Gerbil or hamster?

[Cadelaide]

?

Personally prefer hamsters - just funnier to watch! I think, however, that gerbils are more likely to be awake during the day.

Hamsters for me!

Gerbils. Hamsterstend to sleep in the day and then keep you awake at night on their wheel and gnawing at the bars of their cage!

Anyone else?

Hamsters are really cute especially when they stuff their pouches full of food. They come in more varieties of colours than gerbils. You can train them to wake up early evening for a while.

thread with lots of stiff here

hammies get the vote from me

thanks seeker, lots there.

Gerbil's winning here at the moment, have you decided yet?

Ds has fallen seriously in love with degus - there are a family of 4 at our local Pets at Home. Not sure how I am going to avoid buying 4 - I reckon 2 is enough!

Hmmm. Having grilled my (rspca) sister I'm now leaning towards hamster.

I wonder whether I'm over-thinking this now

What has caused you to lean towards hamsters?

yah go for a hammy

My DP loves rodents as pets - but my vote is for gerbils, they're not great for handling but are active, inquisitive and great to watch. We used to keep them in a big glass tank (they chew everything and glass is gerbil proof) with little shelves in the corners so they had lots of variety, you can also add in containers with peat (they love to dig). Have had hamsters too but one was a pyscho - totally unhandleable, bit everyone, and the other was nervous - but they are really cute and if you get a nice tame one, they can be good pets to handle.
Degus look great - my DP really really wants some but we just haven't got the space!

Forgot to add - the hamsters drove us completely mad with their continual wheel running at night...

Getting the degus on Saturday

Well the thing is with gerbils you need to have more than one as they hate to be alone, then when one dies it's very difficult to introduce another.

Having neutered males gets around this problem in guinea pigs, but you can't neuter a gerbil.

I am, however, a bit nervous about the whole "awake at night" thing with a hamster. It'll be on shelves at the end of her bed, how will she ever sleep. D'you think she'll just get used to it?

We had loads of gerbils when I was a teeneager. We used to supply the pet shop!

They were great. they used to chew up cardboard tubes and loved a nice fresh earwig to crunch up.

We even had one of them operated on to remove a tumour! (we did have the vet living next door!)

Have had a hamster too, it was a bit stupid and did manage to bite me everytime i cleaned it out (apparently they have very bad eyesight and it mistook my finger for food!)

Hammy used to regularly escape into a kitchen with 3 cats. Sadly one day it decided to hide behind a box of soap powder which it then ate, needless to say the soap powder did not agree with it and he went to the great wheel in the sky.
Both were fairly smelly. But gerbils win for me!

Oh lord - more confusion. Apparantly you can keep guinea pigs indoors after all - I thought you couldn't!

aww now we also have guinea pigs.
They are funny, and cuddly.
Ours are indoors at the moment due to DS not wanting them to be cold (they've been out for the last 2 years!) now they've been in for so long we won't be able to put them out till warmer weather.
You should get 2 though as they like company.

Ah - now you said funny. That's what bothers me about them - they don't seem as funny as gerbils or degus.Lovely and cuddly and they make wonderful noises, but a bit staid and dull, they seem to me if I'm honest. Am I wrong?

Any guinea pig fans out there?

ooh i am i ahve 2 guinea pigs indoors and they are just the loveliest cuddliest things my hamsters were bad tempered and horrible lol but my guinea's are my babies

Sorry - I'm goingt o bombard you with questions if you're not careful! Somebody has just told me they smell really badly - do they? I've only ever come across outdoor ones before! And would they get completely freaked out if they cught sight of a cat? I'm wondering if we're going to have to keep the cats completely out of the room where they'll be, or whether so long as they are safe in their cage they won't mind.

I don't think that guinea pigs smell at all if you clean them out regularly - twice a week in the case of our single male gp, who is kept permanently indoors.
I think that gp's are wonderful - they are very affectionate and bond easily and closely with their owners, though obviously far mor so for indoor pigs.
I also like hamsters and I love watching their antics in the evening. The chief disadvantage of hamsters for me is that they live for only 18-24 months, whereas a gp has a life span of around 5-8 years. Gps bond more with their owners than hamsters. (I have had both.) My current gp is more like a little dog in some ways - he likes a lot of attention!(and frequent feeding, but that is another story....)

guinea pigs have urine that actually doesnt smell as long as you clean them regular they dont smell mine pong slightly as ive been away for few days and they haven't been cleaned i would normally clean them twice a week they really are just so adorable and cheeky