Pets for the kids

Kelinik

GALS - giant african land snails. I'm a big fan of small furries ordinarily but think these are quite a 'cool' pet and am looking into getting some for my kids.

cupid_s

Tomthumb wrote:

Get a bearded dragon they are gorgeous and pretty robust, I almost got one but ended up with an African grey parrot instead - he doesn't cheep, but he shouts at the dog/kids, says goodnight, see you later, whassssuuuuup, who's the daddy, you b*gger and has whole telephone conversations with himself....... lol

I have 4 beardies. They're lovely. At one point I had 39 of them after dylan and venus got a bit too randy and dylan laid loads and loads of eggs.

I would say that rankins are wonderful as well (see poppy to the left) but maybe not so hardy as beardies though they need less space.

If you were to get a lizard beardies or rankins are definately the best. And they are surprisingly easy to look after. They will withstand varying degrees of temperature though obviously there are preferred (relatively narrow) ranges.

They also work well as in house spider/beetle etc catchers

Miss_Money

elisebutt65 wrote:

Well I have resisted valiantly for many, many years but have finally given in and have agreed to consider a pet of some kind. Kids are now 6 and 11 so getting more responsible.

I've firmly discounted anything with fur as these are too time intensive really and then u have all the fun of getting them looked after when you're away, like I do for my neighbours cat.

Any animal, be it mamal, reptile or fish will need to be looked after when you go away! just because an animal has scales instead of fur does not mean it can be neglected over a holiday season

I thought about birds but can't stand cheeping - the only ones I like are owls and you probably need a special licence as it's a bird of prey and it seems a bit cruel caging an owl, unless it was a titchy pigmy one - but still seems a bit cruel.

If you dont like the noise birds make please dont get a bird! also these are one of the most demanding of animals to keep, they require constant attention (an african grey for ex is on a mental par with a 3 year old child and needs constant stimulation..) Also parrotts bond mainly to one
person and can be very protective of that person and they can deliver a very nasty bite...


Then there's fish - blehhh - no way - cleaning tanks etc and I'd end up doing it and probably kill them all.

So we're down to reptiles - snakes, lizards or tortoises.

if your intent on getting a reptile please bear in mind the expense of the equipment you need to keep these animals. They also can be demading if they get ill etc, as vets bills are huge for these animals and not many vets specialise in reptiles (i lost a few chamelions due to them havig a disease passed on from the mother and into the egg... took 3 very expensicve chamelions to the vet to make them better.. but because they stress very easilly they died very quickly ) but i also had a water dragon called kermit who was very easy to look after they just cost alot and the tanks and equipment are expensive!


I quite fancy a snake and don't mind feeding it bugs, or depending on size, mice etc.

Zach kindly suggested SPIDERS!!!!(TARANTULAS) AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!! NEVER!!!!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what does everyone else think - my neighbour can pop in on whatever it is and feed it for me - still don't want furries tho, if I go away.

I can do icky stuff like cleaning poo and feeding dead things too - LOL

please bear in mind if you have lizards etc you will need to feed live things too like crickets and locusts.


My easiest pet.. (and ive had parrotts, lizards, snakes, dogs, cats, fish (marine and tropical) and amphibains)All of which are still going strong with my ex, when i left i couildnt take them with me )... were actually austrailian Tree frogs. They have lovely personalities they are easy to look after, dont mind being handled, are fun, look cute, in fact i was thinking of getting some more after 7 years without lizards, birds and amphibians.:T

cupid_s

Miss_Money wrote:

please bear in mind if you have lizards etc you will need to feed live things too like crickets and locusts.

Good point. Whilst I have no problems doing this finding someone who will when you go on holiday isn't that easy.

When we go away my parents have to travel 130 miles to our house and stay the entire time to care for the lizards. I put them into board before. Venus lost a third of his body weight by the time I picked him up and he wasn't pooing properly either.

I tried another reptile shop to board them in. Took 8 lizards down there and only came back with 7.

Another thing to consider is vets that will treat reptiles. There aren't that many around but you need to make sure you can access one easily if necessary.

About vets bills being huge though - I completely disagree.

Dylan had a swollen eye recently. I was very worried about her. Took her to the specialist vet. She had to stay two nights at the vets. He took two x-rays then cut open her eye socket and examined behind the eye ball under general anaesthetic and prescribed her a strong course of antibiotics afterwards. All this cost £130 which I think is a bargain considering what he did. Even though they found nothing wrong and her eye is still swollen

Check ups or more routine appointments with my babies cost me £14. And as they are so small the amounts of drugs they need, if they need them, are miniscule so cost very little.

