small pets..

[KristinCB]

Lily has been asking for a REALLY long time for a pet.. I'm still unsure when we will do it but I know it would be good to have something at home.

What (in your opinion) is the best pet and easiest to take care of etc.. quiet is also important :P

I don't think a pet rock would cut it with her.. haha

[Paula]

We got my DS a hamster when he was little. He loved it. It was very low maintenance and a good little companion for him.

[deepounds]

Oh wow, I'm not much help, Kristin . . . I'm kind of a dog or cat person myself. One thing NOT to get is a ferret. They are adorable (even if somewhat stinky) and a ton of fun, but not low maintenance at all. I've heard hamsters are pretty good, but I'm sure there are plenty of folks on here who'll be able to give you some great ideas.

[KateD]

We've had a hamster and the boys enjoyed it. We've also had rats and they were wonderful pets. Fish are always an option, but they're not very cuddly.

[Joana1n]

What about a budgie or cockatiel? IME birds are pretty easy to take care of. We have 3 now, and I've had six birds total as pets in my adult life (three died of old age).

[Sarah8914]

zhu zhu pet

jk... kind of. I'm not a pet person, so good luck!

[KristinCB]

that is my problem too.. i'm not really a pet person..

birds WAY too noisy! ahhh! something really super quiet (noise sensitivities here lol)

[Paula]

Birds are also very messy.

[emmasmommy]

i'm with sarah and say zhuzhu pets. real pets smell :/

[*Celeste*]

hamsters are nocturnal so they tend to spend the evening running in their wheel. which can be noisy. i just can't bring myself to have a rodent in the house.

[lauren grier]

well. you know what i think but you have that stinkin no pet stores to get regular live feed from issue

[mariewilcox]

Quiet might be hard, depending on what your degree of quiet is. We've done the hamster/guinea pig/gerbil thing and they scratch and run on their wheels at night. Fish are quiet. Turtles are quiet.

We have 2 cats that are pretty darn quiet actually - they play some at night but not that I ever hear unless I'm already awake. They sleep on either my bed or DD's bed.

We have had a dog - white shepherd to be exact, and believe it or not she was the quietest pet we ever had. She only barked when someone was threatening or if someone new came in she would give one warning bark... but she was trained extremely well, which takes time.

Birds - never had one never will. Messy messy messy - all those seeds and feather flying everywhere - LOL.

I wish you luck!

[Jengerbread88]

African Sideneck Turtles.

They are SO easy to care for. Minor issue: the best way for them to get exercise and to get protein is for them to eat goldfish. There are ways to work around this and not feed them goldfish if it really upsets you, but it is their favourite...

The only cost issues you'll have is the filter (mine I have to replace the filters every 2-3 weeks). My turtles cost me about $30/month (that's goldfish, food pellets- a jar easily lasts me almost 6 months, and water replacements... we use bottled water for ours, which, once you buy the bottle, you can get it refilled for like, 30 cents a gallon.... but you CAN buy water treatment drops and just use treated tap water. I think it balances out to about the same price, in the end).

They're SO easy to take care of. Your initial setup is a bit more costly... you need a tank, gravel, basking space, a filter, and a heater. They need their water to be about 70 degrees or they start trying to hibernate. If you are getting more than one (they can get lonely), then you might try to get two from the same place, that have been in a tank together, so they already "know" each other. It's a lot of stress to put them in a new tank with a whole new "person" they've never met.

I can show you pictures of my setup. Honestly, getting ours set up was slightly cheaper because DH found a tank and heater on freecycle, plus it came with some landscapey stuff (a little house and some gravel), so he got all that free... we just had to buy fish, filters, the filter holder thing (we got a waterfall one, but there ARE cheaper ones available), and a basking bridge/rock/thing that they can climb.

I know it's not cuddly, and it's not like "oh I want to hold you" sort of pet, but it is SUPER easy to maintain, the tank isn't hard to clean (so if you end up cleaning it instead of her, it's less to worry about than a bird or a rodent... my family has had both and they can be a pain sometimes). Plus, they are awake during the day, so they'll be loudest (which still isn't loud- mostly I just sometimes hear them clank against the side of the tank or crawl up their rock) during the day, and super quiet and sleepy at night.

