just my opinion but it sounds like ce wants a pet that he can really interact with. And hamsters, gerbils, etc aren't going to be super interactive. I'm fighting this battle right now too. Logan just begs for a pet and I considered the smaller pets quite a bit because he claims that he'd be happy with any of them....yeah, right. I know that his vision of him and a turtle or hamster 'playing' together is not based in reality though. LOL The only thing that will really be like Logan wants is a dog. And we aren't getting a dog right now. (I'm sad over that decision too, but we need to wait financially.) So my advice is to stay strong and just wait until it's the right moment to get the dog that ce really does want.