Hamsters And Guinea Pigs

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Tauriel

Tauriel

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Can anyone tell me the difference? I always thought that they were the same but someone told me they weren't! Are there any major differences? Like, do they originate from different places or something?
Cheers!
 
Well you might wonder since we don't have hamsters in OZ. But yes totally different animals. Guinea pigs are from South America, are social animals & are much bigger than hamsters. Hamsters are from the middle east, are solitary & much smaller than piggies/.
 
Lilly said:
Well you might wonder since we don't have hamsters in OZ. But yes totally different animals. Guinea pigs are from South America, are social animals & are much bigger than hamsters. Hamsters are from the middle east, are solitary & much smaller than piggies/.
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You don't have hamsters in Australia?! :yikes::yikes::yikes: Wow.....just WOW!
 
Also hamsters are nocturnal, and opposite to piggies, hamsters are solitary, company might stress them. And they have cheek pouches where they keep food, piggies don't have those. But yeah, the most noticeable difference is the size, they are waaaay smaller than piggies.
 
Also forgot to say hamsters are nocturnal whereas piggies are not. Lived in Canada for a while in the 70s & my son had a hamster. All night long you'd hear that wheel squeaking!.
 
I used to keep hamsters in my room, at one point I had five of them - I do not miss the noise of the wheels!
 
They can be very cuddly as well! Mine loves a good snooze in my dressing gown and loves human company. They can be a lot of fun but teeny tiny compared to a guinea pig. Sadly they don't live as long as guineas (2-3 years). They are also omnivores meaning you can feed them all sorts including cooked chicken.
 
Nicola_ said:
You don't have hamsters in Australia?! :yikes::yikes::yikes: Wow.....just WOW!
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And in my state Queensland we don't have rabbits either! Or hedgehogs or gerbils or degus or chinnies or ferrets - the list is endless. The only common small pets we can have here in QLD are mice, ratties, guinea pigs, birds, fish, pythons, cats & dogs. Well, at least they let you keep chooks in the yard even if Brissie is a capital city!
 
Lilly said:
And in my state Queensland we don't have rabbits either! Or hedgehogs or gerbils or degus or chinnies or ferrets - the list is endless. The only common small pets we can have here in QLD are mice, ratties, guinea pigs, birds, fish, pythons, cats & dogs. Well, at least they let you keep chooks in the yard even if Brissie is a capital city!
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Is this just a rule against keeping these animals as pets or do they just not exist on the continent at all?
 
Nicola_ said:
Is this just a rule against keeping these animals as pets or do they just not exist on the continent at all?
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So many animals were introduced here over the centuries that most have caused ecological havoc, so now stricter policies. I have no idea how piggies managed to get through!
 
Fair enough, seems a little silly though when most of them are only really kept as pets rather than being free roaming in the wild. With exceptions of course.
 
Nicola_ said:
Fair enough, seems a little silly though when most of them are only really kept as pets rather than being free roaming in the wild. With exceptions of course.
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I think they learnt their lesson with bunnies which ended up overrunning the southern states so now there is a rabbit proof fence keeping them from wandering north to us. As you know some people do dump their pets in the wild. My granddaughters keep begging their parents to move south so they can get bunnies as pets.
 
Lilly said:
And in my state Queensland we don't have rabbits either! Or hedgehogs or gerbils or degus or chinnies or ferrets - the list is endless. The only common small pets we can have here in QLD are mice, ratties, guinea pigs, birds, fish, pythons, cats & dogs. Well, at least they let you keep chooks in the yard even if Brissie is a capital city!
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Wow, never knew that!
 
Lilly said:
It always amazes me the things one inadvertently learns on this forum. Studying all night? Aren't you meant to be studying in books not piggy forums :D
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Yes but my essay just isn't anywhere near as interesting as guinea pigs :nod: :)) :clap:
 
Guinea Slave said:
Wow, never knew that!
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You UKers are absolutely spoilt for pet choices. I have to laugh how Brisbane's main exotics vet calls themselves Brisbane Birds & Exotics. The only exotics they normally treat are pythons & guinea pigs. And we have plenty of native pythons all over the country, so hardly an exotic. I once received a bill for one of my piggies that said "exotic consultation".
 
That's funny, I can never get my head around guineas being described as exotics! I just never knew Australia was so completely different. Totally understand why though, particularly with the history with rabbits. Sometimes I think we have too much access to a huge variety of pets that really should not be pets at all and are not suitable as such.
 
Rabbits breed like anything though, agreed so do guinea pigs. But I don't see how a handful of hedgehogs/degus/chinchillas would ever be able to over populate and become out of hand some how. There's probably way to many things that would eat them before they could achieve world (Australia) domination. I don't think I could live in a world with none of those animals and a ridiculous amount of spiders. How do you cope?!

However, I agree I've learnt so much about Australia and their animal laws now! How interesting :)
 
A&T said:
Rabbits breed like anything though, agreed so do guinea pigs. But I don't see how a handful of hedgehogs/degus/chinchillas would ever be able to over populate and become out of hand some how. There's probably way to many things that would eat them before they could achieve world (Australia) domination. I don't think I could live in a world with none of those animals and a ridiculous amount of spiders. How do you cope?!

However, I agree I've learnt so much about Australia and their animal laws now! How interesting :)
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The problem is Australia does not really have any native carnivores. The Tasmanian devil lives only on the island of Tasmania where a devastating disease is wiping them out. The dingo has been confined to the north (via a dog proof fence!) so as not to eat the sheep down south. There is a sizable population of foxes in the south introduced by Europeans for fox hunting & you would think they would be handy at eradicating rabbits. Instead they've wiped out 10 of our native species. There is some talk of letting dingoes south to get rid of foxes.

That is just the tip of the iceberg with introduced species wreaking havoc on our native flora & fauna.
 
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