Gerbils - The Best Pet Option for Young Children

Gerbils - The Best Pet Option for Young Children

Rats (if they don't creep you out) are very social but the downside once again is that they require a lot of attention and care. Mice are great but they are lightning-fast, pee a lot, and need a lot of things to climb and play on to be happy. They are a great option though, as they are easy to care for in terms of diet, don't require a lot of attention from you if they are kept in pairs or groups, and don't require a large cage. And, the more you give them to play with, the more entertaining they become. I would definitely rank them in the number two spot.

Hamsters, though one of the cutest little critters around, aren't all that easy to take care of. Diet is simple, and again they don't require a large cage (though with any animal the more space you can give it, the happier it will be). They do however need to be trained to be held without freaking out or biting, they are fragile, and they pee a lot too which means their bedding needs to be changed regularly. There are also different types of hamsters and each type has different requirements to be healthy and happy. Some can and should be housed in multiples, others need to be solitary, like Teddy Bear hamsters. And though this should be intuitive and applies to any pets you may have, don't house both sexes together or you will end up with more pets than you bargained for. Hamsters (any type) would be better for a slightly older child with a little more patience.

Gerbils really are a great option

We now come to gerbils. They should be housed in groups of at least two or more females to keep them happy as they are very social little munchkins. They are fast but they won't bite and they can be trained easily to get used to being held. They don't seem to mind too much if a child comes along, startles them, and scoops them up without warning. The only time a gerbil has even so much as nibbled on my finger was when I forgot to wash my hands after making a peanut butter-and-jam sandwich - who could blame the little guy?

Gerbils are desert creatures which means they drink less water than other furry animals and thus they pee far less. This means their bedding stays cleaner longer and they should never have a smelly cage for you to deal with. They also love to dig and burrow but introduce a wheel into their environment and once they figure it out it will be their new favourite toy!

Their diet is simple (you can buy a two-kilo bag of gerbil food at your nearest Walmart for $4.00 and it will last two gerbils quite a while) and so is their home set-up. The only thing I recommend you don't do is buy one of those Habitrail hard-plastic homes for them. They love to chew and will make cracks in the plastic eventually, but this doesn't mean they are difficult to house. You may like the look of the store-bought sanctuary but trust me, they don't care. All they want to do all day is burrow and run on their wheel, and maybe box a little - this is typical of gerbils, especially sisters like the gerbils I have, Lola and Yvette. They may squeak and fight but so long as they cuddle up together at bedtime, you know they're fine.