to not buy DD a pet I'm scared of?

[Fink]

DD (6) wants some sort of lizard as a pet, a bearded dragon to be precise. Bless her, she is trying to be considerate as I am allergic to pet hair (as is she) so we can't have any of the more normal pets (her first choices were guinea pig or rabbit, both of which I would have been fine with were it not for the allergy). However, I am freaked out by the things.

You have to feed them live insects, which I wouldn't look forward to (to say the least). You have to handle them for a considerable amount of time each day. I am really not a reptile lover. Not exactly phobic, but really not a fan.

My current thinking is that I would get her one, if she still wants it, when she's old enough to look after it without me having to handle it (I have no clear idea of what sort of age this would be). I could cope with having it in the house so long as I didn't actually have to touch it. Due to space restrictions, we would probably have to keep the vivarium in my office/study, which I wouldn't be overjoyed about but I can imagine putting up with.

AIBU?

And yes, having a fair few friends involved in rescue, sadly many, many pets are only too disposable :(

Coffieisnectar I have a tropical tank and you seem to know a lot about fish my Molly is covered in fungas I have treated the tank with first dose of treatment they have to have 3 more Before I can do a water change but I tested the water and the ammonia levels are raised do you think I should do water change anyway or wait for the end of treatment. Sorry to jump on thread op. Ps I had beadies and they absolutely stink they have to be cleaned everyday.

Getting on my soapbox for a second and will then quietly shuffle off. I think keeping all pets is cruel and that many years from now, people will be at the fact that we took baby animals away from their mothers for our own pleasure.

Reading some of these posts, it is clear that the effort required to go anywhere near replicating wild conditions is near impossible.

And keeping budgies in cages seems so . Let them all free I say.

I am sane, truly, I just think keeping pets is really barbaric, even though most owners are caring and well-meaning.

You see, pets are good for people and some spiders

Oh, shit, I've posted a picture of a spider!

deathlyhallows do you have an aquarium shop you can get your water tested? It could mean your filter isn't working properly (clean the sponges in tank water not tap water), or that you have insufficient water for the amount of fish you have. I'd really recommend an independent shop and take a sample of water and details of tank size and number of fish. I can't recommend changing the water as I don't know what the treatment is or what's causing the growth. Also don't overfeed the fish. Wasted food raises nitrate levels.

Yes we have one close by and they test water for us we did water change just before we started the treatment I have a 130 liter tank and a fluval u4 filter. We clean the sponges with the water we take out to do changes. Op don't get fish there had work!

Rascal baby animals took from mothers weres that come from?anthropomorphising much?. We have only been keeping pets for thousands of years and many many people spend serious time and money to ensure needs are meet. Eg bearded dragon if looked after correctly a doesn't know it in a cage will never suffer from hunger or predation and will live considerably longer than it might in the wild. And letting a budgie thats been a pet free would be a death sentence through sdarvation or hypothermia or predation

I really haven't found our fish tank hard work (60 litre, mildly heated, for 6 zebra danios and a smallish sucker fish). It's 15 minutes' work each weekend to test the water, re-plant anything they've uprooted and do a partial water change.

Meanwhile they don't leave fur on the bed, throw up noisily in the night, run up huge vet bills or bring in small decapitated rodents (or if they do they keep it very quiet).

I couldn't get on with pet fish. I had to take on dB's fish tank when he moved abroad, and it was like a never ending chemistry experiment. They eventually died, and I felt very sad and guilty.

I think that the best thing is to attract wildlife into your garden, and to regularly visit zoos, farms and parks.

Keeping animals is expensive, time consuming and heart breaking.

We rescued a cat, and we're quite happy with her. I'm confident that she can have a good life wandering around the garden, and sleeping all over the house. It's nice to know that she can wander around with little chance of being crushed or eaten.

We also took on 2 guinea pigs when someone didn't want them any more. I do my best to feed them and keep them clean, but they do have to live in a cage for their own safety. I find that I feel sad about animals in cages now.

