Which one is better?

Question
Hi I am getting ready to get either a gerbil or hamster and was wondering which one would be easier to maintain and handle. Because I have read that hamsters are nocturnal, will this affect how I can interact with them? And what about gerbils are they easier to handle than hamsters?

Answer
Hi Mandeep

There is a quite a big difference between gerbils and hamsters.  Gerbils need to live in a tank - ideally quite large and deep.  They love shredding cardboard and form a deep nest which they burrow in.  I have always found them quite fast and not always that easy to handle.  It really depends on how tame they are when they are babies and how much handling they have had.

Hamsters are nocturnal by comparison.  Syrians are my favorite of all the hamsters.  They are the largest and need a large wire cage as they love climbing.  I prefer wire cages to the tubular types because of this and also because some of the tubular ones can attract condensation which can affect their health.  Most Syrians will tame if you are prepared to put in the effort, but if you get one that has been handled a lot from birth then this should tame really quickly.  The fact that they are nocturnal isn't a big deal - the males do tend to sleep all day and some don't want to rally until late into the night, however you can get them into the routine of waking up earlier.  If you tape their cage and call them often they will come out to explore and if you give them a treat it doesn't take long for them to understand the routine.  Females are awake on and off during the day and tend to rally much easier/earlier.  The only problem with a female is that because of their extra energy they can sometimes be slightly harder to tame in the early stages, but this isn't always the case.

I keep both gerbils and hamsters - the gerbils I tend to watch as they are in a large glass tank and are very entertaining.  The hamsters I tend to handle a lot more as these all come out for a run in their ball in the evenings.

If you are getting a gerbil I would strongly advise that you consider getting two or more (they should be related and never separated).  In theory this should work well - occasionally they fight and you would need a separate cage but I've only ever had this happen once.  Syrians must be kept alone as they are solitary creatures.

I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila