I always give my mice Hebrew and/or Biblical names. I don't know why, as I'm not religious. I started with pretty well-known ones like David and Goliath (a pair in which one mouse was very little and one was large) but now I do ones that are more obscure, like Tiras, who was a grandson of Noah. The rats are a much more mixed-bag. Currently, all of the ones that I have came with their names from someone else except Sam, who I named as a gift to a friend because her dog Sam had to be put down the day I got her. Sometimes I'll name them for a physical characteristic, like Fidget because he fidgeted a lot or Simba because he had a tan coloration like a lion, and sometimes it's just kind of random, like how Lance got his name because I wanted to name him Cogidubnus since we were learning about him in Latin class at the time, but my family wouldn't let me because they couldn't say/remember that. Cogidubnus was a king of Roman Britain, so I decided to pick the name of another historical British figure that my family would be able to remember, and went with Sir Lancelot.
Physically, they look a lot alike except that rats are MUCH bigger! Mice are around an ounce, rats are around a pound. Here are some visual aids! http://www.afrma.org/breedimg/rbratvslnmse-1bx.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5217/5532612293_2e44445c11_z.jpg I hope they separate them soon in the photo! Rats see mice as prey and will gobble them up if given a chance. Speaking of that, their diets are different too. It's true they both eat a lot of grains, but while mice are almost entirely herbivorous (they might nibble a small insect here and there in the wild, and it's ok to give pet ones a small bit of cooked fish or poultry now and then) rats are active omnivores that very much enjoys eggs and meat! Rats being predators and mice being prey makes them psychologically different in many ways as well, the main one being that mice are much more nervous by nature than rats. They're both very curious, but rats are less afraid.
Rats need to be kept in pairs or groups (though you'll want to make sure all cagemates are the same sex, unless you want babies!) While female mice should also be kept in groups, male mice must be kept solitary. They will reproduce with the females, and they will fight with other males. Male mice also smell terrible due to a musk that they secrete which male rats do not.
Mice are very intelligent, but not as intelligent as rats, and while they can make good pets and be friendly, they won't normally bond to a person to the degree that a rat will. I've had rats beg to be picked up, enjoy playing with their humans, etc. With mice, it's more like they're tolerant to amiable about being held and petted but could also do without it just fine. They're sweet, but not as affectionate as rats are. Though there are exceptions to every rule, this is just my experience!
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I always give my mice Hebrew and/or Biblical names. I don't know why, as I'm not religious. I started with pretty well-known ones like David and Goliath (a pair in which one mouse was very little and one was large) but now I do ones that are more obscure, like Tiras, who was a grandson of Noah. The rats are a much more mixed-bag. Currently, all of the ones that I have came with their names from someone else except Sam, who I named as a gift to a friend because her dog Sam had to be put down the day I got her. Sometimes I'll name them for a physical characteristic, like Fidget because he fidgeted a lot or Simba because he had a tan coloration like a lion, and sometimes it's just kind of random, like how Lance got his name because I wanted to name him Cogidubnus since we were learning about him in Latin class at the time, but my family wouldn't let me because they couldn't say/remember that. Cogidubnus was a king of Roman Britain, so I decided to pick the name of another historical British figure that my family would be able to remember, and went with Sir Lancelot.
Physically, they look a lot alike except that rats are MUCH bigger! Mice are around an ounce, rats are around a pound. Here are some visual aids!
http://www.afrma.org/breedimg/rbratvslnmse-1bx.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5217/5532612293_2e44445c11_z.jpg
I hope they separate them soon in the photo! Rats see mice as prey and will gobble them up if given a chance. Speaking of that, their diets are different too. It's true they both eat a lot of grains, but while mice are almost entirely herbivorous (they might nibble a small insect here and there in the wild, and it's ok to give pet ones a small bit of cooked fish or poultry now and then) rats are active omnivores that very much enjoys eggs and meat! Rats being predators and mice being prey makes them psychologically different in many ways as well, the main one being that mice are much more nervous by nature than rats. They're both very curious, but rats are less afraid.
Rats need to be kept in pairs or groups (though you'll want to make sure all cagemates are the same sex, unless you want babies!) While female mice should also be kept in groups, male mice must be kept solitary. They will reproduce with the females, and they will fight with other males. Male mice also smell terrible due to a musk that they secrete which male rats do not.
Mice are very intelligent, but not as intelligent as rats, and while they can make good pets and be friendly, they won't normally bond to a person to the degree that a rat will. I've had rats beg to be picked up, enjoy playing with their humans, etc. With mice, it's more like they're tolerant to amiable about being held and petted but could also do without it just fine. They're sweet, but not as affectionate as rats are. Though there are exceptions to every rule, this is just my experience!