Miss_Money

cupid_stunt wrote:

About vets bills being huge though - I completely disagree.

when i kept lizards it was 7 years ago... my chamelains wee given an injection just one and that was £80 per chameleon. That imo is a huge vet bill for lizards that didnt survive... its a matter of opinion what people consider expensive but non specialising vets in lizards can be expensive, because they will be the 1st to admit they dont know what they are doing properly... and they will try anything for you, its much better to try and find a vet that specialises in reptiles

Jay-Jay_4

"Mum, can I have a pony?" I got suckered into that one... :rolleyes:

Anyway, the easiest pet I've had is a cat. None of this 'kittens climbing the curtains' malarkey, a middle aged female rescue cat who'se been there, done that, seen it all and slept through most of it. She uses the litter tray, eats her food and takes herself off to bed. She really hasn't made any demands on us and is quite happy to stay inside the house for weeks at a time so nobody has to be there to let her in/out. The only way she would be easier to care for is if she was stuffed!

Miss_Money

Jay-Jay wrote:

"Mum, can I have a pony?" I got suckered into that one... :rolleyes:

Anyway, the easiest pet I've had is a cat. None of this 'kittens climbing the curtains' malarkey, a middle aged female rescue cat who'se been there, done that, seen it all and slept through most of it. She uses the litter tray, eats her food and takes herself off to bed. She really hasn't made any demands on us and is quite happy to stay inside the house for weeks at a time so nobody has to be there to let her in/out. The only way she would be easier to care for is if she was stuffed!

i ahve a simiallar 16 year old ct called hugo... he spends so long asleep on my bed some people do think hes a stuffed toy!!! :eek:

cupid_s

Miss_Money wrote:

when i kept lizards it was 7 years ago... my chamelains wee given an injection just one and that was £80 per chameleon. That imo is a huge vet bill for lizards that didnt survive... its a matter of opinion what people consider expensive but non specialising vets in lizards can be expensive, because they will be the 1st to admit they dont know what they are doing properly... and they will try anything for you, its much better to try and find a vet that specialises in reptiles

God that's awful - talk about adding insult to injury. I'm lucky to have a specialist not too far away. Even before i found this place it used to cost me £18 for an injection. But it depends on the cost of the drugs in the injection itself I suppose. I imagine it was a fairly expensive treatment your chameleon was given. Sorry it didn't survive.

I only consider £130 good value as Dylan had a lot done for that and she seemed to be well cared for there.

My cat is easier to look after than my lizards though. And probably cheaper once you take into account heating and lighting costs. Also you have to find space for a large vivarium. Our lizards have a whole bedroom to themselves and just run free more or less then we have 4 vivs in there which used to house our other lizards and then the babies when we were overrun. But not everyone has this much space (but not everyone has 4 beardies)

Miss_Money

cupid_stunt wrote:

God that's awful - talk about adding insult to injury. I'm lucky to have a specialist not too far away. Even before i found this place it used to cost me £18 for an injection. But it depends on the cost of the drugs in the injection itself I suppose. I imagine it was a fairly expensive treatment your chameleon was given. Sorry it didn't survive.

I only consider £130 good value as Dylan had a lot done for that and she seemed to be well cared for there.

My cat is easier to look after than my lizards though. And probably cheaper once you take into account heating and lighting costs. Also you have to find space for a large vivarium. Our lizards have a whole bedroom to themselves and just run free more or less then we have 4 vivs in there which used to house our other lizards and then the babies when we were overrun. But not everyone has this much space (but not everyone has 4 beardies)

Agree cats are easier than lizards! my lizzards had a whole bedroom to them selves too Kermit (water dragon ) had a large vivarium but came out to wander round the house at various intervals during the day. I remember one incident i had in which my day gecko decided to escape whilst being cleaned out... he ended up inside my computer (didnt have a case on it :eek:) i was petrified hed be electricuted, as it was on but he was rescued in the end lol.

pavlovs_dog

ive also had ginat african landsnails, and they are very easy to care for. they will eat most veg and fruit (which most of us have in the house).

they need cuttlefish for the calcium for their shell (about 50p a pop) but also enjoy washed egg shells.

the peat/soil in their tank needs to be kept moist, but other than that they are quite low maintenance.

as for cleaning the slime off the tank, good old fashioned vinegar and elbow grease does the job :beer: