Servitors and Familiars, A Difference and A Similarity Options

While contemplating Nero's working with Ghob that resulted with a subsequent bestowal of an earth elemental familiar, I began considering a possible basic difference and similarity from considering servitors and familiars.


A difference:

A servitor is an entity that is consciously created.
A familiar is an entity that is receives from an aspect of the subconsciousness.


A similarity:

A Mage uses both servitors and familiars for accomplishing specific tasks.



I would appreciate some feedback and other insights regarding that basic comparison.

How can one tell the diffrence between a familiar and just a pet that happened to fall in your lap?
I have a hedgehog as a result of a friend of mine who collects a number of diffrent animals having an unexpected pregnancy, and all but one was bought by the pet store, and I was visiting town (houston) at about this time and descided to take the little raskel in.
And with thought it makes since, becuase Ive learned alot from him and his trust issues. And though reflecting on him has been a relfection on myself, Im not to quick to consider him a familiar. How does one know, or is it one of those many things are instincts alone can tell us?
Servitor sounds by definition to be alot like an egregore, or is it merely a diffrent name for the same thing?
That aside I would be open to suggestion on the matter of familiars as a physical animal...
†Christopher Raven† (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_bookread.gif)