My six year old son would like to get his own pet. We have a 10 year old very large dog and an aquarium. We don’t want reptiles or birds, so a rodent (e.g., gerbil, hamster, etc) seems to be the way to go.
Any suggestions? Share your knowledge!
oh, and we can’t have cats, because our dog will think it’s a new playtoy for him, so that would also rule out ferrets too, I think.
Get him a pet rat. They are great pets. Very smart, very very clean, and lots of fun.
Gerbils are extremely boring and stupid. I hate them. Hamsters are also boring and stupid, but cuter than gerbils. Guinea pigs are evil incarnate. They smell, smell, stink, are ugly, stupid, and they smell.
So, if you have a smart kid, get him a rat.
One other thing… make sure it’s a female rat, as the males sometimes smell, and have ungodly and horrifyingly huge testicles, which may be disturbing for younger viewers.
We are not allowed to have dogs or cats, so we got my son a couple of guinea pigs. They are cute, cuddly, clean and friendly - all-around wonderful pets! They also make great sounds, warbling at each other and “wheeking” whenever we open the fridge or rustle a plastic produce bag.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love rats. But my daughter’s female rat stinks and the guinea pigs I keep in my office (four of them now) don’t at all. The good things about guinea pigs are that they can be kept in an open topped bin, like you’d get at Walmart (clear plastic). They also chirp and talk, which I like quite a bit. Rats are much smarter, it’s true.
i have a hamster and i love it. but it might not be the best choice for your kid becuase they are nocturnal and make quite a bit of noise at night. i got a hamster becuase i have insomnia. i need a buddy to keep me company,lol
For a six year old, I would suggest a guinea pig also. They do require more space, and their enclosure can smell pretty awful if not cleaned on a regular basis. I’ve found that just scooping out the end they tend to use for a bathroom on a daily basis, seems to work best. Then once a week, clean the entire thing.
Rats are my favorite as far as personality goes, but I would worry somewhat about a 6 year old being a bit rough with something this size. Not out of meanness necessarily, but just squeezing a bit too hard if the rat becomes squirmy. Until your son is used to handling them, and until they become used to being handled, I’d just provide extra supervision, and everything should go great.
Something against hamsters and gerbils for someone this young, is that they tend to be most active at night. One plus for gerbils over the other animals I mentioned, is that their urine does not seem to smell as strongly of ammonia. I’ve seen hamsters make great pets, but I’ve been bitten the most by them, and have since deemed them “fuzzy, little chainsaws.” At any rate good luck choosing a pet, sounds like fun! 
I have pet rats. They are smart, and all that, but what’s more important, is that they are friendly, and won’t run away. They are happy to just hang out, let you hold them, sit in a pocket, etc.
Plus, if you are in the NYC/Philadelphia area, I have 5 baby rats for anyone who wants them. I’d prefer to give them away in pairs, because they are very social animals.
I had a guinea pig when I was a kid. Got him when I was about four, and he lived until I was about twelve, pushing him well into the upper age range for a guinea pig (since he was an adult when we got him). He was very sweet and lots of fun to play with. My brother and I used to make mazes for him out of cardboard, with yummy lettuce (he loved lettuce) at the end. If he ever “messed”, he was easy to clean up after.
The only negative thing I can think of is, guinea pigs are chewers. Keep them away from your books, or they’ll chew them up something fierce.
So, in summary, another vote for a cute cuddly lovable guinea pig!
I have two bunnies that I love deeply. They are very sweet and a nice pet for a kid.
Some things to keep in mind though:
If you get a boy, get it fixed, ASAP - they do the nasty spraying thing like boy cats, and it can be really smelly.
If you’re going to let your bunny out of its cage, make sure to bunny proof. I had a lightly flambayed bunny when he chewed through an electrical cord. (He’s fine - just a tad dopey).
Bunnies need attention - more so than smaller rodents I think, otherwise they get sort of persnickity.
However, all that aside, they are great pets - you can pan train them so when they’re out they don’t doodie all over the place, they’ll come when you open the fridge (that’s at least as good as a cat coming at the sound of a can opener) and they’re snuggly.
A few years ago I brought a little baby rat home, just to play a joke on my SO(Superior Other). They fell in love with each other! She named him Beckett, and taught him to come when his name was called. He taught us just how many places the tv remote could be hid in the house(never the same place twice). He considered the HabitTrail we bought him to be a most wonderful chew toy, and he just couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t let him go ouside to play with the nice kittycat that would spend hours staring into the living room at him through the patio door glass.
We miss him.
Whatever you get, make sure you and your husband like it enough to feed it and care for it long-term, because many kids get bored with a hamster (or whatever) after a few months and neglect them.
So don’t get something you feel in any way squeamish about.
