They’re almost always unpredictable, and seem not to care if they survive a climb or any special endeavor. Still, seeing a small colony of mice interact and build their own little nests, and lay with every little toy is going to be fun. Mice are only a slight bit smarter in this area. They will jump from high places, even if they’re too high. Mice, like hamsters and rats, have poor eyesight and as a result they can’t really judge distances and heights.Īll 3 will try to jump off of ledges or out of your hands if they’ve had enough, but mice and hamsters are just plain terrible at this. Even if you do manage to hold onto one, he’ll almost immediately want to go exploring. Usually mice are kept as pets to look at, rather than play with. But it is much harder than with a hamster. This doesn’t mean they’re impossible to tame. This means that trying to handle a mouse is very hard, since he’ll be all over the place. Mice are much smaller than hamsters – smaller than a Dwarf sometimes – and are so much more agile and quick.
There will always be one mouse trying to be the dominant one. For example 3 females, or 2 males seems to be the best kind of match. Mice are very social animals, and will generally do better if they’re kept in a small group. There is no in-between.Īll hamsters mellow down once they become old, it’s just that some are absolutely spastic when they’re young. But once they grow up (3 months-ish) you’ll realize you’ve either got a Rambo type (all over the place, exploring, trying to intimidate you, not staying still) or the world’s laziest and relaxed furball.
Their personalities are not obvious from the start, when they’re babies. They get grumpy if you wake them up, they won’t always want to stay in your hands… okay, they rarely want to stay put. They’re also very sensitive animals, in that there is such a thing as handling them too much, and too little. So I’d only recommend a hamster to a person who either stays up very late, or works night shifts and can catch the hamster awake more often. And if you wake up around 6 AM, they’ve just gone to bed. This means that if you go to bed before 10 PM you might just miss their waking up. It’s just that the vast majority of hamsters only come out of their hiding place at night. Still, hamsters make for very entertaining pets. And that trust can always be lost, or forgotten if you stop interacting with him for a few days. He will take anywhere between a few days and a few weeks to trust you.
This also means that taming the hamster will not be as easy as taming a puppy. Their cages need to have plenty of hiding places, so they can feel safe. Hamsters are prey animals, so they’re used to running away and hiding. This reduces the hamster’s stress levels and this way you make sure there are no unnecessary fights, which can sometimes be deadly. This is only true for siblings that have never been separated and live in a very large cage, so they won’t fight over food and toys and general resources.Įven so, I recommend keeping any and all hamsters alone, one hamster per cage. The only exceptions are the Dwarf types, who can live with a sibling or two of the same sex. Hammies don’t like to share and generally should not be housed together. He does need a bit of exercise, but this is where his exercise wheel comes to the rescue.
He doesn’t need as much room as a rabbit, and usually stays put.Īs in, leaving the hamster in his cage all his life is not a problem, as long as he has a large enough cage. Social needs of all 3 rodents and how they get along with ownersĪbout the hamster – general info + personalityĪ hamster is very small, can be as small as 2 inches/5 cm, and as large as 5 inches/13 cm.Food difference between the 3 rodents (there aren’t any).About rats – general info + personality.About mice – general info + personality.About the hamster – general info + personality.