Good pets for children under 8?

[CSLewis]

I have four children under 8, and they're dying to have a pet. We're looking for something inexpensive to buy and maintain, and that doesn't require too much time-consuming care and maintenance. We (the parents...) don't really want one, tbh, but my husband stupidly told the kids he would consider it, so we're now frantically researching our options.

Don't worry, if we don't think we can care for a pet properly, we won't get one, but if there is one that's dead simple - and cheap, as we are poor! - to look after, the children would be overjoyed...

So any suggestions/information would be very welcome.

May sound odd but hens make really good pets.

Guinea pigs. I was very unconvinced about guinea pigs but we now have two. They are fab. Easy to look after, friendly and cuddly - and they make the most enchanting noises.

Rats.

I second rats - they are a nice size, easy to look after, and good to handle.

If you haven't had animals before, get a book about them first and make the children research how they need to look after it. I firmly believe that if a pet is acquired because the children want one, they need to be the ones who do the looking after (albeit under supervision), and you may have to be prepared to be tough about what will happen if they don't.

Hens will make a positive contribution to the household, but are variable on the amount they like to be handled. I had bantams as a child, and they could be fussed over endlessly

What's wrong with a cat?

Get a grown cat(s) from a shelter ( = you can see the temprament straight away, it won't be so dumb to begin with & it'll be snipped and jabbed and vacced already & you won;t still be caring for it once all the kids have left home!).

Food and water dead easy for kids to manage. Toilet will become garden. Cats independent enough to set the tone of the interaction with kids - so won't become over-handled & terrorised like a hamster can.

I think a small mammal like a rat would be best, I'm no expert though. I do know about fish, despite what some pet shop staff will tell you they are expensive and time-consuming and also lugging heavy buckets of water around will be tough for little ones so they would not be ideal. That's one to strike off your list

I remember when my Dd took her fish out of its tank to 'play' .

The fish jumped out of her hands and she screamed and screamed. (the fish survived!).

Fish aren;t the most interactive!

Thanks everybody. Rats and guinea-pigs had come out top of my list after a quick bit of googling. vjg13, i'm intrigued by the hen suggestion, as my friend has some, and we'd love the eggs! But we have cats next door and local foxes... what would they need to live in to be safe?

I'm not for a moment suggesting this, but my brother had ducks as a child, and he remembers them with more affection than any other pets he had in our very pet heavy household. I remember them being incredibly tame and friendly. And lovely eggs too. But lots of mess!

have you thought about stick insects my ds loves his and we have several pets!

They are easy to maintain, need little interaction and they grow to the size of thier surroundings. I love our stickies as well.

Bugsafari os the best place to get them.

ponies

chickens

rabbits are great

gerbils but they die too quickly

fish

Guinea pigs can be amazingly tolerant. Don't know about rats. Guineas are cheap to feed and like to live in groups (we have four in a pet-heavy household), so they could have one 'special one' each. Just make sure they are all female. Ours live on hay (£4 a bale which lasts a couple of months at least), apple cores, veg peelings, dandelions etc from the hedges and a little dried food.

Could you get them to settle for triops? They are rather horrifying (all those scrabbly legs) but children seem to like them. They eat sea monkeys and other small water creatures. Their natural lifespan is fortunately short, not like a hamster which may live 3 or 4 years after the children lose interest, meaning you're lumbered with feeding, cleaning and recapturing when it escapes.

(We had a population explosion of stick insects. They don't need to mate so you'll get eggs with just one original and it can get rather out of hand.)

it is true about the poulating stickies but ours have never laid any eggs that have hatched as i clean them out every week so they dont have a chance to hatch IYKWIM.

Sea monkeys or Triops I say, can't trust a kid to look after anything else properly.

MitchyInge

What do you mean Gerbils die too quick, they live 3-4 years same as most rodents.

I second sweetnitranitro in that fish are not really ideal: they do entail a fair bit of work and give very little back in terms of the pet factor; the time to enjoy fish imo is when you are mature enough to appreciate ecological balance and animal behaviour and all that sort of stuff

only result of dd getting a fish tank is that I got back into the hobby- which was nice for me but didn't do a lot for her

lockets my ds would love one of those! are they as complicated tolook after as they seem? Also are they costly to buy?