Recommend me a pet / reptile for my DS

[MrsBooks]

So my son (8 at Christmas) is asking for a pet. His older brother got a corn snake at around 10 and has been very good at looking after it but I know DS2 would need more help. We have a cat and a dog, 2 birds, 2 snakes and fish. We have had a bearded dragon (he passed away earlier this year) and have also had terrapins, rabbits, rats etc before. I think something like a gecko would be ideal for him but I've no idea which species would be better for him to handle. Ideally it would live in his room so it feels like "his" but it is a small room so nothing that takes up too much space. I don't mind the live feeding aspect but it is nice to not find stray locusts hopping out from under the sofa since we lost the beardie, so one that eats predominately fruit and veg would be a bonus

Geckos don't like bering handled. They are "look at don't touch" pets on the whole, so I'd say no.

Eight is very young for a pet - I think stick insects or guinea pigs are good at that stage, anything else is really a family pet (like rats which need loads of stimulation).

Was going to recommend a corn snake as the ultimate easy pet, but I see you’ve already had one. So rather less helpfully I’m going to say “anything but rabbits”. We have 2 (as well as the corn snake), and they’re about 100x more high maintenance, expensive (inc vets fees) and otherwise delicate. We love ours dearly but I will not be having any more 🤣

You seem to have made your way through most pets.
My daughter has a beardie (we don’t have escaping locusts though). And I’m getting my son rats for his birthday.
Leopard geckos are the best for children but we decided to go with a beardie because geckos are nocturnal.
For an 8 year old you could try giant African land snails or millipedes.

Along with many animal welfare charities, I’m not pro exotic pet - their needs are often a lot more complicated than anticipated & buying them fuels the wildlife trade industry.
My DH works in Animal Welfare and there is a lot of really bad practice in the Exotic Pet Trade.

Apologies, this I appreciate is not helpful and you already own a couple so aren’t newbies! I know in the last couple of months the number of reptiles coming into rescue centres has gone up quite a bit (and to be fair, pretty much the same for traditional domestic pets, it’s not just reptiles). I don’t know where you live but there is a National Rescue Centre (NCRW) in Tonbridge Kent - why not speak to them as they’re experts about what animal they think the most suitable (or somewhere equivalent more local), take your son over and take it from there. Far too many animals in rescues at the moment!