Small furry animal - which to choose?

Oh no Nelliemoser they are naturally like that. Not cruelly bred to be hairless at all.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole_rat

With six DC we tried most pets over the years.

For a bedroom pet I would always choose a gerbil. we kept ours in a large fish tank because they chewed through the plastic base of the cage that was sold with them.

DD had hamsters and loved them but they ate her bedroom curtains and made lots of noise on their wheel late at night. Later we had some really cute dwarf hamsters which were nasty biters. The DS could not handle them and DH had to clean their cage wearing gardening gloves.

We had a rat which was lovely and very intelligent. It would come and do tricks and the DS loved it. The downside was that it needed a very large cage and it did smell a bit so needed to be cleaned out more.

Mice were ok but were very fast movers and sometimes escaped. They also bit occasionally.

Some people have a house rabbit which apparently works well. We always kept the rabbits and guinea pigs outside.

Don't forget vitamin c in their water. I've got a book with a guinea pig in it called The Tabitha Stories [Tabitha is a cat]. The giunea pig in it is called Doris and she spends her days eating and saying 'I eats my salad and I looks around' [that has to be said in a West County accent, by the way]. For some reason I always think of that when I see a guinea pig .

Having had gerbils, rats, hamsters, rabbits and guinea pigs, I would plump for gerbils or guinea pigs.
Gerbils if kept in same sex pairs in a gerbilarium are great fun, dont need endless cleaning, dont smell and are not nocturnal but are not very cuddly

Indoor guinea pigs are great , very friendly, easy to clean and handle, just make sure they get their nails clipped and get plenty of hay and carrots a to say hello s well as their guinea pig food, they make a lovely squeaking noise when you come home ! Our last one, Nibbles lived for 6 and half years

Tricky. We had two cats and our furry animal loving younger daughter wanted hamsters too, so they had one each. One threw itself off the roof of our 4 storey house, the other disappeared into the floorboards (it was an old house!). We replaced those: the cat ate three, despite our advice to keep the hamsters out of the way. Bit tragic really. we moved onto guinea pigs which at least kept the grass down.

Yuk to the hairless rat! Are they naturally bald or are they bred like that from an unnatural mutation? If so I think that is very wrong.

My children had gerbils when they were younger and the things the lovely pets were allowed to escaped when the kids were playing with them and they chewed their way into my sofa and hid there for weeks and destroyed it in the meanwhile.

The poor thing looks cold !

You could always knit them a nice little jumper to preserve their modesty, HildW

So cute Gillybob!

am shuddering at thought of a naked rat!...rats of any type get be all of a quiver...cant even say the name out loud...I spell it.

Naked Rats make lovely pets and are extremely tactile. They are very friendly and love being stroked and played with.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=boL5zRXaYuM

I wouldn't get a hamster as they can be bad-tempered and have a very nasty bite. Also they're nocturnal so unless you want to keep rousing them from their sleep (and make them grumpy) they're not ideal for young children.

Rats, gerbils, mice and guinea pigs are all pretty good natured and easy to look after and they're all charming in their way. But someone has to be responsible for cleaning out their cages, feeding, handling, etc, and children can lose interest after a while, and, though relatively small, there is a cost involved - for cage, bedding, food, etc. I think most of these small animals only have a 2-3 year life span.

Elegran Your story about Winifred is absolutely lovely.

Tegan Guinea pigs have personalities which suit Mabel Winifred and Gertrude.

My neighbour's guinea pigs are Bagel and Brioche!

I always had names lined up for guinea pigs [alas, mine never lived very long; I was as bad at looking after small creatures as I was with house plants]. I always had to call them names like Mabel or Gertrude .

My brother had white mice as a child, and I can remember a bandage on each finger of one hand after being bitten, so that has put me off them. I wish there was enough space for a rat as that sounds like a good choice.
Their father would not allow pets, he was fobbed off with the mechanical ones in the past, so there is a bit of rebellion here! I just wish I had a large enough home to invite them to live with me, but am in a 2 bed terrace only, but could accommodate the rodent if necessary when they move! Winning a million on a Premium Bond would be useful!

Our Winifred would greet me with a squeal when she saw me. When you held her she would put a paw on top of your hand, then rest her chin on it. That is how a family of guinea-pigs huddle together. Toward the end of her life, she was under the weather so I visited the vet with her (by bus) I carried her in a hold-all and put my hand in to pet her while I sat in the bus. She put her paw over mine and I felt her furry chin on the back of my hand.

As we walked to the vet, we passed a fruit shop, so I went in to buy her an apple (number one treat) As I took it off the shelf she smelt it and started squealing the shop down. I'd to take her out of the bag and hold her while she tucked in - the queue was most impressed by her voice and appetite! Many smiles.

....I don't mean actual conversations but just cute squeaky noises...

I love the way they talk to you as well. I had one that lived in a cage in the kitchen sometimes and kept the dog company.

Guinea pigs are really cuddly, if you handle them from babies, and they are more solid than, say, rabbits. Their legs are short so they don't stick out all over the place when you lift them up. They do need a reasonable amount of space though, and a chance to be ouside on grass at least some of the time. One of ours lived for about ten years but I think she was an exception. She was very loving and patient and it upset us all a great deal when she died.

Agree that if their future home is uncertain pets would have a question mark over them.

A few years ago there was a remote-controlled stuffed guinea-pig on the market. That was fun. Just had a look -they are still around. Someone is selling them on Ebay

I think gerbils are easy to keep because my friend keep one. I am only familiar the dogs www.petsdogcollarscom

White mice are lovely I had lots when I was at school. The males do smell though so you need a female. Rats are best of all, so intelligent and nice natured. Mt daughter always adored hamsters. They are definitely solitary, mainly nocturnal and will bite if they aren't used to being handled. If a hamster has a wheel in it's cage it will run in it all night which can be quite noisy!

Get him a book on creepy crawlies and one of those clear topped bug collecting boxs.....he can find his own little 'pets' and if they dont last long it will not be so upsetting.

It's a lovely idea, but if they are going to be homeless, then a pet is hardly a good idea, unless granny wants to keep a pet which they could "adopt". Being really boring, you have to consider the animal's welfare too and also if they were not allowed to keep a pet in wherever they are going to live, DGS risks having his heart broken to part with it. Do you live anywhere near e.g. a donkey sanctuary? You can adopt a donkey and visit it, or alternatively rescue kennels are always on the look out for dog-walkers to relieve the monotony of kennel life, but accept that not everybody is in a position to take the animal in.