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Best pet for kids - Hamster/Gerbil or Guinea Pig?


Jamesy

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Going to suprise my little girl with a trip to the pet shop later to buy her own little pet.

 

Can anyone suggest the best kind of pet out of the following 3:

 

Hamster

Gerbil

Guinea Pig

 

This is for my 5 year old daughter!!!

 

 

Is there much difference between any of them?

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The thing about Hamsters, although they are small, furry, cute and very very tasty, is they're nocturnal.

 

So your kids will more or less be in bed when they come out to play - ergo - almost a pointless pet IMHO

 

Don't know about choice 2 & 3.

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The thing about Hamsters, although they are small, furry, cute and very very tasty, is they're nocturnal.

 

So your kids will more or less be in bed when they come out to play - ergo - almost a pointless pet IMHO

 

Don't know about choice 2 & 3.

 

 

cheers mate - how cr@p they sleep all day!!!

 

when she finishes school we're going to run down to Pets @ Home to get something!!

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Yes, a rat or a small house rabbit. They are great pets, and you can train them a bit too.

 

Yes, they do poop a lot, but leave a towel down and place them on it each time you get it out of their cage, and they'll learn just to go on that.

 

Plus, they are very cute :)

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go for a hamster. although they are awake all night they do make an appearance in the day for food and water etc and i used to just wake mine up when i wanted to play with it lol just dont buy her a wheel for the cage cos you wont be getting any sleep at night unless you move the hamster to the other end of the house. nosiest bloody thing ever created!

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i had loads of hamsters as a kid, they were great. They can be a bit sleepy during the day, but they will soon get up if they've got little fingers poking them through the bars :) If you go for one i always found the quiet ones in the corner make much nicer pets. They will live generally about 2 years

 

never had a gerbil, but they run around much quicker, so might not be as easy to handle for kids?

 

never had a guinea pig, dont lick em :)

 

only alternative i can think of is a chinchilla. I have one of them, its fantastic. Easy to look after, although you do have to let them out to have a run around at least every couple of days (in the lounge or something), so keep the dogs away! They will set you back a bit more than the above though, £100 for chinchilla, £80 ish for cage, another £30 for bits like house, toys, sandbath etc so you may have to stick with the gt35r instead of upgrading ;) They will live for around 10-20 years and 'need' lots of interaction with people.

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Rat is by far the best... smart, diurnal, large, and friendly (everything a hamster isn't :)).

 

Cavey (guinea pig) would be second choice for me, but they are a bit dull.

 

Rabbits can be evil, violent, difficult to handle little sods. I reckon that, despite their reputation, a ferret is less likely to injure you than a rabbit. :)

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My sis had a hamster, little gits love to play at night, she used to put him outside her room at night and i could hear him spinning that wheel all night, wake up in the morning and sawdust was everywhere, mum used to pop a cork ROFL. We had great fun with him, take him out in the garden, on the bed, in the ball to roll round the house, great fun!

 

id go for the hamster as they do play in daylight, if your willing to move the cage everynight and flick the sawdust back in every morning:D Id say hamsters are more for girls to:)

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After growing up with numerous of each. i would strongly recommend a fancy rat, they are incredibly intelligent, curious and affectionate.

With all the rats iv owned, iv never had a bite.

Mine used to roam my room on occassion, all they would do is spend 20mins exploring, and the rest asleep curled up on/ next to me. theyre fantastic. They also came to me when i tapped a surface.. They also were very good with my old dog.. they were curious, but did not fear, nor bully the dog, lol

 

i dont trust hamsters, theyr nasty things. never owned one that hasnt bitten me at some point. Also if they are not sleeping, theyr always on a mission to get somewhere, and they pay little attention to the owner

 

degus, awesome animals, but the pet trade consists of some serious inbreeding. only a small figure where collected for pet trade. The inbreeding has caused some nasty issues for them.

to be healthy, a strict diet is neccessary as they are prone to diabetes. They have other genetic related complaints such as their teeth growing badly

I cannot recommend degus because of it, they become expensive pets to look after and cause the owner much unrest due to ailments and being ill alot

 

 

Rats are bulletproof, and without doubt the only choice for me, you get so much more from them

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