I had one as a kid, they're great pets. If you ever do get one, you should get more than one. They're actually quite social and can get lonely, which I unfortunately found out years after mine had passed.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

If I had one, my cat would definitely just eat it.

[–] Nikls94@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Random piece of information: the Japanese call all of them just "Nezumi" 🐁 🐀

[–] candyman337@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Well the Japanese need to be more specific because they're very different.

I can't imaging how hard it is to Google specifically rat or specifically mice questions there lmao

[–] Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Have you heard of grue?

In any case, the same applies to animals. They may not be linguistucally differentiated in the same way across language boundaries.

[–] randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

I'm a native speaker of Mandarin (Chinese), where there's no rat/mouse distinction either. I know that in English they're different so I do say rat for big ones and mouse for small ones in English, but otherwise they're basically the same to me.

[–] KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The japanese simply don't make that distinction and it's not a problem for them

Plenty of languages (including my Polish) don't make a distinction between town and city, and they don't have problems

[–] candyman337@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I feel like town and city is a little less consequential than two separate species

[–] KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Mice and rats are both generic names for multiple species

[–] candyman337@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Damn, you're right, welp I stand corrected

[–] python@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Yup, even the specific species names aren't consistent between languages. The species that is most commonly called African Soft Fur Rat (Mastomys natalensis) in English is called a "Vielzizenmaus" or "Mouse with many Nipples" in German. The German name is way better, they are more closely related to mice and their fur isn't that much softer than on any other rodent. I don't know how many nipples are a normal amount for rodents though, maybe they're perfectly average

[–] fading_person@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Wait, aren't town and city the same thing?

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago

I think cities are bigger. Hamlet -> Village -> Town -> City -> Metropolis, or something along those lines.

[–] smh@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 week ago

Can also denote a difference in government styles: towns have a town council, cities have a mayor. Cities can be smaller than towns.

This depends on your region, naturally.

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 13 points 2 weeks ago

It's also a wireless rat.

[–] python@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I'm always so boggled by how people can't (or don't care to?) distinguishing between their basic rodent species. Common rats, Mice and hamsters look very very different if you give it even a second of thought. Yet any time I watch clip compilations of rats there are always clips of hamsters and mice (sometimes even chinchillas!!) mixed in there.

So, for anyone who wants to learn some basics on how to distinguish them:

rats

Wikipedia
The biggest tell is that they can get pretty big. A huge (larger than your hand) rodent with a long bald tail that doesn't look very overweight will almost always be a rat. The overweight ones will probably be rats too, people tend to overfeed their rats.

Their face shape tends to be more square and blunt than in mice, especially when you look at them from the side.

mice

There are a lot of very different Mice species (especially when looking at wild mice) but if you had to know just one it should be the Fancy Mouse. It's not really a species, just the term for mice that have been selectively bred for domestication, so they can look vastly different in color and fur texture, but the overall body shape is somewhat consistent.
Generally, mice stay fairly small (generally smaller than your hand) and their head to body ratio is somewhat different compared to rats (I'm actually not sure what exactly looks different, maybe less neck? It just looks different when you look at them side by side)
Their ears will also be bigger than rat ears (though large-eared "Dumbo" variations are a thing for both mice and Rats): Picture 1 is a Dumbo Mouse, Picture 2 is a (young) dumbo rat:

hamster

There are two variations of hamster you should generally know: the larger Syrian Hamster or Golden Hamster and the Dwarf hamster , which isn't a species but more of a catch-all term. In captivity, a Dwarf hamster is usually going to be a Campbell, Roborovski or Djungarian Hamster (or a mix thereof).

Syrian hamsters are larger than dwarf hamsters and Mice, but usually smaller than rats (some very fat hamsters exist of course). They only have a very short stubby tail and a round face. Very round if their cheek pouches are full.
Syrian hamsters are strictly solitary and extremely territorial, you should never keep more than one in one cage (optimally, you wouldn't even have more than one in your house). They will kill and eat each other on sight. Don't let anyone tell you that "it works for their hamsters", it does not.

Dwarf hamsters are way smaller than Syrian hamsters and about as large as a mouse (depending on the species ofc). They're pretty recognizable because they're very round. Usually they don't have a tail either, with some species being an exception and having a slightly longer stub.
The biggest difference to Syrian hamsters is that Dwarf hamsters are very social!! Generally, you should never keep them alone, as they bond to each other and build social hierarchies. Solitary Dwarf hamsters can die from the stress of loneliness. It's sometimes even recommended to keep your groups number even so that no hamster is left out when every one else bonds as a pair.
Keeping a solitary Dwarf hamster is less dangerous than keeping a pair of Syrian hamster though. Some people say that they can make it work by interacting a lot with the dwarf hamster so that they don't get lonely. I don't really know if that's scientifically proven though.

bonus round

Here are some more common pet rodents you might want to know about:

Chinchillas: Big boys, need a lot of space to run around and sand to bathe in.

Gerbil
Gerbils: About as large as Syrian Hamsters but usually pretty lean looking. You can recognize them from the fact that their tail is covered in fur.

Guinea Pig: You might confuse them with hamsters from a photo, but they are way way larger and more square, especially in their face scape. They're also pretty vocal, so you'll hear them coming lol.

check your knowledge

Here's images of rodents, what are they?

solution

image 1: Rat
image 2: Muskrat
image 3: Syrian hamster
image 4: Fancy Mouse
image 5: Fancy Mice
image 6: Trick question, they're African Soft Furred Rats, a species of mouse
image 7: Guinea Pig
image 8: Rat
image 9: Dwarf Hamsters (Roborovski, I think?)
image 10: A young Dumbo Rat