For years I’ve answered kids begging for pets with the response that they have to save up $60 to buy pet and cage and supplies. This ensured that they REALLY wanted a pet and were willing to be responsible for it. For years that was an effective dead-stop on the pet issue because the kids inevitably find things to spend their money on long before they save up $60
Then came today. The kids have been saving money for spending on our California trip since last year. I paid out allowances right before we left for the California trip. Kiki scored another $8 while on the trip. Then we never spent the money in California. Kiki came home and counted up. She had $55 and announced that she was going to buy a hamster. Link volunteered to pitch in $5 if it was needed and off the the pet store we went.
Going to the pet store and coming home with a little animal in a box is an experience every kid should have at some point. It has been 10 years in coming for Kiki. Now she gets to learn about caretaking and matinence. I would have preferred a parakeet for a pet, but I’m just partial to things with feathers. Hopefully this little brown and white fuzzy hamster will get a good name rather than one lifted from a cartoon character.
The only pets I had as a child were hamsters, they were a lot of fun. If I may, couple of pieces of advice. The more the fuzzball is handled, the friendler he/she will be. Also, they like to run on their wheel at night. All night. Non-stop. Put the cage somewhere it won’t keep folks awake 🙂
Hope Kiki and co has a lot of fun with their new pet 🙂
Congratulations!
Welcome to the world of pet ownership! It’s certainly an excellent way to teach kids: responsibility (especially when the newness of having the hamster wears off and it’s time to change the “litter”), life and death, kindness towards creatures, how to hold an animal “GENTLY!”, etc.
Cool. I always thought a little bird would be cool or a fuzzy hamster… but, Ross doesn’t like birds and cats like little mouse-like creatures.
I guess we’re happily stuck being cat people. (looking for second cat part 2 this weekend while it’s $15. at the humane society!)
Thank you! Now I have an answer for Elizabeth when she begs me for a rat. (Eww.) It’s not like we don’t have pets… we have four cats and three dogs… but she keeps begging me for a rat. Since she begged for two of the cats and one of the dogs, all of which have fallen to my care, I am less than enthusiastic. I don’t want to take care of a rat.
It’s probably just as well. Budgies (parakeets) /are/ parrots and thus can be a lot more work than a rodent. Also, with Patches, who probably doesn’t have much motor control functions yet…yeah, it’s just as well.
Re: Congratulations!
If I weren’t allergic to cats (and through me Link too) we would have had cats years ago.
Good luck finding your new kitty.
I had both hamsters and parakeets while growing up. I personally prefer the kind of work involved in parakeet care. But my opinion doesn’t matter. This is Kiki’s pet to love and care for.
I think this fuzzball will get plenty of handling once the parentally imposed aclimation period is over.
You’re welcome. I’ve been pleased with the response for years. I hope it works as well for you as it did for me.
Responsibility is the important issue here, but as far as rats go, you just can’t get a better rodent.
Seriously. Oh, sure, they have “poogy tails” as my friends liked to say. But rats are inquisitive and friendly and very social… far more so than hamsters or gerbils. And they’re cleaner and stink less.
Just make sure to get females (they’re more playful and active) and make sure to get more than one (they are VERY social, and you literally cannot play with them enough to keep them healthy).
You don’t want to get stuck taking care of a pet; that’s the key issue here. I’m just sticking up for rats in specific. They’re wonderful pets. 🙂
To be perfectly frank, the sort of care that was thought to be sufficient for pet parrots when you were growing up was neglectful bordering on the abusive. I quail when I think of how I treated my cockatiels just a decade ago. We’re starting to do better, though I still think we have a long ways to go. While I’ve never had hamsters, I have had rats (who I understand to be much smarter), and their care isn’t nearly as involved as properly taking care of a parrot.
Our parakeets always lived in our kitchen where they were talked to and interacted with by multiple people daily. They also had ample out-of-the-cage time either climbing the exterior or riding around on shoulders. They got fed all sorts of fresh fruits, vegetables, vitamin supplements, and seeds. They seemed very healthy, sociable, and happy. I have a hard time imagining what more we could have done for them.
The lovebird that I had while going to college was a very different and much sadder story. I simply didn’t have the time to spend properly socializing that poor bird. I hope her second home was a happier one.
It sounds like your family provided an exceptional home given what was known at the time. The fresh foods are likely what did keep your birds healthy, as it’s become clear that a seed diet is a very nutriously poor one, given that we don’t have access to really any of the seeds that parrots eat in the wild.
I realize in retrospect my previous comment could have been taken harshly. That wasn’t what I meant to convey at all. When no one knows better, it’s hard to fault anyone for following what was thought to be proper at the time. That’s why I brought up my cockatiels-my first two birds I didn’t care for very well at all because even when I got them eleven years ago, most non-breeders didn’t know how to properly care for them. I suspect my female now may have some liver damage because of that.
I happen to think parrots are awesome pets, but they’re tough to properly care for and many people, judging by the number of birds that the organization I belong to has in rescue all the time, can’t do it.
Good luck…
…to all involved. Including the hamster. (: I’m glad to hear they didn’t choose a guinea pig. They’re sweet, but they smell. (:
Did your hamster get a name yet?
What did it end up being?
Just curious…
Rats are definitely the best as far as rodents go. I’ve had almost everything. Gerbils come in a close second for me though.
Probably not… Eliz is 15 and well able to save that much if she wants to (she spent more than that buying a skateboard that I wouldn’t buy or let anyone else buy for her). But I think it will work on the driving issue… it did for my parents. “Before you can get your licence you have to earn enough to buy a car and pay for gas and insurance on it.” So far that’s worked on cell phones too. I wish I could get it through her head that a cell phone would be useless here since they all drop out due to location.
I agree, I think rats are great in and of themselves. I only have two problems with having a rat just now. One, as you say, I couldn’t play with it enough and the kids, after the newness wore off, would neglect the poor thing (or both of them). Not that it wouldn’t have food and water and adequate space but that it wouldn’t have the level of attention it needs. Two, I have four cats and I doubt I could convince all four of them that this was a family member and not a snack food. (One or two, possibly. I’ve done it before.) So it would have to stay in it’s cage all the time, no running about the house. I don’t like that. I like to have pets that can roam about the house and, if I’m not being attentive enough, come up and tell me all about it.
Personally, I like rats.