Average litters, just what I've seen in my area.

Campbells dwarf hamster 6-8

Fancy mice 8-10

White 'lab' mice 10-12 (Short life span, developed tumors at 4-6 months.) Prolly just bad genes. Waaaaaaaay inbred.

Local hooded rat bred for the pet trade. 12-15



I've seen a pic of a dwarf hamster skeleton in a book in my library somewhere, and there's not much to them but fur, teeth, and bad attitude. Because they APPEAR larger than they actually are, they can eek their way through TINY openings and spaces between bars on mice cages. They really are mostly fur. Fur gets pooped out of snakes, so it's not of much use.



Hamsters don't smell as bad as mice, but that's the only good thing I can think of about them.

Oh, they are almost blind, so almost any movement you make surprises them and they go into defensive mode. But they have ninja-like reflexes when they try to bite you.

Also, the most annoying things about them- the noises they make and when they make them.

Mice will chatter in the fight for dominance between 2 males. If you shuffle them around the males and females have to re-introduce themselves, sometimes noisily, but not longer than a day.

If you cycle breed rats, they will coo and shreik when you introduce new females to the fold, but when you check on them in 2 hours, they will be sleeping in a communal pile. Rat babies 'chirp', but only if you disturb mama.

Both mice and rats are quiet (As church mice.) normally, and you could have 10 wild mice in your house and you'd never hear them, except for occasional scampering on hard floors.

Dwarf hamster colonies are LOUD. And they're loud 24/7, but mostly when you're trying to sleep. Whenever that happens to be. It's like having a flock of wild birds in your house.

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