rats vs mouse

[shaz]

hello!

i come upon this site by chance looking for a reputable breeder on rats and mice as I do not want to get just any one from a pet shop that does not know the lineage and especially important, temperament of their rats and mice.

I have a few questions.
Does Bozzy Rats also breed mice?

I have no experience having rats and mice as a pet. but i have kept many hamsters as pet (unfortunately coming to australia, this country does not have hamsters! sadness~)

How would you compare rats and mice temperament to hamster?
I like hamsters and rats and mice reminds me of them. But the big thick rat tails really sort of looks funny. I am thinking I would prefer a mice instead.

Any advice? thanks.

[pinkyandthebrain]

Hi Shaz,
Welcome to the forum (You will find alot of Great people and advice here) I Dont know much about the breeder you were asking about but I always thought Guines Pig's were closer to hamsters than rats and mice??
Here's a pic of some

[Kim]

Hi Sharz,

No Bozzy Rats only breeds rats

Mice are ok, but I find rats are more intelligent and for me rats dont smell as much as mice.

Having never had a hamster I can not say how their temperament compares to a rats, but I know I get a lot of love and affection from my rats.

[maesie]

I've had mice, Guniea Pigs and Rats. I have found Rats to be much better pets than mice... eaiser to handle as they are bigger than mice, their pee and themselves smell HEAPS less, and I also agree with Kim, the are more intelligent. Guinea Pigs are also cool, but you'll need a bigger cage and they are often kept outside. very cute animals too though. Good luck on your research!

[shaz]

thank you for all the replies.

As for the topic on guinea pigs, i dont like them because they are too big and also, they have a wiry coat instead of soft downy furs. hamsters (i have kept several breeds at interim throughout my life) regardless of breed, have really soft downy furs. Some do smells more, but hamsters, if you maintain good hygiene on their cages and feed them properly, actually has no noticeable smell except that natural "fragrance" that i like about them.

hamsters from my experience are very intelligent and fun little animals. They are active during night and I like seeing them hide and run about. It also helps that Japan is a country that is big on hamsters, so there was myriad of hamsters products and food for hamsters. I love spoiling them. Just would like something that is close to hamsters. Also because hamsters has a very tiny half the time not noticeable tail, I don't really know if I can really accept such big a tail. makes sense? maybe i should just accept them as it is.

i really love my hamsters. and it was a pain having to give them up to come here. Prior to coming here, I had 3 hamster, a pair of brothers called Pancake and Waffle and a little white roboski called Princess.

just like to have something similar.

[Kim]

Well you could get a Manx rat.

The only problem being that they are very hard to find because only one or two will pop up in a rare litter and normally when one does pop up the breeder will keep it because there are no other ones around.

But sadly because of the rareness of the Manx rats some horrible people have started docking the tails of their rats as pinkies so that they can be passed off as Manx rats..

So just be careful if you do find a manx rat.

[luthien]

Kim; that is horrible about people 'creating' manx ratties

Anyway - in my experience, rats tend to be less stinky and more intelligent. I feel more of a bond with them, kind of like a dog.

[luvmyrats]

ive had both rats and mice.

i love mice because they are cute. however, rats are amazing. they are intelligent and basically can act the same as a little dog, you can train them, teach them to come to their names and they can be very affectionate *rattie kissez!!*

My mouse was awesome but wasnt so good on the handling front of things but rats are bigger and easier to handle (also harder to loose).

It really depends what you want to do with them. If you wanna just sit back and watch them play in their little home, probably a mouse. However they can smell pretty bad. If you want an animal to interact and have a relationship with, probably best bet on a rat.

As for the tail, they arent that scary, i love playing with my girls tails and watching them clean them and use them for balance.

Best of luck with your decisions. keep us updated!!

[Colleen]

Jul 3, 2009 19:27:41 GMT 10 @shaz said:

As for the topic on guinea pigs, i dont like them because they are too big and also, they have a wiry coat instead of soft downy furs.

You can get guinea pigs with standard coats, and i wouldnt describe them as having 'wiry coats' but they may not be as soft as hamsters, i wouldnt know.
Guinea pigs, from experience, are no where near as affectionate, loyal, and fun to play with as rats.

[angel]

I say rats are like little dogs.

In fact I think if you're going to get a little dog, get a rat (or three) instead. They'll make less noise

I personally have never had mice, but one of my friends had two fawnie ones. He taught them to run up and down his arms. They always just seemed too small for me, Id be scared I'd hurt them accidentally :/

[missjess]

I have owned guinea pigs, mice and rats (in that order).

Guinea Pigs = good for cuddles. pretty. kind of boring. expensive to house.

Mice = fun to watch. very cute. inexpensive to keep. STINKY.

Rats = highly interactive and fun to play/cuddle with. only mildly stinky. more likely to require vet care than the other two.

[toby]

i think Rats and Mice are very different and it depends what you are looking for.
I always found mice more entertaining to watch but rats are smarter and smell less.

[toby]

another advantage of mice is they take up less cage space so if you havent much room mice would be better.
to many people try to house rats in cages that are really much to small.

[gav]

I've read, I don't know if it's true or not, but mice can't be free-ranged as easily as rats, as they don't come back to the cage as easily.

As I said, I read about it once, but I have no personal experience at that.