12-04-2009, 02:48 PM
The common belief is that males are friendlier than females. While this is often true, it's not universally true-- in fact in my lines, I've found the females to always have been friendlier than the males... probably because I've been selectively breeding for sociability and disposition, and Freya, being the foundress of my lines, was amongst the friendliest of females I've ever seen.
So-- I would go based on the individual animal, and not necessarily by gender. A good test with any animal is to put your hand in the cage near them (but without trying to hold them) and see how they respond-- unsocialized animals will tend to avoid you, but if they act aggressively, you definitely don't want them, and if they are a bit curious about you (maybe taking a gentle nip, thinking your fingers might be food), then that's a good sign. Of course, almost any animal you get from a pet store will probably be pretty badly unsocialized... I've had animals from pet stores that were so obviously traumatized that they would never want to be held by me, even after repeated attempts to desensitize them.
As for the testicles-- that's just something you get used to, and it's much less obvious on the longhaired males versus the shorthaired.
So-- I would go based on the individual animal, and not necessarily by gender. A good test with any animal is to put your hand in the cage near them (but without trying to hold them) and see how they respond-- unsocialized animals will tend to avoid you, but if they act aggressively, you definitely don't want them, and if they are a bit curious about you (maybe taking a gentle nip, thinking your fingers might be food), then that's a good sign. Of course, almost any animal you get from a pet store will probably be pretty badly unsocialized... I've had animals from pet stores that were so obviously traumatized that they would never want to be held by me, even after repeated attempts to desensitize them.
As for the testicles-- that's just something you get used to, and it's much less obvious on the longhaired males versus the shorthaired.