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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/.
 
aww i see so they're really tiny! that's pretty funny :xd:
 
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.
 
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