That's my suggestion, if you don't want to go the dog route!

[Balinda]

I have done hamsters, birds, rabbits, tarantulas, fish, turtles, iguanna and small puppies...and to be honest...I prefer a cat. I have 3. They are cuddly, catch bugs/and the occasional mouse that sneaks in from outside and are oh so snuggly. They are also easy to litter box train and pretty much maintenace free except for keeping the litter clean and of course food and water. So that's what I would recommend.

[deepounds]

Originally Posted by Balinda

I have done hamsters, birds, rabbits, tarantulas, fish, turtles, iguanna and small puppies...and to be honest...I prefer a cat. I have 3. They are cuddly, catch bugs/and the occasional mouse that sneaks in from outside and are oh so snuggly. They are also easy to litter box train and pretty much maintenace free except for keeping the litter clean and of course food and water. So that's what I would recommend.

Excellent points . . . and I'm wondering a lot about the "cuddly" thing. Kids who want pets are usually looking for "cuddly" - they don't always have that desire for a pet satisfied if it's not something they can "love on". Cats aren't difficult pets at all & even if you're opposed to the whole litter box thing, if you let it go outside that's what most cats prefer anyway.

[lovely1m]

I am not a pet person either, but I believe its from growing up with no pets. My son loves animals and keeps asking me for a cat lately. I decided that if he can prove he's ready for a pet and helping, he can get one when it warms up a bit. He's currently working on earning one. Scares me a bit, but I think its important. I think from what I have read and heard, they are really low maintance, yet like a normal pet, not something you just look at.

[heathergw]

Originally Posted by emmasmommy

i'm with sarah and say zhuzhu pets. real pets smell :/

another vote for zhu zhu pet, for this reason, lol

[mariewilcox]

I have to add that the cats we have now have been my favorite pets. DD dotes on them and they on her and they really are low maintenance. You can even go away for days at a time and not have to worry about finding a kennel to take them. We have gone for a week and left 2 large litter boxes, large bowls of food and water, and they were fine. More than a week, we have someone come in every couple days to feed them and scoop the boxes.

[jacinda]

Fish.

We have 2 goldfish and the kids love them. Sure, they'd love a cat more, but I'm just NOT a pet person, so fish was the compromise.

[tuneskids]

we have done fish and a cat ... I want fish again, but we just don't have the room for the set-up we want. We haven't had a pet in 7 years now, it would be weird to have one again. Quinten gets his pet fix at school, as his class has a pet tortoise thanks to his teacher.

[AmberK]

We got the boys robo dwarf hamsters for christmas and they are so flippin cute. However, my boys are 3 and 5 and the hamsters are so small and SUPER fast that they really can't hold them. I think if we had to do it over we would get a larger breed of hamster so that they could be held. But we got 2 cages with tubes between and the hamsters love it and the boys love watching hte hamsters. They have plastic wheels that really dont make that much noise so the fact that they are noctural hasn't been an issue for us.

I let the boys hold them last night in our bathtub that is super deep and slippery on the sides and they had a BLAST but the poor hamsters were scared to death.

I think the only other drawback about the hamsters and all of the tubing is that they like to burrow in the tubes and you have to clean them out which is sometimes a pain but with any animal there is going to be something about cleaning them up that is a pain.

[Dottie]

Originally Posted by deepounds

Excellent points . . . and I'm wondering a lot about the "cuddly" thing. Kids who want pets are usually looking for "cuddly" - they don't always have that desire for a pet satisfied if it's not something they can "love on". Cats aren't difficult pets at all & even if you're opposed to the whole litter box thing, if you let it go outside that's what most cats prefer anyway.

Totally agree. We have had a total of 5 cats over the years. We have two cats at the moment- one is 9yrs old and the other is 3mths old. The older one is extremely low maintenance. The kitten is a little more work but once he is older...easy street.

[kscwgirl]

Honestly, I would say get her a cat. Cats are pretty low maintenence and easy to get along with/handle.

