Lowest maintenance pet?

[Lulumush]

My 6 yr old twins want a pet. I'm a single mum and work full time. Would love a dog but it's not practical at the moment.
Any ideas for a low maintenance pet (aside from the obvious goldfish!!!)

Sea monkey :)

To be honest I would a few years untibthey are older, only get a pet if you want one and are prepared for the work involved.

African Land Snail. A plastic tank, compost, squirty water thing, cuttle bone, cucumber. I had mine for 8 years. I only had the one so no eggs.

Cats. They don't give a shit about their slaves humans.

Only get a pet you want and have the time and money to care for. Don’t get a cat for 6 year olds. Cats can live over 20 years!
In fact never buy any pet for a child.

it's very unusual for a cat to live over 20 years, to be fair.

DH grew up in a cat house, he and his siblings all loved their cats, and all have cats of their own now. We will be getting DD a kitten for her birthday this year (10th).

Depends really but what you mean by low maintenance. I have a bit of a zoo lol so I can testify what it's like to own many of the let's listed.

I have, two cats (and indoor one and an outdoor one, that sounds a big weird writing it down 😂), tropical fish, goldfish, turtles, an African land snail, bearded dragon, snake and we had a hamster but he died (natural causes) in the summer.

The easiest of my zoo, is the outdoor cat, she turned up as a stray and after weeks of hunting for owners, we noticed she has worms and vet said we could either keep her or hand her over for re-homing (vets has checked for chip and done searches for us too). So out outdoors car is really easy, she goes out to the toilet so no mess in the house to deal with, we do have to have someone watch her when away as she likes wet food I'm comparison to our indoor cat who we just leave a massive bowl of food down for. But she's easy. She has a cat flap so comes and goes as she pleases, she's mostly in these days.

Next easiest, probably the snake but i doubt that's the answer your looking for.

Land snail needs Frey's veg everyday, sprayed twice a day to keep humidity levels up, clean water everyday, and I replace the soil about monthly.

Fish wise, my tropical tank is bigger and therefore the greater the volume the less maintenance but not an ideal pet for children as they require knowledge about maintaining water quality and are fairly boring really.

We have a fair few pets, they all require maintainance, apart from when DC adopted some snails from the garden for a while, in a tank with water, food etc. When they lost interest they were returned to the garden.

Whoever said not to get snakes. While I agree, as a snake owner, it's not ideal for kids at all, the remains of them being Specialist really applies to everything. Do lots of research before any pet, make sure you are able to care for it for life and for its life (with the exception of tortoises and parrots which often significantly outlive humans). I think asking for recommendations is the first step in that, I am sure the OP will do her research before actually getting a pet. Exotic vets can be problematic, but that really applies to anything that isn't a dog or cat. Hamsters are even classed as exotic.

Adult cat from rescue well matched to what you can offer is probably the easiest pet.

I love cats. Some are very clingy and some don’t give a shit if they never see you again. The beauty of a cat is you can get an adult from a rescue and they will have an idea of its personality and whether it’s human orientated or suitable to live with dcs. One of my cats would not be happy to be alone for 8 hours a day but the other one wouldn’t notice if I served a short prison sentence so long as his bowl was kept full.

Please don’t our last cat had an awful start but still made it to 19.
If you are prepared to deal with flea and worm treatment, finding a cattery when you holiday, getting the cat in each night. Feeding and cleaning out a litter tray and grooming for the next 20 years then fine.

I'd personally say cats are the easiest on a day to day basis. Put food / water down a couple of times a day and they take themselves out for toileting (unless you decide to get a litter tray) and if you get a rescue cat the staff should be able to help you pick a cat that is 'child friendly'.

Fish actually need a lot of cleaning out and can live for years (the only reason most don't is that they aren't looked after properly). Rabbits and guinea pigs are nice but (from bitter experience) cleaning the hutches out in the middle of winter isn't fun, and rabbits in particular need a lot more space to exercise than most people realise.

I had a hamster as a child and that was fairly low maintenance as you just need to give food and water daily, and they tend to just poo in one corner of their cage, so you can get away with just cleaning out that corner every couple of days and doing a 'big clean' every couple of weeks. They are nocturnal though so don't tend to be active until the evening (and I wouldn't recommend putting them in the kids room/s as they are actually pretty noisy at night)!

Be warned with cats, mine was a stray and she LOVES humans. All humans but men who are new to her in particular.

She feels the need to sleep on humans, sit on them, snuggle in - I know it sounds cute but have you ever tried to eat with a cat on your shoulder?

Could you foster a cat to see how you get on?

A fish.

Dont bother with a hamster, they sleep all day.

Definitely DEFINITELY do not get a dog.

mummyhaschanged that was me! I'm a snake keeper too, and I have had rescues, in the past and now, that I've taken in because people have got them and then decided they were too much work or they simply lost interest in handling them regularly. I just think people can underestimate their needs and be taken in by the light feeding and pooing schedule!

I wasn't suggesting that the OP would jump in and get a snake without doing the research, but I just dislike seeing them being suggested as animals that it's OK to almost neglect. And as you say, I don't think they're suitable for kids, for the salmonella risk as much as anything else.

Wolfie flea treatment fine. Worm treatment done by the vet. Neighbours feed cats (we have several to choose from, and we do theirs) so never in a cattery. Not in at night - I mean, they are, but we don't call them in (our cat flap is quite noisy so we hear them come and go). No litter tray (they crap in our garden but that's fine, they have a designated flower bed).

River that’s fine but not all cats are like that. There’s the one that had cystitis and peed everywhere. The one that needed medication twice a day. Giving pills to a cat isn’t fun.
Worming is three monthly. I don’t take my cats to the vet that often.
It’s irresponsible to suggest to OP that all cats are as easy as yours.

Cats are easy UNLESS you get one that constantly brings you rodents (often alive, to then be chased round and caught and let out), or which gets run over and breaks a leg, or which ends up on long-term thyroid meds. And if you avoid the first two scenarios by keeping the cat inside then you’re dealing with litter trays (scooping at least twice a day; it stinks and the litter tracks through the house on their paws so you have a lot more hoovering to do). Plus they scratch your furniture/carpet/curtains and they moult. If you don’t really want one I wouldn’t get one!

Or wake you up in the early hours by launching at your head.

Why are you worming your cats that often?

All I can say is that in mine and DH's experience, cats aren't that high maintenance.

Robot goldfish my son's have been in the car since Christmas they are still alive

I've had a snail that snuck in with a plant in a jar filled with water and with some earth.

It's been alive, even after the plant died, for over a year. It might be two years now.
It's the lowest maintenance "pet" I've ever had. I literally do nothing.

The problem with cats is that they ruin your furniture. Apart from that mine is great.

Cat.

On the advice of the vet.