Small pet/s for a 5 year old?

[DreamingOfAFullNightsSleep]

Now of course I realise I will be looking after said pets with some help from 5 (in September) DD and the 3 year old DTs.

DD has asked every single day since January for a pet. Ideally a dog or a pony. Realistically a small pet. She has now set her sights on rabbits. I am not convinced. We had a rabbit (and fish, 2 guinea pigs, 4 mice and 3 syrian hamsters kept separately and 2 ponies) in our families when I was growing up. He - the rabbit- liked to come and say hello, a bit of stroking, to eat every flower in sight and reject all veg and demand wholemeal bread every morning. He definitely did not like to be picked up or held on a lap which is what DD imagines I'm sure based on petting farm experiences.

I'm wondering about rats and a friend has some for her DD which we could meet.

Any suggestions or advice anyone? obviously it's a way off when we'd get the pet but I want to be sure we go for the right sort of animal and have enough knowledge before we start! We have a big garden but not secure enough for the rabbit to be free range as the bunny of my childhood was.

It sounds like legend is the perfect description of Old Boy.

Luna likes chin & shoulder snuggles too - I've not fallen victim to any farting yet though!

RattieofCatan, he is even nice in the current pic. I love him.

Even NICER sorry, not "even nice in the current pic", which sounds as though he isn't actually all that nice at all!

sir He's my heart rat, I love him I love showing him off too! He has a fb page & everything -crazy rat lady--

What a sweetie - wasn't on the PC earlier so couldn't see him.

That is the one cute point that guinea pigs lack - eating with their paws.

The silly noises make up for it though...and their yawns are awesome!

rattie he's very, very cute and photogenic! What kind of rat is he then? It sounds utterly ridiculous to write this down but I do find the fancy rats which don't look the same colour and so not closely related to wild rats much more appealing

Again, I'm still at information gathering stage but DD definitely seems keener on the idea of guinea pigs or rabbits. Must try and find some rats for her to meet to start convincing her!!

I've never kept rats but one advantage of rats v guineas is your cage can have many levels to give them space and climbing variety (hammocks, nests, climbing areas) wheras hogs like their leathery little legs on firm ground.
So the footprint of a guinea cage is huge (you're looking at minimum 4'x2' but I'd go bigger especially with boars) but allow more height for rats, smaller base.

Many people recommend males over females. I would agree that our male guineas were more affectionate (the girls are but a bit more aloof) .

If you can overcome the tails (which do feel rather nice when you stroke them from head to tip of tail) and marvel at their delicate skinny little 'feet' they are far,far more intelligent than guineas (sorry pigs but it's true) .
You don't get the variety of noises with any other small furry than you get with guinea-pigs. That alone is worth it

I've never had boys, but our girls are pretty affectionate.

Bella (fluffy) will sit happily on a lap and be fussed over, but is always a bit fidgety about being picked up/carried - she likes her paws back on terra firma asap.

Luna (tricolour) is daft as a brush and will let us do almost anything with her - she loves climbing up my dressing gown sleeve and snuggling at the top with her nose sticking out, and will happily sit on my shoulder whilst I do other things. If I make a bit of a fuss of her she'll put her paw on my hand and lick my finger - they're very difficult to put back once we get them out .

Another one for guinea pigs.

Ds1 (9) & ds2 (7) each had piggies last summer. Best pets ever. Dh had grown up with small furry animals and said these were the best option. Not as small and wriggly as hamster, but more affectionate than rabbits.

Downside is dh now wants his own pigs....

We have 3 indoor sows and their hutch is bloody massive and takes a lot of cleaning out. As much as the DDs love them though they'll not be replaced.
As a PP said, other animals can have cages with more levels and a smaller footprint. I'd love a pair of degus or fancy rats.

:) Thanks all :)

Guinea pigs are so noisy! I love it but my goodness I couldn't handle having them in my house, they'd have to be down the end of a very long garden. Even then, when we lodged in a house with guinea pigs, they were down the end of a long garden, a good 12 metres away, and we could hear them all of the time through the night. I can't believe how noisy they were

Dreaming if you're in Sussex I'd happily introduce mine to your DD :) Or Essex actually as we generally bring at least one cage with us when we visit family :)

Ashi is a british blue dumbo. With rats there are varieties rather than breeds. You can have a vast range of varieties in any litter, Ashi has siblings from his litter who were blue, black, agouti and also plain coat and 'rex' coat (fluffy with curly whiskers) and top eared or "dumbo" (ears on the side of their head). They also have different colour patterns, so some may have a white belly but coloured on top (berkshire), some are all one colour (self), some change colour, some have a coloured head and stripe or no stripe. It's so variable.

Wild coloured rats are called agouti, however they're quite a beautiful colour, very rich. I have two agoutis, one who is slowly going white up the sides and has a spot of white on his head, he's also more of a grey agouti, so he's an essex (he's the one with one eye), and the other is a berkshire (she's on a shoulder). My favourite colour variety is called silverfawn. They're a gorgeous orangey colour with pink eyes. I have a silverfawn hooded girl and my breeder has had two full coloured ones appear in a litter before Christmas, so when she breeds them later this year I'll be having one of the babies :)

I think the tails thing is odd, I love their tails, I love it when they wrap their tails around my hand/finger to try get closer to DP as he's faffing around the room, the little sods even use my neck as an anchor occasionally

wyrd They are gorgeous :D I love how colourful they are!

BTW towels are not advisable for rats to have in cages as their toes can get stuck, I was in a sticky spot having just rescued them and stupidly put a face cloth in as a hammock as they came with none.

I'd say rats too :) I currently have an almost 2 year old hooded agouti and 2 eight week olds (topaz and agouti) DS(3) loves them

Gorgeous snipsnap I like topazs :)

When I had mice, their tails were sweet, they could walk upside-down along my arm, and used their tails to wrap round (or whip you with )

DS cuddled a rat in a petshop years ago (they were one of the good shops, now gone ) the rat's tail was sort of ridgey but not scaley, and so strong. You imagine they're worm-like but no.

(I still think male rats are lardy buggers and females are athletes )