WHICH PET RODENT?
                                        Angela Horn (udty075@kcl.ac.uk)
                                        (formerly Angela King)

Here's my two-penn'orth:

GERBILS (MONGOLIAN)
Very entertaining, easy to keep, friendly animals.  Find out more about them
from the experts on the UK National Gerbil Society homepage at 
http://www.rodent.demon.co.uk/gerbils.   
They are social animals, so they should be kept in 
groups of two or more of the same sex (to avoid frequent babies).  They are
like little clowns - happy, cheerful and bouncy.  They produce very little
smell & don't need cleaning out as often as some other animals.  They need to
be kept in glass tanks as they will chew their way out of anything else.
  
If you want something more exotic, Shaw's Jirds are giant gerbils with 
similar habits and requirements.  They are very friendly and easy to tame - 
but they can be hard to find because they are very difficult to breed.
There is a very good article about them on the Gerbil page mentioned above, with
photo.  The lady who wrote the article keeps her female jirds alone, but they
are social animals and so personally I believe that they should always be
kept in pairs or larger groups where possible.  I and every other breeder
I know has successfully kept jirds in permanent mixed-sex pairs, and they
seem happiest this way (the father takes over the care of a litter when
a younger litter is born). Males live together happily, and females can also
live together but are more aggressive than males and so occasional fighting
should be expected.

HAMSTERS - SYRIAN
Low-maintenance, easy-to-keep pets which can enjoy interacting with
humans and can get to know and trust their owners.  Available in a variety
of colours and in different coat types - can be very cute.  
One to watch & feed sunflower seeds to, rather than to maul about & 
play with (though they can run all over you & use you as a playground).  
Will not normally play WITH you, but will play ON you.  They appreciate
lots of toys, a decent-sized cage (many hamster cages sold in pet stores
are far too small for them;  the animal will spend most of its life in its
cage, so do get the biggest you can) and regular trips out of the cage to
play, and to run around the room or on a bed or sofa. 
Nocturnal, so often the hamster will be asleep when you want to watch it.
Not social so needs to be kept alone.  Short-sighted like most rodents, so may
mistake your fingers for a sunflower seed if not careful.  Some people think 
hamsters are more likely to bite than other pet rodents.  A well-bred, properly
handled hamster should not bite at all, though - as with most animals, it is 
better to get one from a breeder who has handled it as a baby than from a pet 
store. The problem is that hamsters sold in pet stores may be the product of
years of careless and close inbreeding, which increases the risk of temperament
and health problems.

HAMSTERS - DWARF
Cute and fun, but temperamental.  They are fairly social animals, so they don't
really like living alone.  However, in groups they fall out with each other
occasionally & can be violent (eg some females castrate males they don't
fancy).  Fun to watch, & easy to get hand-tame (put your hand in the cage with
some sunflower seeds on it, and six hamsters will squash on there.  Until they
start fighting, that is.).  Until they get properly socialized they bite a lot,
but their teeth are so small it doesn't hurt much. Once they realise that
sunflower seeds taste nicer than your hands, they will stop biting.

Find out more about hamsters of all kinds from the hamster newsgroup,
alt.pets.hamsters.  

MICE
Very cute, VERY entertaining - they are extremely *happy* animals, very active
& agile & great fun to watch.  When properly socialized they will enjoy 
running all over you WITHOUT leaving droppings everywhere (they will crap 
on you when nervous).  Available in an amazing range of colours & coats if 
you look hard enough, eg satin coat (metallic sheen), siamese, Dutch marked, 
spotted, longhaired, curly, red, blue, fawn, lilac.....    
Mice are highly social animals & should never be kept alone (except for
aggressive adult males where there is no alternative) - it makes them
thoroughly miserable.  However, males may fight (they can only be kept together
if put together as babies) AND they smell VERY strong - they produce a sort of
musk.  Females smell much less, and get along much better.  A colony of mice
is great fun to watch.  They can get very tame, but you need to win their 
trust.  They are supposed to be among the more intelligent small rodents, but 
are still nowhere near as bright as rats.  Need cleaning out once a week or so
- more often than hamsters, but then they are more active and hence more 
entertaining.  Another good one for small
kids, but don't let them handle the mice except under close supervision - like
any small animal, they're fragile.  It is very rare for a mouse to bite - 
normally this would only happen if it is scared & unused to being handled.

