Budget-friendly pet for 10-year-old

[Luvchefmic]

I asked DS10 and he said not to get a frog. (his tadpole died after about 2 months.)
He has a gerbil. It does make a mess with kicking the bedding outside the cage but DS10 just lays newspapers down under the cage. He chose a gerbil over a hamster because hamsters are nocturnal and gerbils usually sleep at night. He still makes some noise but not much. Also, he plays/holds his gerbil whereas a hamster doesn't like to be active during the day and they tend to bite or nip if you wake them up to play.
His gerbil's name is "stitch" but he says he is much less trouble than the real "Stitch". Oh, don't buy a super cheap plastic cage with the tunnels and stuff. They chew through anything plastic and become great escape artists!!

Stitch Great Escape

 

[Andrea_loves_Disney]

I realize everyone has differing opinions on what pets are "easy" ...I just thought I would throw in my 2 cents...
I have had beta fish, hamsters, guinea pigs and gerbils. Out of those ..I pick gerbils hands down. They are cute and so fun to watch....they don't really smell and the cages (aquarium) only have to be clean every 1 1/2 - 2 weeks. DD14 currently has 4 gerbils and she takes care of them completely on her own. I think a 10 year old might need some help cleaning cages but other than that, they don't require much care! Good luck and have fun!

 

[mjkacmom]

Our best pets so far have been rats, believe it or not. I went through a breeder, but there are also rescues. It's better to have 2, and if you get females, have them altered, because they are prone to mammory tumors (which we found out $700 later). The $100 cage is the biggest cost - you can actually make them food out of oatmeal, nuts, cereal, etc. (found recipes online). They are SO friendly - love to interact and be held -and smart (you can train them to come when called). My children took care of them 99% (DH cleaned the cage once a week). We've had a dog, hermit crabs, and hamsters (and frogs right now), and the rats were the best - their personalities were between a cat and a dog.

 

[peimikes]

Guinea pig's make great small pets. They are easy to care for, fairly long lived, up through the day and if you use a fishtank as a cage the mess is all contained we have ours in a 1'X3' tank to sleep in and stay in while we're not home. Get a young one and it will become quite attache dto you they are very friendly and love being petted and held. Rememeber they need Guinea pig food ot rabbit pellets, they can make thier own Vitamin C so it's added to the pellets also a few pieces of apple carrot and cabbage are good daily treats.

 

[Sunbeamblue2002]

My husband came home with some Gecco's and they have been relitively cheep and easy to care for. We had the tank already but that and some rocks for them to hide would be the biggest expense. We buy them crickets or worms like twice a wk and they are only a few dollers. Plus the kids have fun hunting down worms, ants etc that they eat. They really have been super low matianice. Good luck with whatever you deside.

 

[r&kmommy]

Word to the wise about using a tall vase for a beta fish - they need to come to the surface to breathe, and as they get older they tire out having to go all the way to the top of a tall vase/bowl.

Shorter and wider is preferred over taller and skinnier )

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I wouldn't consider rabbits to be low-cost or low-maintenance pets. They must be spayed or neutered around 6 month of age to improve their health and behavior (85% of females will die of reproductive cancer by the time they're 5 if they're not spayed). They need high-quality food and hay to keep them healthy (not the kind from the grocery store). They should also be litterbox trained and need special litter made for small animals (not the kinds made for cats). I have 4 rescue rabbits and we spend at least $75 a month on their food, hay and litter. I only buy the highest quality supplies (Oxbox food, timothy hay) for them. They also need lots of time outside of their cages for exercise and must be supervised at all times since they like to chew. I don't usually recommend rabbits when kids will be their primary caretakers. They need to be handled very carefully. If dropped or allowed to jump, they can easily break their legs, hips and backs. They're very independent and kids tend to get bored with them because most don't come when you call them and many don't like being held.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Leopard geckos are great pets. They are easy to care for. There is a little cost involved setting up the tank, but after that they are fairly inexpensive. We have ours in a 20 gal aquarium with a screen top. Ours is pretty tame. We can touch him, and take him out to play, but you don't have to. They are nocturnal, and in the beginning he would sleep all day, but as he has gotten older he is usually awake for a large part of the day. We only have to feed him every 2 to 4 days. He eats crickets and meal worms.

I never thought I would own lizards, but my boys love them. My other son likes anoles, but they are much harder to care for.

I made my boys do research, and a report on the pet they wanted to have. They had to learn what was needed, and how to care for it. It was a great summer project for them.

 

[mareed]

Our best pets so far have been rats, believe it or not. I went through a breeder, but there are also rescues. It's better to have 2, and if you get females, have them altered, because they are prone to mammory tumors (which we found out $700 later). The $100 cage is the biggest cost - you can actually make them food out of oatmeal, nuts, cereal, etc. (found recipes online). They are SO friendly - love to interact and be held -and smart (you can train them to come when called). My children took care of them 99% (DH cleaned the cage once a week). We've had a dog, hermit crabs, and hamsters (and frogs right now), and the rats were the best - their personalities were between a cat and a dog.

Interesting to read about rats! My DS11 has been wanting a pet other than our fish for quite some time, but there's no way we're getting a dog or cat because we had cats pre-kids and just couldn't cope with the hair and their care. DS has researched rats as the perfect pet, so we're about to get 2 - females!

 

[StitchFanZ]

I second the opinon on leopard gecko. DD has had one for a few years and its very easy to take care of. The only drawback is some of the like live crickets which can make their room a bit noisy unless you like the sound of crickets.

The easiest pet we've had is a russian tortoise. They are desert animals so don't need water to swim in. They like a bark like bedding that they can burrow in for the tank. The don't get stinky and the tank is super is easy to clean. They like lettuce and salad stuff so they are easy to feed. On hot days, the kids take them ouside for 'walks' in the grass and stuff. These ones don't get very big. We've had ours for about 5 years and they are still pretty small.

I've become a reptile fan as they actually do interact, most everyone thinks they are cool, they don't smell and are pretty low maintenance.

My DD also currently has a hedgehog and a bearded dragon. The hedgehog is really cute and fun but it is a nocturnal animal so sleeps during the day and likes to play on its wheel at night. This is great for my night owl DD but wouldn't work well with a kit that needs to get to sleep early.

 

[NiftyJ88]

When I was about that age, I begged my parents for a cool pet. We never had any pets with hair because of my brother's health problems. We had fish which I liked, but I couldn't do much with them. I got hermit crabs, but they never did much (turns out very few people actually care for them properly, they require much more than the pet stores tell and you and most people slowly suffocate them to death - still an easy to care for pet though). I ended up with a green anole. Cute little lizard that I could handle, it was awesome to watch him eat crickets and change color.

Now that I'm all grown up , we have 2 dogs, a horse, a beta and some platys that live together, goldfish in the pond, about 30 hermit crabs and a rabbit. The dogs are a money pit - between top quality food and vet bills. The horse is expensive too. The fish were pretty cheap. I bought a $15 5 gallon tank off craigslist that came with food, plants, and everything. The pond we got used from my parents for $75 and filled it with feeder goldfish. The hermit crabs - well, they are my little addiction. I have a 150 gallon tank setup that probably cost about $250 to set up, but a great set up for a few crabs could be had for about $40 and they can live up to 40 years.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Beta fish question. Can someone tell me about the water used to change the bowl. Is it right from tap or bottled water or do you have to treat the water first. I am thinking more and more of getting a beta fish for my desk.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

My daughter has convinced me to get a Hedgehog for her birthday - part of a deal we made to find different homes for our 4 cats because of allergies NO CATS LEFT WHOO! I hate cats! We ended up saving a few when we lived in a different area of town, one was pregnant... bga.

They are self sufficient and interesting pets. She is 12, and has taken excellent care of her rabbit.

A rabbit is another fantastic option - she has had hers for 4 years, it lives in a cage in our living room, and we got it for $5 from a farm! Never been sick, will lick fingers and sit on her lap when she is reading... food and shavings are cheap, and the only thing NOT to do is let them sleep in someone's room since they like to play at night

I hope that cage floor isn't made of wire, because that can cause an extremely painful condition of the feet that is very expensive to treat, if it can be treated (I lost 2 rabbits last year to this condition after spending more than $1000 for treatments). And those shavings are toxic.

There are alot more NOT to do's with a rabbit, I could go on all day with a list.

We have Dutch rabbits, and they make wonderful pets! There are no vaccinations required for rabbits, and they really are quite low maintenance. We keep our outside, but they can be litter trained. My daughter has a harness for her rabbit and hops him all over the place. He loves to get out and go for a hop - he's not afraid of anything the dog or the cats.

If you go the rabbit route go for a smaller breed such as the Dutch which get to be about 4-5 pounds or Polish which are around 2 lbs. In all our research before getting rabbits, we found out that Dutch are very sociable and make great pets, and we have definitely found this to be true.

Good luck with your choice!

Keeping them outside is really very dangerous. They are very sensitive to heat and cold, and pests (both bugs and other animals).

I wouldn't consider rabbits to be low-cost or low-maintenance pets. They must be spayed or neutered around 6 month of age to improve their health and behavior (85% of females will die of reproductive cancer by the time they're 5 if they're not spayed). They need high-quality food and hay to keep them healthy (not the kind from the grocery store). They should also be litterbox trained and need special litter made for small animals (not the kinds made for cats). I have 4 rescue rabbits and we spend at least $75 a month on their food, hay and litter. I only buy the highest quality supplies (Oxbox food, timothy hay) for them. They also need lots of time outside of their cages for exercise and must be supervised at all times since they like to chew. I don't usually recommend rabbits when kids will be their primary caretakers. They need to be handled very carefully. If dropped or allowed to jump, they can easily break their legs, hips and backs. They're very independent and kids tend to get bored with them because most don't come when you call them and many don't like being held.

Thank you Luv Bunnies, I am so glad you posted this. Rabbits really are NOT great, much less inexpensive pets. The cage we built for ours alone was close to $100 and you really have to build them, because the ones that are sold in stores are crap and expensive. Food, hay, and fresh vegetables are not cheap.

All your other points are right on as well. Our girl loves the kids in the family, but she is our grown up pet. She is probably more expensive to care for than a child. We are lucky to have a room we can let her loose in (supervised of course) that she can't chew on anything, except her chew toys.

And you can't just take them to any vet, they need to go to a vet with experience with rabbits, we have to drive 2.5 hours to see a rabbit friendly vet.

Our baby (Mable) is a rescue, she was given to the Rabbit Society by a teen boy who didn't have the time to care for her.

Suzanne

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Keeping them outside is really very dangerous. They are very sensitive to heat and cold, and pests (both bugs and other animals).
.
And you can't just take them to any vet, they need to go to a vet with experience with rabbits, we have to drive 2.5 hours to see a rabbit friendly vet.

Our baby (Mable) is a rescue, she was given to the Rabbit Society by a teen boy who didn't have the time to care for her.

Suzanne[/QUOTE]

You're totally right about finding a rabbit-friendly vet. Not all vets know how to handle rabbits. We lost one to a kidney stone because the vet said he didn't know how to take an x-ray on a squirmy animal (like all dogs and cats sit perfectly still?). By the time we found a good vet, he was already passing the stone. Also, my sister's co-worker asked her for a referral to her rabbit vet. The co-worker's bunny has a tooth abcess and the first vet they saw said she couldn't do an involved procedure on a rabbit. My sister's vet could do it but charged $1500! Definitely not cheap pets!

 

[trekkie2]

totally second (or thrid) the rat idea. I have had several large rats as pets and they are the best. They love to be held, are so smart and really affectionate. Good luck

 

[santa's surpriz]

After months of hearing about a dog, I compromised and got a bunny. I never buy from places like petsmart or petland but I did malke the exception one time...I was in Petland letting DD pet the dogs and watched these three children pick, pull and poke at it this adorable bunny. They put it down and I decided to give a little TLC. Then I heard the dad saying he would buy for them. Since I was holding the bunny, I stepped in and said I was buying it! I could not bear to wonder what would have happened. These children her all under 5. Way too young for such a fragile creature. I had plenty of small pets as a child, including a guinea pig. Now I just see it as another rodent. She is a small english spot. So far she has been easy to care for. Bedding is the biggest expense so far. I feed her high quality pellets, timothy hay, lettuce, and parsely. She loves parsely! Carrots too. I only feed her about a 1/2 C-1 C 2x a day. I make a trip to the pet store about once a month and spend about $25-30. Once week on the produce at Whole Foods (I only buy organic for the bunny), but's it's maybe $5-7. So far it has been very budget friendly, although the initial supply trip was to the pet store was a bit much.

My advice is that the cages they sell in the pet store are way too small. I made a 3 tier bunny condo out of storage cubes, I attached them together with zip ties and lined each floor with a thin piece of plywood that I wrapped with a cheap towel. I lined the bottom by scoring and folding up corrogated plastic board in the shape of a gift box lid. (like a cardboard box but plastic-bought at homedepot) I ended up making three to fit the bottom of the cage but it has worked ot great bc she litters on only one section and I change that end 3-4 times a week and only put bedding in that one to absorb her liquids. I also placed one of those clear plastic floor runners under it to protect my floor. Bunny has a ramp, nesting house, the works. I got the idea from googling bunny habitats which can be very expensive. In all I think I spent $40 for supplies to make the cage. I really like it because I can easily change the size or shape with out too much trouble.

My mom was talked into a leash for the bunny, it's one for a ferret but works well, we take her for walks outside pretty frequently with it. It's a riot to watch her hop around and she gets exercise that bunnies need. I don't let her free roam that much in the house bc her cage is large enough and she is just too small to keep safe. I have sun room that I do but that is the only room bc it does not have nooks and large furniture to get stuck behind or under.

So far the downside is the vaccuuming. At night she gets very playful and I end up with a mess on the carpet. But it's a small price to pay.