[momtutu]

We just got two guinea pigs for DD (9) and they can be a bit of work. They are soooo adorable but they are quite a bit of work and they live 6-8 years! They don't make their own Vit C so you have to give supplements or foods rich in that so that has been some major researching on our part.

[maryinaz]

We only have quiet pets. Four desert tortoises that hibernate in the winter and eat weeds and grass the rest of the year (so cost is $0) - but you have to live somewhere warm to be fair to them. Fish. And we just got a White's Dumpy Tree Frog for my youngest for Christmas. He is really cool. He eats live crickets, but can be trained to eat mealworms. He's very little trouble.

But I agree if you want cuddly, a cat is easy. I'd love to have a cat but everyone is allergic to them in my family.

[rainydays]

Cas are great and pretty low maintenance, you dont need to get a sitter when you go away as long as there is food & water out for them! If you get a cat though get a male...IMO females are so b**chy!

[mariewilcox]

LOL Rainydays - so true! I've always had male cats and they are so affectionate. The 2 we have now are so tolerant too- DD was 5 when we got them and she was gentle with them but loved to hug them and carry them like babies, and they always let her and never hissed or snarled or scratched, etc.

[jessica31876]

I say rabbits or cats. Cats are really easy to house train and relatively low maintenance. They catch bugs/rodents. They clean themselves and really never need to be bathed.

Rabbits are quiet, eat relatively little (although they do need a combination of hay and pellets to be healthy as well as some fresh greens/vegies/fruit...they cannot have lettuce). They can be litter trained and unlike hamsters are less prone to biting. Rabbits never need to be bathed as they clean themselves and have very little to no odor at all. I have my rabbits inside the house and as long as I clean their tray/litter box every day or so they have no smell whatsoever.

Guinea pigs are another good choice. A little more involved then rabbits though I think but they tend to have more personality I think.

ETA:I have had rabbits, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, ferrets, sheep, chickens, ducks and turkeys in my lifetime so have a lot of experience with pets!!

[Sheana]

I am not a pet person- at all but our guinea pig doesn't bother me. He is low maintenance enough that my dd (who is almost 9) can take care of him by herself. The only thing that smells about him are the pellets we use for his bedding... they're not like dirty animal stinky, they just smell funky. The only time he is really noisy is when he wants her to wake up in the morning (he has a bell in his cage that he rings), when she gets home from school and he wants attention/a snack or when he's hungry.

[hmlentz]

We have 2 dogs, 5 fish, and 2 guinea pigs. They are all great. Fish are well, just are not very interactive. We love our pigs. They sleep at night and are pretty quiet. Except when we come down in the am and feed them their fresh veggies for the am, they squeek and are so cute. They don't tend to bite and they are cuddly. We take ours outside to eat grass in nice warm weather and the kids read to them. They don't require a lot of work, but I enjoy them more than I did my hamster when I was young. He bit me. All the time. Here is a good site for more info on them: http://guineapigcages.com/

[scrappinsweetie]

we vote for a hedgehog!!! we love spike...LOL

[farrijc]

My boys (4 and 7) each got a hermit crab for xmas. So far, so good! We have two dogs, so I didn't even consider a hamster (which I had growing up). The crabs need very little attention. We let them out once a day, and the boys like to watch them crawl around the kitchen floor. We got small ones, so their pinchers are so small they can't pinch you even if they try. All you have to do is give them food, water, and mist their habitat to make sure it doesn't get too dry. I have yet to clean their aquarium in the three weeks we've had them - it still looks good and doesn't smell at all. For us, I think they are a great low maintenance pet - a step up from a fish since you can actually interact with them a bit.

[4noisyboys]

My boys love our cats. We have three right now, and they are wonderful companions. We've had dogs too, but they are more high maintenance than cats. My sister had a cat that you could do anything too. I'm not sure of the breed...maybe a rag doll? Here's my layout about him:



Mine are all pretty quiet too. My son's big orange male likes to talk a lot, but he's quiet for the most part. This is Leo here....he's very lazy but lets Eric carry him around, and even comes and begs for lovin' from Eric



I keep the litter cleaned everyday (I have three boxes). I live in a warm dry climate, but mine won't go to the bathroom outside. They'll literally wait at the door to come in so they can use the litter box.
I feed them once a day...keep fresh water out. It's easy to find someone to take care of them if we are gone. They don't need to be taken outside or exercised.

