Any animal a good idea for a pet for a 2 year old?

[PanicPants]

Dp and I are keen to have a pet of some sort for ds to become aware of how to treat animals and look after them etc etc.

Now we both work full time so it can't be a cat/dog etc.
I'm not that keen on the whole hamster/mice/rat route either and don't think ds would be able to handle one of those without hurting it or getting bitten.

We've had rabbits in the past and tbh, it's too much cleaning out in the rain for my liking. So there out as well!

We do have fish already though!

Any ideas?

budgies make great pets but they can be messy. but they are interactive - even when in the cage they will twitter and this can be amusing for kids. You would need to put the initial time in to tame it though so you can let it out. We have a budgie and he spends some time out of his cage every day - it just wouldn't feel right keeping him in his cage all the time. But whatever pet you decide on you need to consider that it will be your pet - a two year old is too young to handle the responsibility of having a pet of his own.

I wouldn't get a tortoise, they live for years - and I mean hundreds of years. In fact I read somewhere that "if you decide to get a tortoise you need to be aware that it will almost certainly outlive you, so you will need to be sure you've made provision for it in your will.".

no

My ds enjoyed having a dead bee as a pet until we found it had lice. HTH.

bees have lice? They must be small

Yes small but noticeable.

Ick at the bee lice!

Deceided to leave it for now and wait until ds is a bit older.

DS was given his toroise when he was 10 by a family that had grown up with it and left home. We still have tortoise 35 years later, but love him to bits and wouldn't be without him. He lives happilyin the garden but nowadays that won't sell you a tortoise without a tank, heating etc so you are talking minumum £3 or £400. Babies cost well over £100 to start with.