Guinea pig, rat or cockatiel for a 6-year old

[PilgrimToHyperion]

My son turns six soon and he wants a pet for his birthday. I'm a little in two minds about this, but I think he'd be good at taking care of one. Does anyone have experience with the pets in the thread title + little kids? Which of those are easiest to take care of and stimulate so it doesn't go koekoes? Also, which flushes the easiest if the kid decides he doesn't like it? I'm keen on a guinea pig as I had some as a kid and they were great pets.

 

[SpaceWalker]

Jack Russell. Smart puppies, good protectors and not aggressive or violent.

If you can't get a dog, then go with a Guinea pig.

 

[MopKop]

Guinea Pigs are easy. 6 year old that would be perfect weve got 2 but son is a bit to young to understand they nibble on fingers

 

[PilgrimToHyperion]

That's good to hear! I guess they learn very quickly about the nibbles!

 

[BLaaR]

When my son was younger, we went through a couple of pets.

Budgie - was a problem taming it. When ever he wanted to handle it we had to close the doors and windows. They do pack quite a punch when biting though. So not fun for the youngsters when they do.

pot belly pig - he loved the pig. It was quick to learn new habits and he enjoyed sitting with it on his bed playing. Only problem was the pet shop told us this is the small pot belly pigs, when it reach knee height we had to give it to a friend on a farm as the pig was trying to mate with out dogs an vice versa.

duck - was only fun when it was small and could swim with him in the bath. Yes, it swam with him when he was bathing. Soon it was too big and was kept outside. He never looked after it once we moved it outside.

hamsters - got bitten often. Did not like it plus was difficult to handle out side of the cage.

fishes - got him a small tank with 6 or so fishes which we allowed him to pick. Still have them today after 4 years although some of them has come and go.

 

[iamgigglz]

Jack Russell. Smart puppies, good protectors and not aggressive or violent.

If you can't get a dog, then go with a Guinea pig.

Smart terriers like this need proper walks every 4.5 seconds or they'll start misbehaving. I'd recommend against it, especialy as a first pet.

My recommendation is start with silkworms and let him prove he can take care of an animal.

 

[LouisABC]

Reticulated python
Likely to eat your kid, but other than that, great.

Birds - Bit of a challenge to manage

Rat - Smart, not as stinky as hamsters and can be trained, believe it or not. They do bite, but then again, you will have the same with guinea pigs, hamsters (bites a lot in my experience, etc).

Out of the 3 the Op listed, I would say rats. Get one and interact with it a lot.

 

[Switch]

Most kids quickly abandon the "maintenance" part of pet care, usually only interested in playing with the pet. So try look for pets that have low maintenance, or at least maintenance that you can manage to take over.

 

[moedeez]

Smart terriers like this need proper walks every 4.5 seconds or they'll start misbehaving. I'd recommend against it, especialy as a first pet.

My recommendation is start with silkworms and let him prove he can take care of an animal.

I started my kids on Sea Monkeys.
They ate each other, the Sea Monkeys, not the kids.

 

[ThatGuyJD]

Rat's aren't bad, pretty smart although that's as much a good thing as a bad. They're also more on the weird side, have mates that swear by them but I've only dealt with the ones that turn into snake food.

 

[TheJudge]

Lets see:

Rodent: generally stinky, they bite and if you're me your dad ended up shooting it because it got some weird tumor;
Fish: you will be looking after it and get one that can be replaced with an identical one whenever it dies. Pro is that its easy to hide the bodies;
Bird: will make noise, might escape (see fish comment above re replacement).

I'm kinda partial to insects because kids are generally accustomed to them dying already. My son funny enough has adopted the garden lizards. Like the fish they magically keep reappearing even though the cats take one or two out every so often... also, they live in the garden.

Other options depending on where you stay is to instead fire up a bird bath and have wild birds visit to gauge the interest. One con is that with birds etc come snakes if you're in a more rural setting.

 

[goldfritter]

Rats live 2-3 years. Guinea pigs live maybe 4-6 years. A cockatiel can live up to 15 years. This should be factored in too.

 

[sabie]

We have 3 guinea pigs. The kids love them (both our 6 year old daughter and our 2 year old son). They don't nibble nearly as much as hamster and usually only when agitated or if your fingers smell like food. Neither kids have been bitten and we've now had them for almost a year. The kids tend to play with them / feed them every so often in the evenings but maintenance is quite high as you have to clean their cage a lot (they are rather messy) and they they will eat you out of the house (the piggies) as they love fresh greens.

Other than that they are really chill, the tend to let you know when they don't want to be picked up (teeth grinding) so can at least know when they are annoyed. They are pack animals so deffo recommend two (probably females as mixed pairs are know to attack each other). Initially they will size each other up until one becomes the "boss", after that they are fine.

 

[froggeh]

Guinea probably the best option out of the lot.

Rats are amazing companions (we currently have 7), but you cannot keep only a single rat no matter how much you interact with it it will become depressed and follow similar routes to what humans do during depression - either way it will end up unhealthy, which is extra unnecessary vet costs. While they aren't super squishy, they can get hurt if not handled correctly - especially their spines once they've grown up a bit.

Cockatiels are shitty pets. I had many over the years, out of all of them only one wasn't as snappy as a SO who feels hard done by after they had a bad dream about you.

 

[aiccc]

Fish is the easiest to maintain. Esp of you get an outside pond.