I'd really research breeds though if you have little ones. Some are just more friendly and better with kids. Ours were all rescues so we didn't really have a choice.

[Leah]

Get a cat Kristin.

We were NEVER cat people...until now. I love love love my cat.

Low maintenance, fill the food dish every 1-2 days, change the litter box, they're quiet and you can still go away on weekends and not have to worry about them.

[Leah]

Originally Posted by rainydays

If you get a cat though get a male...IMO females are so b**chy!

Our cat is a hermaphrodite...believe it or not.

We thought she was a girl (she was really fluffy) and then she grew one furry little ball. So I took her in to be neutered and they called to say that they had to go looking for the other testicle and found it attached. I figured - oh great, the cat has a tumor and now I'm going to have to explain to the kids that the cat is going to die. Nope. The other testicle was attached to the uterus. Seriously, only at our house.

But she's got an AMAZING personality and LOVES all kids!

[4noisyboys]

Originally Posted by rainydays

If you get a cat though get a male...IMO females are so b**chy!

My son's cat is a male, and he is whiney and a bit of a wuss. He's a great lover though...but likes to be alone more than my girls.

My calico (female) is....well....she's a calico. lol She has an attititude, but she wants to be on you at all times. I would NOT recommend a calico though for a family with small children.

My female orange long haired cat is my special girl. She's so loving, so sweet, wants to be with me at all times, follows me around...the sweetest nature....

I can't say one sex is easier over the other. It really depends on the cat and the breed. Orange Tabbies are pretty special...I really love rag dolls....

[DawnMarch]

We have guinea pigs too and the kids love them. My husband hates changing the cage, but that goes with the territory, I guess. I love the way they squeak when they hear crinkling plastic -- which makes them think they are getting their spinach for the day!

[Sharon Kay]

HATED the hermit crabs ... lost 4 in about 6-8 weeks ... had upset kids as they kept dying ... wasn't my idea ... the IN-LAWS bought them for the boys without consulting with us. ...didn't like having to pay to replace for something we didn't want to begin with. boys never took them out and played with them ...

They just had on the news last week about a ferret that chewed off an infant's fingers!!

http://www.fox4kc.com/videobeta/?wat...f-eee6a52380d0

My niece has a guinea pig ... we slept downstairs at my sister's house ... dang thing STINKS even though my sister said the cage had been cleaned ... and it squeaked, ran on the wheel, and scratched all night ... but she loves it...and cuddles it.

My dad had a pair of Love Birds ... they argued all the time (the 2 birds...not my dad lol) ... and threw the stuff in their cage around so quite the mess.

Only thing with cats is training them and be willing to do it ... I can't stand for animals to be up on counters and tables around OUR FOOD ... and cats will do that ... a friend tried training hers by spraying them with water every time they got up on the counters ... but it didn't work too well.

Make sure you get what YOU are comfortable with ... because there is no telling how long the pet(s) will be around ...

[Leah]

Originally Posted by 4noisyboys

Orange Tabbies are pretty special...I really love rag dolls....

Oh me toooo! I absolutely ADORE orange cats, I prefer fluffy though.

[mariewilcox]

It's funny because my sister had tons of people tell her that ragdolls were so even tempered and good with kids - so she got one. We call it PSYCHO KITTY! That cat is so unpredictable it isn't even funny. He could be lying there all quiet and purring one minute and then sink his teeth into you the next. I had bruises on my leg for 2 weeks from where it sunk its teeth into me. Just saying be careful to spend time with the kitten/cat before you get it to see what it's personality is a bit

[KristinCB]

hahaha well.. leaning towards fish at this point :P. la actually has me sold on a gecko but because of where we live there is nowhere close to buy the live crickets.. so that puts a damper on that. Was thinking the gecko would be cooler to watch than fish.