I’m biased against gerbils ever since one bit me when I was eight or so–and by “bit” I mean “sank its teeth into my finger and clamped its jaws, hanging there as I fought panic and smacked it against the cage wall a couple times until it let go.” That’s an experience most kids would probably rather do without.
Guinea pig should be okay, though.
I have a Chinchilla. His name is Carl. He is the coolest. They are nocturnal and make some noise at night though, so we keep him in his own room. They are great though. They run all over the place, bounce of the walls, and they are soooooooo , so soft. Oh yeah, they take dustbaths too which is really fun to watch. They all have different personalities. Some of them will curl up in your lap and sack out, others don’t really like to be touched, but all of them love to be fed treats. We feed Carl raisons, and mango treats, and apple treats. They are great for people with allergies because they have no dander. My friends and I have a website dedicated to him. There are some pics of him on there…they look like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel. check it out
most of the sight is just my friends and I being stupid, but there is some stuff about Carl on there. enjoy!
I recommend rats as well. We have two (both females) and they’re smart, cheerful, easy to take care of, and don’t smell at all unless we take too long between cage cleanings. If you put your head up to their cage, they’ll do your hair for you.
If you do decide on rats, though, I strongly suggest getting two. Rats are intelligent and social animals, and unless you or your family members plan to spend a lot of time with them, they can get very lonely and depressed if alone with no mental stimulation.
One more thing, too, for all rodent-type pets–check the net for information about bedding. One type (I believe it’s pine but I’m not certain) can release fumes that can be harmful to critters’ tiny respiratory systems. Something like CareFresh is cheap and a much better alternative.
Between my wife and I, we’ve kept a lot of different rodents as pets from one time to another.
Mice - don’t take much care, just a cage cleaned reasonably frequently, food and water. They live a few years. They don’t do much interesting, aren’t terribly sociable, and have an unpleasant odor.
Hampsters - Cute, and amusing. Similar needs to mice. Short lived - a year, mayby two.
Gerbils - Dumb and ugly creatures that seem to spend all their time trying to dig through the bottom of their cage.
Guinea Pigs - really don’t care about much in the world other than food. Need more attention and care than mice or hamsters. Like to have fresh greens daily. Usually live 3-5 years, can live longer. Not a pet to get unless you’re prepared to give it the care it needs for that long - all of our guinea pigs are rescue animals from people who wouldn’t or couldn’t take care of them anymore.
Chinchillas - need a lot of excercise, so you have to keep them in a big cage or let them out every day to run around. Can live over 10 years, so a chinchilla is a long-term commitment. Dietary needs are similar to a horse - lots of hay, oats, and grasses. Not a pet to be bought on impulse; they need a lot of attention and care for a long time. Much more intelligent than most rodents, but harder to tame. Expensive.
I’d second the recommendation of a rat. I haven’t kept them myself, but they’re easy to take care of, relatively intelligent and freindly, and don’t live so long as to be a lifetime committment. They don’t smell bad like mice do either, and they will eat nearly anything.
We had a hamster once, not a very good idea. They don’t live very long (and you better pray God that it dies while the kids are at school–so fun to have your kids going, ‘Mommy, why’s hammy so stiff?’) and the one we got was ungodly stupid. Used to sleep under his water bottle, so he was soaking wet all the time, then one day he managed to get himself pneumonia or something like that and promptly kicked the bucket. He also bit us when we took him home–he chewed his way out of his carrier box the store gave us, and the paper bag, then continued on to chew our fingers.
Ech. Isn’t having a dog good enough?
Thanks for all your input, folks.
As far as the dog being enough - we do intend to get a puppy within the next year or so, because we know our dog’s days are numbered. Interestingly, the kids vetoed getting a puppy right now (I think they are quite aware of the time and energy it takes to take care of a puppy).
I think it’s more about the fact that my middle son, being in the middle, wants to have something that is his very own, that no one else had before, and I can understand that. I also think that taking care of a pet is a good experience. But given the fickle nature of 6 year olds, I’m also aware of the part my husband and I will have to play in taking care of whatever pet we may end up with.
Nothing is definite yet. But all this information has been very useful.
If you want a pet that he will stick with i second rats again. They are so cute when they stick there noses out of the cage begging to be played with, i doubt anyone ( at least anyone not completely grossed out with rats in the first place) could resist. They are also fun to feed. I imagine a six year old would like collecting left overs to feed them along with their pellets. They also really seem to like human company, and will even let you join their rat games that they play with each other. They never bite, except sometimes they will bite my socks for some reason , but they always stop if I take them off and show them its part of my body they are biting. Most importantly they are really cheap about $10 a peice ( gotta buy at least 2) ,$30 for a decent sized cage, $5 in food a month, and about $20 every 3 or 4 months for good recyled paper bedding (pine chips will make your room smell like a petting zoo).