Special Breeds

All the animals described in this leaflet are professionally bred nowadays. This means that breeders allow certain varieties to interbreed in order to emphasise a particular aspect of the animal. For example, you can now have fancy hamsters with short hair, with long coats, as albinos (all white), piebalds ( two colour), or tortoiseshell (like a cat). However, the golden hamster is still the most popular. Although gerbils are normally two-coloured you can also buy albino or black ones.

If you are buying a guinea pig, besides the smooth-coated variety you could look for the rougher-coated Abyssinian. There is a long-haired variety, but this is a specialist pet, only suitable for the real enthusiast.

There are very many different varieties of rabbit and most of them make suitable pets. However, as a first pet, it is probably best to go for the breed known as English, a Dutch breed (slightly smaller) or a New Zealand White.