just has to be with me as much as possible.
The only thing with rats, though, is that they do thrive on love so if you cannot spend a lot of time with them you would probably want to get more than one so that they do not get lonely. Also, a lot of people will tell you that they are 100% nocturnal but I have not had that experience - they are more like cats and dogs where they sleep on and off throughout both day and night.
After rats, the choices given pretty much fall into the same rank with me because rats are just so intelligent and interactive and beyond all the others in what I look for in a pet. I was going to get a hamster and the guy I was dating at the time said "NO!! Get a rat!" and I have never looked back.
2007-10-29 14:35:22 · answer #3 · answered by Roxcy 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
1-mice
(small, intelligent, and social)
2-rats
(intelligent and very social, more like a cat or dog than any other rodent however they take up much space)
3-gerbils
(social, easy to tame)
4-hamsters
(small and fluffy although require more time to be tamed)
5-guinea pigs
(large, and alittle too lazy in my opinion, I prefer pets that I can interact with)
I have no experience with degus, I believe they are considered more of an "exotic" than any other rodent
currently I have two rescue hamsters, one syrian and one dwarf (separate cages of course); although I've been wanting to get more mice for the longest time
you might want to list syrian and dwarf hamsters as too different options on your poll as the care and temperament are very different between the two
2007-10-29 14:17:51 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I have no personal experience with gerbils or degus, unfortunately we're not permitted to have them as pets in our state. Our multi-species family does have members from the other 4 groups you've listed & I love them all.
Rats are my favorite, b/c they're so sweet, smart & playful. They continually delight & amaze me with their antics & I love watching them inteact. My SO, who had very little knowledge of pet rats before we got together, is completely enchanted with them too. If I could only have 1 type of small animal, I would pick rats.
Mice are great b/c they're so acrobatic & their tiny size makes them charming. It's amazing that someone that little could have a distinct personality. We had 1 who was so scared of us that she'd close her eyes tight before taking a treat from my hand-- I never knew if she thought that if she couldn't see me, I couldn't see her either, or if she just felt braver when she didn't have to look @ my gigantic hand. We've had others who were so friendly they'd hop onto my hand & one even would run up my arm as if she were a tiny rat.
Guinea pigs are funny little guys, when ours runs away from me I'm never sure if he's playing or if he's momentarily forgotten that he loves me. They're nice to cuddle with & make such interesting sounds. Ours has long hair & ppl say he looks like Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. When I comb his hair out, he "grooms" my arm by nibbling on it.
We recently adopted an adult Campbell's dwarf hamster who needed a home. This is my 1st experience with a dwarf & he's so cute & tiny but not friendly (I couldn't find out anything about his former home but was told he may have been abused b/c he was so agressive). He has calmed down & hopefully will become more trusting. Even if we can never handle him, he seems happy & has a permanant home here. All the hamsters I had when I was a kitten were the larger Golden or Teddy Bear hamsters & every one was a sweet little ball of fur.
2007-10-29 16:54:28 · answer #5 · answered by Catkin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Degus are my favorite, then chinchillas, then rats. They are all loving and intelligent little animal, and the first two are very non-smelly. Degus are my fav because they have a lot of the pluses of Rats, but not the smell as they are also desert animals. I had all three as a youngster (as well as a pika my dad brought home from a university lab, but he was not so tame) and are great pets when you are short on space.
Add, rabbits are not rodents, but many people still put them in that catigory out of habit. They are Lagomorphs, as they don't have penile bones like rodents do :)
opps, someone already pointed the above out before I finished my post :)
2007-10-29 14:37:50 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
1- Rats (I have 3 boys and they are the best pets I've ever had!
2-Hamsters (I have a dwarf hamster and I luv her. Arn't as friendly as rats tho)
3-Guinny pigs (they are so friendly, kinda big tho, but still lovely)
4- Mice (small and easy to take care of, not easy to keep in hands as much as a rat or hamster0
5-Gerbils
6-Degus
2007-10-30 01:31:20 · answer #7 · answered by Lambkins 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rats (My personal favorite--very affectionate, smart and clean.)
Guinea pigs (Incredibly cute, and they're sweeter than you'd expect.)
Gerbils (They seem nice, but not for me.)
Mice (They smell a little, and they're too jumpy/fragile to be handled easily, but I still like them.)
Hamsters (Overall unfriendly and uninteresting pets. There's the odd exception that's very nice, though.)
...And I'm not sure where degus would go on that list :).
2007-10-30 00:06:29 · answer #8 · answered by Rattiefuzz 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I most prefer hamsters, dwarf hamsters in particular because they are cute. Mice and rats just look ugly to me. I guess it's their long tails!
We had gerbils as kids and I think they are alright, but not as fluffy as hamsters.
To me, guinea pigs are ugly. I know so many people who think I'm crazy for saying that, but they just aren't appealing to me.
2007-10-29 16:32:57 · answer #9 · answered by its_victoria08 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well all of them are my favorite rodents because they are all very sweet and love-able. But if i HAD to choose. I would pick the hamster. Because i've had 4 hamsters and they were all sooo sweet! My friends all have at least 1 of the rodents,so I know how they(well my friends rodent) acts.
OTHER RODENTS.
~Ferret
~Chinchilla
2007-10-29 15:00:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