Jophiel Jr. (age 3, 4 in March) comes home from the summer at the ex’s in a couple weeks and I was toying with the idea of bringing an animal into the home. If for no other reason than to teach him respect for living things and eventually some responsibility. I’m fully aware that for the time being, I will be the one doing the pet care. However, I’m having trouble deciding on what, if any, animal would be appropriate. My list so far:
Dogs & cats: I’m in an apartment so they’re out. Technically, I could keep a cat but I don’t want one around, though I like cats. It’d mean increased rent, litter boxes, keeping it off the balcony, etc.
Reptiles: Everything I’ve read says they’re carriers of various diseases and young children shouldn’t handle them.
Fish: I could do fish, but I’m not really excited about fish as pets. They just pretty much exist on their own and you can’t interact with them. Pretty to look at, but boring as hell.
Birds: I’m not much of a bird person either. Given that I’m going to be taking care of this thing, I want a pet that interests me as well Besides which, when he’s away for the summers, the animal will be 100% mine so it had better be something I enjoy having around.
Rodents: This was the one area that gave me food for thought. Mice and gerbils seem too small to be trusted with a child, even supervised (which he would be), but maybe a rat or a guinea pig. Stuff I’ve read indicates that both are social, typically gentle and decent around children. Rabbits, from what I’ve read, require much the same care as cats which makes me cross them off.
I’m sure someone here has had both toddler aged children and pets at the same time. What works and what doesn’t? Or should I just hold off on the entire idea for a couple of years? I’d like to do this, but if it’s going to be at the certain detriment of some poor animal, I won’t.
The guy at the pet store said that for a five year old or so, the best pet is a guinea pig because they take rough handling without much complaint.
My sister had a guinea pig when she was 4, but this seemed like an unusually placid guinea pig- you could plop it anywhere and it wouldn’t move from the spot it was placed. She had tea parties and the like with it.
Still…maybe in a year or so it might be a better idea.
Just to clarify, this isn’t exactly intended to be his pet (it wouldn’t live in his room or anything) but a family pet that would be appropriate for the existing humans here
My title makes it sound like I’m planning on going “Here, gotcha a [pet]. Knock yerself out” and then going to watch TV.
They’re not too cuddly, but hermit crabs might be a good bet. They scamper around (mostly at night) and are pretty easy to care for. I don’t think that they carry salmonella, which is the big icky that most reptiles have (yes, I know crabs are crustaceans). On the down side, you can’t really pet them or make them come out and play.
I have 4 and 5 year old girls who have lots of pets. We do 99% of the care, but they do the majority of the petting and smooching. We have two dachshunds, a Shar Pei, a neutered adult male cat (who’s a real jerk), two kittens, and fish. We’ve been through Guinea pigs (cute, cuddly, fairly quiet) but they die pretty quickly - you don’t even want to know the lengths I’ve gone to to replace dead Guniea pigs. They all look alike until you need one that looks just like the one you had. Crabs stink terribly bad. We had a huge boa which the baby loved dearly (yeah, well) but it started lunging for the cats, so we gave it to our neighbor so we can still visit. Fish are okay, and the girls like feeding them, but they’re not much for handling.
It sounds weird, but if you’re not opposed to snakes entirely, you might investigate a ball python. They can be very small, they aren’t moved to bite easily (and even if they do, it’s no worse than a puppy bite/kitten scratch if they’re not enormous), they are easy to handle, silent, don’t have to be fed every day, and the small one we had (2’ or so) would tolerate being carried around by the kids all day. My husband ran a reptile store for may years, and I have always liked reptiles, so it’s never presented any problems at our house. Neither of our girls is afraid of snakes at all (that’s not to say they don’t respect them) - plus they’re good for running off unwanted company.
I’ve had 2 guinea pigs, and both of them preferred to be left alone to being handled. They would tolerate it, but were clearly unhappy. Also, if you do end up getting one, they do NOT like being held on their backs like a baby! Also, feeding it every time it starts squealing or making other obnoxious noises teaches it to do that (learned that the hard way). Also, mine were quite amusing when they learned how to stand on their back legs to beg for food!
In addition to crossing off the bunnies (a wise move, I think, keeping the bunny who visited the preschool with a parent and was so overwhelmed by the little ones it was nearly catatonic by the end of the visit, in mind) I’d cross over ferrets for a while too. While they make lovely pets, they are high strung, and bite, though not hard, when they feel threatened. Not to mention they enjoy jumping at you and grabbing clothing- like socks and pant legs- in their mouths which would probably scare a little kid.
My brother had a box turtle when he was just about that age. It tolerated being handled fairly well, and didn’t smell much. It also had the advantage of being able to closing it self up when he scared it. I bet a vet could tell you which reptiles carry the least/most germs, too, before you cross them off entirely.
Rat. More friendly than hamsters or guinea pigs, smarter than mice. And the spotted ones don’t look like quite so much like “vermin”. Now, if only you could superglue some fur onto their tails…
Besides which, when he’s away for the summers, the animal will be 100% mine so it had better be something I enjoy having around.
