Easy To Keep, Personal Pet?

[demonmagus]

Hi, can you guys think of any pet which gets to know you e.t.c. but is quite small and easyish to look after, any pet would do, reptile or mammal, but it can't make lots and lots of noise


thanks

 

[catxx]

a rat?

 

[demonmagus]

I'm afraid rats are also out of the question (parents) annoying because they are perfect lol

 

[fishboy619]

(dwarf) hamster, mice, guinea pig, sugar glider (one of my personaly favourites, great pet), snake, african pygmy hedgehog, tortoises, bearded dragon lizards, geckos
all i can think of now,

 

[demonmagus]

(dwarf) hamster, mice, guinea pig, sugar glider (one of my personaly favourites, great pet), snake, african pygmy hedgehog, tortoises, bearded dragon lizards, geckos
all i can think of now,

wow there's a lot there,

hamsters - I've had pretty bad experiences lol
guinea pig- possible
sugar glider - I'll have to research
snake - again family stands in the way
hedgehog - again I'll research
geckos - ooooh yeah, but i heard reptiles aren't as 'interactive'?


thanks

 

[fishboy619]

hamsters - I've had pretty bad experiences lol
guinea pig- possible
sugar glider - I'll have to research
snake - again family stands in the way
hedgehog - again I'll research
geckos - ooooh yeah, but i heard reptiles aren't as 'interactive'?

hamsters arent the easist to look after than most people think, given the right care they can be loving,snuggable, abd well trained pets, if left alone, can be come aggressive and bite
guinea pigs are fantastic, my one (long story) is very happy living in a woden hutch and loves human interaction, i have also (pretty sad with a lot of time on my hands,lol) trained mine to do simple tricks, such as reaching up for food, following my finger around the floor, and staying put till i wiggle food for it to follow, again, not all will do this, but as mine is living alone and has plenty of human contactm, is pleased to entertain me and to be fed as a reward, they should usally be kept in 2's of the same sex, but it depends on curcamstances,
i have 2 sugar gliders, they are fantastic, my 2 live in a huge bird cage higher then wider, really easy to look after once research has been done, they will allow you to carry them around in a special pouch you can buy, and will sleep hanging from you in this pouch, remembering your smell and getting use to you, mine were bought as babies (young) and are very attached to me now, will use me as a climbing frame and have loads of fun.they arnt that messy either i think, feeding if fun, if you are eating an banana for example and you have one or two sugar gliders on you at the time, they will climb down your arms, sit on your hands and help you eat it, lol
i understand your family not wanting a snake, but they are plenty of small, none toxic ones out there, maybe if you really want one, to work on your parents,
hedgehogs i havent got as a pet (wild ones that visits often) but have heard they are fun to keep, usally kept alone i think, need a medium sized tank with a few accessories, i think i read they need a lot of human interaction or they will get bored and start biting you, but regular handleing will sove this,they are messy i belive, but sorting out the tank daily for a few minuets isnt too hard.
geckos arent that interactive, but can make great pets, its fun to watch them and easy to look after.sand geckos are easy for beginners, mine are very active at evening and dont need much supplies (sand, few rocks, heat, food, water, etc)

hope i helped a little more,

 

[demonmagus]

yup that was great, I love guinea pigs and I have just done a bit of research into hedgehogs, they seem nice, I would love a snake, can you recommend a small non toxic one, because corns get up to 5ft and I think they don't like the size issue. I would love some form of lizard - I like the look of bearded dragons actually


thanks

just remembered, do you know (roughly) how much a bearded dragon set up will cost?

thanks

 

[WildernessLofts]

yup that was great, I love guinea pigs and I have just done a bit of research into hedgehogs, they seem nice, I would love a snake, can you recommend a small non toxic one, because corns get up to 5ft and I think they don't like the size issue. I would love some form of lizard - I like the look of bearded dragons actually


thanks

just remembered, do you know (roughly) how much a bearded dragon set up will cost?

thanks

I had a hedgehog once. She was as stupid as could be. I bought her bred and she died from starvation. I tried everything. Hedgehog food, dogfood, veggies, fruits, letting her roam the yard, nothing. The weird part is she got an okay from the vet...

Where are you located? Where I am, there are plenty of small non-toxic snake species you can find virtually anywhere. I could show you a few pics of some that I've caught if you'd like. All pics are of fullgrown examples.

