Advice needed please - DD is desperate for a small pet, either a gerbil, mouse, hamster, or rat. Ive looked at cages and don't really know where to start. Advice please!
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Small pets
70isaLimitNotaTarget ·
28/12/2014 09:20
Hi Hex
How old is your DD and how much work are you prepared to do? Because you will be doing it. It is not fair to expect a child under the age of (off the top of my head , 14) to be in sole care of an animal.
My DD is 12.6 and we share the guineas but she couldn't do it all herself.
How much space do you have for a cage.
Where will it be kept (not bedrooms, my DD slept in the GPs room, the blighters kept her awake 
)
Are you looking for a singleton (out of your list , that's only hamsters, most rodents and rabbits need company of their own kind)
And the can often be mis-sexed or already pg (I've had both)
And - some are a bit bitey.
How long do they live for?
Where will they go when you're on holiday?
Is your DD allergic to anything?
I've kept mice but they aren't ideal for small children.
And I have guinea-pigs (but they aren't on your list so I guess you don't want piggies). Guineas aren't really small in terms of the space they need.
70isaLimitNotaTarget ·
28/12/2014 10:36
I've had pet mice (so I'll throw in my fourpence ha'penny worth 
)
The males stink like you wouldn't believe. And the ones I had were fighty blighters.
Females much nicer......but one was already pg (I've had already pg guinea-pig too though)
They are very,very quick.
Ours had a three storey Mouse House (my Dad made from a huge old cupboard with wire mesh on the front). It had ladders between the levels. They climbed the wire mesh.
They escape with the blink of an eye
They pooh and pee with abandon (guineas pooh too but give warning when they want to pee)
And sadly, they can develop tumours and lumps, and there is very little that a vet can do.
You would need to find a vet that specialises in small rodents.
And like most small furries, they need company.
The house you've linked to- okay to play in but not for living in. They need ventilation and somewhere to hide away.
JavelinArse ·
28/12/2014 10:51
We have got rats.now and have had mice in the past. My eldest wanted a pet of his own so we went for rats this time.
Rats are great because they are really clever, can be taught to do little tricks which can be fun if your daughter wants to teach them.
Mice always seemed to have less personality to me (as much as I loved keeping them as pets! plus they are unable to control when they urinate/defecate (unlike rats who can be litter trained), mice are lovely but I think rats are more interactive.
Male rats can be quite smelly, I had ours.neutered recently (£60 per rat 
) but it has definitely helped to reduce the stinkiness!
Oh and rats need quite large cages which are more expensive than standard hamster set up, we got an £80 Ferplast one for our two rats.
Rats are great pets but be prepared for lots of faces when.you tell people you have them as pets 
EatShitDerek ·
28/12/2014 10:51
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EatShitDerek ·
28/12/2014 18:47
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PixieofCatan ·
28/12/2014 23:47
DP and I have rats, 6 of them in three cages (two boys, three girls and a lone boy). I'd say that they make fantastic pets for children, especially when got from a family friendly breeder (can recommend an NFRS one in Brighton! It's well worth travelling to get them from a good breeder IMO)
They need very big cages though. And they really shouldn't be lone pets, they need company of their own kind. You get the rare one who can't integrate with it's own kind, but they really are rare and require a lot of time and attention from their human.
We have this cage for our pair and trio:
www.littlepetwarehouse.co.uk/hamberley-single-metal-large-cage-p-12607.html
Rats need height to climb so aviaries are quite good and a cheaper option than specialist cages. We needed all metal as our girls chewed through plastic bases, so we got the hamberley for our girls and liked it so much we got it for our boys too
Rats are lovely pets, and, IMO, very good for children. Well bred rats don't tend to bite, they'll nip at first a bit like a toddler would use their mouths to explore things, so it's worth knowing so that you're prepared, but they don't nip hard and if it's too hard for you you can 'train' them not to do it too hard. One of our 5mo girls still nips when she wants to play chase with you, it's quite sweet actually!
You need a good vet though, rats are prone to respiratory infections and a standard vet won't always pick up on it. We visit the vet about once a month, usually with one of our boys who has bad lungs so constantly has respiratory infections! We see a rodentologist and I cannot fault her., it costs us just under £30 a trip for the consultation and medication. OPs usually cost under £100 at our practice for rats, though it varies. Our two young girls were spayed and that was £60 each, when Howl had his eye out it was around £100 IIRC and that included an emergency vet visit.
Rats are lovely though, all of ours have different personalities and even our rescue who died of a tumour in August and was utterly terrified of being out of the cage (and us at first) was lovely and rewarding!
PixieofCatan ·
05/01/2015 22:37
Darn, you've gone to the dark side
It may be worth checking local rodent breeders in your area as well. Some will breed other rodents or take in rescues. My rat breeder breeds gerbils and hamsters IIRC and also runs a rodent-based rescue, so rehomes rats, GPs, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, etc.
How exciting though, good luck on your foray into gerbil ownership :)
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