Anything For Animals

posted by admin on Apr 22

When choosing small rodents, hamsters and mice are 2 of the most popular pets - but what’s the difference?

 There are many many many types of small animals you can now buy to share your home, but the hamster (not hampster) is one of the leading choices amongst pet owners - with the ‘teddy bear hamster’ being a popular color.  However, there has always been a small following for mouse lovers - and now they are becoming common in many pet stores, more people are trying them for the first time.

So, what exactly is the difference between them?

Here, we take a quick look at the best of each and their basic requirements - and how to choose between them!

Tanks Or A Cage?
Hamster cages are everywhere and come in all shapes and sizes, and unlike bird cages, hamster cages are usually not as tall - unless they have several layers.  They also come with a house, wheel and maybe some tubes to play in.

However fun they look, the distance between the bars for most hamster and bird cages is too big for a mouse - and a little one could easily just climb straight through and escape!  If you can fit your finger in through the bars, a mouse can get out - I’ve seen it!

Therefore, you either need to buy a specific mouse cage (which has tiny gaps between the bars) or ideally get yourself one of the many fish tanks that are available, or a plastic rodent cage instead.

What Do Mice Eat?
Unlike hamsters that get by on one of the standard grain and biscuit mixes (with a bit of fresh veg every so often), mice tend to do better on a higher protein mix, like that fed to rats.  And ideally very little cheese as it upsets their tummy!

They tend not to overeat, and they don’t tend to hoard their food like hamsters do.  The number of hamster videos online showing a hamster shove all it’s daily food into it’s mouth pouches and run off only to empty it all out into it’s little house and come back for more testify to this rather wasteful and expensive (although funny) habit of hamsters!

How Long Do They Live?
A hamster could easily live up to 18 months, or up to 3 years if you are lucky!  Whereas a mouse will rarely see past it’s 1st birthday!

Saying this, both can die as young as 6 months for no reason other than they just do!

Can They Live Together?
Hamsters and mice can never live together.  Syrian hamsters (the most common type) are not animal friendly - and they won’t even live with other Syrian hamsters, let alone a mouse!

Mice on the other hand usually get on fine together if introduced properly and in the right sized cages or tanks. Although, just like people they can occasionally fight each other, or just want to live alone, so don’t assume yours will live together forever!

And unless you want constant mouse babies, I suggest you keep mice of the same sex!

Do They Come In Different Sizes?
Mice are tiny little things, and although they are so small, they are easy to hold - and being that they are active throughout the day, they are less likely to be grumpy when you pick them up (as hamsters sleep during the day they are usually always grumpy when you wake them up!).  If you want bigger mice - get rats!

However, Syrian hamsters are as big as they come (unless you want a groundhog) but they do come smaller.  Dwarf hamsters need mouse-style cages or tanks, but they can live together!  There are 3 types of dwarf hamster; Russian hamsters, Chinese dwarf hamsters and Roborovski’s dwarf hamster - non are really suitable for tiny children though.

Still not sure?  Well mice have long tails - so check with your mum first if you live at home!