For more info on mice, the Pet Mouse FAQ is now up and running and I can
email it to you on request.  It is regularly posted to rec.pets, and can
be found on the Rat & Mouse Club of America web pages at http://www.rmca.org
For information on showing fancy mice, try the London & Southern Counties
Mouse & Rat Club on http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~lscmrc

RATS
High-maintenance, high-reward pets.  They need a lot of space and a lot of
attention.  They are extremely intelligent & can become very affectionate &
attached to their owners.  Some of my male rats are like small dogs more
than anything else (males are *generally* more cuddly and laid-back than girls.
Girl rats are great fun but very mischievous & hyperactive).  They should be
taken out to play every day.  They get bored easily and need stimulation.  They
are sensitive animals & need to be handled with care, but when they trust you
they are great fun & will actually play WITH you - hide and seek, wrestling,
tug - of-war, whatever.  So they are very rewarding pets to keep, but they
need a LOT more care than the others mentioned.

Rats are also VERY social animals and they should *never* be kept alone unless
they are very aggressive.  They can get very bored and lonely living alone.
Both males and females live happily in groups, although it is easiest to
introduce them as babies under 10 weeks.  You can introduce them after that,
but it will take a couple of weeks for them to accept each other.

If you want to find out more about rats there are several very good www sites.
Start with the Rat & Mouse Club of America at http://www.rmca.org and 
you'll find links to all the others except the American Fancy Rat and Mouse
Association at http://www.afrma.org/afrma, which is also worth a look.
There is also a rats mailing list - email me or look out for notices on
rec.pets for further details.

PETS FOR SMALL CHILDREN
For a young child (under 10), no matter how responsible or thoughtful, 
you either need something like a dog - which
is too big for the kid to damage by accident, but can be handled and fussed, -
or something small that the child will not handle at all, or except under
supervision - eg fish, budgies, mice or gerbils.  Even the most responsible
small child can accidentally do a lot of damage to a small pet when handling
it;  for rats, hamsters and jirds which need to come out of their cages
for exercise, there is a serious risk that the animal will be scared or
harmed during playtime or being caught afterwards.

Obviously the parents have to take ultimate responsiblity for the
animal - no matter how easy it is to keep, no 8 year old can be expected to
know what to do in every circumstance which might arise.  And remember that
small pets need veterinary care when they are in pain just as much as large
ones do - kids can't always tell when a vet is needed.

Personally I do not usually let my rats go as pets for small children - although
they are gentle creatures, they are easily frightened by rough handling.
Frightened animals do not make good pets.  It is rare for a pet rat to bite, 
but it can happen if they are not handled properly - and rat bites can hurt a
lot.  I have met small children who have been bitten after
handling rats badly, and it leaves both rat and child traumatized.
They also need a lot of maintenance compared to the others, which can be 
a burden if the child loses interest and the parents end up having to look
after them - although this situation is far more tragic for the rats,
who really flourish on lots of human attention and playtime.  Gerbils, mice
and dwarf hamsters do not seem to mind whether they come out of the cage to
play or not.  Jirds and Syrian hamsters need to come out of their cages
to play regularly, to help stop them getting bored.

Cheers,
Angela Horn
(formerly King)

GUINEA PIGS - a note from James & Fievel:
Guinea Pigs!  That other rodent!  Not as smart as the rats, but definitely the 
sweetest rodent!  Also high maintanence critter.  Also not best for young 
child, since they can't survive a drop.  Here is where they are optimum:  A 
guinea pig will sit patiently for interminable periods of time in your lap.  
Even better, my guinea pig Fievel can be "parked" on my computer table, right 
to the left of the keyboard.  She sits on a folded blanket (recommended) for 
hours while I web surf or brouse news, mail, etc. An older pig like Fievel 
(seven years) my be most patient for long spells of petting or lap sitting.

NB - There appears to be an ongoing debate about the taxonomy of GPs - some
argue that they are not rodents at all.  AH.