I'm pretty brave with most animals, I fancied an Iguana for years (couldn't devote the time to one sadly) I have had many pet rats since I was a child and those Axolotls look amazing.

However, Hissing cockroaches? Your fucking crazy
purposely avoids the spider talk

I haven't read the full thread so apologies if someone's already said something similar. I'm allergic to most things fluffy but I used to have an abyssinian guinea pig that didn't cause me anywhere near the level of problems as anything else, it just seemed to have much coarser hair and was less of a problem. It might be worth giving one a cuddle to see how you react.

I wouldn't get a pet for a 6 year old you're not comfortable handling yourself.

What about Guinea pigs that you keep outside? We have friends where the dad is allergic who do this. It's a good, big hutch with weather protection that they keep just outside the back door.

I've got a beardie and he's great but my first was a biter so don't assume you will get one that likes to be handled. They're really not hard to look after though and certainly not smelly as someone else stated. His tank gets cleaned once a week and a quick wipe down when he poos. I much prefer him to dps dog who is just a stinky pita. Probably not the best pet for a 6 year old though as my lizard was actually a present for ds! He got bored as kids do.

As a tortoise lover I'd have to say they are excellent pets but:

1. They live for 60+ years - are you willing to take on that commitment (lots of people buy babies, keep them for 3 years then get bored - please don't be one of them)?

1. They require a deal of specialist knowledge re: diet, heating and hibernation - it's easy to et these wrong.

1. In order to be engaging pets, they need a lot of space and variety of terrain. Some people keep them in a tortoise table for most of the year, with a run with a couple of meters of short mown grass for the summer. This is really cruel imo. They are very active when warm and like clambering, digging and bumbling around. Mine have the run of downstairs in early spring/late autumn and 25 square meters of garden in summer and ideally they'd have more garden. We are building a rockery for mountineering and basking purposes this summer.

1. They are sadly incontinent which leads to issues if they are roaming around the house.

Lastly, whatever pet you get, realise that it will be yourpet in all but name.

Loving lavender's bird table idea

RaskolnikovsGarret I kind of get what you're saying. We'll never be able to replicate the natural environment for captive birds unless we had aviaries of many hectares in size (at least!), so a small cage and a quick fly around the lounge would never be the same. Hamsters would naturally travel miles each night but can't when caged. Fish would naturally swim far greater distances than the size of even the biggest tank a person could get in their dining room. This is why I feel that if we choose to keep pets we owe it to them to give them the absolute best environments possible, and if we can't get near what they require we shouldn't keep them.

Fink is there a rescue centre that would let you foster an animal rather than commit to long-term pet ownership? Not sure if these sorts of things exist outside the dog world though.

I looked after a mate's tortoise for a year whilst she went travelling.
He was awesome.
He was called Nigel Mansel (she'd had him a long time)
He had to have a lot of space and my dad wasn't impressed when I cleared out his beer fridge so Nigel could hibernate.
Nigel would often confuse himself with a battering ram and try to ram various things repeatedly. He also like to climb up you whilst chilling in the garden, when he wasn't attempting to chase next doors cat.

I was gutted when she came back.

Leopard geckos are smaller and easier than bearded dragons. I kept six in various vivariums in a small student room. Very hardy creatures which can live up to 20 years. Friend who's allergic to almost everything has kept geckos with no problems. Contrary to popular belief, they are not nocturnal; they are crepuscular, so your daughter is likely to be able to handle her pet in the mornings and evenings. Less smelly than hamsters as well! They are very cute, and come in tonnes of colours and patterns. I've spent some time looking for an informative video where you can see the animal moving around. I'd say a leo is more appropriate for small children than a beardie, and there are plenty going cheap or free to a good home on e.g. Gumtree due to their long lifespan. Just make sure it's healthy.

Or get the hedgehog you've long wanted! You'll feel better about looking after that than something that worries you. I speak from the experience of my parents slaving over unwanted hamsters and fish.

Tortoises are totally awesome

The butting is mating behaviour btw - usually followed by mounting the object of desire and humping away like mad (google "tortoise mating shoe" if you don't believe me and fancy a laugh).