Bearded dragons and uromastyx can become pretty tame. I really like them, but they cost too much for me.

What about gerbils? They are better than hamsters since they are diurnal instead of nocturnal. Makes playing with them much easier. The only catch is that you'd have to give them a glass tank because they love to dig (it'll look like they are trying to escape, but they really aren't). If they are in plastic or plexiglass containers, they will scratch it up and/or chew through it. They love to chew. Any toilet paper rolls you give them, they will chew up and add to their "nest".

What about small birds? Parrotlets can be obtained fairly cheap for a parrot. They are about the size of budgies with 50x the personality. Quiet, too.

Canaries may make a bit of noise, but at least it's pretty.

Chinchillas and ferrets are good options, too. You can potty train ferrets and they love to get into everything and have a grand ole time.

Some chinchillas can be shy, but ours are very tame. We can pick them up and they come to us for treats. We let them run loose in their own room when we're in there and they are extremely amusing with their crazy antics. They bounce and run all over the room and over/behind us as we sit there. It's pretty common to have one decide to jump up on your lap and take a nibble at your shirt or hand to see if you've got something good to eat. (It doesn't hurt, they are gentle with their teeth.) One of the female's favourite hobbies is to jump on top of the bird cages and do a kick flip off of the wall onto the floor.

They are smarter than they may seem and definitely know where the exit is. They'll jump at the door hoping it will open so they can explore the rest of the house. They've also opened their cage doors a few times so they could make their own trips.

Care for chinchillas is fairly easy. The only catch being that you need to let them take regular dust baths (you buy containers of it for like $5) to keep their fur healthy.

I'm sure I could think of more suggestions later, but that's about it for right now. Good luck.

You could look at the post I made about what I've owned to see if there's anything else you might be interested in that I could tell you about.

 

[K.J.]

I second birds, cockatiels and budgies are small and lovely.

(if you don't mind the CONSTANT SCREECHING FOR ATTENTION.)

 

[fishboy619]

i dont know any small none toxic snakes, maybe someone else can help out here, its one pet i havent got,lol
Bearded dragons make great pets, can be expensive to start with, cost if tank and equipment isnt cheap, but usally a good deal can be found.
birds can make good pets, i had bugies when i was growing up and they were a lot of fun, but need a big cage to fly in, can be messy with poop and seeds and is hard to find a young one that can be tamed in pet shops, my dad used to keep them, so we could always get a young bird.
gerbils can also be good pets, have heard they are hard to tame and are jumpy, and do dig a lot, but given ime could become a loyal pet.
not all hedgehog are stupid, most will eat readily and become friendly, but theres always one thats different
Canaries are that tame IMO, mostly sit on a perch and chirp, but does look pretty
Chinchillas and ferrets are good, but do grow bigger than a mouse or hamster and maybe not what your looking for, ferrets can become very tame, but tend to bite more.
i have never had chinchillas, so cant comment, but have heard they can be shy and not best suited for handleing, more for watching.
if any animal ive said you fancy getting, PM me and i'll give you full info i know (only the ones i have kept though, no snakes etc)
anything to help

 

[grahamsokel]

Sugar Gliders are definatly not an easy \pet.Apart from the diet they are also not a quiet pet.they leap round their cage half the night and when you get one that decides to do the alarm call it sounds like you have a dog barking in your room in the middle of the night or they might start crabbing another loud noise they make .Then there is the scent marking that they do from time to time and although you will get used to it a stranger coming into your house will probably smell it.I have 6 gliders.
Chinchillas are not a quiet pet although they sleep most of the day there is nothing worse than chins doing the wall of death round its cage in the middle of the night while your trying to sleep.They also make a barking noise from time to time and you can hear that right through the house.At the moment i only have 22 chins in and thats quiet for me lol

 

[demonmagus]

ah OK, I'm gonna look into gerbils now, about guinea pigs - can I keep them outdoors or not?


thanks

 

[grahamsokel]

Guinea pigs really do need to be indoors or in a shed during the winter

 

[demonmagus]

anyone know of any gerbil breeders in UK?


and thanks for the guinea pig info


thanks

 

[grahamsokel]

I do know a few people That keep and breed gerbils but they dont live near Sheffield