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Small pets

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Original poster

A good pet for a 2 bedroom, third floor flat

53 replies

Teaandchristmascakeplease · 19/12/2011 20:46

We already have a goldfish. However DD has been wanting a kitten for quite sometime. I keep telling her that with no easy access to a garden, it isn't fair on a cat to be indoors all the time. Not to mention having to have a litter tray clogging up the floor.

When I grew up we had a gerbil. However would a hamster be the best bet? Or something else? She's 4 and does love stroking and fussing over animals at friends houses. So I would really love to have your thoughts and ideas on what would be most suitable for her and our living arrangements.

I will probably wait until the Christmas and sales nonsense is over and then buy one with her.

OP posts:
LordOfTheFlies · 20/12/2011 11:22

I've known indoor cats who were quite happy (not ever having been outdoors,they don't miss it) But you do have the litter tray to deal with.

I've got 2 guinea-pigs but I wouldn't keep them exclusively indoors.They need to be in pairs, and create alot of litter.They are adult rescue boars and my 9 yo DD doesn't feel confident to lift him. (They are heavy and wriggly Xmas Grin )

I've had mice.They were very sweet but not easy for a small child to handle

No experience with hamsters or gerbils but my DD likes hamsters and if you get a well handled ,nicely tempered one, they are the ideal size for little hands.

You could maybe buy her the cage for Christmas and let her set it up with a hamster IOU for later.

And of course someone on here will tell you not to buy one from a petshop.

NorkyPiesWithJingleBellsOn · 20/12/2011 21:06

Mice are very sweet and entertaining to watch. They don't take up much space, and can even be housed on an open table-top or shelf as they avoid drops and don't jump. They would need a sleep house, poo place, and feeding area on the surface, along with toys like tunnels (empty loo paper or kitchen towel roll) and boxes that you can just throw away when they've played with them.

Two females live happily together, but don't get males - they smell mightily, and they fight. My only reservation would be that mice are a bit too small and fragile to be cuddly.

Rats can be cuddled, and they don't bite, but even two would need a lot more space than mice - they would need a fairly sizeable cage.

LordOfTheFlies · 20/12/2011 21:50

YY to 2 female mice -except one of mine was pg when we got her so had 6 babies. (Took them back to petshop when they were weaned.The babies,not the mice.We kept the 2 girls)Boy mice certainly do smell.

Small rodents are great escape artists too.Xmas Grin Norky my 2 mice escaped one weekend to my room (I was staying with my sister, my mum couldn't find them) They had an adventure surviving on digestive biscuits, but they were so thirsty when we caught them. This was escaping from a proper mouse cage.My dad had to build a custom-made Mouse House.

Tea what about a small house bunny? Again I've no bunny experience with rabbits but you can housetrain them (unlike GPs messy little toads) but everything has to be chewproof.

Have you ruled out moggies though? I'm sure if you look on Litter Box they'll have advice on housecats.

LordOfTheFlies · 20/12/2011 21:55

Or a snake?

No, I wouldn't either Xmas Grin Xmas Grin
fgrin]

NorkyPiesWithJingleBellsOn · 20/12/2011 21:59

LordOfTheFlies, I have two female mice living openly in boxes and bird nesting boxes on my bathroom shelf. They haven't ventured beyond what I've laid out for them (yet... been 10 months now). Have you looked at the video?

Original poster
Teaandchristmascakeplease · 20/12/2011 22:05

I grew up with cats. To me what I loved most was the "gifts" Hmm they'd leave for us dead mice and the associated freedom. To me I do not like the idea of house bound cats. I also couldn't stand the litter tray shenanigans and lugging it down 3 flights of stairs to empty it all the time Grin My 2 year old son would love to inspect it too I'm sure. Maybe I'm wrong though Smile

I am lurking and reading with interest though Xmas Smile

OP posts:
Ponders · 20/12/2011 22:07

snakes are quite nice actually, but not exactly cuddly Grin

rats are fab - recommend 2 female dumbo mice as being friendly & sweet & not needing quite as much space as female regular rats or (especially) male regular rats. they are very intelligent & good fun but chew everything

hamsters are grumpy mostly

gerbils are cute; they should have one of those special cages that includes a glass lower section for them to tunnel in

guinea pigs can be kept indoors - you didn't mention a balcony, is all your space indoors only? again females are smaller & need less space than males

Original poster
Teaandchristmascakeplease · 20/12/2011 22:09

I love the video so much I've put it on my fb page Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
Teaandchristmascakeplease · 20/12/2011 22:10

Yes I have a small balcony, but I use it in the Summer to grow lots of veg in pots.

OP posts:
NatashaBee · 20/12/2011 22:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Teaandchristmascakeplease · 20/12/2011 22:16

Btw can I ask why you should buy a hamster/ mouse from a pet shop? Where would I get one from if I didn't buy it there?

OP posts:
Original poster
Teaandchristmascakeplease · 20/12/2011 22:16
  • shouldn't
OP posts:
NorkyPiesWithJingleBellsOn · 20/12/2011 22:23

Breeders will advise you not to buy from a petshop because some of them buy stock from the equivalent of puppy mills (producing rodents for snake food). The animals may have been separated from mothers too early, not socialised, or have health problems. It's best to buy from a pet breeder (you can find them on the internet - rodent fancier clubs often have lists).

tabulahrasa · 20/12/2011 22:25

Why would you carry a litter tray downstairs to empty it? I actually find a litter tray easier to do than any rodenty pet I've had - mostly because you don't have to contain the cats somewhere while you do it I think, lol.

My cats go out because they can, but one if them doesn't go out in winter at all and the other's currently going out less and less the colder it gets - they find plenty to do in the house, before having cats I didn't like the idea of indoor cats, but I don't think mine would be unhappy if they'd never been out.

Guinea pigs are great pets, but they do take up quite a lot if room...

I'd not have little pets with a 4 year old tbh, they're really quite delicate, mice and things

SkivingAgain · 20/12/2011 22:28

Carpet Xmas Grin

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

dodo29 · 20/12/2011 22:29

A couple of house rabbits! You can litter train them as they're creatures of habit, so you just need to put a cat litter tray where they 'go'. Most active dusk and dawn kind of times, which work well round most peoples' lifestyles. Very cute, and can be very entertaining when they're happy - have you ever seen a rabbit binky? Much better suited to being indoors pets than in a hutch outdoors. Lots of info on www.rabbit.org.

Original poster
Teaandchristmascakeplease · 20/12/2011 22:30

Because I couldn't bare the waft of their poo in my kitchen bin. Am I missing something though?

The cats stunk our kitchen out when growing up as kittens, with not covering the poo properly, spreading the granules across the floor and other things. Yuck.

My son is almost 3 and is gentle with stroking animals now but I can really imagine him driving his cars through a little tray or similar.

OP posts:
Original poster
Teaandchristmascakeplease · 20/12/2011 22:32

Space is an issue though in my 2 bed flat and a hutch would take up a lot of room. My kitchen is a small galley kitchen and I'm not entirely sure where I'd put the litter tray easily either.

I had gerbils as a child, they were good pets, although my cat once managed to open the cage and eat one. Oh that was upsetting at the time...

OP posts:
dodo29 · 20/12/2011 22:42

Rabbit poo is fairly inoffensive stuff, and you don't necessarily need a hutch with indoor rabbits. Have to say we don't have any at the moment due to space - but I'm talking myself into it now, and wondering whether I could just stairgate the kitchen and have them in there with a litter tray under the kitchen table and a sleeping space in the kitchen cupboard... hmm, okay, maybe not.

LordOfTheFlies · 20/12/2011 22:47

Norky the video is really gorgeous (I haven't got sound on the PC at the moment though) The black and white was lovely.
But the bit about mice not jumping off things?

When we were getting the 6 babies ready to take to the petshop (it was in the days when petshops were considered ok) , one of them escaped. He took shelter in a cupboard in the kitchen next to the sink. I used to leave him food to keep him there.I managed to catch him, put him back in the cage, which was on a stool,so waist height. Before I had the lid on , he was out!

It was about a week or so later we found him again.He climbed the curtains and ran across the curtain pole.
I managed to grab him,(Little bugger sunk his teeth in) and kept hold until I got him back in the cage (I'd moved his mum and aunt out BTW)
The girl got up the stairs, they could climb carpet no problem. But he jumped out of the cage from quite a height.

At least GPs are too lazy sensible for that sort of malarky.

NorkyPiesWithJingleBellsOn · 20/12/2011 22:52

Ah yes BABY mice jump - they go through a 'jumping flea' or 'popcorning' phase, but that is limited to a matter of weeks.

roundcornsilkvirgin · 20/12/2011 22:55

syrian hamster - ours is very cuddly
house rabbits chew everything....

NorkyPiesWithJingleBellsOn · 20/12/2011 23:02

Male mice are much more active, but you don't want those anyway as they really do stink to high heaven.

ThatVikRinA22 · 20/12/2011 23:10

rats.

seriously. lovely, intelligent, cuddly, inquisitive and perfect pets. go to a breeder though, fgs dont do a pets at home type thing

mice wee all the blardy time, they are incontinent.
rats are not. far more entertaining, but need a good size cage and some cuddles.

tabulahrasa · 21/12/2011 00:18

Oh yes, to take it out Blush I empty it into a bag and take the bag out, which obviously you'd need to go downstairs for...for some reason in my head you were taking the whole litter tray down, lol