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Anonymous
Hey /an/, I'm trying to decide on a pet. My gang of green anoles died and I've decided that I'd rather have a pet that is much more social.
Hamster, gerbil or guinea pig? I'd want something that would be fine sleeping in my lap while I'm on 4chan or something. Suggestions or concerns for what I should know about them?
>> Anonymous
Guinea pigs
hamster try to run from you
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312170

Well, i've got 2 guinea pigs and I love them a lot; they don't always require a ton of petting, but they still squeak, purr, squeal, etc and in general make cute noises. If you get a female, though, they tend to chirp very very loudly like a bird and whether they're male or female, they need lots of Vitamin C.

They also aren't the kind of pets that will come running towards you when you want to pick them up or call them. I'd highly recommend them though, i don't know where i would be without my two.
>> Anonymous
I would suggest rescuing an older pair of guinea pigs. They live 5-10 years and take a lot of clean up (they shit like crazy, I guarantee you'll be cleaning the cage at least twice a week, unless it's really big), you'll want to know if you're up to the commitment. That's not to say they're a bad pet, they're very cute and loving, perfect lap warmer, but they might not end up being for you and you don't want to get strapped with it for years and years.
>> Anonymous
Good ol' /an/. thanks guys, i got me a guinea and she's sleeping in my lap right now.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312269

ooo pic?
>> Anonymous
get a rat!
>> Anonymous
>>312170
most guys are too busy doing other things with their laps when they're on 4chan to keep a small rodent there
although some of them find it adds to the experience
>> Anonymous
get rats

hamsters are -mean-
>> Anonymous
I have 3 Campbell's dwarf hammies, and I adore them. I find that the Syrian hammies are scary. I haven't had any problems with my hammies, other than one of them has diabetes. :(

http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/hamster_diabetes.htm
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>312269
just one? guinea pigs almost always need a pig companion :o( pic related, it's my two fat girls (mom and baby, adopted from a shelter) chewing on a very exciting paper bag.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
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>>312324

cute! heres my 2 babies
>> Anonymous
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>>312358
Oh wow, they are gorgeous! I LOVE their coats. I wish to get a long-haired one next.

< These are my two boys.
>> Anonymous
I have 2 guinea pigs, 1 syrian hamster, 1 cambell's dwarf hamster, and 2 roborovski dwarf hamsters. Guinea pigs > though, I don't know about gerbils though, I've never owned one.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312376

oh my gosh the red haired one is so cute!


and I love belle (my long hair), I also had a long hair before her named Gandalf that passed on. you have to really watch their hair to make sure it doesn't get matted, but they're wonderfully chirpy!
>> Anonymous
I spent two weeks doing work experience in a petting zoo. There was a cage full of guinea pigs. Every morning I had to shovel out an inch worth of compacted faeces and the tiny, pitiful corpses of the ones murdered during the night.

And they're dumb. Spectacularly so. Get a rat.
>> Anonymous
Totally get a rat. They're smart, cute, will sit with you and are a ton of fun.
>> Anonymous
get rats.

i'd suggest you get males, in my experience they're more docile and happy to sit and be made a fuss of and sleep on you, and the females are more about playing and exploring.

they both do both, obviously, but that seems to me to be what they prefer.
>> Anonymous
>>312358
>>312376
aw they are all so darling!! my pigs are popcorning right now because my bf is making them breakfast, hahh :o)

i wonder if people realize that the OP already got a pet (assuming it was really the OP that posted that). anyway, i've had rats before and while they are great, i love my pigs because they are active during the day, so i can watch all the weird stuff they do.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312443

I love it when my piggies popcorn, it's so cute! They also make the cutest noises at my mom so they get fed. They know me and know i won't always give them anything, but mom always does! So as soon as her door opens in the morning, SQQUEALL! I love it!

Im the carrot mommy, she's the green pepper mommy.
>> Anonymous
>>312523
lol! my girls always peep (it's not so much a WHEET as a PEEP) when they hear two bowls clinking, because we always feed them their veggies in two separate bowls. they were very quick to associate the clinking sound with omg food fuck ya

they also make a funny muffled noise that sounds like "wert wert wert" when i talk to them, as though they're saying "so, do you have anything for me?"
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312525

Do your girls chirp? And i don't mean little noises, i mean CHIRP. Like a bird. My belle does that and ive never ever encountered that with a male. We can even hear her through closed doors!
>> Anonymous
>>312527
well, their version of a wheet is similar to a chirp, but it's more of a truncated wheet...not what you're describing i imagine :o) they only ever do it when they think food is coming.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
AH! Yeah it's different, she literally sounds like a bird. Just stands in the middle of her cage and chirp chirp CHIRP's away. It's nuts- one of these days i'll actually record it I suppose.
>> Anonymous
>>312269
get another one. They do better in pairs.
>> Anonymous
>>312542
i would love to hear it, it seems awesome! i have a bird, too, so i'm sure he would be very amused if my guinea pigs chirped at him, lol :oD
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312593

She's so loud -_- no one knows what it means; best I can guess is that she's either lonely, she's in heat, or she's happy. I can't tell.
>> Anonymous
>>312594
If it's a loud, sharp chirping noise, I've read that it could be a sound of distress or they were spooked. In a pen of other pigs, there was a pig chirping loudly, and all the others were lying flat on the floor. It's sort of like an alarm, but no one really knows what it definitely means.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312712

it was the latter; she goes into a trance and just chirps. Pumpkin (my other piggy) just sits there and listens, neither of them moves and neither really snaps out of it.
>> Anonymous
>>312594
yeah, pig vocalizations are hard to understand sometimes. when i have mine out and pet them, they will sometimes make a put-put-wrr-wrrr sound...as far as i know it's not a "feels good man" sound, but they never squirm or try to get away when i'm doing it. i just assume it means "that's not so bad" lol
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312716

Heh, mine do that too, but really only when I pet around their feet/legs. If i stay away from the legs, they seem to do A-OK
>> Anonymous
>>312715
Oh my goodness, Pumpkin is the name of my piggy too!! (The one pictured above, the red one you liked) Though yeah, if that's how you describe, that's the noise I'm talking about. Sure is a mysterious thing.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>312915

Really? Sweet! I think both our piggies fit the name Pumpkin pretty well though. Before Belle, I had another piggy named Gandalf that passed away- it was horrible to go through that loss :(