Rat or hamster?

[KitKat1985]

I'm thinking of getting a pet that my DDs (4 and 2) can enjoy. DD1 in particular has autism and adores animals, and I think she would love to have a pet of her own. However I'm very aware that I'm going to end up looking after it, so something small and easily manageable is probably best as I work full time etc so wouldn't be fair on the animal to get anything that requires loads of time (I did also consider guinea pigs but we have a lot of foxes around here so not sure it's a great idea).

I had a hamster as a pet as a child who I loved and he was very sweet, but obviously being nocturnal I'm wondering if the DDs would really enjoy a pet that's largely going to be asleep in their waking hours. Are rats better? I've not had rats before but am aware that they obviously need a bigger cage and to be kept in pairs, but are also supposed to be intelligent and interactive so wondering if this may be better for the kids?

What about degus. They are lovely. bigger the gerbils and hamsters, and so cute.

I love seeing people recommending rats as we've had a few over the years. Agree on them being sociable so having at least two. Ours have all been lovely and had their own personalities, great pets.

Have you considered mice as an inbetween measure? Girls are lovely, work well as a pair. Much less smell than boys and brilliant little personalities

@KitKat1985 fair enough! Good luck choosing I bet your children will be thrilled :)

We've always had Syrian hamsters, they only live around 2 years but the ones we had were always lovely, they aren't always nocturnal, ours soon fitted their sleep around living with us, they used to be awake when ds came home from school & very often during the day. Only advice I have is don't buy from Pets at Home if you can, find a private pet shop or breeder.