Help! Which Pet??

[Gills36]

Hi,

I'm new to mumsnet and hoping for some advice on the above. I have a 1 year old and a 4 year old and I'm looking to get my 4 year old son his first pet. Guinea Pigs were our first choice but space constraints mean the cage would have to be in my son's room. I'm unsure about the wisdom of this! Any mums there been in similar situations??

No to guineapigs. My children at a similar age very quickly lost interest in guinea pigs. They are not really suitable for bedrooms. I query any pet for a 4 y/o tbh.

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4 y/os in my experience are not able to care for the pet in any real sense and may not be able to handle the pet sufficiently carefully (I don't mean a family cat or dog but a small animal in a cage). You will look after the pet and may be the only person paying it much attention.

Hmm, x-post with yg. Maybe girls are more mature or it varies from chid to child? My DS1 (now just 8) has cats and a hamster he adores and looks after but at 4 really was not ready.

They have giant African snails at dd's school which she has begged me to have for the weekend. So you could just get a slug from the garden and keep that - much cheaper!

DS1 kept a snail for a while but it wandered off...

How can it wander off? Just look for a shell!

Hi,

That was quick, thanks for all the feedback. Pet will be sons in name only! I'm prepared to be main carer with wee man helping. 2nd choice was a hamster which might be more practical for us. We had considered outdoor pet but have foxes where we live.

Go hamster - care quite easy and they sleep most of the time!
Said snail had some "friends" DS1 found in garden who appeared on closer examination to be empty shells; it was rather poignant.