PET for small house with even smaller garden - HELP!

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I'm caving in, the children are in tears, what can I do? Anyone with knowledge/practical advice? What would be best if I gave in?

I got Hamsters and tropical fish (not supposed to have pets, dont tell my landlord!)

Definatly think the hamsters are the best, big huge fat ones not the dwarves they are far too fast!!! (got both)

Gerbils - more active then hamsters and less likely to bite!

Aquatic Frogs - great fun to watch

Giant African Land Snails - if you can stomach them (I don't mean eat them )

Crabs - you can get these from aquatic centres, need shallow water in a tank and some rocks (I think)

Don't ever put the frogs and crabs into same tank though. We did this once and lets just say that the crabs didn't need feeding for a very long time

We don't really have anywhere inside to put a pet nor outside. Have been looking around and thinking indoor pet would be best as winter is coming but can't find a spare inch except in the coldest room which is the hottest room in the summer and even then it would be a squeeze. Gone to bed in tears (me not them that face is just so you don't go to bed feeling too sorry for me ) Also how much do pets cost to keep and look after properly!

A small caged animal would be very cheap to keep. You would probably spend about £10 a month on bedding and food for a gerbil or hamster. You would have setting up costs of course but could get cage on ebay or charity shop.

Some pet shops sell 'leakers' really cheaply - fish tanks that can't be used as fish tanks because they leak - (obviously)but make great cages for gerbils/hamsters.

We used one of these for our gerbils and filled it with soil (with a bit of sawdust mixed in) and the gerbil loved it. Made tunnels everywhere, so was very happy. We put in some fluffy bedding, so that they could make a cosy nest and then sprinkled sunflower seeds in. The seeds grew, which meant that gerbils could eat the shoots giving them food and water in one go (although still provide fresh water) Very rarely needed cleaning out as the whole thing developed into a kind of eco system (iyswim), so no smell or mess whatsoever.

What about those triop/sea monkey thingy's?

Another advocate of Guinea Pigs. Easy to care for, non-agressive. Cuddly & awake during the day. My two love theirs & even though I was not keen on the idea - I love them too now!

Guinea Pigs always struck me as being a bit nervous and squeaky (we had one once and the only time it ever let me handle it, was after it had died )

I have 5 chinchillas - 3 of which are triplets - and I LOVE 'em

Chincillas do sound like fun actually, wouldn't mind having one!

They are cool, they run so fast it takes both DH and I to catch them to get them back into their hutch

Tires DS1 out a bit aswell...which ain't a bad thing!

Get budgies, great fun, good to tame, and they don't smell!!

fish do sound like a good suggestion. cheap to feed, easy to clean minimal outlay. but I would go for a cat but they can be expensive if they get into fights. They dont need much space either or walking - they wont be dying every 5 mins (sometimes a bonus) and they dont need walking.

Fish are pretty low maintenance but a bit boring to kids after a short while. Mine ignore them completely now so they're pretty much my fish now. I gave in last year & bought my 8 yo son gerbils (you have to get more than 1 because they hate being lonely). Sonic & Shadow are fascinating to watch, but Sonic is a biter which I'm told is unusual for gerbils (I can pick 'em ). Shadow is very tame though. They don't cost that much to care for, especially since they love chewing things like toilet/kitchen roll tubes, so expensive toys aren't necessary. But, I wouldn't recommend them for very young children though, because they're very fast & could run off when you take them out of their tank to play with them.