Pet for my 8 yr. old daughter?

Question

She is begging for a hamster. She has a fish that doesn't get taken care of now. I am worried she will do the same once she gets a hamster. However, I can understand the fish because it is a beta and isn't very fun to watch.

Answer 1

My daughter has a hamster. She wanted a kitten. I told her that only when she could clean the hamster cage and feed in and do all that by herself. She got that down pat and I got her a kitten. We really like that little guy.. he's so cute. But if she stops taking care of either, they are gone. If you daughter can't take care of a fish.. I would say 'no hamster'. She has to show she's responsiblie with small things first. Fish are easy. Hamsters need to be held every 2-3 days (even after the novety has worn off), or else she will have a hamster that bites and then she won't take care of it either. Fish first I would say.

Answer 2

your daughter needs to learn responsibility. If you get her the hamster without her first being able to care for her fish all you are teaching her is it doesn't matter if I really take care of them or not my parents are going to bail me out. My 6 year old has a fish tank with 11 fish. He feeds them everyday and helps clean there tank. When he wanted a hamster we got it for him. He does everything he needs to. my 8 year old wanted a rabbit. we got it. I feed it and do everything for it. He wants another pet. We told him NO!! my six year old just got a calf now but my eight your old is still on NO they need to learn consistency and responsibility. Letting your child HAVE something and not EARNING it is a bad habit to get into it's not like it is a necessity. Don't say I'll try it and let the poor creature suffer for no reason. The fish may not be very fun but it still needs to eat. if your child could at least do what is needed(feed the fish) then I would say try the next step. Tell her if she can be responsible for__?__(month or 2) then she can have her hamster. if she goes back on feeding the fish or the hamster after that you know that she just isn't responsible enough yet.

Answer 3

Tell her that if she consitantly feeds her fish for two weeks, you'll consider getting her a hamster. Make a chart, every day that she feeds it, mark it. When she reaches her goal, give it to her. Kids need to be able to hold the pet, that's why fish seem never enough and get avoided. But also give her a few different options, since hamsters like to stay up all night running on the wheel, which could get annoying. Maybe a kitten? Or a lizard? Hope I've helped. Good luck.

Answer 4

Get her the hamster my son 6 done it the same i got him a fish and every time he goes with me to buy fish food he kept standing in the display window of the cats I told him your to young to have a cat and he said I'll go for the smaller one so I bought him the hamsster, It's been a month since he feeding them both but I still do the heavy stuff like cleaning the area for his pets. It's a nice way for teaching kids resposibility even at a early age make a deal the pets eat before them.

Answer 5

pet mice are more fun than hamsters! get all girls (boys have gross, surprisingly large ...) we have 4 in a cage with a wheel and they are so fun 2 watch. my daughter holds them all the time. they have a ball we put them in sometimes and they run around the house and freak my cats out. startup entails a cage, (we have a 10 gal. fish aquarium that is cracked, so it was $12) the mice at $1.69 each, food, a wheel, a water bottle, bedding, a lid 4 the tank. depending on what u spend on the tank, as low as $30 2 start. they r a lot of fun. i highly recommend trying that. if they don't work out, all the equipment works 4 a hamster.

Answer 6

I had a couple of hamsters when I was a kid and I just loved playing with them. My son had a pet mouse (actually it was a feeder mouse, so he saved it's life from becoming snake food) anyways he really loved his pet mouse Stewart, but to be totally honest the kids may be responsible enough to feed the pet, but mom's are usually the ones that get stuck cleaning the cages. I wasn't thrilled about my husband buying my son a mouse but the mouse really wasn't any different than a pet hamster. Always make sure your child washes their hands after handling pets though. Good luck in making your decision!

Answer 7

We have hamsters. My daughter is 8 years old and very responsible for her age, but I have noticed that some aspects of being a hamster owner is frustrating for her:

-Hamsters are nocturnal. It's really hard for my daughter to be getting ready for bed and just then the hamster decides to wake up. Or alternatively, she has to get ready for school and the hamster is still awake/getting ready for bed.

-Hamsters do not have very good vision. Why is this frustrating? Because if hands aren't washed properlly and the hamster smells something, he/she might think "mmm! sausages!" and take a chunk out of the tender fingers.

-the noises. Because these little guys are nocturnal they do most of their activities at night.. and they are NOISY! Because they're rodents, they absolutely have to knaw.. and they will knaw.. all freaking night. And they will run on the wheel ALL NIGHT LONG. After one night of "I can sleep through the hamster" my daughter begged us to keep the hamster in the livingroom.

-Oh, and they're obsessed with escaping (if they had a cage the size of a football field, they'll STILL try to escape!) so you have to be extra careful about making sure the cage is closed at all times. We had two hamsters escape. One kept finding his way to our bed and would wake us up (it was like he was saying "ha ha! I escaped!"), however his mother escaped and we haven't heard from since. Very distressing.

If you decide to get a hamster, make sure NOT to get cedar shavings for your little friend. The cedar shavings are not good for their skin and can actually kill them. Get pine shavings.

And someone mentioned about getting girl hamsters instead of boys. Oh boy.. yeah, boys do have giant.. um.. you knows.. prior to having kids, my husband and I had hamsters. We only had one male, and we named him Balls.

But one thing about the girls is that when they go into heat, they can emit a very musky scent. AND if you get a girl, make sure that she wasn't living with boys, or you might end up with a surprise. We brought home a female hamster just after Christmas and we were surprised that within a week we had not one but EIGHT hamsters. And that's a relatively small litter. Four pups surivived..

And if you get Syrians (aka Golden Hamsters, Teddy Bear hamsters, Black Bear hamsters, etc.. they're all genetically identical) NEVER keep two to a cage. They will fight, and one will bully the other, if not kill it.

Good luck with your decision!!

Answer 8

I think you should tell your daughter that in order for the hampster or any other "new" pet plea gets noticed that she has to prove she can handle it. Betas are simple pets with little responsiblity but there are some. Get her to do those little jobs with the deal " I do it, no more new pets. You do it, you have a better chance of a new pet". I used that deal with my kids and we went from fish - mice - cat. Now my kids are currently busten their behinds for a dog.Remember bigger pet usually means more thing to do.

Answer 9

We had a beta when my oldest was 7. She didn't take care of it either. We waited until she was 10 to move up the animal ladder. We got a dog. She still doesn't take care of it. When we ask her to do something for/with him, she complains and complains and complains. A hamster might be a "happy medium," but you better prepare yourself for some more animal chores.

Answer 10

Hamsters are fun and easy to take care of. Plus, they only live for like a year. Another good choice is a green tree frog. Whatever you do don't get a rabbit. I LOVE rabbits, but they live a really long time. :)