Was your hamster a dwarf hamster by any chance? Those things are MEAN. Their anger is definitely proportional to their size. Based off my childhood experiences, almost all teddy bear and panda hamsters I've played with have been really good with being handled by kids. The dwarf hamsters are just another story altogether, but maybe if they're handled consistently from when they're born they would be nicer?? Too bad because they're so freaking cute.Originally Posted by zypiris
Thanks for asking! It's been exciting to hear about all the small pets. Maybe I'll even hear about a non-evil hamster (The only one I ever had was a vampire fiend).
Nope, just a regular hamster. He would tolerate being held, but he'd go for you with teeth if you tried to pick him up. And when holding him, he made it clear that he was not happy to be there, and then you'd have to sweep him out from the couch cushions (with more biting). It's what made me fall in love with rats so much. My first rat was just so happy to spend time with us. There was licking and whisker tickles and snuggling. It was just such a contrast.
Ugh that's such a bummer! Their teeth hurt too.I did hear rats were much friendlier as pets, but I don't think I'd go back to owning a small rodent whose lifespan is too short for how much you love them ;-;
I totally get you. I held way too many of my special babies while they died. The average rat has a lifespan of 5 or so years, more if you're lucky. 2 if you aren't. Between the myco and tumours, it turns into a question of when, not if they'll go early.
(Mycoplasma is a bacteria that all creatures (including rats and people) can get, which targets the lungs and genitals. It sits around, like AIDS, and waits until poor Ms. Rat's body gets focused on something else, then gives them pneumonia-style stuff like fluid build up in the lungs. Because it's in the genitals, almost all rats are contaminated with it as it passes from mom to bebes during birth.)
(Tumors are a left over for science. In the beginning, retired lab rats were the only thing pet stock could be based on. Lab rats have high tumor tendencies because that's kind of what they're there for. These days, pet breeders are focusing on low/no tumor lines. They've had great success, but it's a lot like birth control being 99.7% effective. Almost never is not never.)
Now that we've been all depressing... Chinchillas! For all you chin fans taking dust baths in the corner, the average chinchilla lifespan is 15-20 years as long as they don't get wet or hot. Cool fact time!
The length of pregnancy is directly proportional to the complexity of what mom is baking in her oven. Humans are very complex with our weird squiggly brain bits, and we take about 39 weeks to finish. Even after that, it takes us a while to actually be able to do things bigger than getting ourselves in trouble.
Chinchillas live in a very harsh, no second chances environment. Rat pregnancy is about 3 weeks. Chinchilla pregnancy is 16 weeks, or a little less than 4 months. In exchange for all the extra time, chinchillas are born completely ready to bounce and play. Ears and eyes are open at birth, and as soon as their fur dries, they are ready to be chin-chillin' like a villain.
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They look tiny, but half of it is that their fur isn't as thick as it will be full grown.
OMG, it's nice to see another user who also likes rats! A lot of people don't like them, but I do and I'm glad to see others here who also appreciate them. I've never owned one since I have a kitty cat, but rats look so cute and inquisitive, it's honestly really amazing how smart and full of personality they are.
Regarding chinchillas, because of their status in the wild, I assume that pet ones nowadays are captive-bred?
Yes, all current chinchillas are captive bred, and have been for a while. ..... I don't really have anything to add on to that. So I guess random fact time?
You'll see chinchillas with torn ears quite often. It can very from half an ear missing, to just a little nick. The ears are pretty delicate (even more foldable than a cat's, for instance) but the most common cause of injury isn't fights. It usually happens during birth. Chinchilla moms have no fucks to give, and they deliver their own bebes (Usually a single, but twins are pretty common) by just reaching back there, grabbing whatever is sticking out and yanking with their contractions. This is generally a tail, but sometimes the bebe is turned and it'll be the ears. They can also lose toes the same way. Injuries heal within a few weeks and the bebe isn't very impacted. They don't care, since they can still bounce, and spring, and jump right out of your hands because you let go for ONE SECOND.
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He's got a little notch.
For anyone curious about the range of colours chinchillas can come in, (you need an account to see links) will tell you the names and an overview of what the difference is. Sapphires and violets are the expensive ones.
I feel so happy reading this. We actually used to keep feeder mice, because my daughter couldn't stand the idea of them being fed to snakes.... so they became our pets. We had 8 at at one time, and the biggest tube play land ever, and it was so fun. A few of them actually lasted over 3 years, which I thought was pretty good for feeder mice! We named them Spaghetti, Ravioli, Tortellini, Meatball, Fettucine, Alfredo, Marinara... and Baby Mouse. Baby mouse was a little brown guy and much smaller than the others, so we took special care of her and kept her separate because she got picked on. That one only made it about 6 months. But let me tell you. When that mouse passed, I watched my giant (6'4 275 lb) husband carefully bury our little friend in the backyard and cry while he gave that little sweet creature her own little memorial. Nothing has made me love that man more than seeing his pure love for these innocent creatures. But anyway, we never had Chinchillas, but I have always loved them and loved our mice and rats over the years!!!
This thread is a bless. Thank you!
I knew almost nothing about chins so I learned a lot! Also I love rats so much and it's so cool you got to take care of some for 7 whole years!!
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I̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶k̶a̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶r̶b̶a̶r̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶!̶ I GOT IT!!!
Always great to have some more rodent fans, even after the sucky parts come up. No matter what kind of fuzzy, feathery, or scaly you have, they always leave too soon. I'm just happy that rats are pretty easy to breed and maintain. If you want, you can have a little piece around forever. I kept the line from my first rat going the full 7 years. None of them were her, but... such is life. If everything stayed around forever, we'd never appreciate any of it.
But on the subject of life, I wanted to highlight a birth recently of a rather obscure and little known rat cousin. The mouse deer!
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This little bebe was born recently at the Bristol Zoo in England, and has been too shy so far for the keepers to figure out its gender. Mouse deer at full height are about as tall as a pencil (8 inches/20 cms). They keep to themselves, and are native to South Asia (with a single related species clustered in Africa). They don't do the horn/antler thing that most other deer do, but they secretly have vampire teeth! Their fancy name, Chevrotain, is based on the old French word for goat.
Now, some of you might be unconvinced of the rodent-y nature of the tiny, tiny mouse deer, but just look at the name. I mean, deer have horns and no vampire teeth, so obviously these deer are not deer at all. Think of deer mice, another misleadingly labeled species.
In conclusion, I hope everyone had fun meeting the (very distant) rodent cousin and has a good day.
overthink.exe 
omg, i'm only just now looking at everything in this thread and the pictures really brightened my day
