Apart from hamsters.....

[Emma]

....what is your favourite "small furry" pet? Of course we all agree hamsters are #1 but what would be your second?



Just a bit of fun



Mine's guinea-pigs, although I have kept gerbs before too, I'd love to own all the above animals at some point (probably not all at the same time!). I'm especially hankering after some of the more exotic rodents out there, like duprasi or dipodils. I'm thinking I should try my hand at more down to earth species first though.

[katie92]

Hi Emma there's no choice between hamsters and any of them...HAMSTERS!!! I love hamsters so much but I voted for guinea pigs because my mother really loves them. She had 1 when she was 13 and it was her best mate!! Shame she's alergic now though!!

[amnerisryn]

My sis has a chinchilla and he's the biggest cuddle-bug ever. If they weren't so expensive I would totally have one (of my own).

[babyboos]

I loved my three chinchillas but sadly quickly developed an allergy to their fine fur which seems to get everywhere.

[SnuggleHam]

Gerbils naturally for me :P I love em! Id probably really love rabbits, guinea pigs, degus, rate and mice also, But I never owned any of those rodents yet. My sister had a rabbit and so did a friend of mine and I was allergic to it, I think it was more an issue about the alfalfa pellets or maybe their fecal matter because I would really feel miserable allergic near their enclosure, but away from the cage I was fine with them, so I assume it would be the same with guinea pigs.



Im interested in degus though, they are like giant gerbils :P

[Emma]

They look like giant gerbils but they're actually from the same family as guinea-pigs and chinchillas. There's loads in rescues here in the UK (at least round here) now as they became a popular "exotic" pet about a year ago and then people found they are hard to take care of - incredibly active & destructive, difficult to handle/tame, special diet etc (they're naturally sugar intolerant), and the rescues started filling up.



Degus are just about #1 on my list as soon as I graduate and have a place of my own - roll on 2007.



But then so are chinchillas, rabbits, cats, a dog that lives with me rather than my folks......although other small furry things might follow sooner. And I want more hamsters. And......lol! I think I may want a zoo.

[babyboos]

I used to breed Degus in the early 1990s but sadly too many people were not caring for them properly and similiar to your findings Emma many ended up in rescues or back with me so let them live out their lives in the hamstery with no further breeding until they all passed on. Some guys who kept in touch with me still have some of their decendants. I just hope some of the newer exotics on the market such as jirds and sugar gliders don't go the same way. I would love to own them but really need to be sensible and concentrate my efforts on my existing babies and I know there is just not a suitable market for them. Anyone who contacts me about them I refer to some of the big really specialized exotics hobbyists. I am getting a pair of mouse-like hamsters soon though these will not be for general release if indeed they ever do breed...

[Emma]

Oooh, mouse-likes!!! Do you know which species? There was a pair and a trio of them (I think C.mystax but I can't remember, they were only ever referred to as mouselikes) when I worked on the nocturnal section at Bristol Zoo - I've heard vague mentions on the net of private keepers having them but never actually come across anyone who had them. How exciting! We rarely saw them at the zoo, they had an excellent enclosure for them but not for people viewing. The occasional glimpses I got were brilliant.



For those who haven't heard of them before - mouse-like hamsters aren't "true" hamsters, they're classed in their own subfamily Calomyscinae ("true" hamsters are under Cricetinae). There's a good article about them here http://www.napak.com/mouselike_hamster.html