Outside Pond side easy to make. Aquarium grade liner. Approx R800 from Builders. Pump R1000 from takealot. Filter. Dig hole. line pond. Use rocks to hold liner. Fill with water. wait 6 weeks. Buy cheap fish and food. put in pool. He will love feeding them and watching them grow. No need to clean. Get a small water plant to provide shade.

Second is a bird. Dont let him handle it. He is too small.

Kids hate cleaning up after pets. I used to clean up after my dogs/pets. Good lesson on not being yucked out with poop etc.

 

[iamgigglz]

Everyone laughing at my silkworm comment - My 5.5yr old was asking for a pet (tortoise, snake, bird, rat...) non-stop. I got him three silkworms and told him what it takes to look after them. He failed miserably.
I've had to swoop in as pretend SPCA and confiscate them twice. First time was temporary as a warning. Second time was permanent.

He stopped asking for a pet.

 

[Qui_Illustrati]

the pig was trying to mate with out dogs an vice versa.

Now the offspring of this unholy union sure sounds like a pet worthy of keeping for a kid. A pigdog/dogpig.

OP - what about a hedgehog or tortoise? Before the naysayers hop on this saying how wrong keeping these animals are - my counter argument is -they're just so damn cute!

 

[Miexed]

My son turns six soon and he wants a pet for his birthday. I'm a little in two minds about this, but I think he'd be good at taking care of one. Does anyone have experience with the pets in the thread title + little kids? Which of those are easiest to take care of and stimulate so it doesn't go koekoes? Also, which flushes the easiest if the kid decides he doesn't like it? I'm keen on a guinea pig as I had some as a kid and they were great pets.

I wouldn't recommend any birds for a child at all.

They are not easy to look after if you want to do it right - a parrot can't just live off of sunflower seeds and have a mirror and one or two dowel perches in a small cage. They are high maintenance animals.

They are extremely smart and need tons of enrichment and stimulation. Along with a variety of healthy foods - cooked veggies, fresh fruits and veggies, parrot pellets, and 10% of their diet should consist of healthy seed mixes. Vets for exotic pets are expensive, and you need an Avian vet for that - normal vets aren't specialized to treat birds.

They also don't do well alone as they are flock animals, so if they are alone, then they need even more out-of-cage time and time with their human. Long lifespans as well. Cockatiels can live up to 25-30 years. That's a long commitment.

Birds, and Cockatiels especially are amazing, but not for kids.


Source: I have several parrots ranging from Budgies to Cockatoos, do work for a veterinarian, and am one of the Cheeky Beaks Parrot Rescue team members.

I handle the surrender cases of birds that are neglected, abused or given up for various reasons - including young children that lose interest in the bird - I'm not saying that's going to happen with your child, but it's one of the main reasons that birds get sold or are surrendered to us).

Parrots are the third most popular pet - after dogs and cats, yet they are the most neglected, surrendered or given away.

 

[iamgigglz]

OP - what about a hedgehog or tortoise? Before the naysayers hop on this saying how wrong keeping these animals are - my counter argument is -they're just so damn cute!

I may be mistaken but I believe you need a special license to keep these. They're not considered domestic animals.

 

[Qui_Illustrati]

I may be mistaken but I believe you need a special license to keep these. They're not considered domestic animals.

Do you? Didn't know that. Also, is there like some sort of government department policing this. I mean, you reckon our tax money is going to some schmuck running about fining folks with hedgehogs?

Damn - those things are cute.

TIA - licenses are optional

 

[TheJudge]

Do you? Didn't know that. Also, is there like some sort of government department policing this. I mean, you reckon our tax money is going to some schmuck running about fining folks with hedgehogs?

Damn - those things are cute.

TIA - licenses are optional

Yeah, there's a special section dedicated to protecting tortoises but their response times are rather slow.

 

[Sola Scriptura]

Rats make great pets, but you will need two rats. They should not be alone. And get two males, less problems and less prone to get cancer.

 

[BLaaR]

Now the offspring of this unholy union sure sounds like a pet worthy of keeping for a kid. A pigdog/dogpig.

OP - what about a hedgehog or tortoise? Before the naysayers hop on this saying how wrong keeping these animals are - my counter argument is -they're just so damn cute!

A dog that oink , oink at you before it bites you.

 

[Oops!!!]

I may be mistaken but I believe you need a special license to keep these. They're not considered domestic animals.

Plus they nocturnal and super fragile. They get sick easily and die from the smallest things. Really not a good pet for a small kid!

 

[Qui_Illustrati]

Plus they nocturnal and super fragile. They get sick easily and die from the smallest things. Really not a good pet from a small kid!

Well fine. Makes sense. But also they're so damn cute. Have you seen those hedgehog pics where they smile? Have you?

 

[Oops!!!]

Well fine. Makes sense. But also they're so damn cute. Have you seen those hedgehog pics where they smile? Have you?

its the little feet that get me 🥰

 

[pɐlΛ‾pɐq‾ƃᴉq]

Kid's cannot take proper care of animals. So unless YOU want a pet, get one of these.

 

[Pickled_Dick]

Get something you want, you will end up taking care of it.

 

[aiccc]

Great idea i say get a bird, the kind in a mini skirt that can pet you..

Maintenance can becum high thou

 

[Spontaneous.Spinach]

Don't Guinea Pigs make annoying loud honking sounds?