What is the best type of rodent for children?

Question

What is the best type of rodent for children? hamster, rabbit.gunie pig? I would be looking after it cleaning,feeding etc,

Answer 1

I think it would have to be rat, Rats are very inteligant and clean animals, They will interact with the children. Do some research on them, you will be very surprised,

Good luck

~ RR

Answer 2

If they are under about 10 years, none. Rodents are small, delicate, and bite very hard. All it takes is one bite, the child drops the rodent, and the rodent gets severely injured or dies. Children older than 10 should be okay with a guinea pig or rabbit. Hamsters and mice should wait until 12 or older. Children of any age should always be supervised and should not be allowed to carry the rodent around; they should alway hold the rodent while sitting on the couch or floor. Always have them wash their hands thoroughly BEFORE handling the rodent- the number one cause of bites is food smells on the skin.

I would say the easiest rodent for you to take care of would be a guinea pig, if you're interested in the least amount of work for you.

Answer 3

I believe a Rabbit or Guinea pig would be the best answer. I have had hamsters for years and I'm sure this is true with mice, rats, or an other smaller rodents, They are VERY delicate and hamsters have a very short life span(2 years). Also hamsters are very timid and it takes time and gentle handling too get them used to human contact. Rabbits are bigger and tougher and have a longer lifespan this is also true with guinea pigs who live 5-8 years and sometimes as long as nine years. It makes me very sad when my hamsters die and I'm 16, it would be hard for children to accept this.

Answer 4

Avoid any type of rat terrier - Jack Russell, Manchester Terrier etc unless you completely want to stifle their natural hunting ability, and run the risk of losing a guinea pig or two by the time you have trained them not to attack rodents.. I wouldn't personally get a toy breed with small children, as they are rather more fragile. A lab or boxer would be great - though the lab might end up fetching the guinea pigs back to you..

Answer 5

I've had hampsters, gerbils, guinnea pigs and rabbits.

Hampsters are small, and tend to get away. Do you want to chase little rodents all over your house? Plus they are kind of small and not much fun to play with. Gerbils are basically the same but a bit more mellow.

Guinnea pigs are larger and more fun to play with, but they STINK! Plus, I don't know what those two gals are talking about but my guinnea pig did bite.

Rabbits are actually a lot of fun, but mine chewed up so much of the house (chords, book bindings, molding, etc..) that we had to give her away. Although I will say that my friend has one and he and his wife have none of the problems that I had.

Rats (as some above have said) are very intelligent and make great pets. Think about it.

Answer 6

a pair of rats or guinea pigs would be best for a child. they have less of a tendency to bite than other rodents do and they are not quite as fragile as the smaller rodents are.

Answer 7

Guinea Pig or Rabbit... both can bite though becareful and hamsters can really work up a smell.

Answer 8

Hamster: I had a friend that had one in 4th grade, we were bored with it after a day. It peed on us, bit, slept all day and kept us up by making noise all night. Oh, and they're really not the brightest creatures.

Guinea pig: My brother and I each had one when we were late grade school early middle school. They were pretty sweet, we'd push them around in our toy dump trucks and stuff like that, but I don't really remember them having much of a personality. They also are night creatures and make a bit of noise at night.

Rabbit: I never had one personally but our next door neighbors do. They have it litter trained and it runs around their house, plays with their house cat and hops up and joins them on the couch. It did seem to shed quit a bit though from what I noticed.

Rat: Now that I'm in college and out of the dorms I decided I was ready to move on to a pet that was more interesting than a gold fish. We're not allowed to have dogs, and I'm allergic to cats so I did a ton of research and ended up with a pet rat. I was a bit grossed out at the idea at first (the tail was a bit to get used to), but when I saw a baby one at a pet store I fell in love. I'd recommend them to anyone in a heart beat. She rides around in our pockets, the hoods of our sweatshirts, runs around in her rattie ball, and even gets to run the house at times (she comes to the sound of treats being shaken). If you get them really young you can train them to be incredibly personable. However, they are brilliant little creatures so get ready to be outsmarted every now and then, also they do need to be handled and played with quite a bit. They don't like to sit in their cages and entertain themselves for days on end.
My only suggestion is to get the youngest one you can find. We decided to get a cage mate for her when she was a bit older and found another little girl at Petsmart. She was almost full grown and seems to have quite a bit more rat instincts than our first. She's still sweet and a great pet, but she's not quite as personable as our first.

Answer 9

Actually, if you aren't disgusted by rats they are very good rodents for children. They can often be as playful as cats and dogs, and actually develop relationships with their owners and people they associate with.

Answer 10

the absolute best i have found is a girbel they have great temperments and are not as smelly as most. if against a girbel then i would recommend a rabbit. cute, furry, not as aggressive as hamsters or guinea pigs. good luck