Why Do People Think Guinea Pigs Are Hamsters?

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Winifred

Winifred

Teenage Guinea Pig
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ive heard it all now. I went to the local shop today and bought some veg for tomorrow. I said to the lady, my guinea pigs get fed better than we do. She replied by saying, at least they give you free electric. I wondered what she was on about until she said " they keep that wheel going for your electric". Honestly!
 
My next door neighbour keeps calling them hamsters too when I put them in their run on the grass. sigh
 
I know we have not long had ours but my mother still calls them hamster ! :oops:
 
Years ago before we got guineas my sister saw my hamster and said 'That's a big guinea pig ' !!
 
Some people just don't understand what a guinea pig is, because they've either never seen them before, or they've never seen a hamster but heard about it, and assume when they first meet a guinea pig, that because it has no tail, it's a hamster.
 
BonBon2010 said:
Some people just don't understand what a guinea pig is, because they've either never seen them before, or they've never seen a hamster but heard about it, and assume when they first meet a guinea pig, that because it has no tail, it's a hamster.
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Yes. To be fair I agree. It's like anything you've not really come across or not interested enough in to learn about. I know I have asked about things that I didn't know and people have reacted in a way that suggests it beggars belief that anyone couldn't know it :)
 
Some people just seem to lump them all together, especially if they haven't been exposed a lot to small animals. Several of my kids' friends over the years have commented on her 'really big hamsters.' And one little friend wanted to know what was wrong with the ears on our rabbits!

My best story was from when I owned hedgehogs- I lived in an apartment and used to go to the park across the street with her. One guy came up to me wanting to ask my about my 'possum.' When I said that she was actually a hedgehog, he actually argued with me about how he was SURE she was, in fact, a possum. He absolutely would not believe me! Now bear in mind I live in Canada and we have no wild hedgehogs, so they aren't an animal that would commonly be seen unless they were domesticated, but I thought it was common knowledge that possums don't have spikes!
 
YEP we've had the whole hamster thing too, funnily enough nobody asked how my hamster was when i actually had one! :doh:

i tell people they're fine until they get mixed up with guinea pigs... they get really arsey & vicious then! either that or i do! :crazy:
they must have been deprived as kids & not had any, or just really dopey & ignorant....
hmmm hang on a minute i didn't have guineas as a child.... must be the latter then ;) :lol!:
 
One of my colleagues keeps asking me "how are the hammies?". I just politely say "do you mean my piggies? They are fine, thanks". It's like a ritual now!
 
My mum who is very good with animals gets them mixed up, its like a mental blank with some people!
 
My Aunt is always calling my girls hamsters even when I put guinea pig in capitals when emailing her:mal:
 
It hasn't happened with my new piggies yet, but everyone always thought my last piggies were hamsters! I had pictures of them on Facebook and people who saw them would comment on my "hamsters" all the time.

I can understand people who had never had guinea pigs or hamsters before doing it but often I would get comments like "Oh, I have a hamster too!" :doh:. In which case shouldn't they realise that it's not a hamster or even think that it's a pretty big hamster?
 
One of my old colleagues thought that guinea pig was the British term for hamster (he was American)!

Another of my colleagues had never seen guinea pigs before, so I showed him a photo and he said 'What, that grows into a pig?!'

My mum also got me a hamster birthday card one year and said, 'Just like your boys!' I was like, 'Err... not really!'
 
Unfortunately, I've had this ill-educated friiend that thought guinea pigs only lived to three years while hamsters lived to eight. Didn't realise they thought this until their guinea pig died alone and without any good food. I visited them often, but I wasn't well educated or had the mind to think something was wrong :( It's better to tell people instead of bashing them for not knowing because it's really not their fault (and to be honest, I wouldn't go around saying they're dopey or stupid), but if they're stubborn then that's another thing.
 
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