NO for a cat.. gosh you girls are crazy cat lovers hey? LOL *ducks* we had cats.. hubby is allergic though so that didnt' work out so well.. he always had a stuffed up nose with them.. and gotta be honest i can't stand the hair :/

[davec777]

I am not a pet person and definitely not a rodent person, but my dd worked on my dh until she got gerbils (she was 7 then; 11 now). Once we figured out the best system for their housing (glass aquarium instead of those stupid plastic & wire cages which are a pain to clean), they have been very easy pets and she has been taking care of them by herself from the beginning. I'm a light sleeper and I don't notice the sound of the wheel upstairs (gerbils are downstairs). My dd cleans out the cage every 2 weeks or so and only has to refill water/food every 2-3 days. They are much easier than our dog. She loves to snuggle her gerbils. The most recent set we had were very sweet and tame. Gerbils only live 3 years, so they aren't a huge length of life commitment like many other pets. My dd really wants a chinchilla, but when I found out they live 10 years, I raised a stink. I will not be taking care of my kids' pets (especially rodents that I am scared to death of) once they are in high school/college because they are busy doing other things =) Good luck!

Stephanie

[Sharon Kay]

MIL and FIL bought my oldest a lizard that same year they bought the hermit crabs ... I absolutely REFUSED to bring it home ... I hate snakes, lizards, etc. and it got out while we were there ... told dh he would be paying for a hotel room until it got removed from the house ... so it didn't come home. Later mil told me the live crickets kept her awake ... ha ha ha.

[KristinCB]

Originally Posted by Sharon Kay

MIL and FIL bought my oldest a lizard that same year they bought the hermit crabs ... I absolutely REFUSED to bring it home ... I hate snakes, lizards, etc. and it got out while we were there ... told dh he would be paying for a hotel room until it got removed from the house ... so it didn't come home. Later mil told me the live crickets kept her awake ... ha ha ha.

i never thought about the chirping of the crickets.. that probably would drive me crazy.. sigh..

ok fish is back on top lol.. or a pet rock :P

[Jengerbread88]

Originally Posted by KristinCB

i never thought about the chirping of the crickets.. that probably would drive me crazy.. sigh..

I still vote turtles. They don't need crickets

[4noisyboys]

Originally Posted by paperboutique

Oh me toooo! I absolutely ADORE orange cats, I prefer fluffy though.

My orange female (they're rare) is long haired. I prefer fluffy too!!

[jamie.novey]

We started with fish and worked our way up from there. They worked pretty well, especially if it's a small tank that they can clean! They just have to learn not to overfeed them!

[jannylynn]

Originally Posted by KristinCB

hahaha well.. leaning towards fish at this point :P. la actually has me sold on a gecko but because of where we live there is nowhere close to buy the live crickets.. so that puts a damper on that. Was thinking the gecko would be cooler to watch than fish.

NO for a cat.. gosh you girls are crazy cat lovers hey? LOL *ducks* we had cats.. hubby is allergic though so that didnt' work out so well.. he always had a stuffed up nose with them.. and gotta be honest i can't stand the hair :/

another cat lover! You could get one of those hairless hypo-allergenic cats.

[gracelikerain]

Totally can't help you at all, Kristin. I'm NOT a pet person, dh and ds are allergic to dogs and cats and rabbits. The kids wanted to get hamsters or turtles or rats (yikes!) but we nixed all those ideas. They just enjoy other people's pets.

That's pretty cheap and maintenance-free for me LOL

[maryinaz]

Originally Posted by KristinCB

i never thought about the chirping of the crickets.. that probably would drive me crazy.. sigh..

ok fish is back on top lol.. or a pet rock :P

We have a cricket keeper and they never make a sound. But if you can't get them, then no reptiles or amphibians I guess.

My twins' best friend has tiny hamsters and their entire house smells. In fact, my boys will come home and their clothes will smell!! They are a very clean family and the hamsters look well-cared-for, but they don't even realize they are stinking up their house.

If you get fish, you can always get those little water frogs to put in the tank - they are pretty cool.